This is Monterey in all her glory.

Papa's Farm!

Tractor!

Words Woodland can say:

tractor
tunnel
mama
dada
baby
no!
hi
bye bye
happy
monterey
go
hooray
car
choo choo
nana
papa
ball
moo
cow
me
see it


...and more each day!

Scrap Yarn Bird Nester

This is so cool

Cooper Molera Garden

If you follow the scent of sheep or better yet ask any toddler and they can tell you about this special garden that transports you back to the 1800's. Tucked away behind adobe walls across the street from the Monterey Transit Station is the Cooper Molera Gardens and gift shop. It is such a special place that many people on the peninsula don't know about. I think they are keeping it a secret. Here is Woody just hanging out on this sunny winter day with our dear friends from the momslunchgroup. The moms enjoyed their coffees and the babes got to chase chickens.

Isn't this a cute diaper?

No I am not getting any ideas about baby girls!!! As I have said before, I have not decided on future children, I am happy with my one and only right now. I have this diaper because my sister just gave me a big bag of cloth diapers and gorgeous wool covers to sell for her on the internet. I am keeping some of the large purple fuzzi bunz because in both donny and my opinions, purple is for boys too. This pink diaper is pretty cute so Woodland might be wearing it if it doesnt sell soon!

My boy can run!

It's official! He likes to run. Woodland has been quite mobile for awhile but I think he just realized he can RUN! This is from yesterday at the park while we were waiting to catch the bus and today we went to the aquarium and it's a good thing I parked the stroller, cuz he was off and running!

Fun with Friends

We met Sarah and the kids over in Santa Cruz for a day of fun! We froze on the beach so we headed to a park near downtown Santa Cruz. It was much warmer there and we had a good time.

Dont you think my husband looks like Obama?

I seriously think so.

Earthquakes!

I have felt 3 earthquakes recently. In fact, I just felt one just a few minutes ago. I looked it up and it was a 3.5. The fault line near King City has been going crazy.

http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Maps/121-37.html

Its funny how you just know its an earthquake. It kind of reminds me of a car going by with really loud music and you can just feel it. After the earthquake I just get a bit excited and filled with worry that the big one is coming. Remind again of why I live in California?

FREE Play Kitchen!

We scored a free play kitchen! Today was big item trash pick up day for our apartments and one of a family left this plastic play kitchen out. It was another summery day so I took the opportunity to clean off our front porch, put up some baby gates, and let Woody have some outside free play time. Donny laughed at me because I literrally spotted this play kitchen out of the corner of my eye around a corner on a cul-da-sac while we were driving Donny to work. I yelled, "Turn Around, FREE Play Kitchen!!! It is in pretty good condition and after we gave it a good hose down, it was play ready!

Parents Place!

We just love Parent's Place. Today we took advantage of their lovely garden and library as it was my turn to watch the kiddos for our babysitting swap. Augustus' mommy got to go to an appointment toddler free! We had a good time playing together even though Augustus almost missed the play date as he mostly slept through it.

Toy Lending Library

Woodland I met our friends Susana, Anika and grandma over at the Salinas toy lending library this morning. The sun was shining and it was even hot out! We got there an hour before the library opened so Woody could have one last hurrah on his beloved pedal-less tricycle. He has gotten very talented at going pretty fast while manuevering tight corners. Although we had to bring back the tricycle that we have enjoyed for 2 months now, he left with some really cool toys. The best of which were this Ball Pit and a real auto-harp.

Next for Knitting

I am going to use some extra yarn to make Woody a new knit toy birdie! I will post a pic of it in the works as well as finished.

San Francisco

What a great weekend! We couldn't have picked a nicer weekend to go to SF. It was so beautiful out that we decided to skip the museum and spend the day strolling about Union Square and then enjoying the awesome kids park, carousel and drum circle in Golden Gate Park. We spent the night in the youth Hostel near Union Square in a private family room and it included a light breakfast of bagels, oj and coffee. We all agreed that our favorite part of the weekend was taking the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf. It was very exciting!

