Fall?

It seems everyone is talking about fall. And here there is nothing that feels like fall. The weather is hot and muggy. We can still wear shorts flip flops. There is no need for a jacket or sweater even at night. I have been wearing my jeans because it makes it feel more like fall around here but that just results in being even hotter.

We did, however, find a pumpkin patch (well, the closest thing we can get over here - a bin of pumpkins in the commissary). And we found the perfect one for Grace! I can't wait until we are able to take Grace to a big field of pumpkins. I think we will end up buying whichever one she chooses to make up for this year and next only having a commissary bought pumpkin.

Maybe I should go ahead and put up the rest of my fall decor. By the time the weather starts to feel like fall we may be ready to put up our Christmas tree.

Mommy's Girl

We have had a little Mommy's girl today! Normally evenings and weekends Grace is a total Daddy's girl but not today. If she keeps this up we might not be having dinner this week. I am going to enjoy it because I know soon she will go back to wanting only her Daddy when he is home.

Grace has been pretty ornery lately. She finds it very funny to throw her food and cup on the floor at snack time and watch me pick it up. Today in church she threw her cup which got her a "Nice throw, Gracie!" from our little friend Maggie. At lunch she kept throwing her toys and cup in the floor and then waiting for us to give them back to her. I think she finally figured out that she had lost her toys and then she decided to wanted out of the highchair.

She wants to be so independent and it bothers her that she can't just take off running wherever she wants to go. She claps her hands on demand - we just have to say "Grace, clap your hands" and she starts clapping, she waves to people when we tell her to wave, and she will hold her little finger up and wave it around when we sing "This Little Light of Mine." She is so cute! But she is growing up way too fast.

Enjoy the pictures and videos!

Grace has been pushing her spoon away with her hands whenever she doesn't like what we are trying to feed her or if she just wants something different. I thought maybe she wanted to try to feed herself and gave her the spoon. She kind of has the idea but totally lacks the coordination of

getting the spoon in the jar and to her mouth without slinging food all over the place.

She decided she had enough of the spoon and went for the jar!

One day last week we stopped by the travel agent on-base before heading to the gym. We had a little time to kill so we went to the playground and found the swings. Grace had so much fun that we had to go back with the camera on Friday after Dustin got off work!

"This is FUN!!!"

Here she is waving

I love this expression!

More videos...

I know how much some of you really enjoy videos of Grace so here is one I uploaded during her nap. I will try to put on another one or two after she goes to bed but right now it is play time!

**edit** I added two more videos!

Grace learning how to play ball!

Grace taking 1 little step! She thinks it is funny to stand up and then fall forward and let us catch her. Sometimes she will take a little step first!

This was taken last week. Grace LOVES to push her little stroller. Now she can do it without anyone holding it to make sure it doesn't take off going too fast. She was making her squeaky sounds which she finds very amusing.

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak at something you might see at Grace's birthday party!

Grace at the petting zoo portion of the zoo. It was HOT, HOT, HOT so we didn't stay outside for very long at all!

This is just a cute picture :-)

I think Grace is going to love playing in her birthday cake. This picture was taken last night after dinner. That is the crust part of the delicious fruit dessert I made!

Car Seat Solution

We came up with a solution to our car seat problem. I searched Amazon (about the only place I can get baby gear shipped here) and I couldn't find much that met my criteria. I thought a couple but they were all about 2-3 lbs heavier than the one my Mom bought. Plus, they were bigger and bulkier which would make travelling with them more difficult. So, my Mom offered to just bring it out as checked luggage when she flies out in December! I was planning on getting a bag for it since we will be checking it when we fly so I can just have that shipped to my parents house instead of here. And that means I have more store options! But if the new BX has a good selection and I find something there then my Mom can just take the one she has back to the store. So now I can quit my online search!

Car Seat Search + cute picture

I went to check on Grace during her 2+ hour nap (she is still asleep!) and this is how I found her. The paci in her hand is the one she had in her mouth when I laid her down... the one in her mouth is from yesterdays nap I think. And the ONLY time I have seen her roll over from back to stomach has been when I put her to bed. Now every time I lay her down in her crib she rolls to her tummy... this is also the only time she enjoys tummy time.

I have been on a hunt for a new car seat. We already have 2 - an infant seat and a convertible seat that we just started using TODAY! The problem is that when we go on our cruise Grace will most likely be too big for her infant seat and the convertible seat weighs about 25lbs. This is also a problem when I travel back to the states. We want something that is easy to travel with and that I can handle on my own while also trying to maneuver a stroller, toddler, and our luggage.

So, I am searching for a relatively inexpensive carseat and very lightweight. Easy installation is also a plus. Oh, and let's not forget about safety! Any suggestions? I really don't want to spend a lot because we bought a pretty nice convertible seat for her already (we had planned on using it in Dustin's car but it is too big rear-facing). I found one at Wal-Mart that fit the description so my Mom bought it and tried to mail it. They were going to charge $90 for postage and that is mailing it the cheap way that takes 2 months to get from there to here.

Party Planning!!

The reason we wanted to visit the Zoo this weekend was to check out their party facilities. We decided we would have Grace's First Birthday Party at the Zoo! We booked it for the Saturday after her birthday and then after we got home we realized that it was the same day as the Army/Navy game so we called and changed it to the week before. They have a covered pavilion with picnic tables right next to all of the rides (train, carousel, go-karts). I am so excited! We have already started making plans. As soon as I told my Mom about our idea (before we even knew for sure if we could actually use the zoo) she went on eBay and won a cake pan for the cake I want to make for Grace. I have been shopping for party bags, favors, cups, napkins, plates, decorations, etc. I pretty much know what I am going to do for all that so now I just need to order it all and figure out what I want to do for invitations. I have already planned some of our snacks - all animal themed! I can't believe she is going to be a year old in less than 3 months.

One day last week we took a walk to the library with our friends. This was our first time to visit this particular library and the children's sections was so much better than the library we have been to once before. I picked up a few books on Australia and New Zealand and Grace got to check out 3 books and 2 DVD's. She got a Veggie Tales and a Little Einsteins movie. She loved both of them! One of her favorite things right now is to stand up holding onto the coffee table and play with the remote control and watch a cartoon. She also likes to watch cartoons at snack time. She is so cute clapping and dancing along to the music!

Random thoughts...

I decided I needed a new toothbrush. Now when it comes to toothbrushes and toothpaste I am extremely picking. Weird, no? I will only use Colgate products. So at the BX there is pretty slim picking for someone as picky as I am. So I pick up a Colgate toothbrush that I think looks pretty cool and decide I will just get that one. It was actually just the first Colgate toothbrush I saw. Upon closer examination I found out it is SCENTED! Yes, that's right. I bought me a toothbrush that smells like fresh mint toothpaste.

We had a great weekend. With our trip to Okuma before the weekend it really felt like a week long vacation. We went to the pool, shopped at the great sale they had at the BX (additional 50% off all clearance clothing plus a lot of other things were 50% off as well), played with lots of toys, and did lots of cruise research.

Did I mention how much Grace is growing up? She took her first step over the weekend, and she now says Ma-ma several times a day, although Da-da and No-no-no-nooo (complete with shaky her head) are still her favorites. And, on Tuesday when I dropped her off at the Co-op at the gym she waved good-bye to me and then she started clapping her hands on the way home!

Now it is Thursday and we are already planning our weekend.

I think we might take a trip to the Zoo!

Yesterday Maggie came over to play. This is always a treat for Grace! Here they are watching Elmo's World.

This is a toy we have had sitting in a pile of stuff to get rid of. We just realized that maybe the reason Grace never liked it much was because she was too little for it! The piano turns so that when she could sit and play it but she never really liked that. Now all she wants to do is stand up and play!

P.S. We bought a new video camera. I am not too impressed with the still shots but they will work and it makes it very handy to be able to switch between video and photo. And it is all digital so we won't have tons of tapes. But what do you think? These pictures are some of the still shots and the videos from Okuma are with the new camera.

Transition...

Not only do we have a new look, we have a new address. We now have our own domain name!

www.mcgriffadventure.com

In the process of changing the address I lost my list of blogs I follow. It is almost back but if you are reading this and have a blog and I don't have your link on my sidebar leave me a comment and let me know.

Now lets see how long I can keep this layout before I get bored with it :-)

P.S. I have to mention Grace... how could I have to posts in a row without talking about Grace??

She took her first step tonight. All by herself!

Cruisin' Down Under

We finally picked a cruise and booked it! After the cruise we found that Grace was not old enough for everything just didn't seem as good. But, we finally came to a conclusion and decided we would go to Australia and New Zealand.

We leave in January and will spend 2 weeks on the boat. Our plans are to spend a couple extra days in Sydney before the cruise so we can see the Koala bears and Kangaroos.

Then we will be off to New Zealand.

Stops in:

Bay of Islands

Auckland

Tauranga

Napier

Wellington

Christchurch

Dunedin

And cruising:

Doubtful Sound

Dusky Sound

Milford Sound

We are already planning what we want to do at each stop:

Swim with the Dolphins

Visit Cadbury World, a working chocolate factory with lots and lots of samples

Play with Penguins at the Antartic Center

National Aquarium of New Zealand

Mount Maunganui - Extinct Volcano

And, we may even make a stop in yet another country on the way back!

Videos, videos, and more videos...

Here are some of the highlights from our trip!

This is what Grace does in the car if she is not sleeping

This is our snorkeling adventure

Grace and her Daddy swimming in the ocean. It rained on us while we were out there!

This one is split into 2 because it was too big of a file. Grace learned how to click her tongue!

Part 2