The Woodland adventure continued

Here are a few more pictures from the day that we took Cailin out for a hike.

Looking at a spider web...

There was a pond with actual giant lily pads! I wanted to see a frog hopping along on one.

She was playing with a stick in the dirt. She always wanted to stop in the sunniest parts of the path and we kept trying to hurry her along to the next shady section.

Adventures in Toddlers

Now that the weather is cooling off, even so slightly, it makes a hike in the woods much more pleasant. A couple weekends ago we took Cailin out into the wild of The Woodlands to get in touch with nature, or the top of Daddy's head. We watched all kinds of bugs and picked out different color flowers, thankfully no snakes made an appearance so that will have to be a lesson for another day.



No, it's not winter, she's just pretty much gangster.



Several weeks ago we said farewell to Nana who is spending the next two years in The United Arab Emerites (near Saudi Arabia). We all ate dinner together right before her flight and were lucky to get some great pictures of her and all her grandkids.



Cailin and Toby love playing together. She will crawl into his kennel and he follows right after her.






Last weekend we visited great Grandma at The Manor. Cailin played with balloons, stuffed animals and a rocking horse great Aunt Linda let her borrow for her visit. After the entertainment of those things wore off, Cailin decided it was time to explore the retirement home. She ran up and down the hallways knocking on everyone's door; luckily no one happened to be home so we didn't disturb anyone. She gave lots of hugs away to any "grandma" she passed and issued waves to those she was unsure about.




Grandma and Cailin looked at photos together of the places were Nana was.





She really enjoyed the rocking horse too.



For labor day weekend we made a trip up to Burleson to see little Brayden and the family. It's always difficult to get a good picture of both Brayden and Cailin with Grandma. It seemed like one of them was always getting fussy, oh well, that's what makes the pictures so memorable.





This time a year ago, Cailin hardly had any hair. Not even a barrette would stay in her tiny strands, but now...




I removed the picture of her in the bathtub because as you might have seen in the news, a woman had her kids taken away for the same thing. Didn't really want to take a chance on that one. Too bad cause it was a really cute picture.

Northshore Park

This week we visited one of the parks here in The Woodlands. It's on the water and has a ton of ducks that crowd around waiting to be fed. You aren't supposed to feed them because apparently it leads to overpopulation and disease but we didn't notice that sign until afterwards so the ducks got to enjoy some stale tortillas.

Daddy also got to play on the rock wall. Cailin tried to join but she didn't want to show up Daddy and make him feel bad.



Don't worry, this isn't our dog! But it was the cutest puppy ever so we stopped to pet her. The puppy kept barking and trying to jump on Cailin so she was a little alarmed by this but wanted to take the dog home with us anyway.


She kept running after the ducks. She chased them up and down the shore but they kept scooting away. They'll hang around if you've got food but definitely don't like being chased by toddlers.

Now she just tries to bribe those wiley ducks with some more tortillas.

Off to chase more ducks!

I forgot to add this picture in the last time with Toby wearing the minnie mouse ears. So funny! I think he like them cause he kept coming back and trying to put his head under them. I think he really just like the attention.

Daddy's girl

Cailin is assisting Daddy is getting ready to go out. I think she knew he was about to leave and wasn't going to let him out of her sight for a second.

Nana and Poopah just got back from their Florida vacation and brought Cailin home some really cute Minnie Mouse ears. She put them on and then was being chased by Daddy.

Trying to look coy...

Makes you just want to smooch her doesn't it?

(We put the ears on Toby and Bailey too, those pictures will come later.)

Cailin is definitely a talker and was giving Mama and Daddy quite a speech this morning. She even was standing on the fireplace hearth like a stage! This is a very common performance around here.

Week at Grandma and Grandpa's

Cailin and I spent the past week in Burleson visiting the family up there. We got to spend some more time with the newest addition to our family, Brayden. The picture below was exceedingly difficult to capture since Cailin was having a cranky day and did not want to be held by anyone. Brayden wasn't too happy about the situation either.


Uncle Brad got the Wii an Wii Fit for his birthday. I think Cailin is ready for yoga!

Move over Daddy!

Cailin loves her new little live baby doll and gave him some good hugs and smooches.

Oop, he didn't need that eye anyone. I mean honestly, he's got another one.

Ahh, baby fever! Brayden is now about 2 months old and is starting to coo which is so cute. He loves being held all the time. He prefers a good shoulder so he can see whats going on. Cailin only showed brief periods of jealousy, which is good but I think she knew we weren't taking this baby home with us so he was tolerated.

Cailin has a growing imagination and is starting to learn how to pretend. She would put her stuffed animals in Brayden's carseat and say "Bye!" or put the in a swing and say "Night night!".

The girl has got a good arm on her. She was throwing the toys for the dogs in the backyard. With 6 dogs there, she needed a little help from Daddy to keep the dogs at bay while she worked on her windup.

Last weekend was Uncle Brad's birthday so everyone went out to dinner to celebrate. Cailin greeted every person at every table whether we knew them or not. People would stop just to watch her and smile at her. She says "Hi!" to every person, man or woman and always brings a smile to their faces. It's funny how the older we get, the less friendly we become. I guess we could take a lesson from toddlers every once in a while.

Cailin must be going through a not shy period. She would let anyone hold her, well people she has met before at least. But she loves her Aunt Maggie a bunch.

Smooches from uncle Brad!

Snuggles from Grandpa. Cailin played jump on Grandpa's belly and played with his whiskers and tried to take his glasses. I mean what else would you do with a Grandpa.

So much love and multitasking.

Grandma got Cailin a great sprinkler pool thing. It was great to have when the temps would reach 100 degrees and up. But luckily there was a great shady front yard to cool down in. Oh, Cailin is making that face on purpose. She poses sometimes.

Where were these things when we were kids! We all just had that yellow, plastic slip n' slide that would pull your skin when you slide down it. Maybe if you were fancy you had the one with a wadding pool at the end, otherwise you were just dumped into the grass on your face. But I digress...

We also had a swing that was great to rock away the long hot days. Cailin loves to swing, especially after playing in the water when she would be a little chilly and warm up. She'd swing with her dolly and a sippy cup of iced tea in her hand and just relax.

On of the best things we did was go to the Fort Worth Zoo. It is by far one of the best zoos in Texas, if not the best. The pictures of the gorillas and chimps didn't turn out too well but you can kind of see their silouettes in the background

We went to the petting zoo and got to see a calf, some goats, and the biggest pig I've ever seen.

"Is that real Mama and will it chase me?"

Elephants!

Cailin has a big of an obsession with birds. She can spot a bird a long way away. We took her to the flamingos and the parrot enclosure where the little parrots fly all around you and even land on you. Unfortunately, we weren't that lucky.

The female chimp was right up against the glass eating her breakfast. Cailin was pretty amazed.

Okay I saved the best for last. These are the too most hilarious videos ever of Grandma and Uncle Brad doing the Wii hoola hoop. They will kill me when they find out I've put them out there for all the world to see but I couldn't resist. Forgive me!!