This week on the ranch: Bears, ExerSaucers, Carrots, and Beans...

Mr. Bear decided he wanted to visit the Fulton chickens this week. And perhaps do some tasting....
The dogs were on him like sand on a beach, but he didn't seem to mind....
hmmmm
We hope we can all coexist peacefully in our beautiful river valley, but after all he was here first.
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Forrest has begun to master his ExerSaucer! He got this super fun toy back when he was born from a very generous neighbor. Despite the "4 months and up" directions, I've been trying him in it for the last 4 weeks. He's needed lots of blankets for padding as his little legs have been a bit too short, and he's been a bit too wobbly. I would pretty much just sit with him for a few minutes until he became too frustrated and then we would move on.

Not now...he's loving it! He's gotten so much stronger just in the past two weeks, holding himself up with a strong neck, back , and belly. And he loves to interact with all the toys. He's still a bit little for it, but I can tell he's digging it.... it's challenging for him and he likes it!
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And, carrots and beans, both were steamed, made into puree, and frozen for future Forrest baby food, all grown in our garden! Can't wait until our apples and berries become ripe, Forrest will love those this Fall when he starts on solids...
unless Mr. Bear gets them first....

getting back on the horse...

My horse, which is my BIKE!!!
The goal: A metric Century, 63 miles, in Eugene OR in early August. Yikes, less than a month away!
The old Katie "Piece of cake, could do a metric century in my sleep"
The new mama Katie; "Uhhhhhh ohhhhhhhhhhh, am I crazy?"
But, I'm going for it anyways...why not. The worst thing that will happen will be that I get sorely beat by my dear old dad, (or young...I meant...), and worst comes to worst, I don't finish. And I know he'll "beat" me, but I need to step back, let the competitive drive disappear for once and just ride! And I highly doubt I would not finish, minus and fall or breakage, (find some wood to knock on please!)
And, dad has said he's "taking it easy on this one," (right dad?)

So, I've been on my bike, on the trainer, 2-3 times a week for about an hour each day, and now, back to the road, the pumping quads, sore calves and butt, thrilling descents, crazy hills, and exhilarating post ride highs. Or TRYING to get back out there, which is a bit challenging with a little human to take care of and a now full time job to work.
Forrest is helping his mama out with some motivation....
As squeezing the post baby body into Lycra bike clothes and huffing that same heavier body up crazy hills isn't always fun. He tells me he can't wait to go with.
I can't wait either!

HOT!!!!!

The heat has hit us. Summer is officially here....
This means our river beach is our new second home...more like a paradise, an oasis, a refuge.
After an early morning of work, the heat drives us to the water...
Forrest has been keeping cool along with us with mini dunks of his toes and hat into the water and lots of afternoons in his little baby tent in the shade of the beach alongside the river. He's handling it well I believe!!!
We've been snorkling away, checking out the rocky river bottom, crawdads, and occasional fish here and there if you're lucky.


4th of July was spent doing all of the above while watching the local passerbys having there independance day float...
Dinner was fresh salmon, strawberries, blueberries, garden veggies, and of course...beer ;-)
We're liking this HOT thing...
And to leave you with our beach's newest work of art...

Sand castles... !

Toes for Dinner?

Forrest has officially found his feet! He's practicing his mad flexibility skills lately by grabbing at them and hanging on for dear life. He' seems to be much more interested in his feet than any other toy we have at the moment, and gets pretty pissed off when he can't grab them for some reason. Is funny to watch, as I think it's the first time I've seen him have a goal in mind and constantly work to catch those cute little toes!
No foot eating yet, but I'm sure it's just around the corner!

29th Birthday, First Father's Day, King's River, Sierra Camping Fun Fest

So in a nutshell we drove down to Central Cali with our first stop being the Kings River. Forrest was a happy baby once he was out of his carseat....and thought the world of his dad on his very first Father's day...

Katie got to have loads of fun on Sunday afternoon and actually kicked her heels up a bit behind a boat to celebrate #29...Then it was off to the beautiful Sierra's for some cold mountain air, high peaks, beautiful lakes, and a bundled baby...

Here is our camp at Huntington Lake, and from there we day tripped to Kaiser Pass, Mono Hot Springs, Edison Lake, and all points in between. Whew!

Forrest was wondering why his parents kept dragging him up mountains...and seemed to enjoy the bundled moments of bliss...The parents even snuck in a Buffalo burger or two in the middle of the wilds...Happy parents, happy baby!

He kept cozy in his parents tent, and was wide awake with these smiles at the crack of dawn in some frigid morning weather!

And got his time to take in the trees, birds, sunshine, and occasional bug or two...

3 Months young....

Picture thanks to my loving and very talented Grandpa!

