I'm a terrible blogger

I've been running out of blogging steam - I hope to take it up again after I'm done with my writing class, but for now pictures will have to suffice.  

A Day at the Zoo

It's been feeling like winter here in the mountains - it's snowed a few times and been in the 20s at night.  This meant it was finally time to officially say goodbye to summer and clean up and put away all the outdoor toys and deck furniture.  I was very sad to put the inflatable pool away, stack the water table up, and put the outdoor table and chairs away.  We had such a lovely summer - swimming at the pool, hanging out at the beach and playing in the park.  I'm excited that ski season looks to be getting off to a good start (opening day for the resort we have season passes to is November 20th!), but besides that the winter is looming long in front of us.  Anyways, the girls thought it was great fun "helping" us clean up the backyard.  Here's a picture of Kate in her cute hat and sweater.  (Grammy - those are the pants you gave them for their first birthday!  They finally fit into them!)

We woke up today feeling to 20 degree weather and overcast skies and nothing much planned.  I checked the weather and saw that it was supposed to be 75 and sunny in the valley, so we packed everyone up and headed down the mountain to the zoo.  It's a two hour drive to the zoo, but time flies when you have a DVD player in the car (whoever invented in car DVD players is a genius!).  After a Wiggles and Curious George DVD, we arrived at the zoo and parked next to an amusement park that seemed to be designed for two year olds!  Maya was a little apprehensive  until she saw the teacups - she knew right away that was the ride for her.  Kate remembered the Merry-Go-Round from the County Fair we went to in August, so ran up to that and had a grand time.  After the toddler amusement park, we hit the zoo where things went pretty well considering we were chasing two two year olds who were missing their naps.  

This trip to the zoo was more successful than our last trip.  The girls were more engaged and interested in the animals.  It was kind of funny, though, because they were fascinated by the turtles and ducks and didn't seem to care too much about the exotic animals like the orangutans or giraffes.  All in all it was a beautiful day and the girls did great.  Josh and I were seemed much more tired at the end of the day than they were.  

More random ramblings...

Kate has hit some sort of developmental milestone and suddenly is talking clearly and coherently.  For a long time, she struggled to form words and I was the only one who could understand her.  This made her very frustrated and I think contributed to a bit of crankiness.  Now that she figured out how to enunciate she's like a ray of sunshine - a very talkative ray of sunshine.  She wakes up talking and keeps it up all day long with barely a pause for a breath.  "This is mama's phone, not Kate's phone.  Maya's jumping.  Mama's sitting.  Daddy's making toast.  Ow, hot toast! Careful! That's Mama's kitchen, this is Kate's kitchen.  No climb on couch - big owie."  Etcetera, etcetera.  It's very cute and it makes her so happy that we finally understand what she's saying.  It also makes me realize how much they both understand and how good their memories are.

Kate has also taken to stripping down naked, ripping her diaper off and then running around screaming "BUCK NAKED!".  For some reason, she doesn't seem to get cold and I figure it helps with potty training, so I guess I don't care.

Maya has evolved into a slightly more reticent and thoughtful toddler.  She loves her puzzles and books and can spend long periods of time playing with a toy.  She doesn't talk as much as Kate does these days - probably because she can't get a word in edgewise.  She's been having trouble sleeping at night and wakes up howling "MOOOOMMMMY!" several times a night.  I'm not sure what the issue is, but I'm hoping it gets resolved soon.  Our friends just gave the girls "pillow-petp" for their birthdays (it's a pillow AND a pet) and I'm hoping that Maya will bond with hers and it will comfort her enough at night that she doesn't need me.

We had a great Halloween.  The girls had their first lollipop which was the highlight of their week.  Maya keeps asking hopefully for "more pops?"  Maya was totally fascinated by the Halloween parade we participated in on Friday and they both loved "trick-o-treating".