Keystone

A couple weekends ago, Mommy, Daddy and I went up in mountains for some well deserved quiet time. Well, I deserved it--I'm not sure what Mama and Daddy do all day. We did lots of fun, relaxing things--we went for walks, fed fish, went paddleboating, looked around at an antiques festival (I should say MOMMY looked around, I was bored out of my friggin' mind), and barbequed. It was a good time. Here are some pictures from our fun little getaway!

Cars: Take 2

Mama says people don't understand how much I love my cars. Here is the proof. I managed to find four different ways and places to arrange my cars--before 10:00 this morning!

In the TV Room:


On the couch:


On the blanket--Mama and I discovered that each car could have its own parking spot!:


Under my play table:

A Morning in the Life of Me

Today has been a really good day so far. I woke up at 7:00, got some milk and played with my cars for about an hour. Little did I know that after I had spent all day organizing them (and reorganizing them and reorganizing them AGAIN!), Mama threw them all in the toy box after I went to sleep last night. She is so sneaky like that. So, of course, I had to get them all organized again this morning. No one understands the pressures that I deal with on a daily basis--I mean, if I don't put the cars in some sort of logical order, who will?

THE CARS:


After car sorting, Mama got me dressed and we headed to our favorite little coffee shop. Mama got her caffeine fix and I got to play with all the toys. I also met a little girl named Azelyn. She was clearly flirting with me--I get that a lot. We ended up playing together for a while. We built with blocks, drew with chalk and made a nice little mess in a relatively short amount of time. Not my best work, but still impressive.

Once Mama was fully awake, we went to a new place. It is a little museum very close to where we live. Of course, the first thing I found were the fish. You know how I LOVE fish. We also played with trains, rode in a little jeep, listened to a man play the piano, colored, and built stuff. I had a lot of fun, but it wore me out! In fact, Mama was so impressed with the museum's ability to tire me out that she bought a membership so we can go back any time we want. :) Mama was doing everything she could to keep me awake until we got home--singing, tickling my feet, opening the windows. It was a fruitless effort though, because when I want to sleep, I SLEEP. Who can blame me? All this excitement and it isn't even lunchtime yet!

Playing with the dinosaurs, "ROAR!"

 

Building, building, building...all in a day's work.


Playing with a choo-choo train. There was a bigger and better one there, but it was inside a case so I couldn't get to it. Darn!

 

Having a staring competition with the bearded dragon...I'm pretty sure he won.

Zoo Day!

When I woke up this morning, Mama announced, "I think it's a zoo day!" This did not surprise me, because most of what we do is stuff that Mama thinks up at the last minute (she's not much of a planner). So, I humor her and just go along with it. It turned out to be a lot of fun, because my buddy, Ella, and her Mommy came along. We saw all kinds of fun animals--bears, elephants, hippos, and my favorites, the big cats! Here are a few pictures of our very fun day at the zoo.

 

Is Mama Neurotic?

Mama thinks I don't see her, but every night she comes into my room two, three or four times before she goes to bed just to check on me. I guess she wants to make sure I'm breathing or something. Is this normal? If you want to commiserate because you do/did the same thing OR if you just think she's nuts, go ahead and leave a comment--I love getting comments!

Cousins, Cousins, Everywhere!

This weekend we had a visit from my Uncle Mitch, Aunt Diane and my BIG cousins, Dan, Ben and Sam. They were passing through for a couple days on their way up to the mountains for vacation. I had so much fun playing with the big guys. It was Sam's 11th birthday, and he got this thing they call a "skateboard". I had never seen one of these before, but after their visit, I know that I want one bad! I think I have a natural talent for it too--I even stood up on it for a few seconds (before falling). Look out, Tony Hawk!

 

Happy 4th of July!

Aside from being Grandma Cookie and Grandpa Mike's 51st wedding anniversary (WOW!), it was also our nation's Independence Day. Mama and Daddy had a BBQ and invited friends over to watch the fireworks in our neighborhood. I EVEN got to stay up really late and watch them too. Mama said she had this vision of me sitting on her lap and watching the fireworks together. I hated to disappoint her, but there was a very cute 13 year old girl at our house, and I decided that I would much rather sit on her lap. So, here I am, with my new girlfriend, Taylor, enjoying the sights and sounds. Happy 4th of July, everyone!

