Katie is big into "sniffing" things.  

I took out minced garlic from the fridge yesterday....."Katie sniff it!"

I bought a tomato...."Katie sniff it!"

I guess this is partially because of me.  Whenever I use a spice or cut into a vegetable or fruit, I ask if she wants to smell it.  She says, "Yeah."  Then I say, "Okay.  Take a sniff."

So, Daddy sits down the other day to put on his sneakers.

"Katie sniff it!"

He holds out his sneaker.  She takes three or four little sniffs, looks up and says....

"Smells like poopy".

Go fly a kite, will ya?

Howdy.  Last week was pretty busy.

I had a Mom's Night out.  Huzbend pulled some overtime at work.  We had a playground play-date with our preschool buddies.  We payed a visit to the farm to learn about bees and pick yummy raspberries.  And, to top it off on Friday, we went to the playground and followed that up by eating Katie's favorite food, "tikka".

Saturday we went out and got ourselves a new camera.  Is niiiiiiiiiicccccce.  The camera we selected came in various hip colors.  We decided upon a very posh poopy brown color.

Sunday we drove on down to REI for some post-birthday spending.  Katie had a good time playing with her pal, "OWL".

"OWL" likes to go for rides in boats.

After our trip to REI, Huzbend decided that we were going to fly a kite.  

Tired of watching him try to get the kite to stay in the air, Katie wanted to give it a try.  Since she couldn't run fast enough to keep the kite in the air, here was the solution that we came up with.......

We took turns.

Right before we left, a good gust of wind blew in and Katie was finally able to fly the kite herself.

I am sorry to say that after our happy fun time kite flying, our afternoon quickly took a turn for the worse.

On the drive home, Katie puked up her entire lunch.  She then began to leak snot out her nose and sneeze uncontrollably.  That was followed by wheezing and lots of crying.  We believe it was an allergic reaction to a small nugget of Clif bar she had eaten a half an hour before we left.

We got her home and she fell asleep.  As she slept, she broke out in hives and her cheeks turned a splotchy bright red.

All in all, the reaction lasted about 4 hours.

Called the doc today.  They're going to get her an appointment with an allergist ASAP so that we can pinpoint what might have caused that reaction.  Our guess is either nuts or soy - both of which were in abundance in that Clif bar.  I'll keep you posted.

Hello Thomas. Hello Picnic.

This is Thomas.

Steam comes out his head and he

goes in tunnels and on bridges.

This is Percy.  He's green.

This is Daddy.  He's tall.

He likes trains too.

This is Mommy and Me on a Train Car.

Thomas pushed and pulled the

Train Cars.

A clown gave me a sticker.

Mommy read on the paper that I'm a Jr. Engineer.

I can go on adventures with Thomas.

Sir Topham Hatt signed it.

It's got my name on it.

This is Daddy and me.  We are waiting to go

on a bus.  We got to take a bus to go see Thomas.

It was yellow.

The next day we went to a picnic.

I got to play with lots of toys. I got

to eat bagel and fruit.

I ride in cars.

Bouncy.  Bouncy.

Jump.

I rode a whale.

I got to ride in an animal train too.

Before we went home on the bus we watched

motorcycles jump up in the air.  They were loud.

Mommy pick-uh up!

By Katie

Where to start?

I guess I'll just start at the beginning.

I got the news that my Grandma had died on Monday, the 7th and headed back east to attend the services.

I conquered my first red-eye flight.  Seattle to New York.  Take off was at 6:40pm and landing was at 6:30am. Did I mention that I find it just about impossible to sleep on a plane?  Yeah. I guess the best part of that whole ordeal was the in-flight trivia game.  I won three times, and my high score was yet to be beaten by landing.  I am SO cool.

I took the subway and train from the airport to my hometown in CT.  The Parental Units were not too thrilled about that.  They knife people in the subway all the time, you know. 

New York City smells like piss.  If I made a list of all the major cities that I have ever visited (including a few in other foreign-like countries) and ranked them by pleasantness of sight/smell/sound, New York City would come in last. That's all I have to say about that.

Although it was not the best of reasons for us getting together, it was really great to see all my relatives.  Some haven't changed a bit, some have changed too much.  I miss you all and send you big hugs.

In the rush of getting to CT and attending all the funeral "events", I guess I really didn't have time to think of what had actually happened.  It wasn't until the graveside service was over and I had to lay a rose on the coffin that it hit me.  Damn rose.  It got me last time too.  I'd like to thank my Uncle Bri for helping to unleash the torrent of tears.  One hug and I was balling my brains out.

After a post-funeral family laugh-fest at a local restaurant, I hopped on a shuttle van back to the airport.  Shuttle van, you ask?  Why not the subway/train plan again, you ask?  Um.  I, uh love my parents very much and always do as they ask of me.

My flight got into Seattle at 12 midnight and I hopped on another shuttle van back to my house.  I got in at about 1:30.  Finally got to sleep at about 2am and then woke up at 3:30.

You see, Huzbend had a bike ride from Seattle to Portland.  Yes.  Seattle TO Portland.  200 somethin' miles.  In one day.  Crazy F'er.

