Dog days of summer

Summer has been so good to us this year.  Long, hot days, and nights so warm we've been wearing tank tops outside.  Watermelon, peaches, cherries, and lots of salads. Fun times at the park and being outside which is great for James and good for us.  

James & I took my mom to Seaside for her birthday.  It was lovely and warm on the beach even though it looks cold.  Seaside is a really fun town on the coast that has bumper cars, a Tilt-a-Whirl, a boardwalk, an aquarium, an arcade, and year-round elephant ears.  It was a huge treat to come to Seaside when I was a kid and I can't wait to pass along the tradition.  James partook in the merry-go-round and the beach, since that's all he's old enough to do, but next year I'm going to get a kite and some baby sunscreen and park it right here for a couple of days.

Mom, James, and his one dimple.

Feeling the sea on his toes for the first time.  It wasn't cold at all and he loved feeling the sand underneath his feet!

Yes - that is a stroller we were able to bring out on the beach.  High praise for the Britax!

Okay - so the beach was totally fun.  The cleanup was, however, pretty massive.  Sand in this little guy's hair, ears, toes, hands, diaper, and other places I won't mention.  I did my best to prevent the eating of sand, but man..it's hard.  Still worth it.

Lazy day at the park

Hmmm....what is available for me eat here...

Taste testing some grass tidbits found on the porch.  Cause, why not!

Enough already of the photo shoot, mama!

Just a small sampling of the regional specialties of Seaside.  In case you're wondering, I did try the deep fried Kool-Aid, and it was pretty darn tasty.

Lost phone archives

The other night we were driving back from Eugene, and I found some long-lost iphone photos on Adam's phone that make me smile:

Who is that cute baby in the mirror?

It's cool guys, I'll just take five right here...

Mommy's lovebug

Somebody's super happy, especially for being put in the pack n' play aka baby jail!

Hanging with Ryan

Play hard, nap hard

We didn't do much for the 4th of July.  Our neighbors started doing street fireworks the weekend before, and though I love fireworks and fully support such fun, it was a different story this year trying to put a baby to sleep with them going off all hours of the night for days on end.  We basically padded James's room with as much white noise as we could muster (ceiling fan, bathroom fan, white noise machine) and he actually slept pretty well once he was asleep.  We spent the afternoon berry picking with friends out on Sauvie Island, and came home with quite a bounty.  Strawberries were pretty much over but we picked blueberries and raspberries and ate a ton along the way.  James hung out in the stroller and the Ergo and even helped me pick a few.

Is there anything better than a sunny day with your kids and bowlfuls of fresh raspberries?

The end result of our berry adventure - homemade blueberry applesauce!

By evening we had nothing in the house to eat and we were all starving.  We ventured out to the comic book store and decided to stop at Starbucks on the way home.  I really am starting to enjoy just the fun, ordinary moments we have as a family of three like this.  We were the only ones there (because really, no one goes to Starbucks on the 4th of July) and had fun together just sitting on the patio having some icy coffee drinks and watching James look at the cars going by.

No frappucino for James, but he did enjoy his prunes.

Adam and his little buddy

Mr. Mister

Ever since James was just a teeny, tiny little zygote, we've made up funny nicknames for him.  Most of them originated from random things he'd make us think of.  We get such a kick out of all the ways James makes us laugh and all the silliness he brings into our lives.  He just cracks us up all the time.  Just for posterity, these are some of the names James is known by:

Bubs, Bubbles, Bubbie, Bubble-Up, Bubblesome
Bubbler, Bumper, Bumber
Lovebug, Mr. Loves
Jammy Jammy St. Jamerson, James St. James
Jimmyrock (sung to the tune of "Lollipop"), JR, LBG (Little Big Jim)
Mr. Mister
Starstuff (Carl Sagan reference)
Little Buddy, Buster Douglas (I don't know why, these are Dad's names for James)
Peanut Butter and Jammy

Anyway, here's some of my 6-month favorite shots.  Sorry this blog has turned a little James-obsessed lately.   We're totally James-obsessed ourselves so that's probably why.  :)

I'm six months old!  I laugh and smile all the time.

James does great push ups and is so strong.  He loves the vantage point from way up high...

I had this little phone when I was a baby, and my mm found one at a garage sale for James.  Mostly he likes the string, but someday I bet he'll like pulling it around behind him like I did.

James LOVES doorknobs, cabinets, pulling on everything... Operation Child Proofing is set to happen this weekend!

These are just some random pictures I happened to like.

James and Grandpa.  A few weeks back they visited during a heat wave and we let James hang out in his diaper because it was so hot.  He'd love to be naked all the time if I let him.

James in his little rocket ship pants laying in bed like a little man.  This was early in the morning when we snuck in to wake Dad up....

Shopping with mama at Nordstroms.  He played in the dressing room and gave some good fashion advice.  

He soon discovered he could crawl over to the lady next door...oops!

James trying one of the only foods he hasn't liked - peas.  He just sat there with this sad look on his face and let the peas just sit on his lips.  I think we will try again, though, because they were baby food peas from a jar, which truly are disgusting.  I'm going to try my hand at making my own with sweet peas which I think are much tastier.

James and Adam swimming at Mt. Scott Community Center.  I came here all the time at the end of my pregnancy to swim laps and used to just dream about the day I could bring James in with me.  Now it's actually happening and it's so much fun!  The kiddie pool has a moving "river canal," water factory feature, and a huge slide.  I know we're going to have a lot of fun times here.

James loved the water, and loved being swished around by his dad.  He was so worn out by all the splashing and "swimming" he did that he took a long nap afterwards so Adam & I took in a nice long lunch at Foster Burger.  Lovely way to end a family outing!

We're going to start our little "Angelfish" swim classes here soon and I can't wait!

My Grandma Johanna from Phoenix came to visit and helped me put together my first real garden as a Mother's Day gift.  I haven't had the opportunity to grow much since we've been living in apartments the last few years and LOVE having some earth to dig my hands into.  I've planted five tomato plants (two heirlooms, two large varities, one cherry) zucchini, sweetmeat squash (an Oregon specialty - I hope it does well because they are so delicious!), carrots, lemon cucumber, basil, parsley, and a few varieties of peppers.  My most favorite thing of all, though, is this little guy:

Tomato baby

Squash blossom baby

On days that I work, I often come home and bring James outside with me to water and weed the garden.  I let his little feet touch the dirt and grass, and talk to him about all the neat things we're growing.  He really enjoys being outside and I love our little evening ritual we have out there together.  Sometimes when he's fussy, I'll just open up the back door and sit on the steps on the deck with him and he'll immediately become calm and contemplative.  

On days that it's too wet to be outside, he will often hang out in his little walker by the back door and gaze out there watching the rain.  

Speaking of homegrown veggies and all, our local Farmer's Market is in full swing every Sunday just down the street.  James and I strolled down there on a particularly hot afternoon the other weekend so I doused him sunscreen and tried out his baby sunglasses.  They eventually ended up his mouth, but were pretty cute while they lasted.   :)