Carmel Valley Trip

In the previous post I mentioned our recent trip to my home in Carmel Valley. I wanted to add some more pictures, but there were so many to choose from that I had to make a slide show-below are my favorites. Bennett fully enjoyed playing in the meadow at my parent's house, exploring the pumpkin patch at Earthbound Farms, and playing in the sand at Carmel beach. We also had a lovely visit with our family friends, the Kreps. Enjoy the photos!

I Had a Date With My Son Yesterday...

and it was really sweet.
This last weekend our little family headed up to Carmel Valley for a much needed visit with my parents. It had been way too long since we had traveled all the way up north-as opposed to meeting them in SLO-and it was wonderful, relaxing, and fun. I will post pictures soon, but the short story is that Bennett did great in the car (7 hours each way without a single gripe! Better than I can say for myself), and great during the day (he pulled out every vocab. word he has for his Grammy, Bumpa, and Mombo). He struggled with sleep, however, which is normal for him when we go out of town. This brings me to our date. Yesterday morning little B. and are were both pretty tired from a few nights in a row of interrupted sleep, so I wanted to do something a little more mellow than our usual park/play date/etc. So we headed over to the marketplace where we usually walk around the pond to look for ducks before shopping at Trader Joe's or Bennett's favorite store. Lately Bennett has become more and more interested in visiting with people as we pass by the coffee shop than he is in duck hunting. So today, we stopped in and I grabbed a drink, and as we headed over to the duck-filled waters, I asked Bennett if he would like to sit for a minute with all the other coffee and tea drinkers. He thought this was a brilliant idea (sit on a grown-up chair, say "hi" to the passers-by, and look for dogs and tiny birds-what almost two-year old could pass this up?). So we sat down for what I thought would be a couple of minutes, and those minutes turned into a half of an hour. It was so nice to just sit, chat, and look at the birds, dogs, and people with my little guy. I think it was our first real date, so I needed to write about it.

Here's a quick video of Bennett dancing while Bumpa plays his guitar.

Fall, My Butt!!!

It it so stinkin hot. 99 degrees in Long Beach a couple of days ago, 96 today. I'm dying a slow, sweaty death during my favorite season. The scarves and hats are snug in their boxes, and my house is the temperature of that nice, cozy fire I wish I was sitting by.

I am melting here, people.

A Family First

We went to Disneyland today! It was on a whim, actually. Rob recently filled in as AV director at the Disneyland Hotel, and free passes to the park was one of the perks :). It came at the perfect time, because this was an insanely busy work week for Rob. He and Bennett saw each other briefly on Sunday before Rob headed off to work, and then not again until B . and I visited the hotel on Wednesday. The hours were so long that Rob stayed at (his) Hilton two nights in a row. So, Friday kicked off our much needed long weekend, and Rob thought it would be fun to start with a trip to the happiest place on earth. He was right, we had so much fun!

In line for Bennett's first ride-he was beside himself.

The first ride: The Rockets


He loved it! Until...


it was time to get off. There were tears at the end of every ride.



Don't ask me why my eyes are crossed in this picture.

He had to ride the carousel, even though these are everywhere down here :)


Remember when you were little and you thought you were
actually driving?

We watched the band for awhile, they were excellent.

My best attempt at a self photo of the three of us. I think we look tired and a little stoned.

The park was decorated for the season. I love pumpkins, so it made me happy.

Getting sleepy. Just one quick parade before we go.

Bennett loves a parade!

We couldn't leave without a true family photo.

Highlights:
1. We went to Disneyland!
2. Decent weather (for Anaheim)
3. Bennett's huge smiles, "wow's!," and "woh's!"
4. Getting in for free (maybe I'm cheap, but it was pretty nice)
5. Discovering that B. is not at all afraid of heights-
you never know until you try
6. When he saw "the teacups" and shouted, "Tea!"
7. The moment each ride ended B. said "more"
8. Eating a churro-enough said.
9. Bennett laughing and singing the whole way home

Lowlights:
1. Traumatizing the little guy by putting him on Alice in Wonderland.
I think I was overly-excited, and forgot that this ride is loud,
dark, and scary-for this age-whoops. Poor baby was
saying "All done! All done!" Torture.
2. The melt-downs after each ride :)

Thanks for a great day, boys (and you too, Elodie)!

Elodie Grace Markley

Kelly alluded briefly to the origin of her name, so I'll fill you all in on the whole story. I'm not sure if anybody knows this about us, but Kelly and I have a little hobby. That's right, we dabble a bit in the musical arts. Well, one such artist that we particularly enjoy is a bright young fellow by the name David Mead. As musicians are wont to do, Mr. Mead has written a song. In fact, he's written quite a few, but let's just focus on one song in particular.

Before we knew that Bennett was a HE, Kelly and I spent quite a few nights finding the perfect name for our child. For those of you out there without kids, let me tell you: this is no small feat. Not only do the mommy and daddy have to agree, but they are committing this child to that name for the REST OF THEIR LIFE. That's a long time!

I digress; among our girl names was Elodie. At the time I did not care for this name. Great song, cool musician, not my kid's name. As soon as we found Bennett, we fell in love with the name and stopped looking for boy names. This time around, Kelly tried to sneak Elodie back into the mix. This time, it floored me. When I heard the name again, I absolutely knew this would be our child's name. I was so sure, in fact, that I refused to consider boy's names. Even before our 20-week ultrasound, I was convinced we were having a girl and that her name was Elodie.

Follow this link for a short sample of the song (just give it a second, the song will play on it's own). Sorry I can't get you all a longer version, but if you find yourself near Long Beach, stop in and I'll play it for you.

O.k., Here's the Big News...

But first, I have to start with a story.

A couple of months ago, I brought up a name that I had fallen in love with when I was pregnant with Bennett. Rob said, "I love it, that's her name, and we are having a girl." I was shocked for two reasons: 1. Rob totally dismissed this name a couple of years ago (to that he responded, "that's because we were having a boy; this time it's a girl." That brings me to my second point. When Rob is this sure about something, I have never known him (in 9 years!) to be wrong. So since then, the two of us have been sure that we are having a girl.

The last time I saw my doctor, she reminded me that ultrasound results (boy/girl) are not 100% correct. She told me that if it is a girl, they are more easily certain than they are for boys, because with boys the technicians can mistake shadows of the ambilical cord for his little part. So today, we went in for our big ultrasound. We asked the technician to write boy or girl down on a card for us. She said that she was at least 80% sure what the baby was, because of the shadows she saw; she said she it was pretty clear what "was there." So we left the building, card in hand (still had not looked at it), and we were shocked that, after being so convinced that it was a girl, we were probably having a boy . We went out to breakfast, and pulled out the card, only to be shocked again, to see the "It's a...." followed by a:

GIRL!!!

We are so thrilled!!! So, after all the build up about her name, here it is:

Elodie Grace Markley

Every time I said her name out loud today (which was a lot) Bennett would get a big smile on his face and say "El-lo-lee" with all his might. So cute! We told him that Elodie (pronounced L-O-D) is his baby sister's name, the baby he saw a picture of (ultrasound). He then would just stare at us, and try to play along that he thoroughly understood what the heck we were talking about. Even cuter.

We are so thankful for our little baby girl, and it is exciting to be able to pray for her now, knowing who she is-thanks, God! We can't wait to meet her!

If this is wrong, I don't want to be right.

It has been recently brought to my attention that scooters may be, shall we say, less than manly. You know what, I'm okay with that. Please consider my rebuttal: