Wedding Bells

Our family had the opportunity to go up to Seattle for our friend, Christine's wedding....this was Maeby's first wedding experience, thus we MUST document it! Here are some fun pictures.....

See Mae, that's where Mama & Papa were married.

Playing on the grass, around the fountain - good times :)

Jenn's dad and Grandpa would always point out the different flowers....Jeremy is doing the same for Maeby.

We got to meet/see lots of friends - we met Erica & Brad for the first time, and many others. Here is Maeby with our friend Sarah Allen. Since there were so many cameras we didn't take a ton of pictures with ours, so we'll have to wait until we get them from other people :) Maeby LOVED Sarah's necklace; she wouldn't let go.

We were really glad we got to go up for this. It was a very special occasion for our whole family.

gobble gobble gobble

When she eats, Maeby is often heard to make a noise not unlike what the offspring of a Tauntaun and a Turkey would probably sound like.

That's this:

(the non Mark Hamill one)

+ this:

It's probably my favorite noise in the whole world, and encapsulates satisfaction, weirdness, and personality all in one quick "labble gobble labble"-like sound. I've done my best to try and capture it on film; however, whenever the camera comes on, she grows reticent. Still, in the following videos she does it a little bit, which will have to suffice for now. She makes her "gobble gobble" noise very quietly (comparatively) several times in the second video. You can also check out her cool sign-language knowledge and general brilliance.

Enjoy.

maeby goes camping

Last weekend we took the hobbit on her first camping trip. We cruised down to Sunset Beach (near Coos Bay), where we enjoyed two days of rain and fog on the coast with Jenn's sister Karen and her lovely family (plus, their awesome neighbors whose last name I either don't know or can't recall.)

Here are photographs:



She spent most of her time hanging out in her stroller around the campsite. She'll stare at the fire for hours.




With cousin Sarah - whose name she tries to say but can't quite yet.

My goal this summer is to be in more pictures with my family, relinquishing camera duty temporarily so that Maeby will actually know I went on family trips with her when she looks at these photos some day.

Playing with the flashlight in the tent.

She loves the blow-up mattress, confusing it for a bounce house surface.

Sharing a moment with Katie.

Eating cheerios in the wild.

Check out this store we found in Coos Bay:

Crazy, right?

This next one is actually a fluke - Jenn accidentally had the shutter open way too long, resulting in a series of whitewashed photos that are actually quite splendid, I think.

I love that hat.

Here we are drawing snakes in the sand - something my Mom used to do with me.

this week in Maeby: stairs and bath-time

So, she's learning to crawl up the stairs. Normally, we keep them gated off - but we read that it's better to teach them HOW to manage the stairs early (with supervision and help) than to just keep them off them entirely.


Nothing to worry about - Mama is always right behind her.

She thinks falling is hilarious.

You might not be able to tell - but she's blowing a raspberry at me in this picture. It's one of her favorite things to do - we'll go back and forth.

That's sweet potatoes all over her face, by the way.

"Maeby leaves the state" OR "Maeby goes to the zoo" OR "Maeby flies on an airplane" OR "Maeby calls every animal in the zoo 'kitty'"

Here are a slough of pictures from our recent trip to San Diego. Sorry it took me so long to get these up - and for the terse exposition.




She slept through most of her first airplane ride - which was just fine with us. While she did grow a little fussy during the take-offs (we had a layover in Sacramento), she loved the landings - and would kick her feet and bounce as the plane bounded down.

Swimming with Mama and Grandma the first night at the hotel. She's already a pro, and can go underwater up to three or four feet across the pool with a little help. Of course, it helps that her Mama teachers the water babies class at the local swimmery. She loves to kick those feet - and will stay in the pool all day if you let her.

The chlorine in this pool, however, made her eyes a bit red. Don't worry, she's not upset in this picture - just temporarily blinded.

She loves her Grandma!

The girls enjoying the suite's extra-large bathtub.

Just a couple of kittens out on the town.

The second you take her out of the pool she tries to launch herself back in. Jayna looks just like her Dad in this picture.

Our first stop was the San Diego Zoo - one of my favorite places on the planet.

Our Monkey.

Mae's first time seeing Pandas. "Kitty!" she yelled. "Kitty!"

This baby Gorilla is almost as adorable as my baby Gorilla.

Grandma very kindly got Maeby this stuffed Panda, which Mae promptly named "Ka." Now she takes it everywhere.

Next stop: Sea World

When Jayna was little, she would flip out whenever costumed characters came near her. Here, Maeby takes it a little better than her cousin used to, and Jayna temporarily thinks we've arrived at Disneyland.

At the Shamu show, the girls all went and sat in the front row while I wisely stayed near the top of the stadium with a telephoto lens handy. You can see how close they were to the action here (they're that pinkish purplish grey area just to the right of the whale)

About to get splashed.

There it is.

Mae didn't care for all the cold saltwater - but Grandma liked it even less.

I temporarily pass off camera duty. I do this every once in a while on these trips, just so Maeby can look back some day and realize that I was, in fact, with her.

Making faces.

Mae's very favorite part of Sea-World was the bounce house, where she played with gusto. Mostly, I think she was just happy to be out of her stroller for a few minutes. Note the sunburn. Between the five minutes when the clouds dissipated and we managed to get some sunscreen on her, she became a lobster. Luckily, it didn't seem to bother her.

Watching her first fire-works show.

We spent our last day at the Zoo's Wild Animal Park - our favorite stop.

The petting zoo was a big hit. Jayna wanted to make sure every animal got equal amounts of love and attention.

The coolest thing we saw - by far - was this Giraffe stampede. We were about 50 feet away. Breath-taking.

She was particularly fond of the big "kitty" behind this glass - a female African Lion.

To cap things off, Mae went on her first carousel ride. Video below.

Last night in the hotel - slumber party!