Summer Projects

We are in the middle of a few summer projects, including painting our living room, kitchen and office nook. We will post pictures of this when it is complete. Here are some pictures of Miss S on some of her daily activities.
She really enjoys picking tomatoes off the vine and popping them in her mouth. We have to watch her because she gets so excited and wants to pull them all off including the green ones.

Here she is enjoying one.

Checking out the corn.

Small lampshades double as hats.

All tuckered out. It looks like her pillow is too.

Stars and Stripes

Hope you had a happy fourth. We enjoyed the day playing on the deck.

The garden has been producing some delicious veggies. Miss S had fun hauling this zucchini around.

A shot of part of our wildflower garden.

These are some of the tomatoes that are almost ripe.

Miss S now enjoys putting on shoes. She likes to try to get them on herself...

and when she does she is very happy.
A little surprised.

Trains, Planes and Automobiles

We have spent the past few weeks traveling around the state and country visiting family and friends.
We started off by taking a train ride on the Roaring Camp railroad through the redwoods north of Santa Cruz.

Here is Miss S playing in the chicken coop at the train depot.

Then it was off to Baltimore, MD. Miss S buckling herself in.

She is already in the pilot's seat on her first flight.

We enjoyed touring around the Baltimore area, including a trip through the National Aquarium (pictured in the background).

Then it was off to Virginia to see some family. Here is Miss S with Dieter in the hammock.

Out for a hike with cousin Myles at Huntley Meadows.

Here is a family shot before we headed out to tour around D.C.

Miss S running around in front of the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian with the capital building behind her.

We were able to meet and tour around a bit with mommy's friend, Nenette and her husband Matt. Miss S finally decided to take a nap after quite a bit of protesting and screaming on the mall.

A little refreshed after her nap, Miss S posed with us for a picture in front of the Washington Memorial.

Miss S was able to meet and play in the sprinkler with cousin Levi. Then it was back in the car.

Miss S was a pretty good sport for all of the traveling we dragged her along on. Here she is enjoying some blueberries. We ended up getting stuck in construction traffic (a couple of hours at 5 mph) . This led to a change of plans.
We ended up staying in Philadelphia and we were able to see the Liberty Bell.

We also toured Benjamin Franklin's printing press. Here is Miss S in front of his printing office.
Then on to New Jersery.

We visited mommy's friend, Jenn and her family there. Here is a shot of all the girls.

We had a great time visiting and eating ice cream with Emma and Tate. From New Jersery we were headed back to Maryland.

On the way back, our route took us through Amish Country (including Intercourse and Bird in Hand - Yes, these are the real names of the cities we visited) in Lancaster County, PA. It was wonderful to see the beautiful countryside and enjoy some tasty food.

Here is Miss S petting one of the goats at a farm. After all of this fun on the East Coast, it was time to head back to the West Coast.

Once back in the bay area, we got in a quick visit with Don's cousin Cameron. Cameron is a new uncle.

We were able to meet the new little one, Amber. Then off to Morro Bay for a family wedding.

Once in Morro Bay we checked out some shops...

Dr. D stepped in asphaultum on the beach...

Miss S became a beachcomber...

we had a nice dinner with mommy's friend, Amy...

we attended Heather and Justin's wedding...

so did Uncle Alex and his two girls...

and of course we flew kites or at least tried to.

We are finally back home, but are still a bit perplexed by the diesel fried chicken that was being sold at our last fill up station.