Do you believe in miracles?

Okay, no, we didn't beat the Russians to get a gold medal at the Olympics, but something even more amazing occurred. Andrew, who is terrified of food (at least certain foods) and literally shakes at the thought of having to eat chicken, ACTUALLY ATE CHICKEN, and here is the photographic evidence to prove it. Apparently all I have to do is starve him for hours on an airplane, then bring him to a house that has been vacant for a month and has no food in it but frozen dino nuggets, and tell him that we can't go to the store for more food until the morning. Or something. (Those of you who witnessed him completely freak out at the thought of having to eat tri tip will appreciate this.)

The Last Hurrah

We got one last afternoon with the cousins before we flew back to Virginia. Where better to spend it than at Chuck E. Cheese?



Check out the concentration on this face.


Much thanks to Uncle Jeremy for squeezing into the play area with the little kids!

Lake Powell

We spent a week with my parents on their houseboat at Lake Powell. This is our first trip since Andrew was a tiny baby, and we had a fantastic time. Andrew had no fear of this huge lake. Riding on the tube and wave runners, swimming in the middle of narrow canyons, going down the houseboat slide -- you name it, he was up for it.







Willa was more cautious, as always. Her most animated times were spent playing with Andrew in bed at all hours of the night (I'll never forget going in their room at 4:30 in the morning and seeing Andrew snoring away while Willa was bouncing around on all fours and tickling him -- which she had been doing since midnight...) and playing with the barn Grandma brought. Every night she had to tuck each of the animals into bed and wake them up the next morning.


She wanted nothing to do with the water on our sandy beach ("It's dirty!"), but we did manage to get her out into the deeper water behind the houseboat. There was just enough water at the bottom of the floatie to make her feel like she was swimming. She would sit like Cleopatra on her "boat" and point to where she wanted you to swim her to.



What a stud.


This was our camp site. Check out that view, would you? It was so amazing to wake up every morning to the sun rising over these huge cliffs.

Hammond Family Reunion 2008

We all met in Costa Mesa this year, and it was so fun to spend time with all the family! I don't really like taking pictures, and often forget my camera when things get busy, so I missed a lot of great photo ops. Here are a few I managed to capture.

Andrew, Willa and I got the jump on everyone else in CM, so the kids got some great time to themselves with Grammy and Papa. After the requisite chocolate cake was made, Andrew did everything he could do to "help" Papa with his chores, from mowing the lawn to trips to Home Depot.





















Willa made her own fun, gathering toys and other things (note the tape) and singing and talking non-stop. This trip she started really using her imagination. She had tea parties, made her My Little Ponies take baths and go to bed, and everything talked and walked and got its diaper changed. I tried to get some video of her games, but if she so much as smells the camera she drops what she's doing and says "cheese".











Andrew had the best time with his cousins Ben and Zach. He and Zach destroyed every bad guy that had the audacity to enter Grammy's house under their watch, and Andrew had his very 1st sleep over at Zach's house. Once Ben arrived, the poor kid had to endure the full force of Andrew's affection, which knows no boundaries. I don't know how Ben survived a full week of chasing, snuggling (the spooning in bed was actually very cute), and parroting. As an example of Andrew's lack of personal boundaries, he struck up a conversation with and gave a hug to every single person who entered the house, whether they were family, neighbors, or salesmen (Sal the window guy got a Spanish lesson as well).


A successful day at the park always ends in very red, sweaty faces.



Little starlots.


No trip to CA would be complete without a stop at the Big A. Of course, Willa is scared to death of fireworks, so from the moment we entered the stadium and the game started she was DONE. Around the 8th inning I finally managed to coax her -- unwillingly -- to our seats. Hence the binky and pouty face.

Pillow Talk

Here's the conversation Andrew and Casey had when Andrew was going to sleep tonight:

C: What do you want to tell me?

A: I want to tell you about love, football, and ice cream. Football is fun to play. Ice cream is yummy. Love is nice. And being wicked is bad.

Bowling

Andrew got it into his head that he wanted to go bowling yesterday, so he made me email Daddy to ask him to go, then he called Daddy, and in between did not let 5 minutes go by without asking to go bowling. This morning he woke up Casey and told him that "the bowling idea is just stuck in my head," and the whole family really needed to go bowling today. How can you say no to that? He was so excited and dancing around the whole time. (On a side note: no, Andrew does not wear his Angels shirt every day, as it may appear on this blog, but given the chance he would. As soon as it's clean he wears it again.)





Of course, cautious little Willa was completely scared of the bowling alley, with all the loud noises and people. She wouldn't even touch her shoes, and had to sit back at the tables instead of by our lane.


But after a little while she decided the shoes and Mommy's pink bowling ball looked like they might be fun and made her way down to the lanes...


...and even bowled a few frames. Sadly, she hit more pins than I did.

Willa's Bed, part 2

So, the earlier post about Willa's bed was a little misleading. It was packed to the brim with her friends, but we really do try to keep things a little more under control than that. It takes some creativity to get the stuffed animals out of the bed, though, because she won't allow it without a fight when she's watching, and she follows me around like a puppy dog all day, nipping at my heels. I have to sneak in her room and hide the toys I take out of the bed, because if she sees them in her room then right back to the bed they go. And I swear she's some kind of Houdini when it comes to getting things in her bed, because every once in a while I'll come in to get her when she wakes up and there are animals in the bed that were not there when I put her down. Casey caught her the other day with almost every stuffed animal in her room in bed with her, and they were in toy baskets on the floor of her room when she went to sleep. Maybe she has one of those claws under her mattress, like you see in arcades, and fishes for toys when she's supposed to be sleeping.