High Chair

Until recently, I had been feeding Claire on the dining room table in her Bumbo chair with the tray. We recently purchased a high chair through a friend that gets a Graco discount (thanks Hilary!) and meal time has completely changed. I can step away from the chair and she is totally secure, she can't climb out and the table is free from food yuck and nicks from dropped sippy cups. Tatum can even reach her fingers to clean her up after eating and grab any dropped food. We should have done this a while ago, but we were putting off another large piece of baby furniture. Oh well, it's definitely worth it.

Here are some of Claire's meal time antics.

Lazy Weekend

I'm not sure I can ever call a weekend lazy again! Chasing Claire is exhausting. The girl is crawling everywhere and getting into every nook and cranny of the house. We still have some baby proofing to do, which she quickly points out discovering speaker wire or a heavy door stop while crawling about. She had been so content playing with the toys in her room, but now she is out the door and down the hall faster than you can set her down. We have some exciting times ahead.

Claire had her friend Sydney over on Sat. The girls are only 3 weeks apart, so they are doing many of the same things. Syd is so good at standing and pulling herself up. I think Claire caught on because she has been practicing since she left.

It was impossible to get both girls in focus and looking at the camera. Here are some shots that piece together what they were up to.

Cleaning off the book/toy shelf

Claire making a break for the door

Exploring other rooms

We set up the baby pool for Claire and Syd, but it got too chilly. So, we hung out in the pool with Claire Sunday afternoon, after the rain cleared up.





Claire is doing so many wonderful things. She can give kisses wave bye bye and clap. She is loving table food and trying new things every day: grapes, cheese, chicken, ham, watermelon, tofu. She still seems to want baby food, which is good, since all of the solids don't make it into her mouth. I am experimenting with more complex recipes, rather than simple fruit or vegetable purees. Tonight she had chicken with apple and sweet potato. It was a hit.

Morning Books

A little clip I filmed of Claire taking all the books off her shelf. Perhaps her new favorite past time.

Father's Day

We had a great week with Lucian home again. He didn't ride into work all week, so I had the benefit of double teaming Claire every morning. I think I was on-time to work every day!

Saturday's weather begged for a pool. Spencer went to an outdoor pool to hang with some friends and Claire and I went to Target to buy one for her. I blew it up and filled it water while she napped. I even used an old trick of my Dad's and brought out a few buckets of hot water from inside.

Waiting for Claire to wake up

Pre pool. She was crying because I took away a blade of grass she wanted to eat. Thanks for the adorable swimsuit Auntie M!

She splashed and crawled around, checked out the warning label at the bottom of the pool and tried to grab floating leaves and grass. I'm excited to do it again. Lucian was in a golf outing all day Saturday, so I shot video of the whole thing. I'll try to edit that and post it later in the week.

Lucian was back in the saddle Sunday morning. He biked with 2 other guys to Holy Hill and back, about a 60 mile ride I believe. Spencer, Claire and I had breakfast waiting; french toast, eggs, hash browns and sausage. In the afternoon, we headed to Nana Kathleen and Papa Dave's to celebrate Father's Day and our niece Lydia's second birthday.

Proud Papa

Dave got a pig roasting grill for Father's day, so we broke it in. All the kids got a kick out of seeing the whole animal.

Claire loves books lately. Lucian and Claire read while Spen and I played ladder ball.

Spen and Aunt Sarah... serious concentration

Claire in the grass

I took this photo while my parents were visiting last week. Grandpa Joe is great at entertaining Claire while I get something done. It's best if I'm out of site, so often they walked around outside. Happy Father's day Grandpa Joe!

Finished!

Lucian safely completed the last 61.5 miles to LA! I couldn't be more proud. He should be walking in the door any minute, we can't wait for him to be home.

Lunch near Pepperdine the last day

Scary Alice

Day 6

Day 6 was an 85.5 mile trek from Lompoc to Ventura. It included some time on US101, and passed through the heart of Santa Barbara, Montecito and Carpinteria, ending in Ventura.

Ventura beach lifeguard stand

California sea lion and surfer

Lucian reached his fastest speed ever today, 52mph traveling down some mountains. Later in the day he got his first flat tire of the trip. He used a Cliff bar wrapper to line the tire after changing the tube and continued to ride for 50 miles like that. He's a regular bike MacGyver.

5 of the Red Pencils are unable to finish the race for various reasons. Two were in bike accidents, one pretty severe. Lucian had two very close calls today himself (one involved hopping across an intersection with one shoe still clipped into his bike!). So send him lots of safe energy tomorrow as he rides to LA.