Katie was quite irate that we had to wake her at 4am to drop Daddy off at the start line.  For a good 15 minutes, she was yelling at us that she wanted to, "GET BACK IN CRIIIIIIIIIIBBBBBB!!!!"

Huzbend, and his riding buddy, were on their way.  Katie and I drove back home to pack, which is just about totally impossible to do with a tired and cranky almost-2 year old.  We ended up leaving the house to drive down to Portland at about 1pm.  I had to make one rest stop as I thought I was going to pass out at the wheel because of sleep deprivation.  A glass of lemonade, a banana muffin, and some cookies helped me get back on the road.

 Katie and I managed our way to the finish by about 6pm.  We were able to cheer him on and watch him cross over the finish line.  Boy, he looked tired and totally hot.  Not hot as in, like, warm.  I mean HOT.  Sigh.  Sorry, was that T.M.I.?  Just because we've been married, like, 2,000 years doesn't meant I can't get all googly-eyed over my husband.

Post-race, Huzbend polished off two large pieces of pizza while Katie ran through some water fountains.  She was completely soaked, but have no fear, Super Mommy is here!  I had a change of clothes for her.  I ALWAYS have a change of clothes for her.

Exhaustion was quickly setting in: Huzbend, from his ride.  Katie, from waking up so early. Me, from not sleeping in forever.   We ended up sleeping about 12 hours.  Katie refused to sleep in the hotel crib and so, she slept in between us.

The next day was spent at the Oregon Zoo.  A good time was had by all.

We've reached Monday, the 14th.

On this day, I realized that we lost our digital camera.  It must have been dropped somewhere in the zoo.  I called lost and found, but no luck.  It was gone.  Damn it all.  We had pics of the bike ride finish, Katie destroying the hotel room, and lots of cute zoo pics on there.  My only consolation was that the person that might have it will have to pay for batteries for the thing 'cause they don't have the charger.

On Tuesday, Katie tackle-hugged a 1 year old at Library Story Time.  Ooops.  I tell ya, our little girl just has TOO much love to give.

Thursday was Huzbends birthday.  We went to a pizza joint for dinner.  I got him a new rain jacket for cycling.  Oh, I'd like to take this moment to say "Thank You" to all the present givers.  You know he'll totally forget to say it to you.

The rest of the time this week has been spent doing the following things:

researching digital cameras

deciding where to have Katie's birthday party

finishing my mulching project

attending multiple community kiddie events

exercising

and dealing with Katie's weird-ass toddler mood swings

Plans for this weekend include:

a visit to Thomas the Tank Engine

a voyage out to The Company Picnic

most likely a trip to REI for Post-Birthday shopping

maybe the purchase of a new camera

Before signing off, I'd like to send a "Belated Happy Birthday" to Uncle Junior.  I'd also like to send a couple of "Happy Birthdays" to my sis and to Dad C.  Hope you have good ones.

Gotta go.  I've got to obsess a bit more about birthday party planning.

DOODY!!!!

Our holiday weekend was a good one.

Katie and I participated in our home town's Kiddie Parade on the Fourth of July.  When we got to the end of the route, we kicked back with Daddy and Monkey to take in the "official" parade.

There were lot's of fire trucks, tractors, politicians, and corny floats.  Katie had a really good time pointing and dancing. She had such a good time that she ended up falling asleep on our walk home and then decided not to take a nap later in the afternoon.  That kinda put the kibosh on our firework viewing plans, as she got a wee bit cranky at about 8pm that night.  Oh well.  There's always next year.

Katie marches during her first parade appearance.

Come back here, fire truck!

We didn't do much on Saturday.  Katie and I went out to do some shopping in the morning, while Huzbend went out for a training ride.  After the longest Katie-Nap EVER (4 hours), the afternoon was spent eating at a restaurant and running around a playground.

That night during bathtime, Huzbend and I had our first bathtub poopy experience.  Yeah.  It was pretty gross.  Luckily, I was the one giving the bath.  I had to take Katie into the shower while Huzbend had to clean the tub and toys.  Katie was pretty upset that her toys were floating in water that had yucky poopy in it.  She cried.

There was one good thing that came out of it though.  While we were trying to figure out what to do, we sat Katie down on her potty.  I guess she wasn't done yet, because she pooped in her potty.

Sunday, we took a trip to a beach.  But, first we had to hike there.  Hiking with a toddler is, uh, challenging...... 

Katie takes a water break.

Note:  We had only been walking 5 minutes.

Katie in "deep mud".

I don't know.

She just calls it that.

Let's see if you can guess.

What's wrong with this picture????

Wheeeeee!

"Wha's dis stuff?"

And now, the weekend is over.  Katie's shoes are STILL completely soaked and so it was going to be a relaxing "Day At Home".  

I decided to break out the art supplies.  These pictures speak for themselves. 

Pictures by Mommy. Narration provided by Katie.

Daddy Katie go hiking.

Wormie dirty.

Wormie in cup.

Where are you, Wormie?

Bye-Bye, Wormie.

Katie color.

Katie play with kids in water.

Katie alllll wet.

Katie ride.  Wheeeeee.

Katie throw.