Exhausted... but in a good way!

Chase and I needed a change of scenery so we set out for Pasadena yesterday. It started with wanting to visit Kare Kare and thank her for the awesome pool and evolved into a play date at Downs Park with Christine and Andrew.

I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to Chase's napping... he tends to fall asleep in the car but only for brief periods of time. He held strong for the first half of the trip but after an impromptu pit stop to fix my windshield wiper*, I looked in my rear view mirror to see this:

As suspected, the lull of the car was too much for him!

*Driving 75 65 miles per hour on route 70 in the rain and watching your windshield wiper flip from parallel to perpendicular = terrifying!

2 of my most favorite people in the world...

Andrew is SO his parents child... both Christine and Greg cannot keep their eyes open for the camera! This apple did not fall far!

We enjoyed an empty playground for a while... especially lovely when you have 2 very unsteady little ones!




Will you just look at how big he is getting? Unreal...

The playground started to get busy (re: older kids = nervous mom) so we set off looking for more adventure.... and found this pier. There were 2 older gentlemen fishing off the end of the pier... well all they had caught in 3 hours was a 4 inch fish... does that even count?


Oh the hair... I love the hair. Leo... no high and tight for my kid!

After the pier we walked the trails and found a small beach. This was very exciting for me because Chase had never set foot on sand, let alone dipped his toes in water!

The sand was no big deal to him... just another fun way to get dirty! The water though... it intrigued him... he kept reaching his arms out to get to it but always being sure to pull his body back so he wouldn't actually touch it.

My little ponderer.


Could be a new favorite mother/son picture!


Oh and Christine is pregnant with the next addition to the T family! More and more babies... I love it!


This kid is fearless... I mean downright fearless. Climbs on anything he can grip, runs as fast as his unsteady legs can carry him and in this particular instance, nose dove into the water... splashed sand and salt water everywhere and then wrote it off like it was no big thing!

One thing that I love about this age is the intensity of their play. When Chase decides he wants to be doing something, hell or high water can't distract him.

I caught a picture of both of them deep in play.


After we said goodbye to Christine and Andrew, Chase and I headed to Adam's office.

Kare Kare had another surprise waiting for Chase when we got there... bubbles!

Chase showing Kare Kare how he likes bubbles blown on his belly... a little gym phenomenon!

Not only did Kare Kare get Chase regular bubbles... she got the big magic wand of bubbles!

... and set it up right there in the office!


The best thing about this picture... you might notice there is no end to the wand in Kare Kare's hand... well it went flying after a particularly forceful wave ;~)

I see some fun on the deck in our future!

On the way home I prayed I would see this in my rear view mirror:

which obviously I did... but only for 35 minutes. Like I said... the car puts him to sleep but fails to keep him asleep! Oh well, he handled the rest of the ride home pretty well and it was TOTALLY worth it!

I see more road trips in our future!

Oh yeah... then I came home to make dinner... with no recipe. Just a basic idea of what I wanted to make... and the hope I could pull it off.

And I did it! It wasn't tremendous or anything... I am still learning how and when to use spices but it was pretty darn good! Pretty good for no recipe!

Chase really liked it too...

Oh and he is pretty much feeding himself exclusively now... where did my baby go?