Goodbye Omma

This morning Adam's mom, Eliza's Omma, passed away after 18 months battling cancer. Sandy was the backbone of her family, guiding Adam and Julie through childhood, adolescence and adulthood as one of the strongest, closest, most well-adjusted families I know. She and Spud are a model for us in marriage and in how to raise a family, and her loss leaves a gaping hole.

We will miss you every day, Omma.

Pumpkin Patch

It is almost Halloween, so today we went out to the country to visit the place where pumpkins come from. They also grow big plastic tubs of dried lima beans there. I went with my friend Kelsey. Here we are sharing pumpkins. And here I seem to be hoarding them.

There were even some pumpkins almost as big as us!

Mom, Dad and I took another quick trip back to Denver this weekend to see Omma and Pop. We mostly stuck close to home but I did get one chance to get to the pool with the girls.

I even conquered the 2-story water slide with Uncle Chris and went Fast, Fast, FAST!
Also, while we've been AWOL this week I've missed reporting a couple of milestones: Happy Birthday Grandma Debbie, congratulations Catherine and Chris, and Happy Birthday Jack: you'll never be more than twice my age again!

Race for the Cure

Today a group of family and friends joined my Omma in the Denver Race for the Cure in support of research for breast cancer. We couldn't make it, but were able to participate anyway by sleeping in for the cure - we even got tee-shirts to show our support! I did my part by letting mom and dad sleep until 7:00 am! Then my dad and I invented our own activity - Yoga for the Cure. This is our best upward-dog, and here I am showing the lesser known pose: dog-stopping-at-a-tree.

And here is a BIG hug for Omma.

Thank You!

G'ma Debbie & Papa for all of your work taking care of me & Mommy while Daddy was in Denver looking after Omma & Pop.

My 2nd Birthday Party

Last weekend was my official 2nd birthday but I saved the party until today so Daddy could be there. It worked out well because I got cupcakes again (!) and got to play with 16 of my friends, including Dominic &baby Lena, Delaney, Bahia & Quincy,

Kelsey (& Jeremy),
Malini (& Milan), Zoe,
Lars & Fiona, Violet, and Harper, Alex and Mateo.

Happy Birthday to Me!

It has been quite an exciting 24 hours for me! Last night my mom made me a special cake, and we had a little party with Grandma Debbie, Papa, Uncle Corey and Carmen. I got to blow out the candles. Then, this morning I jumped out of bed and got to open some presents. Dada, Omma and Aunt Julie are in Denver because Omma isn't feeling too well, but they watched through the computer so I could show them all the cool things I got. I couldn't even wait to get dressed to start playing with my new doll from Aunt Julie. Later this morning mom and I headed off to the steam trains at Tilden park for a 2 year old celebration for all the kids in the Moms Group. We got to dress up like train conductors. Or maybe we look a little more like bandits. After riding on the train we got to blow out more candles! And the excitement of the cupcakes meant we even sat still for a group picture.

Camping!

This weekend we headed up to Calaveras Big Trees State Park to check out the giant sequoias, splash in the frigid waters of the Stanislaus River (it didn't bother me a bit, but you will notice that my mama is nowhere near the water) and generally commune with nature. One morning, Zoe, Delaney and I were in charge of breakfast so we served freeze dried strawberries - delicious.Hey, I think I see a bear!

All in all, though maybe our parents (and neighboring campers) got a little less sleep than they wanted, it was a fun trip with plenty of time to explore and to kick back and relax.