Back from the Beach

What a great vacation! We spent a week in Destin, Florida, with Daniel's brother and cousin and their families and had a blast! We stayed in a condo right on the beach that had its own pool and kiddie pool....which worked out great for us! We would usually spend the morning at the pool, the afternoon at the beach, with a break for nap time and lunch in the middle. The day we arrived (Saturday) it had been raining all morning and the forecast was calling for more rain throughout the week, but it was beautiful all week long! It was like the weather was just waiting for us to get there before it cleared up. The guys all went deep-sea fishing one morning while the mommies took the kiddos to the pool and then the girls all went shopping a few days later while the daddies were on duty. Daniel and I even got to have a 'date night' and went out to dinner while Kenna had dinner with her cousins.

It was definitely a long drive, but Kenna was all ready to go and spent most of the time looking at her books - I love how she propped it up with her foot...

Kenna's first look at the ocean. It did not take her long, at all, to decide that she loved the beach.

She liked just sitting at the edge of the water....
....and waiting for a bigger wave to make its way all the way up to her. (She was definitely high on the beach and not every wave made it that far up).

She even laughed when her daddy tried to bury her legs in the sand. She wasn't exactly crazy about her hat the first day, but she quickly got used to it once she figured out that her mommy was not going to let her go without it - she doesn't have quite enough hair to keep her head from getting sunburned!

Sorry this picture is so blurry - the camera fogged up! We spent a lot of time in the kiddie pool where Kenna walked and walked and splashed and splashed.

The kiddos really like it when their daddies would take them out into the big pool.More time on the beach....

One afternoon, we took a 2 hour boat trip out into the Gulf of Mexico to look for dolphins. We only saw two different small groups, but both JD and Izzy got to drive the boat. Kenna thought it was really neat to stand on the side and look out into the ocean....she really wanted her daddy to let go and just let her walk!

More time on the beach, enjoying the chairs and umbrellas.

Miss K even decided to claim one of the chairs as her own for a little while.

Kenna enjoyed every aspect of the beach it seems, but her most favorite, by far, was just walking in the sand. She spent HOURS walking up and down along the coastline with either me or Daniel following her. She definitely took a few spills in the hard to walk in sand, but that didn't stop her from cruising along the edge of the water. It is amazing how much better her walking on regular ground has gotten since then...she is almost running now!

The last night there, we all went out to eat at a restaurant on the beach and then took some family pictures. I went ahead and posted my favorite, even though it is sideways....
Miss K had so much fun that she crashed for a little while on the way home. It was hard work keeping up with all of those older kids!

When she wasn't sleeping, she made herself comfortable watching Mickey Mouse, Wiggles, and Backyardigans. I love how she put her blanket on her head in this picture.


We really enjoyed it and can't wait to do it again....now on to laundry and the real world!

All Packed Up

Sorry I don't have any new pictures of Kenna Beth to post....I am sure that is why most of you follow my blog :)....but the camera is all packed up and ready to go.

We are headed to the sandy, white beaches of Destin, FL so I am sure we will be back with a TON of pictures to post. It will be Kenna's first trip to the beach and I am ready to see how much she likes the sand and the water. I don't think I will be able to post while I am there, but we'll be back! :)

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day!

Back to Bumbo

Kenna has not used her Bumbo in MONTHS but it has still been sitting in the corner of the living room between the couches, just waiting for us to put it up. Miss K has recently rediscovered this amazing seat and spends a large part of her day getting in and then getting back out. It can be a very time consuming process when you are thirteen months old!

You start off by stepping into the seat and then trying to twist your way around.
Once you have that accomplished, you look to Mommy for some praise on your accomplishment.

Next, you play with the rings for a little while.

Then you roll yourself out over the side.

Now the process can start all over again!

This obsession with the Bumbo makes me think of JD at this age.

Dinner with Daddy

Saturday night, Kenna and I made the journey to have dinner with Daddy at the fire station. Kenna sat in her little booster seat by the table and just made herself right at home! The guys had fixed taco salad so, knowing that they like things a little spicy, I stopped and got Kenna a grilled cheese sandwich before we got there.

After finishing dinner, Miss K settled in with her daddy to watch the end of the Mavs game...what a disappointment!

Of course we had to go out and see the fire truck while we were there.

