I Love You, California!

This morning we went to Kindergym all dressed up as a pumpkin. Later in the afternoon we read some books.

Adeline loves scooting around after Ava. Ava teases her by sitting still until Adeline gets close, then walks away. One of these days Adeline will be able to keep up!

Tonight we had a voting party at the kitchen table. We happen to live in a vote-by-mail only area which is just fine with me! Putting our ballots in the mailbox!

Adeline is just too little to go Trick-or-Treating yet; I think everyone would know that the candy was for Mama and Papa! But we did get to enjoy the Piedmont Pumpkin Festival today. There was a parade that went down Piedmont Avenue (we didn't make it to this) and then ended at the Mountain View Cemetery where there were food trucks, arts and crafts tables, live music, an animal show, and a pumpkin patch! (I know what you're thinking - "A festival in the cemetary?" - yes, that's right. It's more like a park around here!) Adeline had a fun time picking out her pumpkin. Cooling off in the shade - it was HOT! After we spent some time at the Festival we walked over to Temescal Brewing and Adeline fell asleep for a nap. She was zonked after a fun morning!

Adeline is starting to drop her evening nap which allows us to go out and do things like meet Will for Pau Hana after work! We got all dressed up for the occasion. It was a beautiful evening down at the Lake Chalet.

Adeline keeps getting more and more mobile and is scooting around, exploring, all the time!

I'm so grateful I get to stay home with Adeline. The days are so much more relaxed this way. She of course has her days and moments, but for the most part we enjoy playing around and now trying out some new foods, too! We love string cheese! Farming!

It's just the sweetest. Apparently if you wave a paci around in the air it's pretty funny!

Adeline is definitely on the move and she's trying out this whole standing thing. Today she lifted up on her jumpy chair! I love her cute little feet from this viewpoint!

Adeline loves  looking out the windows. I love that we have windows that come all the way to the floor so that she can crawl around and always see outside. Even when we're home most of the day we never feel cooped up because we have such large windows and beautiful nature all around us.

We're becoming big fans of Trader Joe's. I can't get away with doing all of our shopping there, but it's a fun place to add in to the mix and visit every few weeks. They have nice petite little carts so I thought it would be a fun place to let Adeline ride in the cart. She had so much fun, with lots of "ooo"s like, "Wow, I get to sit here? This is great!" She leaned back and kicked her feet up on the front bar and was very loungy! She didn't last the whole shopping trip, but she sure had fun while it lasted.

It's been beautiful out and Adeline is starting to enjoy the baby swings at parks so we went out today to explore a new park! Dracena Park is only about ten minutes away, and some day I'd love to walk there (about a half hour). We have a different park nearby that is totally walkable, but there are no baby swings and it's right next to the highway. This one is tucked away in the middle of a eucalyptus forest! Just beautiful!

This little girl is getting so close to true crawling. She's definitely mobile - squirming all over the place, and quickly at that! But she's up on all fours more and more everyday. And to round out the day with a little playtime with Papa.

Today we finally  visited the Grand Lake Farmers' Market. I'm not quite sure why we never visited it until now. But better late than never! We got a great haul of veggies, fruits, cheese, hot sauce, and salmon. We even got to enjoy some tamales on the lawn!

Adeline is 8 months and it's getting harder to take these pictures! I attempted to use the sticker, but she peeled it off of her tummy the minute I put it on her. I then put it on the chair, but she eventually plucked it off from there, too. These were the best I could get! Tried a different location - still not much luck! Another location, but this time she went after Aurora! I think this is just the beginning of tricky pictures!

Adeline was given this toy as a hand-me-down from the kids of TerViva's CEO. Will brought it home last night after she had gone to sleep, so this morning she was so  excited about her new farm toy! Her favorites are the sheep and cow!

A friend of ours in Hawai`i once told us to enjoy the "house plant" stage - the one where you can set your baby down and not have to worry about her going anywhere. Boy was he right! We have gone from "house plant" to "house worm" - she wiggles everywhere! Waking up from a nap a happy girl House worm

Today Adeline and I went to get our flu shots (poor girl has to get two half dose shots!). On our way to the doctor's office we stopped at the park next door so that she could have fun and swing a little bit before she had to get a shot. I think she had fun!

Do you remember from years ago how I told you that Fall in the Bay is actually Summertime? It's been HOT here and beautiful! Yesterday was another tough day of rocking chair naps, but I managed to get Adeline in the crib for her morning nap today. This meant I could get ready so we could go enjoy the nice weather! Our plan was to do brunch at GLK and then walk around the lake, but it was an hour and a half wait, which, when you have a baby, is just not doable. So we went down the street to Grand Tavern instead. The food was ok, not as good as GLK, but we got a front patio table with no wait. That's a win! Adeline was a little antsy the entire time and pretty tired by the end, so instead of a walk around the lake we came home for, you guessed it, another rocking chair nap. But she slept ok and afterward it was just too nice to stay home, so we went for a walk in hopes that we could end at Temescal Brewing. We got halfway there and Adeline was not so happy, so we started to hea...