More Pinecone Pictures

Here's Wampa (Grandpa) with Camila, Jahan, and Livvie in the Giant Adirondack Chair:

Cousins Violet, Evie, Camila and Livvie:

Moms and Girls at The Pinecone

We had a lovely adventure to a local riverside restaurant, the Pinecone.

My cousin, Lynn, and I took a bunch of pictures, here are some.

 

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my cousins, Jess, Stalin and baby Jahan (2 weeks younger than Camila!)

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First Days of Cranberry Lake Adventure

We made it! We almost got stuck in Boston,as our flight from Boston to the Adirondacks was canceled due to thunder storms, then they told us there were no flights until Tuesday. I'm standing there looking at my two babies as we approached bedtime with no plan: "Um, that's not going to work for us."  And luckily enough they were totally game, and found us a flight on another airline to another town. Leaving in an hour (from another terminal, of course) - but we made it. Thanks to Liv and Camila's grandparents for driving an extra hour or so in the rain to pick us up. 

Here's Camila and Grandma playing with Bjorn the Bear.

Camila with Auntie Lynn

Liv went wading, right up to her shoulders - thank you very much!

We put the canoe in the water and I took the girls around the point a few times.

Livvie and her cousin, Evie.

Flying Livvie.

(this might be my favorite summer picture)

more beach fun

Camila joining in the fun!

Butterfly rescue.

CAMPFIRE!! 

and S'Mores

Livvie asked if "Please, can I please, have the cookie with the candy in the middle, please?" 

sugar shock

sunset paddle

Happy Camper

Crawling!

We travel all day tomorrow... should be an interesting exercise in frustration to have a wonderful new skill like this and be confined to mom's lap for 10 hours (or what ever it ends up being!)!

I couldn't be more excited for her! though she's also pulling herself to standing... yikes!

Camila gets SO OFFENDED.. she just hollers... when she inevitably bonks or falls. it's almost funny. if only in the sense that she has no idea what the world actually has in store for her in the way of bonks and other offense. poor thing.

btw: that's Liv "fishing" off the bed  ... and calling out "fishing pole"

Other Family News

We've had some good fun since our last update (our trip to the state fair) but I'm finding that even if I do remember to take the camera with me, I don't always have an extra hand, eye, and/or moment to capture the best moments to share with you here...)

We had a great and busy day last Monday when we joined the local Mom's Club for a "circus parade" we got dressed up -- Liv in a princess dress as the "Queen of the Flying Trapeze" and Camila was the "Tatooed Lady" (I drew on her with eyeliner... haha, poor defenseless baby!!) and met up with a bunch of other mommies and their youngish kids at a park in town, all the little kids marched down the block to one of the mommy's backyard for more playing, and snacks and etc. We had such fun and met lots of new friends!

Liv learned that "fancy dresses aren't very good for climbing in." this comment after I responded to a frantic "momma, momma" from the swingset where she had stepped on her ruffles, trying to climb up the ladder. Another important life lesson!

Later that day, our neighbor, Mrs Michelle, came to the pool with us! and we all had a great time! Liv is doing better and better in the water. (and almost always remembers to tell us before she jumps in. Yikes! ... that's an important rule, kiddo!) Camila Luna just loved it, too!!! Splash! Splash! Splash! (Boy, was it good to have an extra set of grown-up hands!!)

Jeff had his company picnic last weekend. And we left feeling that it was a wonderful success. We had a great time! Angelina and Diane thought of everything! Entertainment for the kiddos of all ages - Ball games for the grownups, Slip & Slide, magician and balloon artists, good food - great people, nice weather, lots of shade!! A really good party!

Livvie is peddling her trike!! I was just beside myself, proud and excited! Thrilled, really, what a great milestone skill! 

Jeff was like, "yeah? she was doing that for me last weekend."

Figures!

Speaking of good life lessons, we were over at Skip & Jody's last night for a fun dinner party; Jody laughed and nodded approvingly as Liv (who had asked first) reached for the olive dish and I reminded her to "look first, pick one out with your eyes, and THEN reach in and touch only that one." 

