Anna's birthday extraordinaire

Anna's birthday! We had so much fun getting gifts for Anna this year. We go a little crazy... probably because we never buy her gifts or clothes or toys the rest of the year besides Christmas. The majority of the time I am content to let her use the hand me down everythings that people give us that already made it through one or two or three child cycles.

But Anna's birthday gives Richard and I an excuse to be impractical and whimsical and indulgent. Hey, it only comes once a year.

We got her a pink kitchen, a pink tricycle, and a half dozen things that she didn't need and that don't matter...like an inflatable penguin...that is now sitting in our backyard...and a foam clock face (don't ask me, but Target is a brilliant marketer).

It had to be an Elmo party! We had it at the splash park by our house. No organized games, no door prizes for every attendee, no bags of treats to take home, no pinata, just pizza and cupcakes and a nice park on a nice day! Easy and fun.

I made the cupcakes myself, but I bought cupcake toppers because, you guessed it, it was easier and the kids didn't care.

it was so fun to have Anna's first friend party (the first of many I think--approximately 17 more). She had a good time and so did her guests I think!

Anna is like her daddy-- she prefers ice cream to almost any other treat in the world. Even this Elmo cupcake doesn't hold a candle to a fudgesicle in Anna's eyes. But Anna did deign to eat the frosting from the cupcake as a boon to the baker!

There is no better place we could have gone than the zoo on Anna's birthday. We wanted to show her the elephants, the zebras, the apes, and the Dave Matthews (by coincidence, we happened to be at the zoo at the precise hour when Dave Matthews was warming up for his gig that night playing for the Microsoft summer interns. We did see him and I was hassled by a guard for pausing too long to get a peak).

Anna loved the zoo. She especially loved the fact that at the Elephant pen there was a carrot floating in the water pond.

and there were caves to climb in.

my beautiful little 2 year old!

Here she is pointing to that floating carrot and holding what proved to be one of the great toy successes of the day-- a small plastic Elmo, just perfect for a little hand.

reverently approaching a stone lion. The lion was "asleep" and required "tip-toeing."

Happy Birthday my beautiful, beautiful girl!

(photos by Allismiles!)

A perfect random Seattle Day

Ahh Seattle. I thought we had an understanding. I would only make it through the dreary winter on the absolute promise of a perfect summer. Promise...broken.
More often than not these days, I find myself cursing this blasted Seattle summer (only 83 minutes above 80 degrees, a mere 10 hours above 75 degrees). I wonder why I even bother to shower or do my hair at all in the morning. And there is a part of me that wants to stick my tongue out at the sun (who is hiding most of the time), as if to say "I didn't want to be friends with you anyway!"

But occasionally, the sun does shine in Seattle. And when it does...it truly...is...PERFECT. We had such a day some weeks back. We wandered down to the Seattle Center...with no plan in particular (a plan to have no plan is possibly the best plan of all). We found ourselves in the middle of the Northwest Folklife Festival-- surrounded by hippies, gentle bluegrass music, good food, and a brilliant sunny day.
I know that Richard's heaven could probably be summed up by this: sunshine, sunglasses, and your little girl sipping a sprite on your lap.
we found ourselves a spot by the giant water fountain, and enjoyed a lunch together while Anna played with the fountain-- or while the fountain played with her!

Anna is drawn to water like a moth to a flame.

Again and again she would run toward the spraying water...
only to run away the moment she felt the tiniest bit of mist.

toward the water....

and away from the water

So although it doesn't happen often, those perfect sunny days (like that day) have sustained me, and continue to sustain me through this February like summer.

San Francisco!

Over the Fourth of July, we go to spend some time with some of our favorite people-- the Nate, Lydia, and Jakob Fishers of the world. A memory of our past life in Provo and its glory days. I love how Richard is peeking out from behind the couch like a mischevious child. I took this shot myself. I have to say that both Lydia and Nate doubted that it could be done, but they underestimated my talent for self-portraits!

