Choo Choo

One Michael's birthday weekend we drove home from Y to spend time at our house in the Bay Area. Michael loves Zachary's pizza in Oakland/Berkeley, so his parents and sisters met us out there for a evening of family time and good food.

Before we went to the restaurant with the family, we went to Oscar's in Berkeley for lunch, and then met at Tilden Park to ride the train, and then shop at some of our favorite secondhand shops.
Michelle loved riding the trains and kept saying "choo choo" to anyone who walked by. We cannot wait to go back! Hopefully when we do go back, the little farm and carousel will be open for business (they were closed due to a pipe leak and decoration for xmas).

Sitting with Mama in the caboose area.

The wait for our pizza was TWO HOURS, which was longer than normal and they tossed in a free pizza for the mishap. Of course we didn't mind, because the pizza is worth the wait!
While we waited, Michelle played with her aunts and drove a motorcycle on her own. Lol, no, she wishes. Really, she does - she's just too hardcore.

Ready to ride

At Zachary's, the whole restaraunt sang "happy birthday" to Michael. He said he has never been embarassed by the singing of his birthday until that moment. The whole  place sang; it was hilarious and awesome.  

As I typed this, Michelle saw the pictures of herself on the train and started laughing and cheering. Looks like she can't wait to go back too!

Riding again, this time in an open car

Sitting with Aunt Rachael :)

My Growing Baby

The house is quiet right now, so I thought it would be a good time to sneak in a blog and gush about my adorable daughter.

In a week and a half my sweet little baby will be 18 months old - that's one and a half! Where has the time gone?!

Michelle is getting smarter, braver, and tougher every single day. She amazes me with the words she knows, the actions she makes, and the cute things she shows us. Today she looped a purse strap around Charlie and walked him around the house. She's also started saying please and thank you, which sounds like "peas" and "teeek ooo". So polite!

We should just buy Charlie a saddle!

She's obsessed with books, animals, and climbing everything! But nothing more than babies and dolls.
For the past month or so, we can't go anywhere without Michelle bringing along her baby doll. It is an old hand-me-down Target brand doll from her cousin, and it's pretty beat up (more now than it was when she inherited it, that's for sure!). "Baby" comes in all of the stores, sits in Mish's highchair and stroller with her, and goes on adventures from Y back to the Bay Area. It's so cute, and so funny because we made it a point not to push any gender stereotypical toys on her, but she loves that baby doll! 

Getting ready to ride the train with Baby at Tilden Park in Berkeley

A few days ago we went to Oregon for the day. Mish was a trouper! After being in a Fred Meyer for over an hour though, she started to lose her patience. We let her play with this silly little toy bottle because of course she had her baby doll with her, and my amazing child put the bottle right in the dolls mouth and started making soothing sounds. How did she know that the bottle was for the baby? She's never taken a bottle and she's never seen a baby with a bottle. She's very observant. And she's loving. She met the next door neighbor (who is two days older than her) for the first time last week, and gave him a big hug after getting over her initial shyness! 

Mish feeding Baby, while cheap-o $2 baby watches hungrily

I can hear Michael reading a book to Michelle right now, and every now and then she'll let out a cheer or let out a quick jumble of words in her language (that we're still trying to learn). I think she's reading alongside her daddy. <3

Already excited about "big girl" stuff like matching toe nails.

How is it that she's growing up so quickly before my eyes, but I don't feel like I've aged a bit?