a song for Maren

We went to the Mariners game on Sunday afternoon (it was fun! but don't ask us about the score). Maren's cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents were there too. Cousin Sofia even sang Maren a song. It goes like this:

what I enjoy doing, by Maren

Maren goes to the ocean

So, after that fun visit to Spokane, we went the other direction - all the way to the Oregon coast, where we enjoyed the beautiful weather and the beach and Maren's pretty darn fantastic behavior in the car (except for that one screaming fest, but it didn't last very long).

Our favorite restaurant activity - eating the menu. Yummy.

Maren goes on vacation

Our first summer vacation was a quick camping trip with Uncle Eric and Aunt Teresa. We went to the Hoh Rainforest on the Olympic peninsula and spent a night there - they let us use all their camping stuff (which was great, since we don't have any).

To be honest, Maren's mom is more of a "hotel" kind of person, but it was fun to be outdoors and Maren liked hiking the next day.

Uncle Eric and Aunt Teresa visited us later that week and Maren did her best to initiate them into the ways of babies, including a brief foray into Massive Diaper Blowout, and a detour into When Feeding A Hungry Baby You Don't Need to Worry About Being Neat, Just Get It In the Mouth. We're looking forward to meeting Baby Sachse in a few more months!

It's so much fun to pull Aunt Teresa's hair! She is very patient.

Uncle Eric perfecting his Baby Feeding Skills.

Then we traveled to Spokane, where we celebrated a lot of firsts: the sunshine made its first lasting appearance this summer; Maren went to the cabin for the first time; and she enjoyed her first boat trip so much that she fell asleep about halfway through.

Really, there is a baby in there. We promise.

Naptime on the boat.

Playing with grandma...

...and hanging out with grandpa.

Meeting cousin Katie!

All this vacation really wears a girl out. She can't even finish her cracker.

catching up

Wow - we are way behind on posting! That's what vacation and home projects (and a crawling baby) will do to you, I guess.

We'll start with some summer fun:

Emptying the toy bucket - a favorite pastime.

Helping dad celebrate his birthday...

...and open presents (the best part if you aren't allowed to eat cake yet).

When you crawl, this the best way to take a toy with you. Don't knock it 'til you've tried it.

We went to the zoo! Fun with all the animals, and especially with Aunt Shannon and cousin Wyatt.

The penguins were the best.

Cousin Wyatt knows how to walk, which is extra cool. Someday we are hoping to do that (although mom and dad will be okay if it doesn't happen soon because they are still trying to baby proof everything at crawl-level).

The Crawl

We're way behind on blog posts after a few weeks of vacation, so watch for lots more photos to come, but first: the big news.

Maren crawls!

She's been doing one or two scoots for about a week, but on Monday she decided to go the distance. Across the room, anyway.

Now, to babyproof the house.