The Coy Pond

I love walking up and down this hill

Let me calculate the angle of descent...I think the slope is 7 degrees.

I think I will get really close to the camera and attack it.

The playground has a rock garden too. I love rocks.

Here is my castle. Would you like to see it?

Do I have to lead you by the nose? Come on in!

 A few weeks ago on our trip to Bishop, we took a side trip up to Mammoth. Christy wanted a creative morning so I dropped her off with her accoutrements (folding chair, bug spray, snacks, and painting supplies) up at Lake Mary (up above Mammoth) so she could paint. And paint she did creating a materpiece. She will have to post about that in a different post. While she was soaking up some creative energy I took the boy down to Mammoth in search of a playground/park. And I found one with one of those modern art/new age castles for the kids to play in (or possibly for a philosopher to come up with some deep thoughts… the view was enough to inspire some).  Jarrod played in the playground for about an hour before getting bored, and then tried playing in the castles and running up/down the hill. It is amazing that Jarrod can be entertained with walking up and down a hill for so long. Anyway while he was having fun, I snapped a few pics of him. Hope you enjoy.

Our little boy loves my new flash

I knew he was special, but I didn't realize how special he was.

I think most of you know that I am a photo geek. So when I dropped my flash at the Oregon zoo a few months ago, and it stopped working,  I was really sad. My birthday was the perfect justification for an upgrade, so I spent a $200 on Ebay for my new flash, and so far it is working perfectly. The first couple of days that I had it,  I started playing with it. Jarrod fell in love with it, and wanted it really badly. He is reaching for it in this picture. When we got our new computer we bought the new Photoshop Elements for playing with photos and neither of us had used it before. Christy has been using photoshop for years, and she saw a lens flare on one of the menus. For you non-photo geeks, a lens flare is generally something that you want to avoid in your photos, since it means a bad reflection is hitting your lens (like the sun reflecting off of a chrome bumper right in your eyes). But the more we played with the lens flare, the funnier it looked. I think it is no surprise that our little boy has been wanting our phone for months. I thought he just wanted to talk to me, but maybe he was trying to “phone home”.

I want to pick some strawberries!

Look daddy! I've got one!

They are really good...but I guess you can share.

Sorry daddy, this one is mine. Thanks mommy!

Who needs strawberries, when you've got yogurt!

Hah! I know that yogurt on my face makes me look extra dignified, despite what anyone tells me.

Yogurt and strawberry fields; it was a good day!

In late March, Christy and I were aching to go on a road trip. We love going to Santa Barbara and before Jarrod was born we went there a couple times a year for mini road trips. Oxnard was always on the way, and we were excited for strawberries one year and stopped there to pick them up. There are tons of fields in Oxnard, but we realized pretty quickly after stopping to pick up fresh grown strawberries there, that they weren’t all that good. Quite a disappointment.

Anyway we decided we would love some fresh picked strawberries and we didn’t want to go all the way to Oxnard, especially for subpar strawberries. So Tanaka Farms in Irvine was the answer. We couldn’t really take Jarrod to the U-pick lot, since he was too little and squirmy, but the kids play area with kid size strawberry pots were perfect. And the strawberries, were amazing!

We thought we were so smart big hats, and SPF 50 sunscreen to spare. Christy and Jarrod had a great time. Jarrod explored every pot and hay bail (my goodness, I didn’t realize that a baby could love a hose so much), and Christy enjoyed watching him and eating fresh strawberries. I was the miserable one, lubing myself with so much sunscreen that it got in my eyes. I could hardly see, and my eyes kept watering. I had fun taking some photos of Jarrod, though. Anyway hope you enjoy.

Here are a few pictures from Jarrod’s First Birthday Party… only 1 month and 20 days late. Hey, what do you want? It was hard enough throwing a party at that point! EVERYTHING was making me sick!

Anyway, these are just a few, but I wanted to get them posted…

"I'm not sure about this..."

Eva wanted to show Jarrod how to play with one of her very favorite toys. So sweet!

1 month and 20 days ago, Jarrod still used his tongue for balance while he walked. It's not so necessary these days...

I just learned my 3-year-old point and shoot camera has video capabilities. Not the highest quality to be sure, but… good enough!! :)

Beware this and future posts in which I will post videos of Jarrod doing very normal stuff, just because I can. Because he completely cracks me up all the time. Please excuse my PJs. Yes, they are the flannel teddy bear pair I mentioned a couple months ago. I haven’t posted anything about them because I need to remake them in a smaller size first. (Hard to believe, I overestimated my size?!)

Anyway, behold Jarrod, playing with toys, then noticing me!

We had no idea how Jarrod would do with his presents, but he did great! He really enjoyed the paper, and I helped him a lot less than I thought I would. He didn’t really understand the concept of putting down an unwrapped gift in order to open another one, but thankfully he was easily distracted. :)

“YES!! I have always wanted one of these!!
Thanks Mommy and Daddy!”

“I think it will be easiest to open this one
if I climb on top of it first!”

“Yay! Different paper! Thanks Grammy!”

“Please don’t take my Christmas paper away from me.
It’s my favorite present of the whole bunch!”

“I was totally right, climbing on this one
was the best idea ever! I love this present!

…You mean there’s something inside it too? SWEET!”

“Why are you staring? Is there something on my face?”

“Mmmm… donuts!”

“Awesome! Books are always my favorite presents!”

****

Some recent Jarrod stats, from/since his 9-month appointment:
30 inches (that was actually our measurement)
23.6 pounds (that was more than two weeks ago, so I’m thinking we’re closer to 24 by now)
19 inches around his gigantic noggin

He’s a healthy, happy, sweet baby who just got his first tooth today! He’s pulling himself up to stand all the time, and has been cruising for awhile but really got the hang of it tonight. All of a sudden he took off and was zooming around at top speed, giggling all the while.

He is such a joy, we just love him so much!! What a special gift we have received!

We hope you all had a great Christmas!

Earlier this year, Bruce’s parents retired to Bishop, CA. For those of you who don’t know where that is, it’s in the Owens Valley on the east side of the Sierras, about 40 or so miles south of Mammoth. It’s breathtaking scenery in every direction, with the Sierras on one side and the White Mountains on the other.

We were there for Thanksgiving. Bruce’s brother and his family made the trip from Northern California, so Jarrod got to hang out with his twin cousins for a few days.

It was interesting seeing how big the milestones are between our almost-9-month-old and their almost-1-year-olds. Jarrod is a funny baby; when he’s alone, he is very bouncy and loud, and likes being the center of attention. However, if there are other children around, he is often quite calm. He grabs a toy and plays quietly while he constantly observes the action around him. He watches other babies and soaks it all in.

When we first got to Bishop, Jarrod was just getting pretty good at commando crawling. Now he has absolutely mastered it and is starting to do some actual real crawling, too! Not only that, but today (for the first time ever), Jarrod pulled himself up to a stand. Now he’s done it a few times, although he has fallen a few times as well. :)

In a short period of time with his cousins, he learned so much! It is just so very cool watching these changes and developments taking place right before my eyes!

We went to Mammoth on Friday, mostly to let Jarrod see snow for the first time.

“Seriously, mom! I’m warm enough!”

He was not totally loving the snow.

Jarrod also got some quality time with a dog. He absolutely loves animals, so this was quite special.

“I have a cool blue block!”

“Here, doggy! You can have my blue block!”

“I don’t get it, daddy. She doesn’t want the block. Oh well!”

It was a fun trip, despite the fact that Jarrod slept very poorly (and of course that means we also slept poorly), and despite the fact that I completely tweaked my back. We had a lovely Thanksgiving with family. We hope you all did as well!