Today Andrew took a day of and we went to Strawberry Days fair. Erin missed out on the Lagoon rides so we decided to treat her locally. By the way if you wonder how much fair tickets are nowadays I can tell you. They are not 25 or 50 cents anymore ( Andrew's estimate). They are a buck fifty each or a buck when you buy in bulk. The inflation in fair prices is similar to that in gas prices :), about 50%.

We thought we'd start Erin on something classy, slow and with horses. I was so thrilled to accompany my baby to her first merry-go-round ride. She hated it! Erin kicked and screamed through the entire ordeal. No idea what was so terrifying about the fake ponies. Anyhow, I think she's been scared for life and will never get even close to this contraption.

To sooth herself Erin climbed into some strangers' push buggy. They did not mind...Next Erin got to ride in a pirate ship. Argh! That went all right, though she would not smile.After, she took a fancy car for a spin. That was also fine, but deserved no smiles.
The last ride of the day was lady bug that went around and up and down. it was kinda high and I was hoping that Erin does not decide to hop out in the middle of the trip. She liked it so much she took two rides.

After finally getting out Erin could not walk straight. He he!

Here is Erin entertaining the usual Friday crowd coming to play D&D.

Erin got a week early B-Day present and seems to be rather pleased with it. I can't believe we've been together for almost 2 years now!

Ta ta for now!

Ta da! Finally! I have new photos to post. These last couple weeks were rather boring. It rained almost every day preventing Erin and I from venturing outside. Nothing that exciting was happening and there was not much to photograph.



Here is Erin going for a walk. For some bizarre reason she insisted on wearing her swimming vest. I decided not to argue. Perhaps she knows something I don't. Look at Noah from the Old Testament! He turned out to know something no one else did and it had to do with water.


This Thursday, yesterday was Andrew's company's annual picnic at Lagoon. We debated whether to take Erin with us and finally decided to leave her behind. We deemed her just a couple years too young to get much out of an amusement park. Instead she went to spend a fun day with aunt Theresa. Pook got to play the piano, chase Bentley the dog, swing outside and convert the Dyer living room into a toy bazaar. Meanwhile, Andrew and I had a very fun trip to Lagoon.

The weather was all right. It did not rain but remained overcast for the majority of the day. It turned out to be perfect for going on rides. The majority of the lines were tolerable and we got to go on everything we wanted. Nothing special to report there. No one threw up and the straps did their job of holding us in place.

Andrew felt like going on one of those insane rides that drops you from the height of about a 10 story building. He and his friend Tristan strapped in and took the plunge. They got to wear these lovely harnesses that got hooked up to the cable that hoisted them up into the sky. Andrew got to pull the trigger that dropped them down. I expected to hear a lot of screaming, but instead they were laughing their heads off. Perhaps it was an episode of temporary insanity?

Here they are hooked to the cable and pulled up really high.
They swung back and forth like a giant pendulum and eventually came to stop. Their limbs appear to be rather limp, he he.

I did my best trying to get some good shots. After cursing and yelling at our slooooow camera I decided it was a time to say good bey to our trusty (and occasionally not so trusty) old friend. We went out and bought a new camera today.

Getting back to our sheep. Before going to the actual company's diner-picnic we splashed a little bit at the water park. It would have been greater if the water and air temperature were warmer. The hot tubs were not working that day :(. But than again...even if they were working I doubt there would be any room in them for me. I was not the only one lamenting about the chill.

Ah, the picnic... The yearly hot dog and a burger, plus the pasta salads, chips, soda and ice cream for the desert. The menu remained the same since the last year and I expect it to make it through this year without any major changes. The burger patties were dead, smoking and crunchy. However, when you are hungry they turn out to be even tasty.

We had a sweet and short speech by the company owner. According to him the company is doing decently well despite the recession-smicession. These times are the worrisome ones when you are tied with the car industry. Though Andrew is busy at work and to me it's a good sign.

We got to participate in a ruffle and low and behold we won something. It was not the fancy 60something inch TV, but a Zune MP3 player. Last year we won a car wash coupon that we lost.
This was a nifty day!

Lately...

Erin had her first kiss! It happened at the top of the slide and it came from a man half a year older and a couple inches shorter. The little dude felt affectionate and gave her a smoochy. Alas, his move had no affect on my child. Her heart had been stolen by Elmo just a few days earlier. Elmo is Erin's hero! We purchased a DVD of Elmo's World and Pooky can watch it back-to back-to back. She calls him Malmo.I wonder how long until her heart is stolen by another. Oh, well! Elmo is too old for her anyways.

Erin is continuing to spew new words every day. The other day she called some guy at the pool a shark. It made me laugh. He was one of those cool guys who seem to come to the pool to show off their rippling muscles and bronze tan. By the way the word shark made it into Pook's vocabulary from an awesome PBS kids show Word World. Erin has been watching it since probably 6 months old. It's her favorite. It teaches letters and putting them together. Apparently Erin has been learning letters from it and she recognizes about a third of the alphabet by now. I should post a video of her naming letters to boast what a genius my baby is :).

