Day Trips

I am a fan of them, especially after our Moab trip. No long car ride, you can sleep in your own bed, and you get creative discovering nearby fun. You wouldn't know it by Eli's shirt, but these are two separate day trips the last two weekends. A couple weekends ago we went down to Provo. It helps that we are sentimental about the town where we spent so many years and met and dated; it's always a treat to go back. We rode bikes in Provo Canyon, stopping by Bridal Veil Falls and grilled hot dots and blew bubbles in the park. Afterwards we met friends for ice cream here, you must go if ever in Utah Valley. Can anyone say perfect day?

Memorial day started with me needing a good breakfast here and an impromptu visit to This Is The Place, much less crowded than the zooish zoo across the street which had people lined up an hour before opening. It was perfect for the boy, a big train takes you around to the stops in the village, one of which is a mini train ride, circling a pond with a family of geese and an amazing view. It also happened to be baby animal days and Eli had his fun petting and squishing (and throwing, yikes) the little animals, poor chick. Miracle of the day was that he finally rode a horse, he always chickens out last minute. And here's the marvelousness of day trips, we were back home by mid afternoon, in time for Brian to work some magic on the grill after a tiring visit to the pool. This was the highlight for Eli, we'd never seen him so excited and happy, constantly screaming and splashing. A fun getaway with no tears in the car or lost sleep at night.

We Couldn't Wait

To find out the sex of the baby we paid a little extra fee to go in 3 weeks early. You can't tell by this picture, but, it's a GIRL!

Now I don't feel dumb for buying a few baby girl outfits at Memorial Day sales this weekend. And we can start talking names, although, I'm so indecisive I'm sure we won't pick a name til the end.

Eli Talk

So talking isn't the boy's number one priority, like attaining candy or pulling Charlie's tale are. I don't worry, though, I reserve that for things like his eating and sleeping, and his babbling is just so cute. I do sometimes wonder if we'll have to be the parents that translate their toddler's talk. So far he says a few words quite clearly:

baby
mom
dad
no
yes
go
what
apple
bike
ball
one (all numbers are 1 and all letters are A or O)
p(l)ease

Animals are the noise they make, fish being my favorite, and train is obviously "tu."

Here's where the translating comes in. Brian finds these words so endearing he has incorporated them into his vocabulary.

moy (more)
guck (truck)
nen (candy)
bapu (this one is tricky, even for me, it can be any of the following: balloon, bubble, purple, people, or poopoo)
butts(bus-why do I include two T's? Buses are the most exciting, most common thing he sees that he must exclaim about. He usually calls them "dis", but when I coach him on how to say it, he says "butt," or if he's really trying he adds the s. A couple weeks ago he must've been concentrating, because after saying "butt" he paused and chuckled as he patted his fanny.

Tomatoes with Fresh Herb Vinaigrette

It's been a while since I was excited enough about food to post a recipe. This weekend these tomatoes helped pull me out of my pregnancy-induced hatred of food. Besides two slices, I ate the whole plate myself, thrilled that something finally tasted good and food wasn't just a drab necessity to keep nausea at bay.

I found this dressing last summer on a recipe website, but couldn't hunt it down this year, so here's my take on it. It has to be good if I love it even without the fresh mozzarella to make caprese. I must warn you, I don't measure, so these are approximate and should be adjusted to your own taste. Garlic is key, and you must have some good bread to sop up the good sauce at the end.

Tomatoes with Fresh Herb Vinaigrette

3 Good Tomatoes (on the vine or homegrown-DON'T REFRIGERATE!) sliced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced finely
1 Tsp. Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp. Vinegar (Red Wine or Balsamic)
1 Pinch Salt
2 Pinches Sugar (add more if to vinegary for you)
2 Tbsp. Olive Oil (whisk other ingredients as you add this)
5 Leaves Basil, sliced and sprinkled just before serving (or try Thyme or chives, as long as its fresh)

Hope this sounds good to other people and not just a crazy pregnant lady.

