Palm Springs Tramway

We went up the mountain via the Palm Springs Tramway yesterday. It was so much fun! Heights make Jared anxious so he didn't enjoy the tram part. It was so much cooler at the top; a nice 70 degrees. When we got to the top we decided to take one of the hikes, the Desert something or another. I brought the ergo (love it!) put Max in and off we went.

Once we got down and started on the trail Max got really grumpy so we took a break by this log and let him stand around. What you can't tell from the picture is the enormous dump Max is taking in his diaper. BTW changing a diaper in the woods is not fun; try as I might to keep it out somehow the dirt got in.

Max really liked standing by fallen logs and sticking bark in his mouth. It really was a moot point trying to keep it out. Even with the binky he'd just spit it out and in the pie hole went the bark; it's a natural teether, right? When we started off again I strapped Max to my back. The trail was a little over a mile. At some points the trail was hard to discern, but even if we got off it we always managed to find it. Max fell asleep as we were hiking. Walking back up to the lodge from the trail was pretty steep having Max on my back gave me a little bit of a work out.

Next we had dinner at the Peaks. I got a cherry Pepsi. It was really just Pepsi with grenadine...so much better than the real cherry Pepsi. I had the Chicken a la Pomodoro; it was fabulous. I had banked on giving Max some of the gnocchi it came with but it was too spicy. Max had a healthy dinner of rolls, chicken and animal crackers. He did really well during dinner. After dinner we walked around the lodge a little bit and then headed back home. All in all our trip was very pleasant. It was nice to get a break from the heat and spend it outdoors with the fam.

P.S. While we were waiting for Jared to finish his DMV hearing, Max and I went to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone. Max loved the Ronald McDonald statue. He kept crawling on him, talking to him, and petting his face. Sorry Uncle Shane I guess this one isn't afraid of clowns.

Palm Springs...here we come!

Max fell asleep during dinner

Mimi and Max

We all have new haircuts (well kind of mine and Max's are a bit on the old side now)

Chuck E Cheese Junkie

A quick update. Max and I are going to travel today with Jared to Palm Springs. Jared has a DMV hearing out there so we thought we would give him some company. On the way back we are going to take the Palm Springs Tramway up the mountain and have dinner. It should be fun and a lot cooler than out here in Riverside.


Tomorrow we help Gilda move. We were able to get a substitute for our primary class so we are making a weekend out of it. We are going to stay with Mimi and get to witness first had the wonderful talk she will give on Sunday in Sacrament Meeting. Maybe we can squeeze the beach in on Monday, if we go early. I know it will be pretty packed with the long weekend. Here are some pics I meant to post last time.

Max the Murloc

Here is a video I took this evening of Max babbling. He pretty much has his back to me the whole time, but it is the sound I was going for.

The horrible, terrible, no good, very bad mother (me)!

For those of you who don't know the week Max has been waking up at 5:30 am. I have been quite irritated as I like my sleep. He is still tired and will fall asleep but every time I put him in bed he wakes up. He is sleeping through the night fine just waking up early. So yesterday Jared is feeding him dinner and notices he has cut another tooth on the bottom. My poor little boy has been teething and I was mad about missing out on my precious sleep. That is the part that makes me the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad mother. That and the fact that I didn't even notice.

So now Max has 5 teeth, I did a check for more but didn't see any. I feel like he should have an even number of teeth you know 2, 4, 6. Having 5 teeth seems odd; it's not symmetrical and that bothers me. Am I a weirdo or what? Anyone else think odd numbers of teeth are weird? Oh except one, I think having just one tooth is not weird. Don't ask why, I can't explain.

This past weekend we hung out with Jared's brother and his family. It was fun on Friday night we went to Chuck E Cheese. Max had a blast toddling around and pushing all the coin return buttons (those are the only ones at his level). On Saturday we went over to Cesar and Lindy's. The funniest thing happened at dinner. Joshua who is 6 pointed to a soda can and asked his mom politely for some more "cock". Poor kid we all started laughing; he meant Coke.

Not much going on this week. On Saturday we help Gilda move into her new place. Max has become very vocal this past week. When I sing to him as I'm changing his diapers he likes to sing along. He hates diaper changes. I have to give him something to hold and sing to try and distract him. He mostly just babbles. Since Jared and I both used to play World of Warcraft we think he sounds like one of the races called - Murloc. If you go to this website http://www.wowwiki.com/Murloc click on the MP3 link to hear what this sounds like. Max and the Murloc are one. He is really into balls, specifically ones with texture. A friend has a nubby Gertie ball, Max loves it. I can't find it at any stores so I am going to order it online.

Max and Pinecones

Yesterday our good friends Erin and Sam flew to Canada to vacation with their family. We are sad and will miss seeing them every morning on our walk. But before they left Erin took some super cute pictures of Max for his nine month pics.

This one is my absolute favorite a classic "Stinker Max".

Max would like to show you all how he can stand by himself..."Look Ma, no hands!". (Max subsequently fell, caught himself, but that dadgum head is so heavy it threw his balance off and he bonked it on the concrete...pobresito)

Although he can walk, crawling gets him there faster.

