Oregon Coast Trip

We decided to get away from the heat wave the first week of July, so we took a little impromptu road trip down the Oregon Coast! We'll definitely have to do it again and see the rest of the coast as we only made it halfway down. I realized as we stopped to take the first pictures that I had left my memory card in the computer at home... so all of these pictures are from my phone.

I think this claim might be a little iffy... there was no explanation whatsoever. 

Just me frying on the World's Largest Frying Pan, no big deal.

Henry was nervous about me taking a picture of "Jake the Alligator Man". Totally creepy.

The beach! Not your regular sunny, California beach, mind you. This is Oregon people!

I just loved Geneva's face here. I guess the reluctance to be in family photos has begun.

We fell in love with the Ergo on this trip. Borrowed this one from a friend, then bought an identical one when we got home!

Geneva was totally freaked out by this eel (I can't imagine why). She's actually just starting to cry in this picture.

Geneva loved the tiny Seaside Aquarium!

 They had a bunch of seals in this tiny area, it was so sad. I thought seals needed more room. But on the plus side, we got to get really close to them. Geneva was amazed.

Rockin' the shades, eatin' a seatbelt.

Geneva was so happy just strolling around the boardwalk in Seaside. It's fun having a baby that makes everyone smile. It was also super windy, so the video is a bit loud.

Geneva's first carousel ride. She was ambivalent - but it was right before nap time.

The Astoria Column. We made it to the top! But it wasn't really that hard...

View from the top of the column

My amazing, overpriced chocolate shake at the Chocolate Cafe in Cannon Beach. We didn't take pictures of our crepes because they were NOT amazing and also overpriced.

I think Geneva is resisting sitting here at one of the beautiful stops along Hwy 101.

Arm shot family photo! Geneva, once again, not interested.

Tillamook cheese factory! This was one of our favorite stops. Free cheese samples! Interesting little museum, but I wish there was more about the science of cheese-making.

Geneva perfected the two-handed assisted walk on this trip.

Another day at the beach in hoodies.

And some video of the beach. 

Geneva is always very interested in the camera.

She was a little bit hesitant about the sand.

Playing with mom's hair.

Exploring Portland. Geneva liked touching this seal.

I made Henry pose for this shot, but he chose the facial expression. Not exactly sure what he was going for. Probably "Nurrrr.... here look at me posing for this shot you wanted." This is at the International Rose Test Garden by the way. it was really cool to see all of the varieties.

Thanks to all of our friends who gave us recommendations. We had a great time! I'm just glad we live so close so we can go back and see everything we missed.

12 months!

This is the best blanket shot I could get this month! Geneva is not a big fan of laying down on her back for any length of time. Her favorite things to do are play with her walker toy and have mom and dad read her books. She loves walking along furniture and walking holding hands, but she's not too good at balancing on her own yet, so walking independently may be a little way off. She has recently started pointing at things (especially in books), giving slobbery kisses, and waving bye-bye. It has just been so fun to watch her learn and grow over this past year! Geneva weighs 18 lb. 6 oz. (10th percentile), and is 29.8 inches long (75th percentile).

Walking

Family portrait on Father's Day

Daddy and daughter

Cute baby

Mid-scoot. It's hard to get a true smile picture, but I think I caught one here!

Birthday presents! She does have some more toys from a garage sale that I have yet to clean... but I made that doll! Maybe I'll write a blog post on that sometime.

Playing with some new toys. That green ball is in mid-air, being tossed to the side because she was done with it.

Riding in a wagon at a birthday party! She loved it, even though you can't tell from this picture

Walking at the park. She also loves to scoot at the park, which means she gets bark all over her legs.

Geneva now stands when she wakes up from her naps. She won't make any noise, she'll just stand there waiting and watching the door until I happen to check on her.

Waving bye bye!

Reading books.

Making cute faces

At the beach! She shrieked at first, but she ended up liking the water.

Well, I think this will be the last of the month posts. I'll still post lots of pictures of Geneva (because she's the most exciting thing in our life), but I'll try to talk about other things too! Feel free to comment so I feel validated with the effort :)

Birthday Party!

We had a little party for Geneva yesterday and it was great fun! Here are some pictures to prove it.

Pre-party backyard

Kids mask-making and bubbles.
Birthday sign (made by sis-in-law) that will probably be at every birthday party.

I got an idea from a blog to print out oversized pictures of the birthday girl! Fun, easy, cheap ($1.65) decorations!

Another 18x24 print. As soon as we put these up in the kitchen, Geneva kept pointing to them. It seemed like she was saying, "Hey! That's me!"

The food

The table

Birthday girl!

This is the only picture I took during the party (except cake pics, of course).

Geneva and her cake. I wasn't actually too surprised that she didn't get messy. She's just our dainty little girl.

Birthday song, Dad blowing out the candle, and a taste of frosting.

Geneva eating her cake like a lady. She just used a pincer grasp to eat little bits of cake. Ladies don't get messy.

11 months

For this month's blanket shot, you get a series...

This month Geneva has gotten more and more wiggly. She is still bum-scooting, but she is now bum-scooting everywhere! She also loves pulling herself up on everything. She recently learned how to sit down, and at first it was in major slow motion, which was pretty funny to watch. It was like an intense crunch workout. Geneva finally got her first tooth this month! She was noticeably more fussy and liked to chew on her hands a lot. The first one to come in was the lower left, followed by the lower right a week or so later. Here's a picture to prove it!

Geneva is such a little chatterbox. She says "mama" and "dada", but it's really just mostly babbling those sounds at us. She makes this funny squinty eye smiley face. It almost looks like a fake smile, but it sure is cute. She loves to read and play with books.

Introductory Calculus. She'll move on to the real stuff after her birthday, don't worry.

She loves her peekabo books.

Reading with daddy. She's a pro at turning pages, we just have to get her to slow down enough so we can read the story. I guess she's a speed reader.

Learning Russian - she found a dictionary just her size :)

 

 A more complicated bum-scoot. 

Standing and sitting.

Clapping while swinging.

Baby playdate

Just hanging out in the pantry.

Swinging!

This is how Geneva rides in swings. We've tried and tried to get her to sit back, but she insists this is better. Maybe it's more like flying?

Fancy new toy (for free via Craigslist)

Yogurt mustache

In the slow-motion sitting phase. She held this for a few seconds, now her thighs are ripped!