Kenna then explored the rest of the bay at the station. Daddy was right behind her making sure she didn't miss any of the hard to see steps going up into the bay.

We had a great time and I can't wait to take her back once she really knows what a fire truck does!

Dinner Date

My grandparents were in town for a few days this week and were staying with my aunt and uncle who live in Dallas. Last night we all went over for an evening of food and entertainment. The food was provided by Lary and Wanda - entertainment provided by Kenna! :)

My Uncle Lary has a rocking chair that belonged to his grandfather (the date carved in the bottom is 1908) and Kenna decided to make herself comfortable and look at a book. She did that for several minutes before deciding it was more fun to stand next to the rocking chair and make it rock.

Mama brought Kenna a belated birthday gift because it had not arrived in time for Kenna's birthday. Miss K really knew what to do this time with the present and jumped right into pulling the paper out of the sack!

Simba (Lary and Wanda's black lab) wanted to be a part of the action as well. Kenna LOVED Simba and kept walking up to her and petting her. Kenna laughed every time she would touch her and kept calling her ba-ba (in this case that stands for Buster - the dog at Mrs Cindy's house).

I think her favorite part of the evening was when it was time for dessert. I had taken Miss K's pajamas and her nighttime bottle so she would be all ready for bed when we left but she decided that Papa's strawberries were much more interesting than anything she already had!

She would take a bite, walk around for a bit and then come back for another bite. She would just stop by his legs and hold her mouth open, waiting for him to put something in it....and he always complied!

She crashed on the way home and hardly knew that we were taking her out of her car seat and putting her in bed. She had a great time!

When we got home last night there was a large box on our front porch. For Christmas, Amy and Charlie had given Daniel a bean bag (he has been wanting one forever!) but for various reasons, it just arrived last night. Kenna didn't see it last night, because she was already in bed, but I think she claimed it as her own this morning! She made herself quite comfortable with her glass of milk and (my phone) and settled in to watch Backyardigans while mommy was folding laundry.

Hope everyone has an excellent Saturday!!

Speckled K

Kenna has not been feeling her best lately. Poor thing has had a very rough 10 days! It all started last Friday morning when her poor little feet got quite a few ant bites after playing outside. Then I took her to get her one year old immunizations that afternoon....not a great day for Miss K.

She seemed to be okay for a few days and then started working on 3 new teeth - at least that is what her poor gums look like! She is still trying to get them completely through and apparently decided that tonight her puzzle pieces would be the teethers of choice!

Fast forward to three days ago - she now has a little low grade fever and a rash. They told us to expect this about 10 days after her immunizations so we are not surprised but my little girl looks like she has polka dots!! Hopefully she will start feeling a lot better soon - but I haven't really minded the extra cuddling!!

(not a terrific picture but you get the idea)

Now for some fun pictures of Kenna from tonight after her bath. Some are still in her diaper before she let me put her pajamas on....she thinks it is fun to run away in her diaper and keeps turning around and giggling while I chase. She is still in love with the ballpopper and plays with it every day. This infatuation started several months ago when JD came to sleepover and brought his....now Miss K has one of her own and absolutely loves it. After she went to bed tonight I had to get her comb and a few puzzle pieces out of the center part. Apparently there is not quite enough pressure to push those out the top!

She also enjoyed putting her puzzle back together....she is actually getting pretty good!
One last grin before bed time!!!

Girls Weekend

This weekend, I was very blessed to have a "Girl's Weekend" in Austin with some very special friends. Julie, Brittney, Mitzi and I lived together at various points in our college and post-graduate careers. We are very lucky to have a friendship that always picks up right where we left off the last time we were all together. Daniel was going to have to work part of the time I was gone so Miss K got to have her own weekend away and enjoyed playing with Grandpa, Grandma, and Mercy.

We spent a lot of time talking and eating. Julie had even bought a cake to help us all celebrate our 30th birthdays.


We stayed up way too late every night and enjoyed looking at pictures from back in the day as well as present pictures of our spouses and kids.

We had manicures and pedicures, went to the mall (without any kids!), and saw Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Saturday night we went to a restaurant overlooking Lake Travis called The Oasis. Even though it was a little cloudy outside and we didn't get to see the sunset, we still had a great time!

We enjoyed church services together on Sunday before we all had to head back to reality. We had a blast and I can't wait to see everybody else again!

Mitzi, Brittney, Julie, Me