The Ire of Ike

So first thing Thursday morning, Mer and I were at the grocery store, jockeying for a grocery cart and trying to procure extra bottled water, diapers, etc. for our hurricane preparedness when Eric called from San Antonio and told us to just load up the car and get out of dodge, or Houston, as it were. Three hours later, Mer, Jessie, Eric and I were all settled in at Eric's home-away-from-home-- a one-bedroom apartment where he stays while working in S.A.

In spite of the nervous anticipation leading up to Ike's landfall, drinking my wine out of a coffee cup, and hoofing it up and down three flights of stairs so Jessie can go to the bathroom, we've had a great time and have succeeded in turning our evacu-ation into a vac-ation. We've seen family and friends and have been eating at all of our old faves from our college days.

As of right now, the power is still out at our house and we're planning to stay put until it's back on-- no a/c with a 9-month-old is not something I'm eager to get home to. Our neighbors and friends have checked on our house and Ike took his toll on our backyard, but it definitely could have been worse. To follow is a photo our friend Todd took where you can see that our back fence has been torn down, as well as a big tree. The fence in the picture is actually our neighbor's on the other side of the alley.

Yea Mer!

Merritt's latest trick is clapping and cheering... for herself. I think it's pretty funny how she just conks out at the end like a wind-up toy out of juice.

Bobbi's Pics

When I go to work a few days a week at Kick, Merritt is so fortunate to be in the care of Eric's mom aka "Bobbi" and they have the best time together. To follow are some great pics captured by Bobbi:

Jumpin' around at Hoop and Bobbi's
Bubbly with HoopMer and Jess with their respective toys (somehow Jess actually knows which are her toys and which are Mer's-- a brilliant pup!)
Sisters!
Peeking from the bath

Grin and Merritt

Babies in the Waves

And some video from the beach of Zach, Dylan, Mer and me watching the waves (I promise not to get too carried away with this video thing!).

I'm So High-Tech

I just figured out how to post video from our camera to this blog-- very exciting! This isn't the most riveting footage you'll ever see, but here's Merritt working on her self-feeding at the airport restaurant. These little puffs for babies keep them very occupied-- at least for as long as it takes for me and Eric to scarf down our meals!

Beach Bubs

We just returned from another family vacay, this time to Newport Beach, where Merritt and Cousin Dylan learned all about eating sand and dipping their toes in the ocean.

Mer loved watching the waves (except for the time that Grumpy got a little carried away, but we won't talk about that)"Cute hat D." "You too Mer."
Super-cute father-daughter time
We set the portable cribs up under the tent so we wouldn't even need to leave the beach for naptime-- note the good girl on the left who is actually napping (kidding Zach!)
The shades didn't stay on long, but I tried

More Bubs on the Beach

My siblings and I pretty much grew up on this very same beach-- we would spend every summer here with our parents, grandparents and dozens of aunts, uncles and cousins. Each year, my wonderful Aunt Linda would bring t-shirts with all the kids names on them and we'd do a line-up photo on the beach. We laugh about those t-shirts now and all the crazy moments trying to corral the crawling babies and get the pouty teenagers to smile. It was always a really special time for us and it made me so happy this past week to see Merritt and Dylan together there, ready to start new traditions, but keeping some old ones going. Here they are in their first name t-shirts!

Eric and I enjoying the sunset