Baby's first 1/2 camping trip

Seth left for Guam on Saturday, but I haven't been alone with myself yet because my family is camping out in Belfair which is not far away. So Niki and I have been surrounded by people who are intent on entertaining us, or at least they are intent on entertaining her, and I have been entertained inadvertently. Here are my sisters trying to make Niki smile. My dad bribed Niki to sit on his lap with the cookie monster. She still hadn't learned that Grandpa is not a monster at this point. We thought she had a fear of facial hair (she also reacts that way to Seth's dad), but as you can see above and below, she seems to be getting over it.

In fact, she seemed to be fascinated with facial features in general,

both those of the family members

and her own.

She was also fascinated by new foods and even ate a tiny crumb of garlic bread (not that whole piece that Laura has; just a crumb), though she spat out the bit of carrot we tried to mash for her. She borrowed Grandpa's hat too (I forgot her hat, as well as a change of clothes, chairs, and many other useful things. I did not pack well.) and found that she liked hats. I tried one on her today, and she actually laughed.

We had a lot of fun, Niki got a lot of attention, and I got good comfort and distraction.

Belfair State Park is beautiful place. I wish I had thought to bring old shoes or my swimsuit. It was a perfect day for swimming, and the water was almost warm. We did dabble Niki's toes in the water, but my Dad has those pictures. I'll have to wait until they get home to get those pictures.

Growing up so fast!

I always knew she was ahead of the pack -- unusually alert and all that -- but this is ridiculous! I mean, her taste in books is really advanced for her age. Just look at her devour that book.

And her taste in beverages too. No rice cereal with formula for this girl. She goes straight to the good stuff. This picture sequence would make a good commercial -- You're never too young for your first Henry Weinhard. (That's orange cream soda for those of you who can't read the label. We do not approve of underage drinking here.)

And just look at her explain deep philosophical matters to Grandma. But for the most part, she's engaged in all the things babies are supposed to be doing, like charming grandparents. And enthralling parents. And just generally being cute.

Behold, she rolleth over.

Actually, you can't behold because we haven't managed to capture her rolling over on camera yet. But she did it, and I have witnesses. We were over at my folks' place to welcome my brother home from college, and the whole family saw her do it. Funny how babies attract a cheering section for the simplest things.

Other milestones we are celebrating are first attempt at rice cereal with juice (plain rice cereal didn't interest her) which is also first attempted meal in a highchair: first and second pictures in a laundry basket:

And first picture with Aunty Desiree who was scared to hold her last time for fear of breaking her:

photos -- in random order

Some photos from the last camera download.

Niki with Pake Jaap (pronounced Pah-kuh Yahp) over the 4th. We went down to see Seth's folks, who were much impressed with how much Annika has grown. She was a little intimidated by Seth's father at first (after all, he's a big, bald man), but Niki and Pake Jaap soon developed an accord. Must be the matching haircuts. :)

And then this past weekend, we took her to the zoo for the first time. Neither Seth nor I had ever been to the Woodland Park Zoo. It's a pretty cool zoo, and they do a lot to keep it feeling like a park -- lots of trees and irregular walkways. Very little pavement. Niki wasn't very interested in the animals (probably didn't even know they were there), but she did get some admiration of her own from the people on the bus (we used public transportation; yea, us!) and a couple of old ladies at the zoo.

Some pictures of our trip:

Komodo Dragon -- Woodland Park Zoo (yes, I took this picture myself. pretty cool, huh?)

Egyptian Tortoise -- 3 inches long, full grown, world's smallest

Seth and Annika

Jennifer and Annika in the African village exhibit

The lions -- we were about four feet away

In the butterfuly exhibit -- they actually hold still for you to take a picture

Seth, trying to get Annika to smile at the camera

The much vaunted Chilean flamingos -- ooohh!

What's a trip to the zoo without a souvenir? Baby's first safari hat.

Just checking in.

Hey, everybody. Just briefly, before Seth and I head off to the grocery store (he's on leave this week. I hardly know what to do with myself!). Rather than steal my mother-in-law's thunder by posting her picture, I'm going to direct you to her blog to see the first ever picture of Annika smiling at the camera: http://leapingcalf.blogspot.com/.

This is Annika's latest habit (yes, she is suddenly Annika. I think she finally got big enough for the name. She's got more personality now that she's a full four months old.): sucking on things.

It's amazing how strong she is. There's no resisting that patient pull. Her other new talents include very nearly scootching up on her knees and very nearly rolling over, but since we need to replace the batteries in our camera, I have no pictures of these feats.

And here is a picture of Annika smiling at Daddy, which is very nearly smiling at the camera, if you count the fact that Daddy was holding the camera out to one side nearly at arms' length and distracting the baby while he took it. The camera was in sight; she just wasn't looking at it. But hey, she's cute in any picture, so who's complaining.

Happy Fourth, everybody.