Crafty Snargle

Wow, I just barely managed to get this one in for the month, huh? Kind of sad, actually. Some of you will be happy to know that less blogging means more time knitting (I might actually have an FO post very shortly… it’s been very hot to model my wool sweater, but I can sacrifice for the sake of the blog) and reading (I picked up a couple of Neal Stephenson’s books lately - I read Cobweb first and just finished Quicksilver and had to hit the library up to get into The Confusion ASAP! I’ve read his Cryptonomicon a few times, but hadn’t ventured into the Baroque Cycle until now) and I’m also trying to actually cook meals some nights and work out some, too (the baby weight is not losing itself, sadly, and she’s a toddler so I don’t really have much of an excuse anymore).

Anyway, one of the highlights of the summer was a visit from my sister Jenna for a week and a half, and my brother-in-law Reid for a too-short 3.5 days. Jenna, being a good blogger, has already blogged this trip here and here (as well as the vacation/drive home to Colorado) so I’m just playing catch-up.

Hello aunt and uncle!

Needless to say, we had a great time, and it all went by much too quickly. With Jenna I had a great partner to explore LA’s fabric district - Michael Levine’s annex ($2/lb of fabric!) is one of my new favorite stores. Jenna also came to one of our Mommy & Daddy & me swimming classes. Raley likes to splash her hands (occasionally feet), she likes to do “Humptey Dumptey” off the wall (into our arms of course, and then turn and grab the wall - a safety tip), trying to drink the pool water, and she loves to sing the “Tick Tock” song (”tick tock tick tock, I’m a little cuckoo clock; tick tock tick tock, now I’m striking 3 o’clock - whee! whee! whee!;” on the words you swish them back and forth and on the “whee!” you lift them up into the air; repeat from 5 to 1 o’clock for tons of fun!). The rest of swim class (kicking, paddling, putting her face in the water) she could leave - I don’t think we have a future Michael Phelps on our hands here. But we all have fun and it gets us in the water once a week.

We also went to Sea World with Jenna and had a great time (duh). Raley enjoyed the killer whales:

Can I touch it?

and I enjoyed the Commerson’s dolphins:

These are not “baby killer whales”

I mean, Tursiops are great and all, but it’s great to see something different once in a while. I also mixed some work and pleasure by going to talk to some folks in the rehab area, which is not part of the general public part of the park so Jenna and Dan (and Raley too) got to see some of the behind-the-scenes parts, which was fun.

Raley’s highlight of the day, though, was in the kids’ Sesame Street area, in the toddler arena. She impressed me with her persistence and calm under pressure in dealing with the bigger (meaner!) kids:

And it all works out in the end. Way to go, buggle*!

We also went to the OC Fair, where much fun was had, especially in the petting zoo. Raley had a special fondess for the pot-bellied pigs, to the point where she’d weave past the goats and sheep in order to get close to them. Which she succeeded in doing:

Pat a pig!

After that we saw pigs all over the fair, including a spectacular sand sculpture, Mount Pigmore. No better opportunity for a family photo!

Think Pig!

After the fair, we were inspired to practice “Old Mac Donald.”

Animal sounds are Raley’s go-to words… she knows the sounds that cats, dogs, cows, monkeys, and snakes make (interesting combo, huh? no sheep, horse, or even birds!). Old MacDonald is a perfect combination of two of Miss Raley’s favorite things - animal sounds and music. She likes music so much that she even learned how to climb on a chair and turn on the radio so she can dance (and then Mommy can rescue you before you fall off the chair!). I’ll leave you with this:

*”Buggle” is her nickname. We’re not quite sure how it came to be, but it did and it’s sticking. There are subderivatives, like “Sluggle” = sleeping buggle, “bug”, “bugglicious” etc.