Erin is a sweetheart! She decided to finally start giving me kisses. Those used to be reserved exclusively for Papa. I imagine that taking her to the pool almost daily brought this change of heart :). Pool rocks!

The Zoo

Today Erin had her first trip to the zoo. Apparently all animals can be divided into three categories: meows, doggies and monkeys. Apparently goats and sheep are considered to be doggies ( they don't look like meows or monkey thus they have to be dogs). It appears that those impressed Erin the most. She did not think much of either the elephants or the rhinos. The big red balls in their exhibits were much more interesting.

We also saw some pig-looking creatures, that were not asleep ( about 70% of all animals seemed to have been enjoying a nap :).

The Zoo was crowded. Everyone had the same idea on how to entertain their offspring on the Memorial day. It took us an extra 40 minutes to get to the place because of the very poor driving directions from MapQuest (we are not using it from now on). After finally reaching our destination we discovered that the front parking lot was full and we had to go to the South Entrance. The line at the ticket booth was half a block long. Some dude in the ticket line was haggling over the ticket price with the cashier and held up the line for 20 minutes. I was getting rather depressed at the prospective of being stuck in the queue for another hour after already being late. Things just were not going right. The dude eventually got through and our very long line moved at a rather remarkable pace. We got in, met up with our friends (Tyson and Diane), Erin saw the doggies (mountain sheep) and started running around. After all it turned out to be a lovely trip.

However, next time at the zoo:

a) bring your own Erin friendly food (hot dogs don't tempt her, and the rest was pretty much sweet junk (not like hot dogs were not junk))

b) come on a weekday

c) come in the afternoon (the zoo inhabitants might be awake than)

d) wait until Erin turns 3

Ta ta for now!

Summer!

The pool season has officially begun. Our pool was opened this Thursday afternoon. Erin detected the noise and splashing coming from behind the club house and ran there. She could not figure out how to get inside the fenced area and kept running along the perimeter back and forth. It looked hilarious though she was not laughing. Eventually she stopped, grabbed my hand, pulled me to the fence and tried to enlist my assistance. I imagine she envisioned me tossing her over the fence or pushing her through the bars. Oh boy, was she frustrated when I refused! I eventually showed her the gate and she ran towards the water. She almost hoped into the pool. The child has no sense of height or depth! We were not dressed for the pool and had to postpone dunking till the next day. Here is Erin all ready for the pool on Friday.

We got the entire pool to ourselves and loved it! Erin splashed, kicked and squealed in delight! I was done in 40 minutes, but Erin was not. I had to forcefully remove her from the pool and drag my kicking and screaming baby home. We'll be back another day!

Erin likes to sit on the bank of a little stream running through our complex and toss rocks in it. I estimate that it will be another year before she creates a dam.


She also likes to throw dirt and similar stuff into a storm drain. I hope she won't clog it, he he.
Erin is a little monkey!

Pooky at the playground.

Here are a few photos from April and May.

Last visit to the Westmore park before the move.


Just giving some pointers on how to pack properly.


Demonstrating the FOR RENT sign.


Erin helping me garden in the backyard.


It is probably a good thing that Andrew has never let me cut his hair. Erin is not as lucky. I am her personal hair dresser. The problem is I can't even trim her bangs in a straight line. However it does not help that she won't sit still, if she did I might have done a better job, hehe. Here is the result of her second haircut by Mama.

With a new house Erin got a booster seat. She loves it! Eating became more messy, hence a kitchen towel with a clip in addition to the bib. By the way, the shirt was clean at the time of breakfast.

This is the same shirt at the end of the day. Erin had some tomato soup for lunch and an ice cream for desert at dinner. Most of the damage was from the ice cream. Erin discovered that she can fit a cracker between her toes. I almost caught on camera her admiring the deed.

My plans for the night were ambitious. After I put Erin in bed I planed to a) go workout at the gym b) vacuum inside the car and wash its windows c) finish decaulking the top of the master shower panel d) finish unpacking our bedroom and there was something else that I can't quite remember.
I do not think that after the a) I have any chance of getting anything else done. Decaulking is out of the question. My legs will not support me tiptoeing on the edge of the tub, a possibility of braking a rib or neck is high. Vacuuming...I am not bending! The same goes for the unpacking. All I can do is sit in bed and update the blog. (I so wish I had my phone with me. Than I could call Andrew downstairs and request a glass of cold water...mmmm)
Life is good! The feeling of owning something is rather pleasant! Technically, the mortgage company should have these sentiments, but it is a bureaucratic institution and can have no sentiments, thus I'll go through emotions myself. I can finally put as many holes per wall as my heart desires, though I don't because it's MY wall :). For the same reason, Erin has no free access to crayons, pens and pencils. I allow her one writing utensil at a time and I watch her like a hawk.
Erin is already used to being here. She knows where the playgrounds are, where in the pantry to find her favorite snack that there is a plenty of doggies outside to play with and on some occasions even kids her age. The pool will be opening in about a week and I am so excited to teach her swim. I hope she'll love it.
My brain is following my exhausted body and I have to wrap up here. Here is a cute picture of Erin. She loooooves glasses!