The Difference of 6 Months

Six months ago, when we went to Yosemite, we stopped to take these pictures.

Are those pretty?

And check this out...

Is it normal for a boy to change so much in six months?!

Seriously.

Then:

Now:

WOAH.

"For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven." -Ecclesiastes 3:1

"A season for snow capped hills, a season for lush green bushes.  A season for a boy to look like a boy and a season for a boy to look more like a man." -Lindsey

Something tells me these next few years are going to be flying by.

Monterey

The morning we all ventured to Monterey, we began our day at Huckleberry's here in town.  Now would be a good time to note that I didn't take many pictures during the day, so these pictures are from my father in law.  Thank you for letting me use them! :)

We then made our way to Monterey, where the boys walked down by bay (where the watermelons grow....back to my home, I dare not go...).  Wait, do watermelons really grow by the bay?  Am I missing something here?  I digress.

Austin has been wearing his jacket like that lately.  I'm really not sure why.  I remember being a little younger than him and attempting to wear my sweater like that because that's how the girls would wear it in old fashioned movies, but it didn't really stay on me very well.  It seems to work for Austin.  Maybe he likes thinking of it as a cape instead of a jacket :)

This quote was on the wall of the aquarium... along with things like "Don't flash the octopus" which had Carl and I in stitches.  (They meant camera flashes, guys, California isn't that crazy....)  I don't know why we didn't get a picture of one of the funny quotes.  I'm kind of kicking myself now.

We ended our day in Santa Cruz where Carl, Austin and Tom rode some rides.  Ann and I chowed down on some ice cream even though it was super cold outside (who can resist Dippin Dots and a dipped cone? I mean seriously..)  The only ride that Ann and I indulged in was the gondola.  And that was to get us from point A to point B.  We are practical ladies ;)

I love how the guy in blue is smiling for this picture as well.

It was really a fun day had by all. 

Tom and Ann, come back any time.  We enjoyed our adventures with you!  Love ya'll!

Signs

In Florida, we are accustomed to seeing this:

In California, they are accustomed to seeing this:

Exploring Yosemite

First off, let me just say... don't worry, this is the last Yosemite post.  I know you folks are like "Sheesh how many pictures did the girl take?!"  More than enough.  More than enough.

So we arrived at Yosemite and we all flew out of the car.  Being in a tiny car on windy roads= no fun.  Especially if you're like me and having to take pills for car sickness!  But thankfully, they do work.  When we first arrived in Yosemite, we discovered blackberry bushes.  What fun!  We all picked a few and scarfed them down.  Yum!

At the entrance to the park, we were in awe of the large mountains and flowing streams.  They were just beautiful.  And the lush green bushes.

"Hello, nature.  Nice to have you around."

(No, he did not really say that.)

Here is Austin and his grandma.  We are all still at the base of Yosemite in this shot.  And, it's starting to drizzle.  I was super excited to see rain, but today was not really the day I was hoping for it to come. 

Right after this picture was taken, Tom decided to chuck a pinecone toward Austin.  This picture below cracks me up because it looks like Austin is using the force to hold the pinecone in mid-air. (Thanks for not letting me down, iPhone.  You took some good pics for us.)

Our second stop of the day was Bridalveil Falls.  Gorgeous.

We actually got out of the car and walked right up to the base of the falls. Carl and Austin actually hiked a little ways up the falls, as seen in the following pictures.

After Bridalveil falls, we headed over to Curry Village and ate lunch.

It was there that we saw this fellow.

He was eating lunch too.  Of the tree variety.

Curry Village had lots of fat little squirrels running around, practically screaming about how hungry they were.  (However, judging by their weight, I'd say they were lying about being hungry.)  If you weren't careful, they'd take the food out of your hand while eating.  They even would sneak into the restaurant to try to grab some grub.

After Curry Village, we started making our drive toward Glacier Point.

It was then that I remembered that the temperature drastically changes when you go up several thousand feet.

Brrrrrr.

At this lookout, I refused to get out of the car.  So of course, Carl took a picture. 

I have no idea why I made that face.  'Scuze me.

Carl went and snapped a few shots without me.

This might've been the tree Austin claimed.  Not sure.  Eh hem.  Moving on.

Then, my dear mother in law Ann had Carl bring me her jacket so I could enjoy the scenery as well.  THANK YOU!

I had bundled up in it because I was wearing a pink shirt underneath and didn't want to look like I was colorblind. 

Not that there's anything wrong with being colorblind.

Just for pictures.

Anyhoo...

And after seeing the following picture, I begged my hair stylist to not make me look like my hair was orange.  Now it's kind of white.  But whatever, it's just hair.

It was 65 degrees up here and Ann was taking one for the team here.  Or for me, I guess.  And Austin?  He doesn't feel the cold.  I have to beg him to put a jacket on in the winter because he makes me cold just looking at him. PS- is that not the cutest baby you have ever seen?!  Smiling for the picture and all.  Quit making my ovaries cry, kid.

AAAAAAH Proof of the orange hair... and that is halfdome in the back if you can look past the carrot that is my head.  Note- natural red heads, y'all look lovely.  Me?  I look like a cheetah. And not in a good way.  I wanted blond for Pete's sake!  Not red.  And especially not red and yellow stripes.  I digress.

Oh, and this is at Glacier Point, in case you wanted to know.

Or maybe more like a zebra?  I don't know.  It was pretty striped.  And not in a pretty way.  It was a "Oh I think I need you to come back next week" (says my {note: old} hair stylist) way.

