Super Thomas

Here is a video of Thomas in his awesome new cape from Bob, Emily and Ezra. Thomas immediately loved it and likes to pretend he is flying around when he wears it. He also likes to jump off edges into his Dad's arms as you can see! ;)

Thomas's birthday and aftermath

On Thomas's 2nd Birthday we went into the city to meet up with Paul, Lindsay, their 9 month old Olivia, Colin and his girlfriend Sarah, and Doug. They were in town for the day so we met them at their hotel and then went to the Ferry Building to wander around and have brunch. We had a great time seeing everyone and it was great to meet Sarah as well. Olivia was a perfect angel just chilling in her stroller and it reminded me how times change! Thomas was all over the place at brunch and is definitely more high maintenance than he used to be at meal times. We had a great time and can't wait to see them all again. The following weekend we threw Thomas is first Bday party and we had a great time. A bunch of neighbors and friends came out and we had lots of food and fun. I, of course, totally forgot to take pictures. We took a few after the party of him playing with some of his toys. This year he got lots of books, trucks, trains, paints, play-doh, a stroller for his lion, a super hero Thomas cape, and other awesome things. He was SO tired after his party that Shem had to wake him up the next morning and he said it's the most tired he has ever seen him. Glad we waited until this year to have a party for him because he really had a great time and so did we.

My garden did grow....sort of

My lack of discussing my garden must seem like it was an utter failure. I do have pictures but it's been a long time since I took them so I am not posting them. The garden was a partial success this year. The lettuce went nuts. We had so many delicious salads with bibb lettuce and a red leaf lettuce that I can't remember the name of. Right at the end of the lettuce cycle, I got pregnant. Then I was sick and didn't give two sh#@ts about the garden. Shem finished eating the lettuce and I sort of stopped taking care of things. The basil flourished and we ate that. The peppers were a total failure although the one pepper plant seems like it's trying to make a come back currently. There were two issues this summer. The first was that our summer was the coldest ever. We have had only 3 days over 90 degrees which is usually more like 30-40 days over 90. So the peppers failed. The kale grew really really nicely as did the beets but both were affected by pests. The beet greens eventually were so eaten up by pests that I pulled the beets earlier than I wanted but we still got a bunch of small ones that we ate. The kale slowly got eaten by pests so we didn't have any of that and I just pulled it. The green beans started off doing really well, and then again I think partially because of the weather, they didn't grow much. I have harvested a couple handfuls of them and fed them to Thomas. They are getting a second wind right now so we may get more. The tomatoes are also sort of sad because of the lack of sun and heat this summer. We have gotten some sweet 100's which have been really good and our beefsteak tomatoes are finally turning red right now due to a hot couple of days we are finally having. One problem is that we had a few ripen and I was about to pick them, but Oscar found them first and he eats them off of the vine. In fact, I am looking at him right now and his head is covered in the tell tale yellow that indicates he's been trying to get the tomatoes off the vine. I have learned a lot though about gardening from my season and had some success, definitely more than I thought I would. Oh, I forgot that I grew zucchini too and that was a piece of cake and we got a bunch of zucchini. Unfortunately things came in when I was hardly eating so I didn't enjoy a lot of the harvest this year but I enjoyed learning about what does well, what is easy to grow, and what is not so easy to grow. I am going to look into some fall crops next now that I am back into food!

Bolinas time

We took another trip to the beach to Bolinas to visit Doug. It was a cold day but we still wanted to hang at the beach a bit. Thomas loves being at the beach and likes drawing in the sand. Doug's new place is really cool and we are glad he is sticking around the area. Thomas loves hanging out with his Uncle Doug and finally calls him Doug instead of "Duh-Duh." Doug's neighbors are really cool and have chickens so they gave us some fresh eggs that were super tasty. We can't wait to go back, hopefully when it's a little warmer this time.

Thomas's fort

Shem built a fort for Thomas out of old boxes I had in the garage. You can't see from this video but it's actually pretty bit and now has a tunnel that Shem added too. Thomas LOVES it and they colored all over it and put stickers on it as well. Thomas has pillows in there and likes to go read his books in there. He usually goes through the door but this day he saw Oscar jump in through a window so he decided to copy him.

South Dakota 4th of July trip

Better late than never but here are the pictures from Thomas and my trip to South Dakota for a week over the 4th. I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I wanted to since I was always chasing around Thomas, but there are some good ones. Thomas loved spending time with his Bapa and Gma (gng-gng is how he says it!). He followed them ALL over the house and loved so many of the toys my Mom unearthed for him that were once mine or Doug's. We missed Shem and Doug but they went to an AA convention in San Antonia together and had a great time. Being in South Dakota makes me want to live there! Everything is so close, the pool, the zoo, friends!!!! It's so fun and easy to be there. We saw so much family and so many friends and had the best time. I kept extending my trip because there was so much to do. Thomas had the time of his life and is already looking forward to his next trip out to PA to visit the other side of the family!