Camp tonight is at San Buenaventura State Beach.

Lucian's tent

Days 4 & 5

Day 4's route goes from Paso Robles to Santa Maria. Before lunch the riders conquered 2 climbs known as the Evil Twins. At the top of the second sister hill is half way to LA. Here's Lucian's photo from that point. Looks beautiful.


Lucian felt good after conquering the Evil Twins and decided to "put the hammer down" on the last 10 or so miles. He got up to 40 mph on a road where the speed limit was 45. Not too shabby McAfee.

A water stop in the desert, most of the support people wear costumes.

A photo of camp from Day 4, from the ALC site

Cell phone charging is difficult on the ride. Lucian is riding with 2 solar chargers that help him power his phone and bike computer. I hear from every night, but sending pics burns precious battery power.

Tonight he found an outlet at camp

Today was red dress day. Literally most riders wear a red dress while riding. Lucian brought a red jersey to wear so he was not in drag. However, he said most people were. I'm anxious to see photos. The 67.7 mile route took them from Santa Maria to Lompoc. There were a few surprise climbs over the last 8 miles that frustrated the group, as they were not on the map/directions handed out. I think Lucian was feeling the burn those last few miles. Hopefully a good night's rest will leave him raring to go tomorrow morning.

Some red dress photos from the ALC site

9 Months!

Claire is 9 months old today! She saw the doctor and got one shot. Here are her recent stats:
Weight: 20lb 4.5oz (75%)
Length: 30" (95%)
Head circumference: 46.5cm (95%)

And cutting to the chase; a crawling video! Claire will crawl for an iPhone. I wonder where she gets that from.

A Word From Our Sponsors

Now, for a break in our bike updates to let you know how the rest of the McAfees are doing. The biggest update I have is that Claire started crawling this morning! She finally got her legs to move one after the other, trying to get to my phone of course. I captured a quick video I will post later. For now, here are some stills from last weekend.

Almost there!

Claire, Spencer, Auntie M and I headed to the zoo this past Sunday. It was a perfect day weather wise. A little hot in the sun, but we found many ways to cool off including eating ice cream cones. Claire would watch the animals that were moving. The first exhibit we visited was the penguins. This guy was putting on a show for us.

Claire seemed to like him

We checked out the giraffes

And pretended to be one

She watched a few of the big cats and the spider monkeys the most. I'm sure we will head back again soon.

Spencer began final exams today and will wrap up next Monday. Hard to believe freshman year is ending. He will golf over the summer and is in talks to spend some time at a Siemens Water Technologies lab at UW - Milwaukee. A judge from the science fair approached Spencer's teacher after seeing his project. He is visiting the lab on Monday and getting some more information. Sounds promising.

Fresh haircut

And speaking of hair, Miss Claire is trying out pig tails

Things are running pretty smoothly with the help of Nana Barb and Grandpa Joe, however we sure are missing Lucian. It's great to get his updates and share his adventures here. I'm sure he will have amazing stories to tell when he returns.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

Even with a missed turn, Lucian blew threw his 117 mile day yesterday averaging a blazing 19.5 mph. I asked him if he was shocked that he could still ride after a 117 mile day (cause I would be) and he said yes. He was only sore the first 5 minutes or so of today's ride and then he conquered some mountains!

From the Red Pencils blog. Pre-ride maybe?

Day 3 is a 66.7 mile ride from King City to Paso Robles. They call one of the climbs the Quadbuster. A 14% grade, but it didn't slow Lucian down either. He finished today with an 18.1 mph average. He was happy to ride in a rather large group that could work together and take turns pulling. I think he said there were 9 Red Pencils in a group of about 15. At one point they got up to 30 mph! They were one of the first groups to finish today and got to camp before it was even open.

Mid-ride I'm guessingThe Price is Right?

Lucian spent some time exploring Mission San Miguel along the way. I looked it up online to learn a little more. "Mission San Miguel is one of California's historical and cultural treasures. The beautiful old mission building, whose foundations were laid nearly 200 years ago, is a precious part of our spiritual heritage, with a story that is integral to California's history." Check it out here if you'd like. Here are some cool photos he was able to take.

He spoke a bit to this kind old woman named Sam

The plan tonight was to skip camp dinner and head to "town" for beer and pizza. He texted this photo which looks more to me like mexican and coca-cola, but successful none the least.