Back to the grind...

As of tomorrow, I'm back to work. I can't say I'm particularly happy about it, but a small part of me, the part that was so excited to become a teacher but has shrunk considerably since having a child of my own, is always happy for the start of a new year. I miss Reagan already, and she's only been asleep for an hour.

As many of you know, I started a photography business about a year and a half ago. It's slow and go, but I get pretty busy around senior picture time (which is now). I did my niece's pictures yesterday, and am probably going to be doing another in the next few days. Once school starts, I think things will pick up quite a bit, since high schoolers are procrastinators by nature and their deadline is within a month of the start of school. So I have my website (you can see it here) for my portrait and wedding photography. But I have been doing a lot of "landscape" shots lately and I've been looking for a place to show it off. The other day I found a home for my "more creative" photos... and here it is! So you can call this blog a shameless plug, because I'm not one bit ashamed. In fact, I'm pretty proud! So tell all your friends you know a place where they can get some great photography. :)

I'm praying for some kind of time-lapse miracle where my time with Reagan and Jim crawls and my time away from them flies. I never knew it would be so hard for me to keep working once I had children. I think a lot of things would be different if I had seen that coming, but I suppose that's what they mean when they say live and learn.

Our Trip to California!

We arrived home from California on Wednesday night at about 12:30am. We had so much fun that I'm finally feeling recovered enough to write a blog about our trip! There is a lot to tell, so I'd love to say I'll keep it brief, but there's so much to tell!! Hang in if you have time.

We left on Saturday morning (the 12th). We flew out of DIA and arrived in San Jose at about 10:30 CA time. From there we picked up our rental car. They tried to give us a Mercury Grand Marquis. I asked for a different car after seeing the boat they were trying to saddle us with. At $4.50/gallon (the price of gas in California--I don't know how those of you out there do it!) we couldn't afford a boat like that. So, I asked for the cute Chrysler Seabring that was a few cars down and they obliged. Luckily, we only had to fill up the tank once, which is pretty incredible for all the driving we did!



We got to Santa Cruz around 1:30 and drove down to the main strip, along the boardwalk. There were people EVERYWHERE!! I was slightly disappointed at first, but the longer we stayed, the more I understood the draw to the town. There are cliffs and beaches, it's warm but not too hot, there's just enough "college-town" feel to make it familiar and homey, nice shopping/restaurant area, and I could go on and on. It felt like a mix of Boulder, Durango, and Fort Collins all on a beach. Neat! Reagan got to see the beach for the first time here. She loved it, and wanted to swim in the ocean, but we obviously weren't quite ready for that, especially considering the frigid temperature of the water. Maybe next year.



On Sunday we went to Monterey to see the Aquarium and Cannery Row, made famous by the John Steinbeck novel, Cannery Row. It was really interesting, and a lot of fun, but I think it will be more of both those when Reagan is a little older and her attention span is a little longer. We got to see the 3 major feedings; "Outer Bay" (containing sardines, sharks, tunas, sunfish, stingrays, and mahi mahis), Sea Otters, and the Kelp Forrest, where they have kelp growing and all the fish that live and feed among the kelp. I think that was my favorite because they had a diver jump in with the fish to give them their mornings serving of squid. We also got to see jellyfish that, while creepy, were pretty fascinating.



In the afternoon, it was back to Santa Cruz. We were itching for some beach time, so we went in search of. The boardwalk beach was WAY too crowded to try again, so we followed the signs to the state park called Natural Bridges beach. Because it's a state park, they charged an admission fee of $6/car. But we noticed that all the "local types" were parking on the street and walking in. So, what did we thrifty Lamb's do? That's right, we walked. It wasn't far, and it felt good to stretch our legs. It was breezy, but we enjoyed our time nonetheless.

Monday it was off to Jim's Aunt and Uncle's. Mike and Carol were fantastic hosts, and we had such a good time with them. They let us swim in their beautiful pool, and Claire and Katie were fantastic "big sisters" to Reagan. Katie was especially excited and was a great babysitter. Mike took us to their country club pool and gave me a few much needed swimming pointers for my next triathlon. I now feel that I could swim at least part of it freestyle with confidence. Thanks Mike!



