Zoo with more friends!

Today we met Lara and Damian (and then Molly a little later) at the zoo. It was such a fun day, and I was so glad to finally meet Damian and see Lara. I used to work with her a few years ago, and now that she is a mom too I'm hoping to see her a lot more =) It's really nice to have a friend with a baby a few months older, so I can get good advise on what's to come. She is a great mother and does a lot of things the same way's that we do, so I trust her!

We spent the whole day looking at the animals, and I learned a lot more about the Elephants. I think I can now tell the 3 cows apart, so next it's onto the bulls. I guess we have the biggest male elephant in the US..or maybe the world, at our zoo? And of course we have the baby "Sam" who will be 1 year old in a few months. It's going to be fun to watch him grow.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but here is Lara with the little ones. Adelaide loved Damian! They were really cute together.

Summer Bonnet

Best lil pooper in town

Today is our first day actually using our diapers that we will be washing. For some reason I've been so nervous about if I can do it... figure out how to wash them correctly etc. Now that Adelaide is eating real food, her poop is much more solid. Today after her breakfast she seemed to be straining, so I took off her diaper and held her over the toilet like we used to do. I still try this every now and then when I have nothing better to do, but usually nothing happens. Today however, she pooped right in the toilet!!! If she keeps this up we will be in great luck for washing the diapers. So far she is only pooping once a day, so I am going to keep an extra eye on her to be sure that I get her to the toilet when she needs to go =) I'm so proud of her!

Farmer's Market day

I love Sunday's. Today I got up and went to yoga at 9. It's amazing how much it helps me to get through the week. After yoga, we go to the farmer's market. This is so much fun now that Adelaide gets to try solids. I like to feed her locally grown veggies!! I am also trying to feed her only organic stuff, so the Sunday market is the best place to find this.

Baby Zucchini for the baby.

These guys always watch me cook.

Beauty of summertime!

Diaper Doody

I ended up buying 3 dozen of these unbleached pre-fold diapers. No more diaper service for us. These are actually a LOT softer and more absorbent than the diaper service diapers were...and we know what they've been used for, and whose poop and other bodily fluids have been on them =) Here they are after the initial 5 washings to get them all ready. I think I might have bought too many...but they are good for so many other things too, so it's okay. Now if we ever have another baby, we won't have to spend a dime on diapers if we don't want to. Imagine how much money that saves when you realize what people pay for disposables. Not to mention these diapers will break down very easily in a landfill!

But I really love this tree!

Yesterday we heard some cracking in the tree, the sound of a branch breaking. It didn't break all of the way, but was laying on the power lines coming into our house. I guess this may have been a blessing, as I was able to call the power company and have them come cut it down. I hope they don't charge us for that..I guess we will see on our next bill.

Last summer we lost a giant branch from the tree. This branch today wasn't as big, but was still made a big mess, and makes a big difference in the shade and view in our yard. It's nice because now the garden will get sun all day long! It just makes me sad because all of the tree people tell us that we need to cut it down, that it's not a strong tree etc...but it really is a huge reason that our yard is so amazing. I love big trees and have never been responsible for one before, so I want to be sure we do whatever is best for the tree. I've had many days hanging from my hammock chair from this tree. It's an important part of our house. Have you even known anyone so attached to a tree?

Here is the pile it made when it was cut down. The cats were playing in there pretending they were in the jungle =) It didn't take long for us to clean it up.

And here is how it looked once we were done. I like to keep the little sticks because they make it really easy to start a fire in our woodstove. I'm already getting ready for the winter ;)

Cherries

I picked these off of our tree today! We have the best cherry tree over our house. It's HUGE, and so frustrating, because I can only reach a few of the bottom branches. This means that there are millions of cherries for the birds and bugs and squirrels. One day I'll be able to come up with an idea of how to get them down. Until then I will settle for my small fair share of the bounty =)
Here is the tree - you can see how big it is! I can stand on the roof and reach a few branches.

Adelaide got to taste some cherries too. She got really mad when I took them away from her, but I could only let her taste, as I don't want her to get the peel or seed in her throat.

Another outfit from Granny! So Cute!!

First Shoulder Ride

I put Adelaide on my shoulders and she loved it! She kept giggling. I'm not sure what she saw from up there...but it must have been something funny!

Granny's outfit - Portraits

intimacy

Daddy's Day

Family trip to the Zoo

We went to the zoo again! This time Myles came with us, and we had so much fun! We got to spend a lot of time looking at the new baby elephant "Sam" and his momma. The sealions were also being amazing today. I'm not sure if Adelaide has any idea about what any of these animals really are, but Myles and I had fun. Of course we had to stop by and check out the Hippo's on the way out, they are Myles favorite =)




This little guy will be a year old in August. He had a rough start, but he is diong really good now and it will be fun to watch him grow. He has already gotten so much bigger than he was! I'm reading up on the other elephants as well, so hopefully one day I'll be able to tell them all apart and know their names! I'm doing that with the Orangutangues too.


And some more pictures of us together...

Miss Fuzzy Head

Video of how good she eats and drinks

The girls are back in town for a trip to the Zoo

Some of our best friends, Pasha and Dani came to see us, along with their mom Callie. We love when they come to visit. We have nothing but fun with them. This was their first time meeting Adelaide. Adelaide LOVED the kids, especially Danica. We wonder if she thinks that Dani is a kid or a grown up? They did a great job at making her laugh. We had a great trip to the zoo, and I even got a membership so I hope to spend a lot of summer afternoons walking around there!