A simple Sunday supper

Fresh roses from the garden and a bottle of bubbly to celebrate our third wedding anniversary, a successful photo-shoot and a happy family. Does life get any better?

My first (accidental) chili

Even though I already nursed AND had my own rice and lentil dinner,
mummy's chili looked so delicious I stuck my little fingers in when
she wasn't looking and had a taste. Mmmm! It was delicious! I couldn't
help it and just started helping myself. Believe it or not, this
picture was before the mess really started. I love chili!

Daddy's Assistant

Yesterday I was Daddy's assistant and we went into the Olympic
Mountains scouting for one of his photo shoots. It was really, really
windy at Hurricane Ridge and very wet. I was a little scared. On the
way back home we saw a black bear. I love going on road trips with
Daddy.

Finn's First Day at the Beach

This weekend was splendid. Finn and I met up with Auntie Sage at Indianola beach and laid in the sun, splashed in the tide pools, squished mud between our toes and in general, thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. At the end of the day, we were sunkissed and hungry. What a day!

This just in...

...baby in space!

(Picture compliments of Pa who took Finn to the Museum of Flight while he was visiting)

Jumping Jack Finn

Every mother my mom's age has told me what a life-saver Johnny Jump-Ups are. How us kids used to be entertained for hours in them, etc, etc. We have one for Finn and I have to admit that I completely disagreed. Finn would be in his for maybe 5 or 10 minutes and then start whining, then crying until we took him out.

Then, during a visit to Bainbridge, my mom got out my old johnny jump-up and we quickly realized that the old versions have a super spring that lets the babes jump really high whereas the new ones have a sort of safety-spring that only lets the bambinos jump like a 1/4 inch or so.

Which one would you think is more fun?

We altered Finn's jump-up with a $1 spring from the hardware store and voila! At least 30 minutes of entertainment!

Uh-oh

We went out for Mexican food on Saturday and Finn threw a baby tantrum when I wouldn't give him a bite of my burrito or a sip of my horchata (rice milk with cinnamon and sugar). He has been testing his tantrum powers lately and it scares me a little. Finn will shriek and flap his arms and arch his back and howl, then look at me sideways to see how I am reacting.

Aren't tantrums a two-year old thing?

Anyway, this tantrum resulted in Finn getting his own bowl of black beans and a chance to play with the horchata straw. I thought there would be no way he could suck through the straw, but it took this kid less than two seconds to figure it out. Rice mik is benign enough for the baby, but I didn't like the sugar bit so he was only allowed a few sips.

Spicy little fellow

A visit from Pa

Nick's father, also named Nick Hall, but called Pa by the grandkids, visited last week. We were so busy and had so much fun, that I didn't have a chance to sit down and blog. But here we go.

We went for a spectacular hike on the Olympic Peninsula while Nick was here. Finn's first hike. Finn serenaded us with songs for the first mile and then was silenced by the beauty of the huge trees. It was a cool and foggy hike until we reached the peak, where the skies opened and gave us our first dose of sunlight and epic mountain views. 10 minutes later, the skies closed and we headed back down. It was a wonderful day.

Here some snapshots, not perfect, but capture the essence of our day:




Is it just me, or does this baby look edible? I swear he is so cute sometimes I could eat him! (He is in the middle of practicing the word 'the' in this picture. He practices all the time. Smart kid too, because 'the' is the most widely said word in the english language, so may as well get a head start.)