The lighting isn't so great in this shot.  I just might play around with it in photoshop to try to make it better. This was once again at Glacier Point.

Better?  Not really.  Different? Absolutely.

Here Austin, let me play with your picture too.

And the different version.

Makes the weather look much more picturesque, if nothing else.

 

Here is Austin pointing at Half Dome.

Wow, a full day traveling and driving through the mountains and here is a blog post pushed out in about 30 minutes.  Oh well, just linger on each picture if you want the full effect.  Thanks for reading!

Tidbits

Carl's parents have been in town visiting us these past few days, so I've stepped away from blogging.  Since I'm already having to be on the computer during the day for work, I try to spend time with them in the evenings instead of blogging.  Sorry I have been missing, folks!  They are out of town now for a couple of days, so I'll fill y'all in on what's been happening.  Boy have we been busy.

-Austin is now on the cross country team at his school!  It's really helping him in numerous ways.  He's actually tired at the end of the day, he is learning more discipline (either that or the light finally got through to him that his dad and I have been trying desperately to invoke in his daily routine....)  His grades are on the up and up, meaning so far he's getting mostly A's!  Woohoo!  He comes home every day, hauls is bag up to his room and does his homework.  It takes him a little under an hour every day and that's mostly because his dad and I have him read thirty minutes each day.  Then he comes downstairs, has a snack, and he gets to enjoy the rest of his afternoon.  Pretty sweet.

-Before my inlaws came into town, I got my hair touched up so it would look it's best for when they saw me the first time as a blond.  I got there and started chatting away with my hair girl, who had given me a fabulous haircut several months ago.  I had assumed that touchups would take an hour TOPS.  Boy was I wrong. 

4  Hours later.... I came out with ORANGE hair.  I couldn't tell at first because it was dusk outside.  Now I have to go fork out more money to have this mistake corrected.  The worst part?  (Other than the money...) The day after I get my hair done, I typically have a migraine.  So now I have to choose when to have my migraine and waste another day in the salon.  Bleh.

-We did a lot of traveling last week.  So much that we couldn't leave Belle at home, so our friends watched her for us.  Thank you, guys!  We appreciate you!  Belle came home from their house and b-lined for the bed.  Her BFF Beldar really wears her out.  :)

-On one of our excursions, we went to Monterey where we visited the aquarium.  It was pretty nice, but if you have ever been to the Tampa Bay Aquarium, you may not be very impressed.  But still, it was a nice day that we got to spend with family.  However, while we were at the aquarium, Austin decided to do something....er....silly.

Why did you stick your legs through those bars?
"I wanted to see if they would fit.."
Um... but didn't you think about the possibility of them not fitting?
"No..."

Carl had to tug and tug to get him loose.  We were thisclose to calling the fire department.  I couldn't help but laugh at the situation because this is totally something that would happen to us.  And Carl practically forced me to take pictures.  Seriously.  *I know some of y'all are going to have a hay day with this, *cough* Daniel *cough*... all I ask is 1, you don't go TOO hard on him, and 2, you don't name your source.  :-P

It's his knees that are locking him in place.  The pictures are hard to tell because (believe it or not) I felt like a horrible parent snapping pictures while our kid was stuck.  And yes, we had onlookers.  "Is that little boy stuck?"  "My kid did that once...." "Oh boy, good luck....."

-On a more relaxed note, I'll now show you a picture of the Pacific ocean.  Enjoy.  :)

Pavlov's Pup

So y'all have heard of Pavlov, right?  He's the psychologist who performed the [don't worry, it's humane] experiment on his dog.  It went something like this:

Pavlov hooked his dog up to these machines that measured the dog's saliva.  Something about drool running down tubes....anyway, Pavlov rang a bell and then would feed his dog a cookie.  The dog salivated when the he/she saw the cookie.  After repeating the actions of ringing a bell and then giving his dog a cookie, the dog started salivating soon as the bell began to ring.  Ah, how the mind works with the power of association. 

Well, let me tell you.  We have our own little Belle who has been, if you will, Pavlov'd. 

Our family is working our way through The West Wing series.  (It's a TV show, and if you don't watch it, you're totally missing out... but it's off the air now, so go rent the DVDs.)  We normally watch one episode every night as a way to settle down and come together at the end of the day.  A couple of weeks ago, I noticed something sort of interesting.

You see, our nightly routine always ends the same way.  We always take Belle potty before going to bed.  Soon as our show is over, we double check that all our doors are locked and Belle goes potty in the back yard.  Lately, soon as the song starts playing at the end of The West Wing, Belle hops up and goes to the door.  WITHOUT US MOVING OR SAYING ANYTHING TO HER!  It's pretty funny.  She will be in a good, deep sleep...curled up on the couch between or on top of Carl and I, [insert music] then she's up at ready to go outside.  Last night I captured it on a video for y'all.  She heard my camera make a little noise when it turned on, which is why she looks at me in the beginning.  But I assure you, she was soundly asleep.

Uncle Mo

Uncle Morgan.

Uncle Mo.

My grandfather's brother.

I love him so.

Uncle Morgan is awesome.  He tells hilarious stories, plays hilarious pranks, and he is as good as the day is long. 

And guess what he did.

You will not believe it.

Especially, if you know my mom.

He......got.....mom.....on.....a......SCOOTER!!!!!!!

Is this not the most hilarious thing you ever did see???

Uncle Mo, I love you and I cannot wait to come see you again!!!!