Yep, already been 3 months. 90 + some odd days. Some very LONG nights. Some of the loveliest mornings, the best smiles, the cuddliest moments, the most interesting babble, and the list goes on!
I felt as if this month was filled with Forrest becoming more like a little person! A very smiley, happy, drooly person. His smiles just seem to keep coming and coming.
This month also came with him discovering his best invention ever...HIS HANDS....
He can now grab, clasp, and of course suck his hands to oblivion. It's the best thing ever. His pacifier is no longer his best friend, (though it still has it's key star moments,)it is his control over his limbs.
We had some trips this past month which led us to learn without a doubt he is somewhat a creature of habit. Visiting friends and family is wonderful, but Forrest also lets us know when he's had enough and would really just rather be in his swing, in his home, on his ranch, looking out his window, drifting off to sleep. And then again, who really wouldn't!
Oh yea, and that sleep bit. Still working on that one. He still regularly wakes up every 3-4 hours at night to eat. I have a feeling he will be doing that until we start introducing solids which we're not even close to at this point. Though, at this point I really don't mind. He usually seems to go right back to sleep after his midnight and 4 am snacks....
And the love affair with the swing continues, though.....
he has been known to take some serious snoozes in his crib, so at least I know it's not all or nothing with the swing!
Also new this month have been facing him forward in his carrier. He wants to see what's going on in this world. None of this newborn stuff anymore. He's a BABY!
Just recently the baby rolls are coming on as well. It'll be interesting to see how much he weighs next month...I'm guessing near 12 lbs now...but I really don't know. He just LOOKS healthy so that to me means a lot.
And the newest skill, just today.
RASBERRIES! blowing them that is. We'll save the eating for the parents.

The Busy Days of Summer

All of the sudden, June is here, and with it comes the weekends of weddings, graduations, and camping. We are busy every weekend in June doing just that! This weekend Megan graduates from UCSB (yahooo!!!), and the following weekend we have a huge family camping trip to the Kings River, let the summer fun of floats, ski rides, good eats and drinks begin....
This last weekend we attended a beautiful wedding at a good family friend's ranch, 5 Waters. Bryn and Jen got hitched and it was such a gorgeous day. Forrest, however, decided to put up a baby protest when the ceremony started so instead of inflicting his fussiness on the bride and groom, we stayed away from the ceremony and enjoyed the festivities afterward. Our view of guests walking from the ceremony from afar....

Not a bad setting to have a fussy baby!

Forrest seems to be a homebody lately, and I think the people got him worked up a bit.
He was dressed in his best duds though afterall, looking better than his parents I must say....
(though, the top picture with mama was taken after I had a good ride on my bike, I did clean up a bit for the wedding...)

He seems to be looking more and more like a little boy, despite his young age of nearly 3 months! This is also a preview for the graduation goers this weekend, he may very well be wearing the same duds....got to get some use out of them!

And a fuzzy picture of mom, and the happy newlyweds, Bryn and Jen....

Movie time!

Forrest's favorite thing to do is to lay on his changing table and kick his little baby legs up a storm. He can literally do this for 30-40 minutes at a time, an eternity in baby time! His favorite is to be diaperless...but for the world wide web I figured I'd leave the guy covered and save the other for future blackmails....;-)

Forrest starts his jabbering

Lately Forrest has really started to use his vocal cords....telling us all about his day, I'm sure, and how silly his parents are. These pictures were taken during a particularly long conversation with him about this and that after I got home from work. I'm sure he was trying to tell on his daddy about all the crazy things they did that day, but I've got a ways to go before I learn his baby speak! I'll work on getting a video up so you can try to decipher it yourselves!!!

Our Garden

In order to live off a garden, you practically have to live in it. ~Frank McKinney Hubbard

Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration. ~Lou Erickson

There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling. ~Mirabel Osler

Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it. ~Author Unknown

Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else? ~Betsy Cañas Garmon

Let me start by saying that this man....
is the sole reason we have a garden. My idea of a garden is small beans compared to his. It is his sweat that makes the thing run....he is the GARDEN GURU :-)...and is a bit tuckered out at the moment!

And, our garden....
isn't it amazing? The picture doesn't do it justice. Starting roughly right to left we have
broccoli,


cauliflower,

and swiss chard

Then comes our star strawberries!

Next we have our beans, lettuce (three kinds,)

sweet onions, tomoatoes, peas,

and then our potatoes which have never looked better. We then have our summer and winter squash in the squash boxes, with pumpkins of course. Behind them we have started our first succession of corn.

To the front left is our artichokes and asparagus bed. Behind that is our cover crop which we are letting go to give the ground some rest.
Whew...
His job is basically the planting, of which I have helped with some...but not much. Then I take over trying, desperately trying, (with his mom's help thank goodness,) to eat or preserve all of this.
It is quite overwhelming but so wonderful at the same time....