Anna spent most of the vacation blissfully pushing around her "strawberry stroller" which was fortuitously left at our house after a brother and his family visited (thanks Joe, Julia, and girls)

The highlight for Richard was definitely the Golden Gate bridge, which we walked across on the Fourth of July. I think the highlight for me was all the food-- from the pancake breakfast on the Fourth, to the Fisher's "paleo" inspired meals, to the perfect nectarine we shared on the peer. And of course, the junk food that makes its way into all of our vacations.

Richard and Ann listening intently during a turtle demonstration at the Acquarium of the Bay (thanks Lydia for hooking us up).

touching a "real turtle"

touching a starfish! Anna still talks about all the starfish she saw that day.

the San Francisco skyline from the boat out to Alcatraz. We got unusually nice weather during our stay. San Francisco, like Seattle, likes to think that summer is overrated and gives it little to no play. But the sun shone for us!

Anna came back from the Acquarium with a new friend-- Aurora the turtle (shown here peaking her head up in the foreground).

after the boat ride, Anna was so good as to fall asleep...

at Alcatraz. I love the juxtoposition of this photo-- innocent baby, asleep, in front of the main gates at one of the most notorious prisons in history.

Alcatraz was cooler than fiction, and from what I can tell, inspired many fictitional accounts of prison life.

like the 3 prisoners who dug a tunnel from their rooms into these utility hallways and then carved soap heads and left them in their beds to give them a little extra time to get away (Shawshank redemption, anyone?). They were never heard from again. The tour guides explain that they probably died during their swim off the island, and thus, that no one has successfully escaped from Alcatraz.

(Ahem-- if you escape, and no one hears from you, and no body is found-- thats a pretty successful attempt to me!)

they really were some tiny cells....

the view from Alcatraz that most of the prisoners could see from the exercise yard-- including Al Capone (in for tax evasion!)

you can't see it very well, but in the back left corner of the cell, there is a hole where one of the three prisoners escaped. They used spoons they stole from the cafeteria to dig their tunnell.

And of course, the place I absolutely had to go on Peir 39 was the candy shop. The sea lions were great, the view was spectacular, the clam chowder in a soudough breadbowl was a must, but to get pounds and pounds of every variety salt water taffy ever created (Richard compared it to Bertie Botts every flavor beans-- Nate Fisher got at least two duds)? That was where I wanted to see. Lets just say I was like a kid in a candy store!

Why I hate composting reason # GoogleInfinity!

This. Is why. I hate. Composting. Stupid bag. Breaks. On the way. To the garbage can.

Not my shoes (sorry Richard)

Won't be composting again soon (sorry Seattle)

26.2 in 4:04

Marathon #6. June 25th, 2011. Seattle Rock-n-roll.

Time: 4:04

Rating for first 13 miles: 7 out of 10

Rating for second 13 miles: 4 (nothing but out-n-backs and very little rock'n-roll)

Playlist favorite: Adele

I would like to say that this a picture of me when I was younger, dreaming of being a marathon runner someday, but a picture of me would include some chocolate brownies, a bit of pudge, and a stack of library books-- with no running shoes in sight! I have high hopes for Anna though. She likes to try on my shoes a lot-- and most of my shoes are past or current running shoes.

Just add Rachael! (Check out that race number!)

All ready to go. Made Richard wake up at 5:00 am to take this picture.

26 miles...no big deal. You know where to find me any given Saturday. I have to give Kudos to my 5 am training buddies-- Jen and Carrie.

Marathon #6. I felt pretty good. I would like to do a marathon in between each child, and many after. But I will never do the Seattle Rock n roll again. The St. George marathon calls to me...

But I had this waiting for me at the finish line! And do you know what I thought about pretty much the entire course? What I was going to eat when I got home! So here was the menu I planned for myself for the entire day:

Lunch: Kidd Valley-- Swiss Mushroom burger, garlic fries, oreo milk shake

Dinner: Pizza-- buffalo chicken, and Gorgonzola with sauteed mushrooms and roasted red pepper.

Dessert: Chocolate chip pizzookies ala mode! (Heaven)

Racing outfit: $30. Marathon registration: $130. The abiltiy to eat whatever I want every Saturday night for three months because I was burning thousands of calories...Priceless!

Stack of bears