P.S. Just made an appointment for next week to see what the baby is.

We Love Arches

As torturous as it is to travel with a child, we've been itching to get away.  Part was to be a treat for me since Brian's been so busy lately, plus we have to have some fun while we have only one child, a relatively easy to manage toddler.  Zion's is always an option, but the long, boring drive down the middle of the state (like unto the 5 in California) depressed me just thinking about it.  Besides, we hadn't been to Arches since before Eli was born. 

We made up our minds to go last minute when I found what must be the cheapest apartment in Moab.  It was perfect for us though, full kitchen, a couple blocks from the noise of Main St., and two extra futons-which Brian and Eli used to have a slumber party.  Aparently the porta-crib is suddenly scary.  

Arches in May.  It was so perfect we know why it is high season there- mid 70's and the desert in bloom.  We're not super outdoorsy or athletic, but we did tone down our activities since Brian and I were both carrying children.  I was disappointed that to take a boat ride on the Colorado river children must be at least 4. Instead of the Slickrock bike trail, we meandered along the river on a paved bike path that took us through town and ended at a huge playground.  As far as hiking trails, we avoided the rugged path to Delicate Arch and took shorter, safer walks, Double Arch (bottom left) being our new second favorite.  While there we noticed a light rainbow around the sun, like a halo (top left).  Eli was quite agreeable, even when we kept putting him back in the car, especially if promised we'd find another lizard at the next stop.  It was such a perfect day I'd like to think Saturday was mother's day, especially since the boys took me out to a nice dinner at a restaurant over-looking the valley.  

Official

Brian has been teaching martial arts for a year and a half now in Salt Lake with his school's name being Wasatch Martial Arts Academy. He has around 45 students in 7 classes a week, ranging in age from 4 to 40's. He has a website and a blog (check it out, he put some clips from the test last week), a business license and spends all kinds of time doing bookkeeping, but for some reason it wasn't until last week that I finally got the feeling like his school was official.

On occasion of the black belt test he was hosting he came home with a box of shirts and water bottles stamped with his school's logo. I was pretty excited. The logo is actually a picture of Brian. I wore one of the sweatshirts on a brisk day to meet him downtown for lunch. Riding the train on off hours can feel a little uncomfortable (despite my city experience and non-judgmental nature) with all the strange folks riding with me and the boy. I felt extra safe with my martial arts logo, not an easy target when I could be hiding some painful skills. Don't tell anyone I'm not.

Eli's First Bike

This past weekend Brian was pretty busy with the regional black belt test and seminars he was hosting and sometimes when he's gone a lot I like to treat (as in pamper and treat loneliness) myself with a little retail therapy. It was the first day of the REI sale, I had a coupon and some in-store credit to use. New hiking shoes sound in order, right?

Eli and I walked in and he saw the bikes, kids bikes. We've taken him on a couple rides this spring and he sits in a seat on my bike and smiles and laughs the whole time. He probably didn't even know they make bikes for kids. He got excited in the store to see small ones, there were even kids sitting on them. Then I noticed a couple of boxes on the floor that had these cool wooden bikes with no pedals or training wheels, so kids learn to balance after they push off. Another cool invention I only know about because my sister's kids have one. After some guilty shoe-browsing we returned. I had planned on getting him one someday, but my coupons combined with the warm spring weather and the "for ages 2-5" convinced me this big purchase was justified, but only if I didn't get any shoes.

The nice man in the bike shop even put it together right away for free. Eli had the hardest time waiting. He was full of pride and smiles pushing it through the store and insisted on continuing through the parking lot to the car. That night we were going to meet Brian for dinner in town and I knew the boy would assume the bike was like his stroller and that he could take it everywhere. I hid it in the closet and had him rush out. Good thing, once we got to the car he started whining for it.

Brian was excited to take him out to ride on Sunday, but the boy would have none of that. He only wants to push it at this point. He insisted that we walk down the hill and knocked on his friend Curt's door (who was gone because his mom had a baby the day before) to show off his new bike.