She's such a good kid!!!

And she's starting to play much more elaborate imagination games, I prompt some... and she'll just take off with it as often as not. A new one (taken from the "Dora the Explorer" show) involves looking at the "map" as part of the game "how will the bears (that's us) get to the berry bush?" or "how do we get to Cranberry Lake?" first we go to the pumpkin patch, then over the bridge, the on a wagon ride or whatever... its awesome! sometimes we get sidetracked and end up baking imaginary pumpkin pies, and then taking our space ship "don't forget your seatbelt, Mommy" (as she buckles my 5-pt harness) to go get ice cream. 

Such crazy fun! I am such a lucky mom!

I think I'm going to start incorporating that "map" as a play plan -- "Let's draw a map of what we're going to play today." --Not that we have to stick to it or anything, but its a cool idea, I think. and a very "Tools of the Mind" approach (which I've been trying to learn about.)

We are SO excited about our trip to Cranberry! We've been talking about it for weeks, Liv informed her grandparents this morning that "canoes are very tippy boats." You don't know the half of it, kiddo!  :) And she's been fishing under our bed from her laundry basket boat, and pool-side with her big orange noodle.

Camila's World at Six Months

At 6 months (and a bit) Camila is so much more engaged with her world. 

She loves being up & about, and gets frustrated (and lets us know it) when she can't see whats going on. She's not crawling yet (I really thought she would be) but is an accomplished scooter! She pushes & pulls but isn't getting her belly off the floor -- while she's moving. 

She's successfully pushing back to sitting position, which is a big step toward independent movement. 

Yay, Camila!

She's getting extremely interested in standing play. She's SO happy when she's up and SO offended when she inevitably tumbles. She's learning to fall in a more protected and more recoverable "crumple" (butt or hands & knees, first) than her original "TIMBER!" falls which are just scary!

She's even convinced Daddy to "walk" her.

Language-wise she's not ahead of anything either! :)  (no consonant sounds (da, ba)) It will come soon enough, I suppose.

She's a little clingy to mama... we don't get out enough, I guess! She's ok with other people, but better if Livvie or Mama is in sight.

She's eating a couple meals of solid foods a day, and nursing, too. 

She's sleeping through the night nearly -- but not quite -- every night. We love the nights when she doesn't wake and have to cry herself back to sleep because that's no fun for anybody. :(

She's loves playing in the pool, banging her toys, chewing on everything! We've got to keep our eyes on this kid, for sure!!  (and do so, with pleasure and awe!)

current stats from 6-month well-baby check:
Weight: 16 lb, 11 oz (70th percentile)
Height: 27-1/4 in (95th percentile)

State Fair

I've been trying to get us out to the California state fair and this was the week!

We even got new wheels for the adventure! A double stroller -- Sweet!

Klaudia and Maya got one, too!

we  saw chickens and bunnies.

The girls loved the hatchling chicks, of course!

the mommies got midway food - the girls got snacks from home. ;-)

Fine Arts and Creative Arts

"don't touch - hands to yourselves!"

"what do you see in that picture?"

(I really enjoyed looking at some of the paintings with Liv and encouraging her to look at them and tell me about them - what colors, shapes, pictures she saw.  One painting had honey pots, another a rabbit, another, stars. Cool!

After the art exibits we caught a performance of Street Beat. An urban drum & dance group. Drums were trash cans, 5-gal water bottles, paint buckets. Scaffloding as set and platforms for the dancers to climb, swing, leap, etc. Everyone loved it.

(waiting for the performance to begin:)

getting in line for the train ride!

cool view of the midway from the train -Liv wanted to go on all the "'round & 'round things" but didn't meet height requirements. ((they probably did have a couple kiddie rides - but I didn't see 'em))  Next Time, Kiddo!

after about 6 hours at the fair, we were delayed by the souvenier balloons at the gate

fun, fun, fun!

another happy day!

by the way... check out the new teeth!