America's Best Idea

So is everyone watching the new Ken Burns documentary on PBS about the National Parks this week? I'd been waiting and waiting to see it. Then again, I can be a history junky at times and I have always been a child of the American West.

The national parks have been a topic of discussion in our house for years now. About a year after we got married, we decided to become full-fledged adults and open an IRA. We picked a target retirement date type of fund, and initially Tony wanted the one that had us retiring in 2050-something -- in our 70s! Our subsequent exchange went something like this:

Me: Are you on crack!?! I'm not sitting at a desk at 75!

Tony: But if I don't work, what will I do?

Me: I'm retiring in my 60s, getting a Winebago, and hitting all the national parks with the grandkids.

Needless to say, Tony didn't think that being cooped up in the confined space of an RV with his unborn grandchildren was his idea of retirement--even if the national parks were involved.

Our recent national parks discussion has centered on a trip I wanted to take over Columbus Day weekend to a park a few hours south of us.

When we found out that we couldn't get Tony's firm's time share condo (meaning, a place to stay for a really low cost), we figured getting a hotel would be more than we wanted to spend and called the trip off. That is, called it off until a friend offered to loan us camping equipment.

When I called him to share the "good" news, I used all my powers of persuasion. "We could camp! It would inexpensive. We could be one with nature -- We could be part of America's Best Idea..." Tony's only response: "America's best idea was the remote control."

So, help me out here. It's time for a poll. Camping with kids isn't the end of the world, right? It could even be, gasp, fun, correct? Just let Tony know. :)

Blue Ribbon Event

Today was the first day of the State Fair. Tony played hooky from work for a couple hours, and we took the Afton-ator out for some 90-degree fun. We did all the obligatory fair stuff...

We caught the chickens...

and the pigs...


and the goats...


(sorry the pictures are slightly blurry -- between Afton and the animals I had too many moving objects, and admittedly, I'm not the best photographer.)

And Afton's beloved cows. The dairy cows were mooing, and Afton bellowed right back. (Sadly I tried to type that word as "bellered," which evidently doesn't pass the spell check.)

We won't tell Afton's grandpa G (who raised sheep as a kid) that all she did in the sheep barn was run around yelling "moo! moooooo!"

The A-baby took in some fine produce.

Then she hit the rides.

We walked by the cotton candy cart. (Afton will need to wait until next year to get her sugar rush.)

But we did eat some other (overpriced) food (peach-strawberry smoothie).

Afton's favorite moment was when we discovered these paintings...

And as Afton says to us each morning, to her babysitter each afternoon, to any movie that gets turned off, to the water as it goes down the drain, and to the random people who wait at the bus stop by our house, "Bye!" "Bye!" "Bye-bye!" "Bye!" "Bye!" "Bye!" "Bye-bye!" "Bye!" "Bye!" "Bye!" "Bye!"

Like Daughter, Like Father

Afton isn't the only one who can sport a Pebble Flintstone 'do around here.  For some (undoubtedly logical) reason, Tony always manages to stretch out the time between haircuts, well, quite a while.  

But all that was fixed as of yesterday!  

After a brief discussion about how I can veto his veto (he didn't want his picture taken), we captured...

a bit of uncooperative behavior and

the new and improved locks.  (I requested that he smile like he loved me.)

Peaches

A little over ten years ago, I trekked to Utah with my mom and grandmother and, for the first time, tasted the most simple and delictable treat: peaches and cream. Oddly enough, sitting in my great-uncle Stan's cabin and eating that breakfast was one of my most distinct memories of that trip. It was the taste of peach juice swirled in cream with a titch of sugar.  I have ever since associated Utah with peaches.
Afton had her first Utah peach a week or so ago.  She was cranky.  It was mid-afternoon.  I was out of toddler entertaining ideas.  I sat her on the counter, noticed two peaches, rubbed the fuzz off of one of them, and handed it to her.  She hesitantly took her first bite.  Then she voraciously ate half of it.  I managed to save her from the pit.

I love watching Afton eat peaches.  It's so unabashed.  She grabs.  She bites as much as can fit in her mouth.  She chews, juice dribbling over her cheeks, down her chin, and from her hands to her elbows.  

Perhaps it's the way peaches are meant to be eaten.  

No Fear

As a minor preface to this first picture, it should be known:  (1) When Tony was a child, he didn't like jumping on trampolines because he "just knew they were dangerous"; and (2) Before I got to the family reunion last week, I had forgotten that the campground had a GI-NORMOUS slip-n-slide.  Afton, aka "no fear," insisted on going down it over and over and over again.  

We had a good time at the family reunion, with Afton trying all sorts of food for the first time:  french fries, potato chips, chicken nuggets, and M&Ms (and it's no mystery who was feeding her those).  

However, the trip ended the way all of our trips to Oregon this past year have ended:  Afton got sick.  

The downside:  a sick child, insurance mumbo jumbo for being out of network, kooky rural health care clinics, an 8+ hour car ride to get home.  The upside:  it's the only time that Afton is snuggly.  

On a different note, we got to see Afton's newest relative, my cousin Sara's son, Ryan.  He is little and sweet and smooshy and cuddly and all the things a little baby ought to be.  

Bona Fide Toddler

The moment we've all been waiting for. [drumroll....]

Afton can walk! (Sorry, but you'll have to turn your head to the left 90 degrees to see this one...) 

At Afton's last check up the doctor did say, "Her head circumference may be affecting the development of her gross motor skills." Translation: That huge noggin makes her top heavy, so it's hard to balance. (Her head circumference was in the 82nd percentile while her body weight was in the 2nd -- never mind that her 12-month-old body was still wearing 3-6 month size shoes.)  We had started sensing something along that line when she started to crawl -- wherever her head went, the body just followed.  

But starting last Tuesday, she's managed to pull herself up and toddle a few steps all with that nervous/ecstatic look on her face.  And she tends to come to a stop the same way I do when skiing (cross-country skiing no less -- yes, you may mock me.)  It's been a blast.

Cat & Mouse

Since Afton has become independently mobile, Afton's interactions with our cat, Gabby, have tended to look a lot like a game of cat and mouse. Unfortunately for Gabby, she doesn't get to be the cat.  

While Afton has been captivated by Gabby since the early days, Gabby has done a lot of sulking since the invasion of the Attention-Snatcher.  

But, Gabby can hold her own.  She knows places she can go that Afton can't quite follow...   

like under the bed.  We're just waiting to see what happens when Afton finally learns to walk. It might just take their game to a whole new level.