what our pets do at night

Tonight I figured that I would snap some photos of the animals in their typical nightly routines. As usual, Duke has retired early for the evening. He's already snuggled up on our bed. For a long time, I thought he was depressed since he always seemed so sleepy and quiet at night. In fact, it was one of the reasons we got Mousse -- to give him a friend to play with at night. I should say that Jim thought this reasoning was flawed, but that is another story. Evidently, the whole play friend thing really hasn't worked out so well given Duke goes to bed at 8pm every night still. Mousse, my faithful guard dog, is cuddled near my feet. He's ready for bed since he's snoring soundly, but he'll stay up with me until I go to bed. Oliver (roo) and Squishy are anxiously awaiting their next meal. Unfortunately for them, that won't come until tomorrow morning. They don't like their diet and let me know every chance they get. Katie is meowing from the bedroom and pacing back and forth in the hallway -- an indication that she wants pets. She is slowly realizing that she gets more pets when she makes visits to other parts of the house however. Ippy is nowhere to be found tonight. She seems to have buried herself in some hiding spot. Today must be one of those days that she needs space.

Yosemite Trip

A few weekends ago, Jim and I had a chance to visit Yosemite. Despite some forced fires in the valley and little to no water in the falls, we still had a great time. We went for a "quick" visit to Bridevail Falls the first day and ended up staying for over 2 hours as we hiked up to the higher waterfall area. The two most memorable moments there were the skinny dipper we encountered (my initial thought was people actually do that? I must be getting old I guess) and then me falling in the icy cold water trying to follow Jim (I admit it. I'm a klutz). The hike was definitely worth it, but it wasn't any fun having to walk around in wet socks all day. I broke down and bought a pair of dry socks at the first Yosemite store we came across. The second day, we took one of the Valley Floor tram tours. We finally had an opportunity to see people climbing El Capitan as the bus driver helped us locate them. On both the first and second days, we spent time up in Glacier Point hiking. We did the Sentinel Dome hike at sunset the first day and Taft Point the following day. Let's just say that the fissures are cool from a distance. No getting near them for me. I've posted a few photos from our tripe here. You can see more at our online album.

Jessica finally finds a hat that she likes

Jessica does not like to wear hats. Any time you put one on her head, she immediately takes it off. The exception seems to be the dog bowls. She really likes to wear them on her head for some reason.

Night Tour at the Zoo

Last night, we did the annual night tour at the zoo. It's an opportunity to see some behind the scenes action and feed the animals. We thought Jessica might like to feed the ostrich some lettuce. It seemed gentle enough and she's fed the goats before. It resulted in an ear piercing scream and lots of tears however. We figure that she didn't really like the ostrich poking its head near her to get to the lettuce. She quickly recovered, however, so that she could play in the tunnels near the giraffe exhibit (one of her favorite activities at the zoo). Later in the evening, as we spent some time in the bear area, she got visibly excited whenever she saw the train. Each time it came around, she did a dance and a little whoo-whoo with the train's whistle. So, off we went to ride the train. Jim tried to get a picture of us, but it was pitch black outside by that point and he had to guess where we were.

Jessica likes to read

Jessica spends lots of time "reading" these days. She's always in search of the perfect book. Take a look.

Jessica loves Mousse

Jessica has been giving lots of love to the dogs lately. Mousse is really good with her as he lets her hang all over him. This is quite surprising as he isn't really into cuddling all that much.

Ready for "school"

Jessica now has a backpack that she takes to school with her. I've been told that she is the envy of her classmates as they all try to play with it throughout the day. The first morning after we got it, I tried to put it on her back. Evidently, two cups of milk and a snack were too much weight for her to carry. She lost her balance and fell over. How was I supposed to know? The worse part is that Jim and I couldn't stop laughing. Anyways, despite that first encounter, she really seems to like her backpack. She carries it like a purse out of the house in the morning. It still seems too heavy for her though.

a trip to the zoo

On Saturday, we spent the day at the zoo. Jessica had so much fun walking around and playing in the tunnels near the giraffe exhibit. That gave Jim plenty of time to snap photo after photo. You'll see that Jessica now gets to wear her very own hippo harness at busy places like the zoo. This is because she always seems to walk away from us. Yes, we now "leash" her, but at least we know where she is at all times. We also visited the petting zoo so Jessica could feed the goats. This time, however, she seemed more interested in the kibble they were getting rather than the animals themselves.

Jessica tries out her slide

Jessica had a chance to run around the yard on Friday night. One of the things she liked trying was her new slide. She loves to go down, but hasn't quite yet figured out how to stop gracefully.

Jessica has fun at gym free play

Early this evening, Jim, Jessica, and I were able to go to free play at gym. Jessica enjoyed jumping on the trampoline with her daddy (he makes her fly much higher than I do) and playing peekaboo in the crawling spaces.

this is what fun at our house looks like in the evening

Nothing like a pair of Jessica's sun glasses to give us all a good laugh. The dogs really appreciated taking part in the dress up game too.

Jessica goes to the Children's Museum

This past weekend, Jessica also went to the Children's Museum in San Jose. She's a bit young still to really appreciate most of the exhibits, but she was into anything that contained lights, balls, or water.

Jessica's new thing is the trash can

Jessica's new thing is the trash can. She really likes the one that is in Jim's office. She drags it around the house. Check out this video.

Jessica goes to the park

This past weekend, we took Jessica to the park with my mom and my brother's family. While she spent some time on the slides, she really enjoyed playing peekaboo and driving the car. She also liked sitting with her nana and cousin Nick.

Jessica loves her baby doll

Over the past month or so, Jessica has become interested in her baby doll and stuffed animals. She loves to hug them and give them kisses. Recently, she's even started feeding her baby doll. She may not quite get the bottle in the mouth, but she does get the idea.

captiva family vacation

In the month of August, we joined Jim's family for a trip to Captiva, FL. This was Jessica's first time at the beach. Surprisingly, she got the concept of simply sitting and relaxing.

Jim builds Jessica an activity table

One of things that I have been wanting to get Jessica is an activity table. That way, she will have a place to do arts and crafts, play with trains, etc. One of the nicer ones on the market is from Pottery Barn. It is a low table with carts that go underneath for storage. The colors of the Pottery Barn table didn't really work in the space we were thinking of, so Jim decided to build one over Labor Day weekend. Now we just need to make room for it and the rest of the large items Jessica seems to be acquiring these days.