Monday, June 6, 2011

1st Birthday Thoughts

       Last week I was sitting at my desk at work (concentrating very hard on the tasks ahead of me...in case anyone from work is reading this). I looked up at my calendar and realized it was June 1st. (although looking outside you might think it was mid-January. Seriously. It's an issue.). Then my breathing got a little bit faster, and suddenly a little bit of anxiety built up in my chest (at this point my officemate was starting to stare). It was then that I realized that in LESS THAN A MONTH my little boy will be one.  As in, has lived 12 FULL MONTHS ON THIS EARTH. Something has to be wrong here. This can't be right.
       But it is right. Nolan has almost reached the ripe age of eleven months, and one year will be upon us before I know it. As much as I can choose to deny it, I'll just choose the best cliche to fit my thoughts... time flies
       The first eleven months have been crazy, but each month Nolan has gotten cooler and cooler. No seriously. He's very cool at this point. He is so interactive. So loving.  So innocent. The next twelve months can only bring more cool things. So I'm coping, and I'm trying to convince Jon to let me have more babies. But convincing is going to take a while, so in the meantime I'm planning Nolan's 1st Birthday Party. 
       As luck would have it, on Nolan's actual 1st birthday my family will be in Tahoe for their annual summer vacay, so we're putting together a little birthday dinner for the big guy. And here's what I'm thinking (clockwise from the top!)...
1) I'm going to whip up a tablecloth with some fun fabric. I'm thinking a green print, but we'll see what jumps out at me.
2) A key lime layer cake. I found a recipe so I'm going to try my hand at it. Nolan actually has a strong gag reflex and I'm not sure he'll care for choking down any cake, but we'll give it a go. Oh, and I'll be making some bunting for up top. 
3) Flower paper lanterns. I'm dying to make some of these babies. Cute and very affordable to whip up.
4) More green print fabric...I liked it so I threw it in there.
5) Some paper garland. I've never made this style of garland before so I'm looking forward to crafting it up some evening after Nolan's in bed. Scrapbook paper + glue + ribbon = Paper garland.
6) Striped straws. I love them. Not sure how I'll use them, or if I'll get them, but I like the thought. 
7) Tissue paper number. I'm thinking of crafting a #1 to mark the occasion.
8) Bunting invitations. I need to start whipping these up asap!
       We're thinking of another bbq later in the month of July to celebrate with other friends and family! He's a popular little guy, what can I say. An early birthday gift for Nolan arrived on Friday and Jon is going to be putting it together very soon! I'll share more on that later this week.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

A Wet Memorial Day Weekend

       Whew. We're back from a very wet and cold weekend. We're giving our washing machine a work out getting the smell of campfire smoke out of everything. When we walked in the door, I was in a hot shower in less then 10 minutes. Something about rain and a damp campground for 3 days, just makes you feel chilled to the bone. 
       A while back we booked ourselves a campsite at an old favorite of ours, Scots Flat. Last year I was about 32 weeks pregnant and lounged in my swimsuit on the rocky beach. This year, things worked out a bit differently.
       Last week, we were both checking the weather forecast each day. 60-67 degree temps throughout the weekend was not exactly what we had hoped for, but we knew it would be better than Tahoe, so things moved forward as planned. We grocery shopped on Wednesday, packed our bags on Thursday, and Friday after work we were ready to load it all up and get on the road. The forecast had started to show a 30% chance of percipitation on Friday but still sunny and in the 60's for the weekend. We weren't afraid of a 30% chance, so away we went.
       I thought that keeping a now crawling 10.5 month old content and entertained would be tough at the campsite, but Nolan was pretty amazing throughout the whole weekend. 
He spent a lot of time in his walker,
and lots of time bundled up.
On Saturday morning we took a walk.
It was brisk and there were some clouds,
but we were hopeful that it would start warming up soon.
The cooler weather meant that the normally busy lake,
was pretty quiet.
We were happy to be back on this trail
that circles the lake.



Fast forward a few hours. 
A couple of friends arrived with their baby girl
and shortly there after...
it started to sprinkle. 
And then rain. 
And then we got cold. 
The guys were able to rig up a tarp that we huddled under. 
I apologize for the lack of pics 
(they probably would have been the most entertaining), 
but the camera was not on my mind. 
So we decided that when the rain gets going,
we go to the nearby restaurant & bar.
We threw the kiddos in the cars,
and headed a few miles away to our dry haven.
The 5 Mile House was a blessing with a bar.
We talked to locals and
we even got to glimpse highschool seniors
having dinner on their prom night.
As we sat there I couldn't believe it. 
Out the window I wasn't seeing rain, I was seeing snow.
It's hard to tell in this shot,
but it was snow, 
and the flakes were getting bigger.
Nolan was gifted a balloon, 
which he was pretty enamored with.

After taking cover there for a couple of hours,
the weather let up so we headed back to base camp.
A break in the storm
gave us a chance to re-cover some things,
 do a tent leakage check
and sit by a warm campfire. 
The night was cold, but our tents did the job
and kept us dry.
In the morning I whispered to Jon, 
"If rain is forecasted for today I think that we should leave."
I was relieved to step outside and find this.
Blue sky was just what I needed.
This pretty much sums up the weekend:
Our beach umbrella stood in as a rain umbrella,
a tarp was strung from the trees, 
and we were bundled up the whole time
(I don't think Nolan or I went without our hats for all three days).
Sadly, our sunscreen and swimsuits
never made it out of our bags.

The rain saddened Blue, who had his heart
set on lots of swimming.
Our very smart friends headed back home to warm up, 
but before they left I had them snap a family photo of us.

And here's one of them, and their daughter,
an amazing trooper.
Soon, I realized how smart they were.
Technology failed us. The sunny forecast that we saw via Jon's 
iphone was a lie. A couple hours later it started to rain again.
And then hail.
So we did a little of this.
Okay, a lot of this.
In case you're wondering, my son is eating a pretzel. 
He loves pretzels. 
I'm slightly worried about his sodium intake.
It did let up, so we ventured out to get ourselves warmed up.
And because I like to drag my husband out on a lot of walks.

The rain caught us on our way back, 
and we took cover under some trees, 
but Buzz didn't even notice.
We had some fun around the campfire on Sunday night.




Our final night in the tent was COLD. 
It probably got down into the 20's, yikes!
For those of you who are a tad bit worried, 
we kept Nolan very bundled and I checked on him frequently.
You can see his little head in there, 
under the many layers of blankets.
We are very happy that we stuck it out for the wet weekend.
We actually didn't want to leave,
because we didn't want to face the new snow that had fallen
in Tahoe while we were gone.
But we're here, we're home,
and it's still snowing.