O's 1st Camping Trip

Writing "name" in the sand with Dada. O announced that she was writing "mama, dada, O, Grace, Socks," and she was very proud. She kept saying "write name."

Helping Daddy put the tent stakes in the ground
Unrolling the air mattress
Taking her own picture :)

For Mother's Day, I requested that we go on a camping trip. We almost didn't go due to bad weather, Sophie Socks, and a full campground. However, the weather improved, my mom promised to take care of Sophie Socks (and I knew she'd take even better care of her than I would, although I'll always feel bad about leaving her), and the campground had cancellations. We had a great time (until we got the bad news about Sophie). O really enjoyed helping set up the tent, and she loved running on the beach and playing in the water. She also really liked "writing" our names in the sand.

We're Going Camping!

Elliott and I are so excited to be planning O's 1st camping trip! We've been talking about one day taking our kids camping since long before O was born, so we can't wait. We've finally found a free weekend, and we hope the weather will cooperate. We're taking the easy way out by going to a campground where we can set up our tent right next to our car. Does anyone have any advice on camping with a toddler? I'm trying to figure out what kind of food to take, so any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!

More New Experiences

Here are a few more pics from our recent vacation/business trip to California. I filled up a 9 gig card, so you can imagine how many pictures I actually have. Its a little ridiculous, but this mama loves to take pictures! Admiring a mammoth skeleton at the Page Museum after learning about the La Brea Tar Pits.

Learning about ancient animals at the Page Museum.

The turtles at the Page Museum.
Throwing rocks in the water at the beach in Malibu.

Driving the caboose on the Circus Train at Disneyland.

Hard at Work

This is one of my favorite pictures from our trip so far. O got to work as soon as we got to the hotel. She sat at the desk writing on a notepad for more than 20 minutes. She was very proud of her work. Look at that concentration!

Baby B' Air

O is wearing the Baby B'Air while sitting with Mama while eating dried strawberries. Yummy!

Since O is only 19 months old, we did not have to buy a separate air plane ticket for her. However, we wanted her to be as safe as possible while on the flight. We decided to buy the Baby B' Air. The Baby B'Air is a vest that O wears, and it has a loop which attaches to our seatbelt. It should protect her from flying around the plane in the event of heavy turbulence or a crash. Luckily, we did not have the opportunity to test the effectiveness, and we hope that we won't find out how well it works on the way home! Its comfortable for O to wear, and it is well-made.

Traveling with a Toddler

We are having a great time in California this week. O did a great job while traveling 2400 miles across the country. After we got off the plane, a man stopped my mom and told her that O was an "incredibly well-behaved baby." I was proud when she told me. I think we were just lucky (and I hope we'll be just as lucky on the way home :) ! I planned lots of activities to keep O entertained during our loooooooong day of traveling. O loved playing with playdoh, playing with her busy book, playing with stickers, looking at her "I Spy"bottle, making monk-monk dance, reading books, eating snacks, etc.
One of O's favorite in-flight activity was pretending to brush her teeth with her fabric busy book. The book also has buttons to button, a belt to fasten, and a fork, spoon, and knife to put at a place setting. O just loves to brush her teeth!
O enjoyed looking at her "I Spy" bottle.
Making Monk-monk dance
O was very excited to see that we had playdoh. She and her daddy made bracelets, necklaces, balls, and cubes.