Sorry it has been awhile since I've written. Alanna's been really entertaining lately, so I thought I'd share some of her new "Alannaisms" with you.

Alanna has one of my old purses that she likes to carry around the house. The other day, she headed toward the door with the purse on her shoulder and said, "bye Mommy and Daddy." I asked her where she was going, and she said "buy meat." I asked her if she was going to the store to buy meat and she said, "yes." I asked her how she was going to get there, and she said, "num " (her word for car). She told me she was going to drive to the store, we were cracking up. Then Justin asked if she was going to get anything else, and she said, "bagels, mouse." "You're going to buy a mouse for the cats?" I asked, and she said, "yes." It was really funny.

Alanna is actually starting to share things with us - amazing! She'll be holding something, and then hand it to you, saying "here you go." It's so cute (and nice).

She loves animals (mother like daughter?!). Anything shaped like a star, is immediately called a starfish. She is also into jellyfish. She sings about them, and likes to look at pictures on the Internet. Lately she is interested in random animals like owls, coyotes, seals, snails, and bugs. Alanna can spend an hour outside, searching for bugs. My Dad thinks she is going to be an entomologist.

We've been going to Little Gym for weeks now, but whenever it is time to do a "roll," Alanna gets into the correct position (hands down, touch the ground, look at your tummy, and roll), but then flops over and rolls around on the floor. Today however, she finally did a real somersault. Go Little A!

Okay, I'll share one more...she loves to lounge. Lounging began in my parents' backyard when Aunt Nancy was visiting. Alanna and Nancy were into lounging on the lawn chairs. Now she likes to lounge in our bed and on the chair in the living room.

Alanna and Justin lounging

The past week has been a whirlwind of fun events. Last weekend was really a blast. On Saturday we went to the Obon Festival in Japantown. We met our friends Derek and Sabra there to watch the San Jose Taiko group. The highlight of the day for Alanna, was riding the VTA Light Rail to the festival.

Waiting to take the Light Rail downtown

At the Obon festival

On Sunday, I headed up to Sacramento with Mom and Dad to go river rafting with Mel, Pete, and Nancy. It was SO much fun!!! We had a delicious BBQ at Mel and Pete's house that evening. Monday morning after breakfast, we headed back to San Jose. Nancy or "Aunt Mancy," according to Alanna, spent the day with us. Nance and I went for a "power walk" during A's nap, we went swimming in the afternoon, and then went out for dinner. In the morning, after another walk on the Campbell trail, Nance, Alanna, and I headed down to Santa Cruz. Nance headed home on Wednesday and we prepared for our next adventure - our first vacation sans Alanna.

Justin and I flew up to Portland to visit Jon and Laura on Thursday. We always have such a great time with them, and they are terrific hosts. We ate delicious meals, drank local brews, saw the Body Worlds 3 exhibit, went for a tram ride, window shopped, visited one of Justin's friends from camp Manito Wish, and laughed a lot!

Jon and Justin

The tram ride up to OHSU

Erica, Jon, and Laura

It's Friday! I'm definitely looking forward to the weekend. We are planning to check out the Obon Festival in Japantown tomorrow. On Sunday, Mom and Dad are picking me up bright and early, and we're heading up to Sacramento to go river rafting with Mel, Pete, and Aunt Nancy. I missed out on the last family rafting trip (I was pregnant), so Justin graciously said that he'd stay home with Alanna. Thanks J! We're going to spend the night at Mel and Pete's house and drive back home in the morning. Nance is going to spend Monday with us, and then we'll go down to Santa Cruz to visit my parents on Tuesday. Nance heads back to NYC on Wednesday.

Have a great weekend!

Here's a cute video of Dax and Alanna doing "Ring Around the Rosie."

This week flew by! We had a really nice 4th of July. In the morning, a bunch of Alanna's friends and their parents came over for a swim play date. In the afternoon, we had Teresa and Scott over for a BBQ, their friend Dave joined us too. On Thursday, Alanna and I decided to avoid the heat and headed down to Santa Cruz. We went to a park in the morning, spent the afternoon with my parents, and slept over. Friday morning, Mom came to Little Gym with us and then we had lunch at Santana Row. After Alanna's nap, Dad drove over and we all went swimming and had dinner together. Yesterday morning, we went to a radio controlled air show in Morgan Hill. In the afternoon, Sabra and Derek came over to swim and eat dinner. Today we had brunch with Susan, Brad, and Dax. This afternoon was nice and relaxing, we took a walk and hung out by the pool. Alanna is a little fish, she loves to swim! Here are a couple of pictures from the 4th:

Justin is such a happy camper, all weekend Alanna has been saying, "accordion, Daddy, play." She really enjoys listening to him play, it's super cute when she dances to the music.

Speaking of the weekend, we've had a really nice one. Yesterday afternoon my girlfriend Nicole and her family came over to swim. Alanna and her friend Isabella had a blast playing in the pool. After swimming we had dinner together. This morning we met Mel and our friends Jamie and Tate for brunch at La Fiesta. After she was finished eating, Alanna had tons of fun splashing in the fountain outside the restaurant. We had to strip her down to her diaper before getting into the car! This afternoon we went to Los Gatos. Alanna got to play in another fountain in the main square. This time we brought a change of clothes :)

Tomorrow we're going to visit some friends in the morning and then we'll pick my parents up at the airport in the afternoon. They went to Nevada to see the Chu's (my friend Carolyn's parents) and then took a road trip with them to the Grand Canyon.