How Time Flies

Well, Penelope and I are finally back home and finished with our summer travels. Of course, as soon as we arrived home, Matt packed up and left for a backpacking trip with Todd and his dad. It figures we'd get home in time to see him leave. But that's okay, b/c I'm going to use that time to sleep train P to nurse less at night and to wake up better on her own, so it's good Matt's gone cuz I'm sure it'll be noisy at first. I've been denying her for two nights now, and she's catching on. The second night was much easier than the first, and hopefully tonight's even better.

I don't have many pics to share, except one that I took just before P and I left TX. It's a fave of mine.And it only took about 50 clicks of my camera to get this shot. Gran, you're amazing and I'm so glad we got to visit lots with you on this trip.

Penelope and I had a wonderful time in TX visiting with family and friends. I got to have lots of amazing "girl" time with TJ, Kellie, Andrea, and Brook. I still miss my best friends so much. It was really neat to see all of us as Momma hens with our own broods. And of course, I got lots of "mommy" time, both with my mom and as the mom with Penelope. Thanks Mom and Dad for making my trip home such a relaxing experience- I got to re-ground myself before another crazy school year begins.

Penelope and I spent a week at home, then took off again for Sacramento so I could attend an AP workshop and gain some much needed skills and tools for the environmental science class I teach. Mom flew out and watched Penelope during the day. I booked us a suite at a Hawthorne Suites near Discovery Park - it was ginormous and sadly about the size of my house. Mom and Penelope had a great time at the hotel (walking around, going up and down the stairs, playing in the crazy, big room). Penelope didn't even cry for her naps. No pics were taken, except at the State Capitol building, where we toured on our last day in Sac. We missed seeing the Governator by about 5 minutes! All b/c we let Penelope stretch her legs before we checked out the building! He'd just finished doing a press conference when we walked up the steps to enter.

Matt and I plan to take Penelope for her first camping trip in a couple weeks. We're going to go to Prairie Creek, home of the big trees, with Carlos and Miranda and sleep under the giant redwoods. Stay tuned...

Grandma & PawPaw's - Part II

I know...it's been awhile since I've updated everyone on our visit, and I'm on vacation (technically), so I should be more on top of this. Lot's to share, so get comfy.



Most evenings, when it FINALLY cools down, Penelope plays in the little swimming pool Grandma & PawPaw have. She's very interested in how the water flows out of the hose.

Here's Penelope tickling PawPaw's toes. It's a new favorite thing to do.

And, here's another favorite thing to do. She has discovered that she can look upside down.

McKenna and Penelope had a good time playing with each other in the sandbox and on the swings Grandma and PawPaw got for them. McKenna was very cute and sweet with P.

Penelope really likes to talk on the phone - even if it's not really a phone. She'll put it up to her ear and babble on and on and walk all around the house talking to her "friends". It's adorable.

Gauge was so good with her! Here he is reading to her - watching this was beyond sweet!

Penelope LOVES the ducks and chickens! The first thing she does in the morning with Grandma is to go and see them. She's not even scared when she feeds them and they start swarming around her.

Penelope and I got some pictures done today at JCPenney's. This was P's first professional photog session, and she did really well. They don't give you very long, and unfortunately, as soon as she really started warming up to the camera, our time was up. But we got some good ones. Here's a few of my favorites.

Below is Penelope "coughing" it up with Grandma and PawPaw at dinner.

Here's a short clip of Penelope letting me know she's "all done" with her dinner.

She's "helping" PawPaw water the yard in this video.




Penelope lets Pawpaw get her nose in this clip.

Hope you enjoyed the update on our visit to Texas. It's been such a blast being back and spending so much quality time with my folks, family, and friends here. Penelope is thriving and taking in every minute of all the new places and people. We're going to miss everyone when we go back to CA next week!