Look at those huge top chompers...seriously I worry that they may be too big for his mouth.

Okay now I had to put this one in. We all know that Max is the spitting image of his dad. But I think he kind of looks like me in this one; I think it's the eyes.

So a big thanks to Erin for taking the pics and burning them on a disc before she left.

This past weekend my dad came to visit. On Friday night we went to the best BBQ place ever, Smokey Canyon BBQ. I love the beef brisket and all the sides, my dad really liked it too, although he had the ribs. My dad gave Max a rib bone and Max loved it. However, when we also gave him an ear of corn he had a hard time deciding which to eat, so he just double fisted it. My dad has some pics I'll have to get them.

We went to a wedding reception on Sat night. I tried to get Max to eat a sandwich but all he wanted to eat was fruit...what can I say my son is a little fruity :) On Sunday we had sharing time again in primary; it went really well.

I attempted to go to the dentist yesterday...what a joke. So I have soft teeth and I think I broke one while flossing on Saturday night. We have a dental HMO where you just pick the dentist from a list, so I had picked one close to Jared's work for convenience. I had an appointment yesterday at 12:15 and Jared came home for lunch to watch Max. I got there 5 minutes late (I got stuck behind a train) filled out my paperwork and proceeded to wait. After an hour I was still waiting so I asked the receptionist how long it would be because I had to be home at 2:30 (Jared had to be to court). She assured me I would be seen in 5 minutes and that I would be out of there in time to get home by 2:30. I waited another 40 minutes, then I told them I couldn't wait any longer and left. They never apologized for the wait and were quite rude. I was so mad I called my HMO filed a complaint and switched to a new dentist. I have an appointment today at 3:30. I hate having my time wasted. I get so angry when I think about it...I can't even write anymore on the subject.

Not much else going on except for Max's 9 month check up tomorrow. He is not going to be too happy after the Hep booster. Max and I go for walks every morning with some moms from the mom group. It gets us out of the house and it's not too hot. Max is babbling a lot more now, dadada is a real big hit. He loves blankets, specifically this lion one my mom gave him. He will carry it all over the house, tripping over it as he walks. He loves grilled cheese sandwiches, pirates booty and corn on the cob. Max now drinks out of a sippy cup with a straw. He doesn't like to hold my hand when he walks, most of the time he will push it away. He is getting so big. I am so grateful to Jared for being able to provide so that I can stay home with Max. Max's smile melts my heart.

Rachon, the blog slacker...

So it has been a while. We have been quite busy the past two weeks. Jared spent last week in San Diego. He found the seminar helpful but just a little too long. Max and I had a most fabulous time in Torrance with Mimi and Brett. We mainly just hung out and Mimi watched Max while I caught up on some much needed sleep. I have noticed that when I eat sugar I get so tired about an hour or so later. I really need to stop eating that crap but I am so addicted to sweets, especially ice cream. Does anyone else get the sugar crash?
On Tuesday I got my hair dyed a darker shade of brown; I really like it. Mimi, Max and I went to lunch at B.J.'s and Max did surprisingly well. Lately, he has been a terror at restaurants. Boy did Max love the pizzokie. Cheri, the hair stylist, had trimmed up Max's hair and put gel in his faux-hawk. So everyone at B.J.'s was commenting how cute he was. Some server, who wasn't even ours, brought Max a free cup of ice cream to take home.
While we were in Torrance we also took Max for a walk on the beach, I got a pedicure (love those), hung out with Cami, ate a lot of ice cream. We had a blast. On Thursday night I was fortunate enough to be able to see the opening night of "Les Miserables" a play that Brett had been working on all summer. A special "Holla" to Brett as he was the stage manager and the play went phenomenally. The kids in the play were really talented. A special thanks to Gilda for watching Max that night.
On Friday Jared met us in Torrance. We missed Jared immensely all week and were so glad to have him back with our family. We had another chance (thanks Bob!) to go and see "Les Mis" that evening. We stayed until Saturday. On Saturday morning we saw "The Dark Knight" with Maggie. Has anyone else seen this movie? Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a good movie and enjoyed it. But I felt it was rather long. We ended up buying a new t.v. a 40" LCD, and boy does it rock!
On Sunday, Dan and Cassandra came over for a final visit before heading to Massachusetts. It was nice to spend some more time with them. Mimi has meetings all week in San Diego, so Max and I headed back down to Torrance to spend some time with Hayley, Shane and Brett. The highlight for this week has been taking Max to the beach. Unfortunately, we forgot the camera so there are no pics. But it was quite humorous. Max crawled all over the place, shoveling fist fulls of sand in his mouth and not wanting to waste any, licking it off his hands. He didn't like the water so much; although, he didn't cry. He had this petrified, end-of-the-world look on his face when the waves came. By the end of our time there, mind you it had only been an hour, Max's entire face was covered with sand. There was so much sand it was in his eyelashes, etc. We showered off before heading home, he wasn't such a fan of that either. But he took a nice long nap that afternoon. Going to the beach is such a project with all the suncreening, packing, lugging of child...but for a long nap it might just be worth it.