Sugar Pine '08

The following posts and the ones that will continue to come for the next few days because I am too tired to keep this up tonight are from our annual campout to Sugar Pine. Last year at this time, we only made it up to the camp for one night as we had just returned from Guatemala and meeting our Sofia for the first time. We were full of stories and photographs and were imagining what it would be like when we were finally able to bring her up to this wonderful event.

Despite the fact that we were engulfed in smoke from all the wildfires that are still ravaging Northern California for most of the weekend, the girlie had a wonderful time. She swam in the lake, found so many new treasures, ate an unbelievable amount of food, sat around her first camp fire and got to be completely and utterly filthy for 3 days. What could be better?

We are counting down the days until next year and Sugar Pine 13.

The Bubble Lady

Sofia met lots of new people this weekend and she gave all of them the Sofia stare down. For those of you who have met Sofia, you know how this goes. She stares at you without blinking for an amazing amount of time without any hint of anything. Nancy aka "The Bubble Lady" however eventually won her over with her amazing bubble blowing technique.

Maiden Voyage

Mama's good ship "Jaffa" hit the waters this weekend for her maiden voyage in fickle winds and thick smoke. Yes, Northern California is still burning and we could not escape the smoke. But, all in all it was a very successful maiden voyage. Almost capsized once after a very uncontrolled jibe but managed to right the ship just before she went over. Phew!!

Don't you make me!

Don't you make me take a nap. I know there are good things going on outside Daddy. Don't you make me. I'll smile at you until you let me outside to play. Daddy, please don't make me take a nap.

What! Are you kidding me?

They have pancakes at these Sugar Pine camp outs?



And bacon too? For the record, there was 12lbs of bacon cooked for breakfast on Saturday morning. These people know how to eat when they camp.

Playing in the flowers

Who knew?

That the proper way to eat raspberries is to shove one on your thumb for safe keeping. Also works well with pasta with holes.

Cheers!

So a little over a week ago we introduced "Cheers" to Sofia while we were visiting with friends. It was a fun thing to do and lasted only a few seconds. Fast forward to the following weekend and Clyde, Sofia and I took a short trip down to a winery where we are wine club members to pick up our quarterly shipment. They asked us if we would like to do a tasting and we declined, after all we were on a mission to get our chores done. Oh, but wait......there is a new wine listed so we figured we would just taste the one new wine. Well, Sofia was in Clyde's arms holding onto her own sippy cup and suddenly she throws her sippy cup into Clyde's glass. We couldn't figure out what the heck she was doing. Then she started eyeing up my glass as well. So, we "cheered" every mouthful. It is truely amazing to me the things that stick in these little peoples heads just waiting for the right time to show off their new skill.

Pretty flowers

Oh, beautiful flowers. I love to smell them......


Then rip their pretty blooms off.


Don't worry Mama!! I can put it back together.....I can.

First Portrait

Sorry, you kind of have to ignore the big bright spot on her shoulder....it is not there in real life, only in my shoddy photo.


About a month ago, we took Sofia to have her first portrait taken. We had an appointment at half past midday, outside, on a day where the temperature reached over 100 degrees. She started out with her beautiful black hair down but as soon as we tried to move a stray strand out of her eyes, it was clear that her hair had to be tied back into her usual ponytails. So, if you look closely, you can see how her hair is plastered to her head with sweat, but how could you not love this photo. Sofia's eyes are just so dark and intense and beautiful.

A big thank you to Stefani and James at Enchanted Images for giving us such an exquisite photo of our precious girl.

And I will post a photo of another set of photos they did but not until our family receives their copies. I don't want to ruin the surprise.

URGENT: Care Package Needed!

Grandpa Robin,
Urgent care package needed in Sac. Only terrible English Marmite readily available here. Need more of the good Kiwi stuff before rationing will have to begin.
ooo's & xxx's,
The Sofster

Sof's first "camping" trip

Okay, so first off I must apologize for the insane number of photos I am about to post. We took Sofia on her first camping trip this weekend and needed to record every conceivable first during the weekend. Feel free to skip forward at will....I won't be offended.


This is my girl in the state I found her. I won't post a photo of Dad in the state I found him. In typical Quick fashion we took two cars on our camping trip. Clyde was off work at noon and Grandma and Grandpa kindly picked Sof up from school and bought her down to Sac. I think secretly, or actually not so secretly Grandma had a hankering for a Margarita on the river (who can blame her) and that was their excuse to make the trip into town. Thanks guys. Anyway, I digress! We took two cars because I couldn't be off work until my usual time and we wanted to get the Sofster settled into her new environment. Well, poor old Dad! Not only did he have to cope with towing the trailor, getting it set up and a 16 month old, he also had to deal with an exploding shower nozzle on the outside of the trailor and a leaky toilet on the inside (fresh water only :-)) Anyway, $2.67 at the RV store and a towel around the base of the toilet and we were set and ready to begin our weekend.


Breakfast #1. Bananas and banana muffins. Notice a theme here? Sofia can't get enough nanas. And yes, it is dark. Our beautiful little alarm clock went off at 5:10am. OUCH! I will admit that it is amazing how much you can get done in a day when you get up at that time. But I will also tell you it is amazing how buggered you feel by 7:00pm.


An early morning stroll.



Breakfast #2.....on the same day as #1. There is absolutely no denying that our girl has an appetite and she is definately a breakfast lover. Pancakes rate right up there.



Walking it off with Daddy.



We headed off into town and did a little shopping. Sofia has a taste for Mummy's Gucci sunglasses. Apparently she likes them better than the .99 variety she usually wears.



Getting ready for the pool. Do I look cool enough Mum? I fixed my hair special.



Okay, so the pool wasn't really a hit. It was super busy with kids everywhere. We were in and out in a moment and Sofia didn't really get the hang of hangin' by the pool so we headed off back to the trailor for a much needed nap.


But not before a little showing off her wonderful little bikinied self. Is there anything cuter than this?



Sofia and her treasures. We collected sticks and leaves of all varieties.


Finally.....dinner time. Sofia sat at the table with us like a big girl. No highchair, no booster seat just right beside her Daddy. As I mentioned, Sof has a terrific appetite. And not only that she loves to dine. Clyde and I are able to take our time and eat a normal meal and Sof just hangs out and eats with us. And yes, she did eat both of those bowls of food. The whole damn lot.



This photo just cracks me up because everyone always thinks Sofia is older than she is. I think it is all that hair, but next to her Dad, she is still just a tiny wee thing.



All packed up and ready to head for home. All in all a successful weekend and we look forward to a lot more camping trips together.