It was actually sunny this weekend! And warm! In San Francisco! Yippeeee.

We all enjoyed playing in the sun all weekend long. And Fiona was even so kind as to make sure we didn’t miss a second of it by waking up BEFORE the crack of dawn each day. She is so smart to know we really wanted to soak in every last drop of sunshine. Who needs sleep when it’s sunny out?

(Ok – maybe we do. But it was sunny. Yippeeee. We’re going with that for now.)

To make up for the lack of sleeping Fiona and Zeke took some moments of rest together in the sun.

Zeke wanted me to point out that he is not in fact a couch but plays a pretty good one when it is required.

Enjoy your week!

Love, Mama

It’s been a pretty miserable summer in San Francisco. Mark Twain wasn’t kidding when he said “They coldest winter I ever saw was the summer in San Francisco.” Which is what made our trip to Russian River even sweeter.

After frolicking in the river we spent a good amount of time drinking wine in the sun while the babies enjoyed playing on the lawn.

We even all played together sometimes. And looked pretty in the sun for the camera.

Until the camera got too exciting and Mama was overtaken by a baby stampede!

We took a break from the wineries to go “Wheeeeeeeeee” on the swings. (No really, Fiona says “Wheeeeeeeee” now when she’s a-swingin’.)

But then it was on to more wineries with even bigger lawns and baskets. Really cool baskets.

With all that sun how could it not be fun?

Now when are we going to get our Indian Summer again?

Remember how last week the Best Part was a secret vacation destination? Well I am about to make your day: the vacation destination is about to be revealed! (I know – it was all you could think about for a week and a half.)

Daddy and I AND the Pup AND the Sippy Cup went to…

Wait for it…

Russian River!

But we didn’t go alone.

We went with another Mama, Daddy, Pup and Sippy Cup. And we all stayed in a house. And found out what happens when babies and dogs stop being polite. And start getting real.

And let me tell you – that many crazy whirling dirvish-like things in one house sure is hectic. But it’s also a ridiculous amount of cuteness living under one roof. So while we were all exhausted at the end of the trip we had a ton of fun too.

As you saw before, Zekey had a grand ole time frolicking in the river. Well, everyone else got to play in the river too.

I even took to the water and got my picture taken for a change! (Oh my!)

And I got a little bit of evidence that I may, in fact, have been hip one day. See tattoo exhibit #1:

But the real star of the show for the weekend, at least as far as Fiona was concerned, was our friends’ little Boston Terrier pup named Digby:

Fiona loves to play with Zeke. But Zeke is big. Like really big. But Digby is small. Fiona sized small. Good for chasing and playing with and tackling. For most of the weekend Fiona looked like this:

If I had taken a picture of Zeke he would be all sad in a corner. He did NOT appreciate how Fiona shifted her affections the second another pup came along. (All was luckily forgiven once we got back home and Zeke had the little lady all to himself again.)

A close second friend to the new fun pup was Fiona’s boyfriend. They played together a bit, in their own special “I’m mostly going to ignore you” kind of way.

For more photos of the weekend including winery fun and Russian River swings tune in on Friday…

It has been a big week in the House of O because Mama’s Family came to town! While we are lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa on Daddy’s side here all the time, it’s a little bit more tricky for the Mama clan to visit all the way from the East Coast.

But this week was special. Not only did Nana and Grandad come out for an SF trip, Uncle A came along too! Fiona was surrounded by family all weekend long with all kinds of fun activities, even if Fiona did try to mix up the itinerary a time of two. (Yes – Mama did have a printed itinerary for the trip. She’s geeky like that. If you can’t already tell.)

Mama tried not to be all camera-hog the whole time but she couldn’t resist taking a family pic of three generations under one sky.

At first Zekey was all – I’m a dog. I don’t belong in people portrait shots.

But it didn’t take long to convince him that he’s a part of this family too – whether he likes it or not.

And isn’t it awesome how all the guys just happen to like to dress in shades of blue and grey and its pink all the way for the ladies? Well, except for Zekey – but he’s always been a bit of a nonconformist.

Mama couldn’t ask for anything better.

Except to maybe be in a pic or two one of these days. I think someone needs to talk to her about being a camera hog after all…

So who do you think Fiona looks the most like?

From left to right:
The Men: Uncle A, Grandpa, Granddad, Daddy & Zekey down below
The Ladies: Grandma, Fiona, Nana
Behind the Camera: Mama

Our little lady has been chatting up a storm these days. Daddy and I are generally on the quiet side so weren’t we surprised to find that our lady is a non-stop talker! She’s been “talking” for a while now – trying out sounds and songs and varying pitches (no we did not enjoy the high pitched screeching phase) but now she is really venturing into real words.

I mean, you kind of have to know what those words are in order to know that they are words, but to us she is definitely talking. Here’s a bit of what’s she’s saying now:

Greetings

Hi & Bye (complete with waving action).
According to our Nanny she said Hola once but so far her Spanish vocabulary is seriously lacking. (Come on Fiona – keep up.)

Pup-Related

Good Dog & Zeke & Woof-woof.
She also likes to run after Zeke saying “Gahhhhh” and then hit him on the butt. We do not encourage that.

Duck-Related

Duck & Quack-quack.
Don’t ask. We’re not sure why.

Daddy-Related

Daddy.
Nope – no Mama in sight yet. I mean – she can say Mama. But she doesn’t at the appropriate time. Good thing she totally likes Mama best. (At least Mama thinks so.)

Pleasantries

Thank You.
Yeah – she’s polite like that. Except she tends to say it when she’s giving you something instead of receiving it. And then she gets mad when you don’t give it back.

We’re pretty sure there’s lots more words just around the bend. Because she’s a genius of course. That’s our little girl.