Busy

So the meetup group? Sure is keepin' me busy!! I know that it only has to be what I put into it, but I am not one to do things halfway (except for most crafts) and am really trying to have a variety of events for people to participate in. Plus it gets Cora and I out of the house and on our adventures. 


I am not complaining. It doesn't feel overwhelming or anything yet. It is just more work than I thought is would be at the beginning. Especially now that I am really getting to know a few of the women. 


We are starting a book study next week. Nancy Leigh DeMoss's Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free. And I am leading it. It just sort of happened like that. One girl suggested the book, but she does not want to be the leader. So it falls on me since the site is "mine" and I've done all the organizing. I've never led anything like this before (only participated), but I had a wonderful teacher so am actually pretty excited about it. 


It just feels so strange to be truly living life here. Sometimes I feel like we are on a perpetual vacation by the sea, but here I am getting to know new friends and participating in a community more than ever before.

9 Months

I know it has been a while since I posted. More about that later. For now I just wanted to get some more cutie patootie pictures on here of my 9-month-old. I can't believe it! She's getting so big.

She is completely content to not be crawling yet. She just loves to sit on her little play area (as evidenced below) and doesn't seem to be concerned that she can't go anywhere. She just rolls around if she feels like going somewhere else, but even that is not that often. 


She loves when you make stuffed animals have voices and thinks it's even funnier when they give her kisses. 


She loves to go places. If we sit at home all day long, she will be much fussier than if we get out and go for a walk or to a park or the beach (she loves the beach).


She especially likes the baby swings at the park and will just lounge and stare sleepily around while being lightly swung.


She is such a little person. I treasure every day with her.

bed head

first time with her toes in the sand

Monterey County Fair

So I will admit that nothing beats the State Fair in MN, but we found a good substitute in the Monterey County Fair. We took Cora on the Friday before Labor Day. It is so much more fun to go to things like that with little ones! I loved showing her all of the sights and watching for her reactions to everything. We found an ice cream stand that made the best soft serve I have ever had, I think. I was going to ask them where they are the rest of the year, but I thought maybe that was something I didn't need to know. 


We found the agriculture building with free samples of deep fried artichokes and talked to a funny old lady wearing a hat with NRA in glittery letters across the front (my dad would be proud). I should have taken more pictures but I just got some of Cora with the animals. She got to see chickens, cows, bunnies, and horses. 

first time touching a cow

what a nice cow. Gramma's favorite - Brown Swiss

this calf had just been born that day!

Cora's cow from the front

wow, chickens!

Gramma Comes To The Ocean

At the end of August my momma flew (if you know my mother, you know that is pretty impressive - not her favorite thing) into San Jose to visit with us for a week. And what a wonderful week it was! 


Cora is so much more interactive now that it was very fun for me to watch them together. Cora was a little scared in the beginning, but after a day or so, she was reading books on Gramma's lap and playing with toys.


We didn't do anything wild and crazy, which made the time all that much more special, because we were able to just enjoy spending our days how Cora and I usually do. Sean had a few days off during the time she was here, and we went to the aquarium and the farmer's market and on lots of walks.


It made me more sad than ever before that we are so far apart. Not that I want to live in Minnesota, but I was just thinking how my heart hurts a little that family is not closer to see Cora grow older. But as a friend once said, it just makes the visit all that much sweeter.