3 Year Wedding Anniversary-hooray!

On August 9th, Chris and I celebrated being married for three years! It was on a Thursday and I'm back at work already so we just did dinner that evening. We grilled some steak, potatoes and pineapple, YUMMY! We also opened up our nice bottle of Cascade Cliffs Barbera wine, so robust and delicious with a good red meat! Overall, it was a nice evening... even while dining with a baby :)

So then on Sunday we had made arrangments for my mom to take Peyton for the day so we could celebrate just the two of us. Have I mentioned how difficult it is to make a celebration 'special' when you're limited to only day trips because hubby has to work every single night!? Oy! We can only travel a certain radius from Vancouver since we need to be back and since we've been like this now for two years... those destinations are gettin' kinda old...anyway I regress..

So we decided to make the most of our day
Brunch at the Quay- delicious, but for people like Chris and I who don't really do many buffets, nor do we just hang out at a restaurant for a long time (making it more worth it to go back several times) it is getting kinda spendy!
Wine tasting in Hood River but first.. I am such a dork, we were walking out to the car and I heard a noise and realized the I-5 bridge was being lifted, I got so excited that I wanted to dash over and watch it! My husband is so wonderful that he indulged my 10 minute detour and we went over to watch as the drawbridge went up, the gigantic barge went through, and the bridge went back down :) Thanks honey!
Now... Wine Tasting in Hood River- We've done quite a bit of wine tasting in the gorge, but there were several wineries in Hood River that we hadn't visited yet. I looked a few up that we were particularly interested in and off we went. We ended up visiting two from the list and one other place. The first place we went to was right in downtown and we were the only ones in there (shocking since it was hot outside and refreshing in there). Anyway, the gentleman served us our flight and we talked about our babies- he had a one year old. We were relating parenting to total trial and error! He had some great wines, we bought one, and off we went to stop two.
Stop two was also in town, but down by the railroad. We were in there with another couple. We were served a little tray of bread, cheese, and figs (first time I had a fig!) They had their wines on tap! I was disheartened at first when the gal said they were out of one of their wines (sold out the day before!), as it was the reason we were stopping there specifically! However, she had the tasting bottle left, we got to not only taste it, but I have the remainder of the bottle in my fridge now! It's a cherry ort, yes ort! Delicious and smoky! We bought a bottle and went on our way. Our last stop was out of town and was the first busy winery we stopped at. We actually had to sit outside, thankfully they had misters. It was a wonderful way to taste because the gal brought our tastes out to us! We bought a bottle there as well!
Next stop.. picnic lunch!- We had made homemade vietnamese salad rolls with peanut sauce (YUMMY) so we drove down to a spot on the river and ate our lunch- in the car with the AC since it was so hot.
Back to the 'couve- We stopped for a coffee, looked at cars for sale... oh did I mention all of this adventuring is in a rental car since our car is getting it's THIRD catalytic converter in a month... and we actually went home for a bit.
Dinner and a Movie!- we have experienced Cinetopia at it's greatest... but not the new theater. We decided to see the new Batman movie in a 'movie parlor' at the Van mall theater and get dinner in theater. The movie was really good in my opinion. My dinner was good also (obviously overpriced for the 'environment') now.. the movie parlor experience... let me just say.. save yourself a few bucks per ticket and just go living room theater. Same amenities, all cozy seating, and just as good! We did get a 'couch' in the parlor, but not everyone that gets tickets for that theater gets those seats- you have to be there early enough and those NOT getting the couch seats get these uncomfortable chairs with no ottoman nor reclining, and you can't snuggle up! So save the money, do the living room!
After that, we got to go get Peyton, snuggle up with her and call it a night :)
Happy Anniversary my love!

Peyton's 11 months old!

