A family vacation to Mexico

In early February, we traveled to Playa las Tortugas (70 miles north of Puerto Vallerta) with the Rice family. It was a beach-and-pool vacation for Eli and his friend, Elliot. As you can tell from the photos, the boys couldn't get enough of the water and sun...

A pumpkin patch!

Eli and his good buddies Koren and Elliot went to E.Z. Orchards Friday to pick pumpkins, pet some farm animals, eat pumpkin donuts, sit on hay and ride miniature tractors. It wore Eli out so much that he slept for 3.5 hours when he got home.

Eventful weekend...

Eli had a very full weekend. On Saturday, he watched his Mama run very slowly in a 5k race at Bush Park (it was Art Fair weekend). Then he went to the Salem Saturday Market with his Mama and helped her set up the Friends of SSM booth. He was great -- mainly because he was eating a delicious sugar waffle and drinking lemonade at the booth, and then wandering in the aisles at the market. He loves to explore -- particularly things that, to adults, don't look worth exploring. For example, he loves to check out all the different ways the vendors keep their canopies from blowing away. Some use buckets of sand, others have jugs of water hanging near the stakes and others have rocks loaded around the stakes. I am sure Eli will offer a full report on how sturdy each of these techniques are. I'll let you know. That night he ended up back at the Art Fair listening to music, dancing and eating dinner.

On Sunday, he went to Denison Farm in Corvallis to see where all of the organic produce from our CSA box comes from. He absolutely loved it. He was happy riding on my back while we walked around the farm. Then he really liked walking among the tomato vines and strawberry rows. He ate about 10 strawberries (huge berries!), 8 blackberries and several cherry tomatoes. It was fun to see him hunt for the fruit. And he even did a little experiment where he picked a whitish-green strawberry, bit the tip and realized that it tasted terrible. He stuck to red ones after that :)

Then Eli went to his friend Koren's house for a BBQ (that's where the photos are from). His friend Elliot was there too. The dump truck was a big hit and despite some of the wrangling over it, everyone had a great time.

A wagon ride through a winter wonderland

Last night it snowed and snowed and snowed -- very unusual for Salem, Oregon. Eli and I danced around the living room singing "Daddy has a snow day" (you've heard of that song, right!?!?) and we came up with all sorts of plans for sledding today (we had to be creative: we have yet to buy a sled).

Of course, it stopped snowing early last night, state government forced its workers into work today (how horrible!) and Eli and I woke to a white, but icy, world. Good thing Eli's friend Elliot lives just around the corner. We loaded up the wagon and walked to Elliot's house to pick him up. Eli and Elliot were both strapped into the wagon, facing each other, totally bundled in fleece and wool and then covered in a blanket. Sarah and I pulled them around the neighborhood for a good 45 minutes. Eli's cheeks were quite red at the end of it all.

To keep Eli extra warm, I kept him in his fleece pajamas and then pulled my heavy wool socks over his feet. My socks went all the way up to his torso and looked like little leg warmers with feet. So cute...

Eli is feeling much better since his vomit fest. He ate some waffle and kiwi this morning. He is still not very interested in his bottle, so maybe this is the time to wean him off?

Oregon State Fair

Eli and I went to the State Fair today with Elliot and Sarah. Except for a few delays (my tire was flat when I got to Sarah's house), it was a great morning. They saw cows, horses and goats. They watched a rooster cock-a-doodle-doo -- Eli wasn't expecting it so he totally jumped!

Eli and Elliot loved the OMSI tent, which had a little box with air blowing up so you could watch a balloon float in the air. They also played in the toddler area, which had huge playmats and little ride-on giraffes. Of course, Eli passed out in the car seat as soon as I started driving home. The transfer to the crib doesn't work so he was awake for a few more hours before going back to sleep at 3 p.m. We played on the swing in our backyard -- I sat right in front of him so he kept swinging right up close to my face and then going away. He thought it was so funny and kept trying to reach for my face when he came up close. I would give him a quick kiss on his cheek when he swung close and he would giggle. So cute...