More random pictures.

Jesse be nimble, Jesse be quick.

Hi, Mom.

"Okay, Grandpa. I think I've had enough."

Over, under, around, and through.

"It's extreme strollering."

"Go ahead and pet the rock, Niki."
It tickles, part 1.

It tickles, part 2.

It tickles, part 3.

"Hey, it leaves my hands free. It's more efficient that way."

"Mommy, the kitty's almost looking at me."

"Tapioca with a spoon, and I did it all by myself."

"But I want to pick up the gnome with the pickax."

"Is this a popsicle. I'm not so sure."

home for the weekend (lots of photos)

It's Memorial Day, the universal date for the onset of summerlike weather! Summerlike weather we have. The sun is out, the air is warm, and hats are becoming a must. Pity Boo Boo doesn't like hats. Sometimes we have to take drastic measures. Seth is out to sea again, so Boo Boo and I spent the past week at my parents' house on the dry side of Washington. I was a little worried that Boo Boo would be upset by the new surroundings. She's at that point where she wants to cling to me at the slightest provocation. But she went right in and made herself at home. I guess she's also at that point when she'll explore anything and everything.

She made the acquaintance of all my parents' house and garden gnomes. She decided that she liked Aunty Abby and Abby's boyfriend Jesse very much. Jesse is an expert peek-a-boo player and face maker, two talents Boo Boo greatly appreciates. As for Jesse, well, who doesn't appreciate my Boo Boo? She's adorable. She made herself familiar with the cat, and by the end of the week, the cat would actually come downstairs and be in the same room with Boo Boo. Moments like this only happened when Boo Boo climbed the stairs and caught kitty unaware. She investigated everything in the backyard. My parents have a lot of weird stuff in their yard. That's a ceramic baseball that she's holding. Doesn't she look all-American?On Saturday, we went up to Mt Ranier, but the roads to the observatories were closed by logjams, so we hiked up to Silver Falls instead. Now I realize that there were other people on the hike besides Boo Boo, but I'm only posting pictures of her because arranging pictures on blogger has gotten really annoying lately.

This is Boo Boo discovering that she can climb over logs. This is Boo Boo discovering that sitting in the snow will give you a wet pants. This is Boo Boo discovering that hemlock (state tree, not related to the ancient poison to the best of my knowledge) branches tickle. This is Boo Boo walking alongside Grandpa. This is Boo Boo navigating one of the trickier parts of the trail with Grandpa's assistance. There were trees down everywhere and snow on the trail. We ended up carrying both stroller and Boo Boo for most of the hike. She didn't seem to mind.

On Memorial Day, The Washington Lady and The Hawaiian Chieftain, two ambassador ships, docked in Pasco on the Columbia River. Now its not every day that a person gets to see a real sailing ship, so we all loaded in Mom and Dad's vehicle and went down and saw them. There they are.
It was the crew's day off, so there weren't any tours. All we could really do was see the boats from from water's edge, so that's what we did. Then we went home. Below is Boo Boo with Aunty Laura. Note the trademark hair twirl. If you hold my daughter, she will play with your hair.

And finally, we closed the weekend with a traditional bbq at my aunt and uncle's house. This is Boo Boo and Grandma discovering maple seed whirligigs. Boo Boo was actually able to appreciate the fact that the whirligigs could fly, but she also put them in her mouth.

And that was our Memorial Day weekend. Summer has officially begun. Hope everyone has a happy and safe one.

Interesting Day.

Can a person have a playdate all by herself? I mean, if you're at the location where the playdate is scheduled at the time when it's scheduled, and if you do the activities that were scheduled, have you had a playdate even though no one else showed up? That's what happened to me today. I made my first concerted effort to get out of the house and meet people since Seth has joined the Navy, and I got skunked. Niki and I were the only people there.

We were supposed to go splash in the fountains. Bremerton has this wonderful Harborside Park, right by the ferry terminal, that has huge fountains shaped vaguely like the sail of a submarine. Water trickles constantly down the sides and erupts out of the tops at random moments. The bases are in wading pools about three inches deep.



It's the perfect place to play on a hot summer day, and we do actually get some hot summer days around here. Today was almost a hot summer day. The sun came out around 11:00, the temperature jumped above 60 F, and the clouds vanished. It seemed like a perfect day to go wading.

So Niki and I showed up at 11:45 for an 11:00 playdate, and no one was there. I know we were a little late, but playdates usually last longer than 45 minutes. Not a soul in sight. At least, no mommies with pre-school aged kids. There were plenty of shipyard workers, ferry tourists, and Navy people passing through, but no moms, no kids, no strollers, just us. That's a really weird feeling. So we played by ourselves.

We had lunch. Niki pushed the stroller around in the big open places.
And we considered the possibility of maybe getting in the cold water that only reached up to her "cankles." ("Cankles" are the chubby little rolls that infants and toddlers have above their ankles. You can ask my friend Michelle if you don't believe me.) Actually, I put her feet in the water once, and she wouldn't have anything to do with it after that, not even when I was in the water first. I don't know if the water or the cold made her uncertain, but she wasn't going in.

Very uncertain. I've no idea where the other mommas were. I know I was at the right place. I think I had the right time. I was even expecting to run into an old acquaintance or two. Oh well, maybe next time.

In other news, Niki is continuing her conquest of climbing. This little incident happened yesterday. She got up on the chair all by herself. I think she wanted to know what I was doing. (I think I was writing letters). Then she wanted to help. By that point, I hadn't really processed that she was standing on a chair. I was thinking more about what she was doing to the papers on my table. This little pose shows exactly how fearless she is. Now I've started putting the chairs upside down when she's wandering around on her own. Next time she might manage to land on her head! As my mom says, "Kids. They'll give you grey hairs."

This is primarily for Seth, who missed the Mother's Day picnic. Love you, Love.

Portrait of a growing child.

We took these pictures over the days leading up to Mother's Day. The beach pictures are at Kitsap Memorial State Park. They're pretty much self-explanatory. Enjoy.