Tom and I had our first ever trip together without the Beanbean at the end of July.  We visited Crater Lake National Park in Oregon, while my parents watched Maia for 3 days/2 nights.  We are extremely grateful.

We took a little detour to Burney Falls on our drive north.

After we reached Crater Lake, we staked out a spot at Cloudcap Overlook for our first night’s sunset.

Some of the trails I was interested in hiking were still blocked by snow at this time of year!  I made Tom climb Mount Scott, the highest point in the park.  He grumbled, but I am sure he appreciated it!!

We didn’t get any photos that did justice to the butterfly migration that was occurring on the mountain.  There were probably tens of thousands of butterflies or more whizzing by, especially at the summit.  That was truly special!

I may have, in turn, grumbled about Tom asking me to join him for Milky Way photos at 2am.  He went out both nights, and I joined him for the second.  I will say that the night sky and the lake setting and the solitude were beautiful.  I especially loved catching shooting stars and just being able to see soooo many stars.

I loved staying at Crater Lake Lodge and would totally recommend it and stay there again!  Hopefully one day we will be able to go back and take advantage of a boat tour, which we were unable to take part in on this trip.

We were lucky to have a lake view on the first night and woke to a gorgeous sunrise out our window.  The second night we had a room without a view, but Tom went downstairs at sunrise to get some photos.

For our second sunset we claimed some rocking chairs on the Lodge’s patio and enjoyed cocktails and dessert along with the view.

It was a short trip with a lot of time spent driving, but it was so great to have the chance to see these beautiful places; and I have a greater appreciation for the chance to make such a trip now that opportunities are hard to come by what with having a Bean.

Speaking of baby Beanie, she was super happy to see us, and jump-jump-jumped a ton and hugged Dada (and then me, too, thank goodness) and was in high spirits when we picked her up from 할머니 and 할아버지 and that was wonderful, too.

Gah I had another cell phone die on me (not my fault this time — it malfunctioned!) so I lost some photos.  :<

Beanie likes to put on dada’s boxers.  She pulls them up and says, “Too big!”  Sometimes she puts on my underwear, too.

Two phrases that I apparently say pretty often are “try again!” and “there you go!” cuz baby says them all the time now.  Usually directed at herself, but sometimes at me.

If you ask her her name she used to say, “Baby!” but now she will sometimes say, “Ma-na!” or “Ma-na Baby!”

The other night as she was mega-stalling on bedtime, I told her I was busy cooking so she would have to play by herself.  I came out of the kitchen to check on her and found this little masterpiece.  She had found and used up all the 2×2 pieces in the toy set to make it.

She originally had that last separate row next to the other rows, but had moved it over by the time I took my photo.  I’m not sure if I can explain why it tugs at my heart.  I told her she was so cute and I loved it.

Tom recently got a drone and although I often roll my eyes at his camera purchases, I must say this little thing is pretty impressive.  One evening he and his visiting family took it to Cesar Chavez park and took this nice sunset shot.

This is kinda cute — Maia sitting on Grandpa’s lap and looking at her cousin baby Sofia on his phone:

Could any photos be more Bean than these?

And an extra photo of Maia cuz it’s pretty:

On the sleep front — she has been getting up waaay too early the past three months or so (around 5am, sometimes earlier!).  I am so sleep deprived, so in desperation we got her a tot clock last week.  We told her it turns ‘ori’ (her word for ‘orange’) when it is okay to wake up.

In probably a total coincidence, she has since then slept in past 5:15 every morning, and even once past 6am!  Oh, I remember those pre-baby days when I thought a 7am wake up was sooo early, and now I would kill for it.  Good night!

We went to the 4th of July celebration put on by the city of El Cerrito, and in describing where we were going, we called it a “party.”  Of course, Maia thought that meant a birthday party, so Tom clarified, “It’s a different party.”  Now Maia refers to that festival as “different party.”

Tom got a bunch of nice pics of Beanbean at the playground next to the festival.  It’s hard to say what’s better in Maia’s book — jumping or climbing?

Earlier this week, Beanie my baby accidentally bumped into me, and said, “Sorry.”  Just like that.  It was so odd and adult!  And last week I did something for her (helped her reach something or opened something for her or some such), and she simply said, “Thank you.”  Kinda freaks me out!  So un-baby-like!

We visited Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont yesterday, and it was really cool!  Maiabeanie had a blast.

We were joined by some peacocks (or pea-cacas, as Maia called them) at the picnic tables.

뽀뽀 got to visit some chickens, and later she was really excited to feed them some grain.

She (no surprise) loved jumping off this block, and got Callie to join in.

To top it off, the farm had a train.

I’m sure we will be back!