Gone to the Mountains

Ivy's new favorite place to eat is.... wait for it.... the Spagetti Factory! Capital "C" for child friendly. She loves the food and loves to sit in the velvet chairs after dinner!

Sometimes in the morning at work, Ivy will sit in her chair in Grandpa's office and watch a little bit of Yo Gabba Gabba before naptime.

With her belly poking out in this picture, I'm happy to report that Ivy has officially passed the 20 pound mark!

Spagetti Factory again!

We had some lovely fall like weather for a couple of weeks, so we got a chance to try out her cool weather outfits! Last week we went to the park a few times in the late afternoon to play. Now that she is walking, the park is way more fun!

The neighbors across the street were selling this cool thing in their garage sale- I took Ivy over there to test it out and it won her approval. We have purchased a play house kit that we will assemble for her birthday next spring in the backyard... but this will do nicely for $15.00 until then!

Here's Ivy trying out her new Ikea chair that I just assembled.

So our friend Geoff is visiting from Kansas- so we headed up the hill to spend the night at our cabin- first stop Madrona for some wine!

Running up and down the grape vines!

It's not a trip to the cabin without dinner at the JT Bar for some yummy Basque food! Ivy ate and ate and ate so much I really don't know where she put it all! After dinner, she posed in front of a slot machine... we are calling this look, "tot on slots".

Reading Martha Stewart Living with Uncle Geoff!

Ivy is sporting a serious case of bedhead here!

Ivy really enjoyed watching the fish off the bridge. We had a firm grip on her, of course! She was waving to them and saying "fishies!"The weather was just gorgeous! About 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! Ivy started collecting things on the walk- I'd point out a neat stick and she'd pick it up, then she'd see a rock she liked, a pine cone.... she'd hand something to one of us so she could carry the new thing! Loves riding on Daddy's shoulders-- she runs up behind him and grabs his legs when she wants a ride. I'm not sure if this is moss or what, but I liked it! After our morning walk, we hit the road and headed for Tahoe to see the lake and take some pictures for Geoff, who had never been there before! Ivy had a snack.

You just can't beat the views at Emeral Bay!

A rare picture of all 3 of us!

So it seems as if we might be on the cusp of a language explosion. So many words that we say right now, Ivy tries to repeat as best she can. It's easy for me to understand what she is saying and what she wants-- you might have more trouble though! We have had some success getting her to talk on the phone now- she will say hi and bye bye to most people on the phone if we ask her to! When she sees the phone, a lot of times she will point to it and say "dadadadadada!" which is kind of a testament to how often we talk to him on the phone - since he travels a lot! Her play time is quite independant- she has lots of things to keep her busy and all of that play wears her out for still 2 naps a day and a good solid 12 hours of sleep each night! I'm so grateful that she gets a lot of rest!

She's eating what we eat, except for when it might be too spicy. Lately, she likes to dip her food in something. It started with salsa when we were on our East Coast trip, but my mom introduced her to soy sauce for her chicken when we eat at Teriyaki Domo! Speaking of eating at Domo-- its a small teriyaki restaurant that we've been eating at for years and years. Ivy has been going there since the week we returned from Japan- so she 's been there frequently! She gets excited when we pull into the parking lot-- practically running in to see the people who work there! Lately, when we go inside, she runs right to the highchair that she ususally sits in and pushes it (on wheels) to the table where we like to sit and then tries to climb up in it! The girl likes her domo!

Well, next week we are heading to Alaska for Brian's fall work trip. Last year when we went there, Ivy couldn't quite sit up on her own- and was still 100% on baby formula! Now she's walking, (running), talking and eating real food! Brian will do some work and we all visit Grant's family in Anchorage. Ivy and I will have a play date with another friend and visit the Children's museum I think. Midweek, we will hop on a plane and travel to Kodiak to visit my cousin Nahshon, his wife Kim and their son, Finn- who is Ivy's age. So that's probably where the next blog will come from! Wish us luck for our flight!