Weight- You're not exactly packin' on the pounds... We stuck you on the scale and you're 17 lbs. I swear you eat! I wish I had your metabolism! And PS, that means your stuck in your rearfacing car seat until you can gain THREE more pounds... do you have that in you for this month so we can turn you around?
Hair- I am pretty sure I could rubberband it in some tiny pony on the top of your head, but A- you don't sit still, so that would be difficult and B- I don't have any hair pony holders... I have headbands, but you just pull those off (good luck Darci with all those cute bands for Makena, let me know how those work out :)
Clothes- You're still in the 9-12 month clothes, the dresses hold you back when crawling around and you do a funky crawl when that happens, but other than that, your clothes are still cute and fitting. Your nine month jammies are getting too short (see you are growing... at least vertically)
Teeth- TWO! It was very exciting to discover the one... and then the second one popped through shortly after. I actually discovered it while at a friend's wedding. I was trying to shoosh you through the ceremony and I found it! I was thrilled. Now you just have those, but they are WAY cute! We did think you were getting a top one, but that turned out just to be the owie mommy gave you, more on that below...
New Skills- Well your crawling skills have certainly sped up! You don't do the army crawl much anymore. Now you do exclusively hands and knees. Like I said above, when you're in an outfit that gets in the way, you modify your crawl and it looks kind of funny.
You walk behind stuff quite a bit now. Your first 'poor man's walker' was a baby wipe box. It was perfect! It slides across the floor as you lean on it and walk behind it. You also have a toy walker that you push around. You're not quite sure how to turn though, so usually you run either of the 'walker's' into a barrier and then abandon it until we move it.
Your balance is increasing all the time, but I don't think you're quite ready for walking just yet, soon though.
Your other new skill is ascending the stairs. You are getting REALLY good at that! The baby gate was a perfect purchase for the bottom of the stairs. When we open it, up you go! No worries, we follow closely behind. You're especially entertaining when you're really tired! Now funny story... You were playing up near the top of the stairs and went over like you were going to go down them, I decided to see how this would play out, I moved in front of you and sat a few stairs down. You looked at the stairs, laid down on your belly, and moved with your hands to the edge. Then you crept forward and tried to use your hands to edge closer, when you got close enough you used your head for support. Finally you needed your legs, but you couldn't quite work it out. After a few tries, you just became frustrated. I then tried to teach you to go backward, but whenever I put you backward, you just went up! So... in time perhaps we'll get better :)
Foods- For being so puny in size you sure do eat a lot! You will try just about anything we put down for you! Pizza, cooked vegetables (funny, there are veggies you refused in baby food form that you gobble up now in 'real food'), pasta, berries, and the list goes on. It has been an adjustment for daddy and I to remember to cook you your own portion of our dinner.
Favorite moments- Your reaction to most animals is pretty amusing! We took you to the fair and while we were in the animal barns you were just so happy. You squeal with delight and flap around with your arms and such. You are getting more adventurous with touching Boo and in general you just Love animals!
Something else you love... books! I have been tutoring this summer and I meet the gal at the library so while I am there I get you some books. You are getting better at turning pages and it is just so fun watching you delight in the pictures :)
Least Favorite moment- Well... daddy and I are one for one with Peyton boo boos.. I am sure we're more sad about them than you will ever be... I am responsible for you getting the owie in your mouth. You were standing at your toy box and we were playing a game of "where's Peyton" (cover baby with blanket, ask "where's baby" and then she pulls the blankie off with a big smile!) and you lost your balance while pulling off the blanket. Knocking your mouth on the way down... oy... there was crying and blood and just general sadness for all involved. I let you suck on an ice cube in your 'fresh food feeder' and that seemed to help! Then it was really sad the next day when aunt Julie was visiting and she said 'oh! she's cutting another tooth up top! How exciting!' um no... that's just where mommy let you fall!
   And then with daddy... well you were standing on the changing table (I know, I know, but daddy was there!) but alas, there are some hooks right there that you like to stand up and play on... So you were fine, then you went to sit back down and you sat too far back and fell down off the table. It was a sad time for you (I wasn't home) but you were grumpy the rest of the day. No visible owies on that one, but it was no fun!
Anything else? Well... you've been to your first wedding (Congrats Melissa and Allen Hendy), you spent an entire day with grandma Trish while mommy and daddy celebrated their anniversary, and you got to see Aunt Julie twice in the last month, she came here once and we stopped in to see her while we were in Yakima last weekend.