Tuesday we headed to San Francisco. I had never been, and Jim hadn't been in 16 years. And that's right, it was Reagan's first time too. Since we were driving through the city we got to see a whole lot in the short time we were there, but I must say going through downtown San Fran felt a lot like what I would imagine driving through New York would be like--Scary. But it was worth it because we got to see Chinatown and the Fisherman's Wharf, plus, per Jim's request, we got to drive down Lombard street. We figured a rental was a good way to do so (it's steep, windy, and brick. Neat!). Parking is ridiculous: we found a bargain at a meter for $2 for 45 minutes. Eek!



By far though, our favorite thing about the city was a place called the Cliff House. BIG thanks to Carol for this recommendation (and for everything else she told us about)!! It has a restaurant and we saw that it was fairly affordable so we took a chance. Thank goodness we did! The food was excellent, it is RIGHT on the water, and we had 9 surfers putting on a show just for us. After lunch we drove through Golden Gate Park, a place to which we will surely return next time we're there. Then we headed to the GG Bridge and got out and looked around. Poor Reagan was a trooper, but at that point she had had it. We got a little ways across, and she was ready to be unstrapped or put down for a nap. We opted for the latter, and headed back to Carol and Mike's.






Our trip was AMAZING, and I think we've decided to make Carol and Mike's house an annual visit! If you've made it this far, thanks for reading--just be grateful you're not one of my students who has to sit through my lectures!

Blog #60!

I'm amazed that I've written 60 blog entries! Even more amazing is that I still occasionally get comments, which must mean people are still reading!

Not much news to report. I have been busy sewing this week! I'm not much of a consistent sewer, but now and then I get the urge. I love finding pretty new fabric!

Here are some of the things I have made:


This is a "mom purse". I love a Mom Purse! It was made from pre quilted fabric and included my first zipper. For extra fun, I don't have a zipper foot for my machine yet. Neat! It has 2 pockets on the front and one on the inside. This is the lining:






This is a "diaper carryall" for lack of a better name. It carries a wipes container and 2 diapers comfortably. I think I could squeeze Reagan's epi pen in there too, if need be. (If not, it will certainly fit in my Mom Purse! YES!) I got the idea when I saw something similar at Babies R Us and was disgusted to see they were charging 9 dollars for something I whipped up pattern-free from scrap fabric and a fancy button I got for 1.50 from JoAnn's. Even better--one more thing I got to make from my favorite fabric ever (so far).

I made a few other things too, but can't tell you about them because they are gifts for 2 special people who have birthdays in the next week or so. But, if you're curious, you can just ask!

I signed up for another triathlon! Yes! The next one is, unfortunately on Jim's birthday, August 3rd. He swears he doesn't mind. Spectators are certainly welcome! (Jim especially thinks so--it's tough to be a cheerleader AND keep Reagan under control, especially now that she's on foot!)

Speaking of on foot, here are a few pictures of Reagan in the yard yesterday:


(Reminds me of a movie from a few years back, but the new title would be "Crouching Reagan, Hidden Dragon". Maybe Scout can star as the dragon?)





I also got a picture of Scout! Those of you who know Scout at all know that this is no small feat! She is terrified of the camera, and almost always has been. She runs when she sees me get it out, which is why if she ever does appear in pictures, it's as a black streak in the background, usually darting up the stairs or into the hallway to hide.




And a picture of Reagan doing her new favorite thing: talking on the phone. It's adorable, especially the facial expressions! No idea who she learned this one from. :(







I saw my good friend Janella last week. She has safely returned from her 1 year trip to China where she taught English. Her stories made me so grateful for our country! I told her it's a good thing I didn't go because I probably would have gotten kicked out.

On the 4th of July I learned that Reagan has 2 MOLARS! Oh my goodness, that poor girl. It looks painful, but I didn't even know it happened! They're the only teeth on her top row. She's a strange one.

We're off to California on Saturday!! If you need us, call my cell phone or Jim's. Hoping to have some great pictures from the trip!!! Sometimes it seems as though the blogs that start off with "not much to report" end up being some of the longest. (Hmmm... I guess that just means I'm in the right profession; we history teachers do like to ramble...)