18 Things About 18 Month Old ME!

Since I recently turned 18 months old, Mama thought you would enjoy hearing 18 new things about me these days...she got this idea from Auntie Dana. So, here it goes:

At 18 months:
1) I love bathtime, and water in general. I like to put all my toys in the bathtub (even ones that shouldn't be in there, like books). I especially like to give my cars a bath!
2) My favorite foods are green beans, bananas, yogurt, chicken, waffles, spaghetti and CHEESE (any kind and in any form).
3) I don't talk a lot--only when I want to (I refuse to perform under pressure). However, some words/phrases I do say are: hot, more, hi, cat, "I see you", "Oh geez", "Uh-oh", ball, book, and of course, Mama and Dad.
4) I am very intrigued by the telephone, but only when no one is on the line. I don't actually like to talk on it when Mama asks me to (refer to #3 about performing under pressure)
5) My favorite things in the whole world are cars--or trucks, or trains, or motorcycles or diggers or anything with wheels. I especially like to line up all my cars in a row over and over... and over again. Mama worries that I might be a little obsessive compulsive, but I just like things the way that I like them!
6) I also love to play with my Little People toys, and thanks to garage sales and Craigslist, Mama has accumulated quite a collection for me--a garage, town square, and construction site. I have also heard that Mama has some others stashed in the garage for when I get bored with the ones I've got, which I'm sure will be very soon.
7) My best friends are my next door neighbors, Mekaya and Kai. Mekaya is almost 2 1/2 and Kai is 7 months. Our Daddies even put in a gate connecting our back yards since Mekaya and I always want to play together.
8) I am super happy that Mama decided to take next year off of work to spend with me, but I really miss all my buddies at daycare.
9) I LOVE to read. Mama reads about 10 or 12 books to me a day, but my current favorites are: Where the Wild Things Are, Under the Sea, Fast Cars and All of Baby Nose to Toes (unfortunately, that one belongs to the library, so Mama says I have to give it up soon).
10) My Daddy is my hero.
11) I have 6 pets: two cats, Murphy and Gretchen, and four fish, Desi, Eddie, Frank and Gilligan. Mama named them after sitcom characters--please don't ask what happened to Archie, Bob and Cliff :( RIP
12) I am a wicked dancer. I mean I have some really smooth moves. Recently, Mama bought me a table, which I am supposed to use for my cars. Instead, I climb on top and boogie down!
13) I don't like naptime or bedtime, but Mama makes me sleep anyway--she's so mean sometimes!
14) My favorite place to be is in my sandbox. It's my "man cave", if you will.
15) I THROW EVERYTHING--balls, block, cars, food, everything--much to Mama's dismay.
16) Due to #15, I have been experiencing a new phenomenon known as "time out" and I DO NOT like it.
17) My Mama and Daddy still love me more than anything in the world!
18) I LOVE having company, so feel free to stop by anytime (hint, hint)

I love and miss you all!

Weekend Getaway

Two weekends ago, Mama, Daddy and I decided to take a little weekend trip to Vail. It was really pretty and I got to do some new things. I went to an art festival (blah!), a BBQ festival (yummy!) and I went on my first gondola ride. Actually, it was my second, but Mama said the first didn't count since the gondola was open and she was freaked out the whole time, thinking I would fall out. I don't remember it anyway, since I was so little. Here are some pictures of our fun-filled weekend getaway!

Grandmas Visit!

A couple weeks ago, we had a house full of guests. Grandma Donna, Papa Jim, Great Grandma Norma, Aunt Carol, our friend Barb AND Grandma's new puppy, Baby, all came to visit. We had so much fun, especially me since I got to do lots of fun things and got presents from everybody. Mama and Daddy even got to go out on a date, which they were pretty excited about. I would have liked to have gone to dinner with them too, but they said the restaurant wasn't "baby friendly" whatever that means. That's okay though, I got to stay home and play peekaboo with Great-Grandma instead! Here is a little scrapbook of their visit. Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My First Co-Ed Bath

While everyone was here for Mama's Girls' Weekend, I took my first co-ed bath with my buddy, Natalie. Now I know I'm new to this whole anatomy thing, but Natalie seemed to be missing some parts, which concerned me. I was very confused and wanted to investigate this further, but Mama and Auntie D just kept saying, "You can touch your own parts, but not each others'." I don't understand what the fuss was all about, but they said we'd understand when we were older. They also said they wanted photographic evidence of our first bath together so they could show it to us when we go to the prom together someday. I don't know anything about proms, except that they involve food and dancing, so I'm in!

Bad Girls, Good Babes Weekend 2009

Mama says she is very lucky that she has three friends that she's had for a long time that she still keeps in touch with--Auntie Dana, Auntie Lisa and Auntie Laryl. They all went to college together (I don't know what this "college" place is, but Mama says I BETTER go, because they're saving money for it). The four of them have been getting together for a Girls Weekend at least once a year for the last 11 years. Mama says the weekends used to be much different--dancing, staying out late, drinking lots of wine, etc. Sounds boring to me, so lucky for them, there are now three babies in the group to add some excitement: Me, Natalie and Marisa (plus one more coming in December courtesy of Auntie D).

So, what used to be called the Bad Girls Weekend is now the "Bad Girls, Good Babes" weekend. Our latest was right here at our house in sunny Colorado over Memorial Day Weekend, and here are some pictures from our very fun four-day weekend together!