Celebrating the big 3-0 at the beach

Norah and I just got back from a two-week vacation at the beach with my parents- what a luxury! Dan (and Maggie, Jake, and Laura) got to join us for some long weekends, including time to celebrate my 30th birthday. It was nice to have everyone around to usher me into my 30's, though I honestly don't feel much different than I did when I was in my late 20's (it just makes me sound older!).

This is pretty much the way Norah looked every time we got near the beach - her whole body moved with excitement!

We also got to watch the fireworks on the beach on July 4th. It was a cool experience- everyone brought their (illegal) fireworks down to the beach and set them off, creating a great light show over the water. Other than spending time and the beach (which is all that you would think that we did by looking at the pictures) and taking a few walks and runs, we just relaxed, ate, and enjoyed the cool beach weather. It was a great summer vacation!

Patriotic Baby

Why does my mom insist on dressing me up in silly outfits and then taking pictures?

Happy Father's Day and other odds and ends...

Happy Father's Day (a few days late) to Dan! Norah is so lucky to have Dan as her Daddy! It's really a lot of fun for me to watch the two of them together- playing in the yard, running around the house, going to the park- it's like Dan gets to be a kid again himself. Norah loves to follow her Daddy around and watch him do his work. She'll sit at the window for ten minutes at a time (which is a super long time for her to be in one place) if Dan is working out in the yard or go running to the garage door when he gets home from work at night. Very cute! I love both of them very much.

Father's Day last year and this year - Norah and Daddy on the hammock

As Norah is getting a little older, she is definitely starting to show her likes and dislikes. For example, getting her face wet at swimming lessons = dislike and being outside = like. She would spend all day outside if she could- playing in the sand box, looking at the flowers, playing in the water, etc., etc., etc. She knows that she needs to wear shoes when she's outside (since our grass is kind of spiky [read dead] in places), so she has started getting her shoes and bringing them to me when she wants to go outside. She is definitely a summer kid!

Playing with the hose and watering Grandma's flowers


Swimming lessons and running through the sprinkler

Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Toddler Adventures

Now that Norah is one, she's having all kinds of adventures! She got a new bike seat for her birthday, so she has enjoyed some nice rides with Dan and I. She doesn't particularly love the helmet (or really any other hat at the moment, either), but she seems to forget about it once she gets going. Now that Dan is done with his classes for the semester (another 4.0- congrats Dan!), and as soon as I get my bike tires fixed, we can start going on some family bike rides in the evenings.

So stylish in her pink helmet...Go faster!

Norah also got a sandbox for her birthday- some assembly (by Dan) required. Norah definitely appreciated her Daddy's efforts, and now she likes to dig and sift the sand from one pile to another. She only tried to eat the sand once- I think she got the idea pretty quickly that it wasn't something she wanted to have in her mouth!

Norah loves her new sandbox!

Last weekend, Dan and I took Norah to the zoo. While she wasn't all the impressed by the elephants or tigers, she did love watching the ducks and prairie dogs. I guess she can relate to the smaller animals better, and they definitely move around a lot more. She also enjoyed having a few bites of the ice cream cone that we bought!

Fun day at the zoo!

Finally, Norah had her first real swim in the pool last night. We had a pretty cool spring, so the pool is just now getting warm enough for a swim. I think she'll like the water even more when it's hotter outside, but she had fun kicking and splashing around in her ring. Those are our updates for now. Hope everyone is having a great start to the summer!

Floating around

Happy 1st Birthday!

Happy 1st Birthday Norah!
May 23, 2010

One year ago...

...to eating Birthday Cake!

We love you Norah!

Mother's Day, Walking, and Notre Dame

We've had a busy month in the McCoy household! Norah and Dan treated me to a wonderful first Mother's Day. I feel so blessed to be a mom and to get to be part of Norah's life as she grows up - and she's growing up so fast! I've had some wonderful examples of mothers in my life, which has helped me learn how to be a mom myself. There is nothing better than seeing Norah laugh or getting to cuddle with her as she falls asleep. She is such a gift in my life!

Mother's Day

Speaking of growing up, Norah is walking! She's gaining more confidence every day and pretty much only crawls until she can pull herself up to walk. It's been fun watching her progress!

Last weekend we went to Notre Dame for my sister Laura's graduation. Laura got her degree in Accounting and will be starting work in September. She got all kinds of awards- she's totally a rock star! Dan, Norah, and I were excited to be able to celebrate with her, and also to have an excuse to introduce Norah to Notre Dame. Congrats Laura- we're looking forward to having you in Fresno this summer!

Enjoying the Notre Dame scenery

Touchdown Jesus

Congrats to the Grad!

In front of the stadium and playing in the fountain

Dan is So Smart!

Dan has been doing an amazing job in his MBA program! He's almost done with his fourth semester, with just two more to go. Last night he was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi national honor society. It's a pretty big deal, since this means he's in the top 10% of all graduate students at Fresno State and is recognized nationally for his academic achievements! Norah and I are so proud of him!

Norah liked playing with her Daddy's medal

Other than Dan's ceremony last night, we've been keeping busy with lots of activities. We got to take Norah to her first baseball game last week. Dan's office has tickets season tickets to the Fresno Grizzlies (Giants AAA team). It was kind of a cold night, but Norah enjoyed watching the game (for at least the first few innings).

Go Grizzlies!

This past weekend, I traveled to UC Santa Cruz for a competition with our MESA students. Dan and Norah met me over there and were able to enjoy some beach time while I was working. While I had fun with our students, I was still totally jealous of Dan and Norah getting to spend the day at the beach! Now we're looking forward to some time at home this weekend so we can get caught up on our gardening and projects around the house.

Santa Cruz

Indoxination

Yesterday we headed up to UC Davis to visit Maggie and attend Picnic Day. It was a beautiful day, so we had a lot of fun walking around the campus and checking out all the events. Norah had her first (small) taste of ice cream at the Food Science Department's exhibit (she loved it, of course!), and we got to see where Maggie has her classes (nice, brand new building).

Picnic Day at UC Davis

While we missed the cockroach races and goat milking (Dan was totally disappointed), we did make it to Picnic Day's premier event- the Doxie Derby. It was a dachshund lover's dream, with 70+ doxies of all sizes and shapes racing each other! For those who have never experienced the Doxie Derby, picture a greyhound race, then replace the greyhounds with dachshunds, dial down the speed just a little (then a little more), and take away the part where all the dogs run in the right direction. The results look a little like this:

Norah loved pointing at all the dogs (pointing is her new thing right now) and thought they were pretty funny when they took off running. We figure after another couple years of Picnic Days, Dan will be ready to get his very own dachshund. (Or maybe not, but he did have fun watching the races.) Norah, on the other hand, is already ready for her own doxie puppy!

Norah and her dachshund gear