I often refer to the book “What to Expect the First Year” whenever I have questions or need to learn anything and everything I can about raising a baby in the first year. In the book it talks about teaching your child to self-feed. It talks all about how it will be really messy, but eventually they will catch on and become more independent. Well, they were right about both. His feeding skills are vastly improving as well as his palate.

This is what happened when I gave him the bowl and spoon to see what he would do:


Dallen may look exactly like his Daddy but his personality and tastes take after his Momma. His favorite foods are fresh fruits. He loves cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberries and bananas. He also likes to chew on whole, skinned cucumbers.

What would this blog post be without a video of Dallen eating bananas:


Dallen hasn't quite mastered feeding himself yet, so in the meantime we feed him without a shirt, without a bib and end it by hosing him down in the sink and he loves it:

He is definitely a growing boy with a very large appetite. I just know that some day this little boy will eat me out of house and home. Until then I will just enjoy watching him play with his food and do my best to teach him :)

A few weeks ago Mark's family went to Hawaii and brought back a ton of stuff for little D. I meant to post this a while ago but then vacation happened. So, thanks again for all the goods, Dallen just loves his new stuff :)

Dallen and I have had a few vacations here and there this summer, but this was the first one the whole family was together for. Daddy was able to spend all 10 days with us and we loved every minute of it. We went down to Mission Beach, San Diego in a private beach house with the whole Messick clan. The house was great: the views, the accomadations, the company, the location...it was all perfect.

We spent most of our days in the water with Dallen. The tide was really low and it created the perfect little shallow pool for D to play in.
Dallen loved the sand; wet or dry.


He loved to throw the sand in his hair...I just loved looking at those curls :)
Dallen was so funny, he would crawl around in the sand and then stop and put his face in it. He was only upset that I was trying to take a picture, he actually loved the sand in his face.
Little D spent some time relaxing in the pool on the patio too...or maybe he was just thirsty.

We had so much fun with family and friends and at times even got a little crazy!!
Scanning the boardwalk with Auntie Aubrey, probably looking for doggies!!
Again, probably watching for doggies :)


Our friends Ethan and Heather came down to play on Sunday and we were so glad they did!!
Yes, that is a ginormous piece of seaweed, it kept the boys thouroughly entertained!
Riding bikes down the boardwalk.
Dallen liked the bike ride at first, then he realized, it was just another car seat and wanted nothing more to do with it ;)
Just hangin' with Momma.

Pretty Auntie Kellie
Mmmmm, corn on the cob!! We were hoping it would get those 2 front teeth through...not quite yet!!
Don't remember what this was, but apparently Big D wasn't a fan!!
Check out the tan on that kid, so awesome! And yes, he was pretty much shirtless the whole trip :)
The quickest way to dry off after a day in the ocean ;)
Just look at this face!!

On Wednesday, we spent the day at San Diego Zoo. Dallen had lots of fun looking at the animals:

He looked at the monkeys with Grandpa and Mommy just monkeyed around.



We went to the childrens petting zoo. Dallen was a little afraid of the animals but was all about washing his hands after (look at his tippie-toes!!)



I think his favorite were the merekats, he wanted to climb in the cage and get 'em. I guess we need to watch Timon & Pumba sometime.

We saw and did lots of fun things at the zoo...



...but his favorite part was the ice cream and the gift shops :) He didn't know the difference between the real and fake animals and I guess he figured he just liked the ones he could play with!!





Outside the beach house, Mark and I had a few adventures of our own:

On the first Saturday afternoon we met up with Mark's Grandpa and Dallen was able to meet his name sake for the first time. The camera phone was all that was available but you gotta capture these moments somehow.

We were supposed to go down to the beach house Saturday afternoon but some friends from PA were unexpectedly in town. So Saturday night we stayed behind and took advantage of the opportunity to see them since we didn't know when we'd get the chance again.
"The lawyers"

On Tuesday night I did something really crazy, if you have facebook, then you already know, I got rid of my blonde!! My little sister the hair dresser, did this to me (per my request)...
On Thursday morning we were able to escape to the San Diego temple. We hadn't been back since we got married there 4 years ago and it was just as beautiful as I remember. {not bad for a camera phone}
Saturday afternoon when we got home, we spent a little time in the pool (in case Dallen didn't get enough) while Grandpa BBQ'd some hot dogs, yum!!

On Saturday night we met up with some old friends for dinner at Downtown Disney.Leave it to me to find the fun in a water-less fountain.



Finally, on Sunday I was able to meet up with my 2 high school girlfriends to catch up on where life has taken us since then. I got to meet Jamie's little boy Simon and rub the belly of soon to be baby girl Michel. So exciting!!
And on the way home, Dallen used my iPod for entertainment until he fell deep asleep for the rest of the night.
That completes the vacation!! It was absolutely fantastic in case you can't tell by the 100's of picutres. I would do it all over again tomorrow, if I had enough clean clothes ;) Sure the house seemed a little cramped and dirty and maybe even smelly by the end, but all and all I would say this was a perfect family vacation for 2009, I wish it never had to end :)