Our very own

double rainbow.

I love thunder and lightning.
And I love when it rains when the sun it out.
Yesterday's monsoon storm was perfect.

Chase loves water dropping from the sky.

a picture and a story

I have had a lot of Chase pictures lately, but this one comes with a story.

It was time for Ellie's nap so I put Chase in his bouncer with his blanket and bottle. It's much safer when he's "contained", otherwise there's no telling what he'll get into, or get stuck on, or climb up on and fall off of. It's a great routine. After Ellie had fallen asleep, Chase wasn't complaining, so I went in my room for a little me time. Maybe 10 minutes later I hear the pitter-patter of a baby crawling across the kitchen floor.

Huh, that's not possible. Chase is in the bouncer. Moments later, huh, Chase is in my room.

I realize nothing should surprise me at this point. (Like how another mom at the gym this morning told me she saw Chase through the netting up in the second level of the big kid play place and didn't think someone so little could make it up there. I didn't either. Apparently he likes to climb backward up the slide.) I just don't get how I didn't even hear a crash or a bonk or anything. Ellie wasn't much into climbing, so I thought Chase's obvious love for it was just a boy thing. But now I'm pretty sure it's a Chase thing.

I still don't know how he got out of that thing.

All aboard

The Chasey Train

He won't be sitting for long.

I think we're days away from walking instead crawling. He's taken a few good strings of steps, but mostly, Chase is content climbing. Into boxes, bathtubs, up on chairs, steps, stools, couches, beds. Anything that gets him up higher or into a bit of trouble. He may look innocent, but that's all part of his plan. Luckily he's also pretty noisy, so it doesn't take long to track him down.

A souvenir.

Any guesses where we got the bib?


Oh, and we now play peek-a-boo.

A little chat.

Last night night while I was putting Ellie to bed I decided to stay and rest with her for awhile. I usually just rush out and leave the finishing up duties to Danny. As we were laying there we got talking about lot of random topics: how Ellie is afraid of dinosaurs (I had no idea, but told her she was in luck because they are extinct), how she got pushed by Sophie, who didn't say sorry (likely not the whole story) and how the Holy Ghost helps us. As I talked with her about each of the random topics that she would bring up, I realized that I was having a very real and grown up conversation with my little girl. She is so grown up. When did that happen?

Truck, truck to Boston

There's no such thing as too many pictures, right? I'm pretty sure I'm way past that point anyway. So here's the final round up.

Day 7 The train, the subway & another date
On Thursday we rode the train to Boston and then took the Subway to the Boston Common for lunch, sight seeing and shopping. Ellie even got a free book from Brattle's Bookstore. The worker called it the "young reader's discount". Then we were back on the train and home to our cottage just in time to drop of the kids for date night number two. This time pizza (Joe's) and ice cream cones (jumbo ones), after getting lost and aimlessly driving around Maine. Nothing like surfing, but still a nice getaway.

Funniest parking payment system I've ever seen.
But we folded up our dollar bills and pushed them down our numbered parking spot, as instructed. Apparently there were getting a brand new system, (a debit machine) the next day.

It's hard to find a good flock of pigeons to chase in Arizona.

Leave it to me to notice a yogurt shop, that of course we had to try out.
No complaints from Ellie.

Day 8 The museum
We looked at fish, picked up star fish, colored pictures and played at the playground.

Anytime we see some sort of sea creature, we can't help but relate it back to it's Finding Nemo character. This would be Flow.

Day 9
One last stop at Granddad's and aunt Pam's, and then off to the airport. We had a layover in Minneapolis. The flight there, very long and squirmy. At one point Chase got a hand full of the lady's hair in front of us. I made a mental note to laugh it off if the baby in the seat behind me ever gets a hold of my hair, because this lady definitely did not. And it's always best to just be friendly. She was lucky enough to get on our next flight as well, but not seated anywhere near us. Her and her mane would have been safe though, because Chase slept the rest of the way home.

What a great trip. So many fun memories. I just didn't think I could do it justice with out going through all it. And now when my memory fails me, I'll have this to look back on.

Thanks Nana and Grandpa. And Granddad, don't be surprised if you see us again soon.