Day in "Hach-happy"

We went to Tehachapi earlier today--partly to visit somewhere that you might need a jacket and partly to go apple picking. Tehachapi is a town maybe an hour or so away, but a little higher elevation--one of their claims to fame is that they have four seasons... and technically they do... it only takes minimal snow to pass off as a winter season around here.

Here's a video of Trevor apple picking. He thought it was pretty dang fun and ended up picking about five pounds or so. I think I'm expected to make pie this afternoon. And maybe apple cake later in the week. And maybe apple crisp. And maybe apple sauce. We have a lot of apples now. I was trying to get him to say "Tehachapi" because he says it pretty dang cute, as in the title.
































Two apples!



















Trying out the goods.

While we were out there we went to the Harvest Fair and Oktoberfest events going on downtown. It worked out good because the fair was at a park with exciting play equipment and the Oktoberfest area was next to some train tracks so Trevor got to see a real train. One of the funniest things was watching him with this person in a chicken suit. Usually he finds these kind of things to be very suspicious and does not want much to do with them. But today after he was the chicken suited person, he hopped out of his chair, telling me "I be right back" and then went on to follow the chicken (at least 4-5 feet behind) all around the area. When the chicken would wave to others, he'd wave too. If the chicken stopped and turned around, he'd stop and wait to see what was next. I think he'd make a top notch chicken suit guy assistant.















Picking apples and trailing chickens is pretty hard work, so he's asleep now. And I suppose it's time for me to go make something out of apples.

Grandma and Grandpa came to Town

And it was pretty exciting. He took no time to remember that they are good at following directions and playing all sorts of games. They brought him a 'bug gun' to try out--it's pretty much this little vacuum gun that sucks the bugs up into a plastic compartment with a magnifying glass. He was able to catch some of the dumber slower bugs with it, but doesn't seem to have any interest in examining them quite yet. So for now the gun is more fun to use on hair, noses, elbows, hands, etc. instead of the bugs.
























It was close enough to Grandpa Steve's birthday for him to request a surprise party. So Grandma and Trevor made a cake and we had some people over for spaghetti (grandpa and Trev's favorite). Trevor helped Grandma pick out some presents for Grandpa and it turned out that some wont fit in his suitcase... so Trevor was gracious enough to hold on to them for him.

























You might have noticed the matching shirts--they've had them for a while now but when Grandpa Steve wore it this time Trevor was truly in awe that they had the same outfits. Instead of Trevor wearing a 'grandpa shirt', he pointed out that grandpa's is "like Trevor's shirt!".

Mike and Alisha Party

Well... more like we went over to Mike and Alisha's for dessert, but if there's ice cream or cake Trev seems to declare it a 'party'. We went over for a visit last night and I managed to remember to take a camera.


















Alisha teaching Trevor how to "chill" in the hammock

















Last time we were over, Alisha taught Trevor how to use one of those little back rubbing things to rub her back. This time Trevor found out that it works on his back too, so no more free back rubs from Trevor. He seemed to inherit my back rubbing gene because he loved it.

Other than back rubs and cake, we've been coming to the end of summer break. I start back at the schools bright and early tomorrow. John is in Ohio for the first half of this week, so the next couple of days will be extra busy for me. Trevor has moved to one of the toddler rooms at daycare and seems to find it pretty fun--you can tell by how messy he gets the days that he goes. He has learned some new songs that he has been singing at home--we'll have to ask what they are because all we can make out is "fish swim swim fish swim swim (etc.) and then BUBBLE! Pop!" Sometimes he throws in a crocodile too... so I'm not sure if that's part of the song or an embellishment. His language seems to be booming the past few months, so it's a lot of fun hearing him talk about things, sing, and interact in new ways.

Aaron visit, development of office and baby

We had our anatomy scan this morning for babywithnoname and everything checked out with good proportions, size and location. Here's a few ultrasound shots--the first is of his head, the second is proof of his manhood.






















And we got our cabinets in last week for the office nook... very pretty... I've been excitedly moving things into them today. As you can tell, they still need the desk tops, so you'll have to use your imaginations a bit.



























And our last recent event was Dr. Aaron Garnett (aka "Dr. Wiskas") coming to visit. He and a friend were meeting in Lone Pine to climb Mt. Whitney, and he stayed with us the day before and day after. Trevor found Aaron to be hil-a-rious and we took some pictures as proof of Trevor now liking Aaron.

okay, Trev does look a little concerned in the second picture, but he was having fun during non picture times :)

Alaska Week Two

As my mom pointed out, week one pictures made Alaska look all nice and sunny. Week two pictures are mostly indoors or cloudy, so you can get a more accurate picture of the summer they are stuck with (but we greatly appreciated) this year. Grandma Linda took Trev to the Build-A-Bear store at the mall while my dad and John were out golfing. The goal was to get a teddy bear for the teddy bear picnic later in the week. But Trevor was instantly drawn in by the magnetic powers of elephants.

