Almost 14 months

Jane Ritchie will be 14 months old on Sept. 11. She is talking up a storm. It's mostly gibberish but now she says some words like, "please", "cracker", "meow", "Alex", "Momma", "Dada", "quack", "water", "truck" and "bird". She knows that bees buzz, cows moo, monkeys hoot and holler, cats meow, dogs bark, and trains choo choo.

She is making great strides with walking, although knee walking is still her main mode of travel. She will walk really well while holding onto one of your hands and just tonight she took 7 or 8 unassisted steps. Whew! I was worried she would go to kindergarten walking on her knees!

She starts Mothers Day Out this week at Cloverdale Baptist. It's right up the street so it will work out great. Wish us luck!

The Beach

We had a great time at our annual Beach Week with the Sessions side of the family. This year we stayed with Aunt B and Uncle Eddie at Fort Morgan. Everyone was able to come for a few days except for Sam and Angela. boo...hiss...

Uncle Eddie took the guys fishing and John caught two big amberjack. They were very yummy fried as nuggets as well as grilled by May May.

Jane Ritchie ended up loving the beach. If she could walk, she would have run right into the waves!








See more pictures here: http://picasaweb.google.com/maryabigail808

Cape Cod wedding

This weekend we left Jane Ritchie with May May and headed to Cape Cod for the wedding of Paul's good friend Pete from camp. Except for travel woes on the way back, we had a great time!





We stayed at a Bed & Breakfast right down the street from where the wedding was. The B &B was right on a marsh and we saw several osprey. They are huge, some with a 6 ft. wingspan!






The rehearsal dinner was at a nice country club and the wedding was outside at a place called The Beach Club. Apparently it's a pretty exclusive place. Just to go sit on the beach there costs $20 per person, per day.

Men's fashion on "the Cape" is a little different than what Paul is used to. Several guys were wearing similar salmon colored pants, while this guy below went all out! I think these are fabulous, but I'd never get Paul in these. I'm still trying to work on getting him to wear seersucker!

Saturday was a beautiful day for an outside wedding. Here is a pretty picture of the bride's family. Check out the electric blue bridesmaids dresses!

Cousin of the groom, Kathryn Guy-Hamilton did the wedding cake. She works in L.A. and I think is getting pretty famous. They say she has been on Food Network. She used to work at Spago, but not sure what she does now. Anyway, it was gorgeous and good!

More wildlife

This is old news but here is a picture of the deer that ended up in our backyard in Pacific Grove a day or two before we left. We were used to seeing them in the front, but since we had gates in the back we wondered how he got back there. Apparently the side gate had been left open. He ate some flowers and then went on his way!

Then, while in Mobile I caught a raccoon red handed stealing Alex's dog food! A couple of nights in a row we heard a clanging sound in the middle of the night. One night I got up and saw something with its head down in Alex's food bin. I turned on the outside light and saw it was a raccoon. The light didn't phase him at all. He just kept eating. Even after I took a picture with a flash he still didn't leave. Only when he saw my shadow cross the door did he take off!

We're Here!

Sorry it has been so long since we've added a post. We moved into our house in Montgomery then took off the next weeked to Cape Cod for a wedding. So, we've been kind of busy. We are enjoying our new house and neighborhood, despite the heat. We're all getting used to it!

Happy Birthday Jane Ritchie!

Today is Jane Ritchie's first birthday! She was born at 5:50 a.m. Hawaii time after a very long night for Mommy, May May and Mommy's friend Melissa. It is somewhat fitting that she kept Mommy and May May up for a while last night too! She's getting alot of new teeth, so we think that is the problem.

She had her 12 month appointment today. She weighs exactly 20 pounds and is 30 inches long/tall.

We are celebrating with pineapple cupcakes this afternoon with Great Grandmommy and Great Aunt Mamie and then tomorrow with Daddy and Grandaddy.

Jane Ritchie has received many cards and emails wishing her a Happy Birthday. But, the best present will be when Daddy and Alex arrive tonight after their long trip across the country!

Here's a picture of the birthday girl in her birthday suit!

The Beach

We went to the beach for the night to visit Great Aunt B and Great Uncle Eddie. They have a house on the bay right before you get to Fort Morgan. Jane Ritchie loved looking at the sea gulls and pelicans. The view is beautiful! She did not like the ocean very much, but she loved playing in the sand. Too bad she tried to eat the sand and then got sand in her eyes!


We played in the big blow up pool and Jane Ritchie had her first ride on a 4-wheeler!

Happy 4th of July

Our second day in Alabama just happens to be the 4th of July! After Jane Ritchie took a 3 hour nap, we went to visit her Great Great Grandmother and Great Great Aunt. Then it was time to hit the new baby pool. Jane Ritchie had a great time playing with the hose!

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Paul and Alex at the end of next week (hopefully in time for Jane Ritchie's birthday). They are staying in an empty house in California until Paul can officially check out of DLI.