Sweaters!

Here are the sweaters I am knitting up for Woodland and myself. This is from a pattern called Hooded Tunic from
Knitting Pure and Simple. Woody's is
finished and he wears it everyday and mine is nearly done. I am on my last skein of yarn and am crossing
my fingers that I will have enough!

Woody got trains!

I found a good price on Craiglist for a big set of Thomas Trains that I couldn't resist. While I'd rather have the Whittle trains, this set was a whole lot cheaper. I was worried that Woodland wouldn't play with it as he is still so young but he LOVES it and so do mom and dad. In fact, for the first time ever he threw a major fit when we said it was bath time as he was happily engineering 12 trains down the track and he did NOT like being interrupted.

Recipes for gardening fun!

This beautiful illustration is from here.


This coming Spring I plan to garden quite a bit. Because we live on Fort Ord, we do not trust that the soil is not contaminated so Donny agreed to help me build planter boxes so we can grow tomatoes, lettuce, onions, green beans and whatever else we'd like. I recently cut open a turban pumpkin and the seeds are drying out on the counter. I hope we will be able to grow this gorgeous squash. While googling around looking for fun hand games to keep Woody entertained until Dad got home I found a cute website that had some great gardening ideas.

Egg Shell Garden
Egg shells
Seeds
Potting soil
Egg carton
Container to mix soil
Popsicle sticks (optional)

Fill egg shells with moist potting soil. Set them in egg carton. Plant several seeds in each shell. You may want to plant a variety of seeds, or all the same type. Try beans, tomatoes, radish, marigold, and cantaloupe. Use popsicle sticks to mark the different kinds of seeds. Place in a bright window. Keep just barely moist. When transplanting outdoors, gently crush eggshell and plant the entire thing.

Yay grow your own avocado tree!
Ripe avocado pit
3 toothpicks
Glass of water

Stick toothpicks into middle of pit, spacing so that pit can balance inside the rim of the glass, large end down. Fill glass with enough water to cover bottom of pit. Place in warm spot-not in direct sun. Replace water as it evaporates.
When a good root system has formed (1-3 months) pot seed in 6 inch pot filled with potting soil. Move plant to sunny location. Keep moist, but not soggy.

The girl next door

We are so lucky to have great neighbor friends. Woodland loves playing with his sweet little friend pictured here, she is 2 months older and wiser and is such a sweetie pie. Woodland also enjoys being a gardeners helper to her big brother and very soon will be discussing front loaders and other tractor variety with him on a regular basis.

MMMM!

Woody tries mashed potatoes again but this time he likes them! Soon after this moment they were hucked bowl and all onto the floor. (Doesn't the plant behind him look like he has some crazy dreadlocks?)

Look at my boys!

I just had to include this picture in my blog. From the moment Woodland was born I began hearing, "He looks just like Donny!" Looking back at this picture, I have to agree. Woody was just hours old here. Such sweetness. Alhtough we didn't plan to have Woodland at the hospital, I ended up having a great experience and I got the natural birth that I wanted.

Happy New Year!

On New Years day we took the short trip down to beautiful Big Sur. Unfortunately, a lot of the trails are closed right now due to the big fire over the summer which brought weeks of smoky skies all the way to Monterey. After a short and easy stroll we reached the cliffs at Julia Pfeiffer State Park. Donny, Woody and I enjoyed the breathtaking vistas that people come from all over the world to glimpse. It was warm and sunny as you can see and the view was amazing. After this we stopped at one of our favorite places, the Big Sur River Inn where we had a picnic by the river.

Woody 1st haircut

Woody got his first haircut and boy did he hate it! It might be the last haircut he gets for a very long time. I personally loved his cute hair but my mom really wanted to take him to the place that has the cars and gives you a little award certificate with a lock of the child's hair as a keepsake. Woody thought it was the worst thing ever although he does look pretty cute with his new big boy look and he did get over it pretty quick. Yes, he still has curls!!!