Grandma Linda suggested that he could get an elephant, but that the elephant would need a (bear) friend too. So Trevor dutifully went and found elephant another elephant to be friends with. He got over the elephant shortly and ended up with a bear and got a kick out of giving the lady hearts and watching the stuffing machine. The most exciting part was that bear got a little manly blue stroller too (Grandma drew the line at bear getting a car however). He walked bear around the mall for the next hour or so and was completely exhausted by the time we hit the car.



















Turns out that my parents' new place is within walking distance to five or more coffee shops(they both did not know or care about this). So John and I got to go out in the mornings for our fancy vacation coffee and we took Trev along some of the time. He was very excited to have his very own coffee (milk in a small coffee cup) and seems to be on the road to paying way too much for beverages in his future.















We made a trip to the zoo where Trevor got to say "hi" to all of the animals without them running away (the usual response when he tries this with birds and cats at home). He found the wolf exhibit fascinating, as he was sure that the three little pigs must live in the little cache. And the bears were also very interesting because one of them pooed. At the end out of all the stuffed animals at the gift shop, he was drawn to a blue snake... there are no snakes at the zoo and I'm not sure where blue snakes live, but I'm sure it's nowhere near AK. But never the less, the snake is pretty cool.



We went to he Teddy Bear Picnic with his new bear and stroller. It was a really good turn out for an almost rainy day. Trev seemed to enjoy the play-doh booth the most and was very suspicious about the life sized bears walking around. However, he was compelled to follow it during the teddy bear parade.




























Our trip ended with a longer than necessary flight back because the airport is dumb and the people that work there are dumb. But I digress. We had to take a later flight that stopped in San Francisco instead of going directly to LAX. I think I was the main person put out though--Trevor and John both seemed content with spending the extra hour waits looking at airplanes and talking about how they fly. Trevor was also very impressed by riding a bus to get to our car parking. He's still very interested in flying in airplanes and the first week back he kept asking if we were going on one again--and when we say no, not today his answer is always "Maybe later".

Back from Alaska

And we have tons of pictures to show for it... so I might make a couple of posts. First big news (that has nothing to do with our trip) is that our little baby girl has blossomed into a little baby boy. So I am preparing myself to be severely outnumbered by John and his army of mini-Johns.

Here's a video of Trevor "helping" with the whole packing process. He was pretty excited about the suitcases and eager to stuff things in too.



Early in the visit Trev, mom and I went downtown for a concert in the park... Trev liked the music, and was also pretty impressed by all the wildlife on the sidewalk.















Introducing Moose to Bear















Playing with Grandma Linda at the concert

We went to some friends of my dad's for the 4th of July--they have a place near Big Lake which is near an area that sells fireworks.















John and Trev in the paddle boat--loved it--suckered grandpa into going out with him after he wore John out.















The boys lighting off fireworks--there ended up being some bonus fireworks set off when they lit the firepit because Trev would grab unlit ones and throw them on in too...















Trevor holding his first sparkler















Trevor hiding behind George--after lighting a loud whistling one he decided maybe they were not okay after all.

And to conclude week one of Alaska, Trevor throwing pop-its...

Baby Duex

So the king may be dethroned by the end of the year... we're pregnant again and due late November, so that puts me at about 15 weeks. The doctor thinks it's looking like it might be a girl, but he's not really feeling confident enough to declare it so quite yet. Here's a picture of an ultrasound taken last week:

Trevor is pretty unaware at this point. When I tell him there's a baby in my tummy he either humors me by nodding his head and pointing or shakes his head no because obviously I've gone a little nuts. His biggest association for 'baby' is 'baby cries' and 'baby sleeping, quiet, shhhh'. So he seems to have an already pretty accurate view of things.

In the meantime I'm on summer break right now and trying to catch up on all sorts of things I've been feeling behind at home with the past couple months. It's getting warm, but not to the point of agony or anything yet. Trevor has taken to the kiddie pool again and I'm meaning to get him out to try the outdoor one on base pretty soon. He also has become quite skilled at using a hose, thanks to his thoughtful Grandpa Steve during their last visit. We've been having fun with him--he's very talkative and turning into a real little boy. It's hard to picture him as a baby now.

Last week I took Trevor in for his two year appointment, so we have his latest stats:

Height: 35 inches (between 50th and 75th percentile)

Weight: 28 lbs (just under 50th percentile)

Head Circumference: 20 inches (between the 90th and 95th percentiles)

So his head continues to be his most distinguishing trait : ) I was noticing the other day how it seems easier for him to wear his sunglasses on his waist than on his head... we're expecting great things...