Kiddie Acres

We took Alice to Kiddie Acres this morning for her first trip to an amusement park.

We met our friend Tavo there, and he brought his daughter Izzy.

Alice chose to ride the boats first.  She was very good at staying in her seat, and she enjoyed dipping her hand in the water.  She enjoyed this ride the most, and asked to ride it two more times.

Second, the girls rode the Jeeps.  As Larry has pointed out, all the ride look much better in the photos than they did in real life, but the girls thought they were fun anyways. 

Third, was Alice's first pony ride.  The attendant took Alice's ticket and asked if she could pick her up to take her to the horse, and to our AMAZEMENT....she said yes, and outstretched her arms.  I guess anyone with a pony is alright in Alice's book.

Next, Alice and Daddy rode the carousel.  Alice is a pro at the carousel, since Didi has taken her to one a couple of times before, but it was her first ride with her dad, which makes it special.

After the carousel, Alice rode the planes.  We think this was her least favorite, since she had a concerned look on her face the entire time she was on the ride, but she sat still and soaked it all in.

Mom took Alice and Izzy up on the Ferris Wheel.  Luckily there was a 200 lb maximum weight limit, and the girls aren't that heavy yet ;-)  Alice liked it when the ride stopped us at the top and we could see over the trees.  Alice noticed we were "really really high". 

We were there for only 1 hour, but it was an action packed hour, and we were all already tired.

Eeyore's Birthday Party

For years, Larry and I kept saying - we should go to Eeyore's Birthday Party, but every year - we would always miss it. Never knowing exactly when it happened, and never hearing about when it was. This year, we finally made it out!

For those of you who don't know what Eeyore's Birthday Party is (follow the link). And for those who watch South Park - we saw a real live Hippy Drum Circle. (see below)

Alice had a good time watching the interesting people, costumes and many, many DOGGIES. We saw a childrens costume contest, a walking twinkie and lots of fairys (real and imaginary...haha)

To help Alice blend in, we got her ponytail painted red. The red was cute and went with her outfit, but I think next time we will go with a pink ponytail - or maybe blue.

After a few hours of walking around, we finally headed back to the car. We had parked downtown and taken a shuttle to the event. The Shuttles were real live school buses - so Alice got her first ride on a school bus.

A whole afternoon of firsts' and fun.

Alice gets her Pony

Alice's first real vacation

We took Alice on her first official vacation this week. Mom, Dad and Baby drove 6 hours south to South Padre Island for a few days of rest and relaxation. Relaxation was pretty much all that could be done because of the rain for the first 3 days of vacation.

Dad wrote and created graphics between baby sessions, Mom napped and listened to an audio book and baby played, ate, slept, watched videos and was cute in general...all in a typical day for Alice - just in a new location and with tons of attention from Mom and Dad. We all enjoyed hanging out on the patio to watch and listen to the surf.

By day 4, the weather decided to cooperate and we got Alice out on the beach. She had fun crawling on the sand, and we had fun trying to keep her from eating it (yuck!). The most fun was mom and alice sitting in the surf and anticipating the rush of water. Alice rocked and jumped with the coming and going of the waves. She is definately not afraid of the water and getting her hands (and face) dirty.
We all had a good time just spending time together and hope to get dad back to the beach again ;-)

Pool Style

Latest baby fashion in a sporty water wicking jersey and matching hat fit for a private box at the Kentucky Derby or a nice swim at the community pool.

Daddy did go to the pool (holding baby above) but he sat in the shade studying, while baby kicked and splashed, and momma waded. Here I'm holding baby while momma dries off and gets ready to take a tired and happy baby home for a nap! Yeah baby naps!

Today we went to the pool. Since Aunt Sissy, Uncle Chris and Cousin Juliette were here....we all decided to go to the pool. Mom and Melissa went to Target and bought Alice a swimsuit with matching hat, lathered up the kiddos with sun screen, and hit the pool. Dad brought a book and the camera to document the new experience.

At first, Alice wasn't too sure about this water thing that obviously was NOT her bath...the water was colder and it was much much bigger than the tub. Plus, there were other kids running around, which in the end was fun to watch.

After a few minutes, Alice decided, the pool was fun, and began kicking and kicking in her new floatie
Mom took her around the pool leading the dragon floatie by the nose.

After a while Alice started to get tired, so we went and sat down in a lounge chair to dry off.

After drying off, we talked about how much fun the pool was and how Alice wants to come back.

When we got home, Daddy cooled off with a beer, and baby thought it looked refreshing too.

Stroller Happy

Alice loves to go on walks.

This week we have started a new routine.

Everyday after work, I take Alice on a walk in her stroller.
Armed with a few toys and a pacifier, we walk to the park and back.

Luckily our neighborhood is well shaded with trees so we don't get too hot on our walks. I usually take her pants and socks off before we head out, leaving her in only a onesie and a diaper to keep her from getting too hot. Alice sits back, kicks up her feet and just enjoys the ride.

Alice LOVES her walks...I don't hear a peep out of her. I have to stop and look at her to make sure she's not sleeping. She just sits there placidly, sometimes with a paci in her mouth, sometimes not, holding a toy, but not really playing with it, and just looks at the world around her.

I said I wanted a PONY

Burgers and Sci-Fi Sunday

Sunday was awesome. We had lunch at Dan's burgers. The best greasy burgers in town. Mom had a medium cheeseburger and Dad had a large. Alice was chill the whole time, just soaking in the new scenery. We both got to eat all of our meal, uninterupted. It was very nice :-)

She was so good we ventured across the street to the best Half-Price book store in town. It has its own rare books room and an excellent science fiction section. Look how excited Alice is by the first huge bookstore she has ever experienced!

Daddy and Alice in the Sci-Fi Section:

Alice's First Trip to Village Inn

Our pre-Alice life had a weekend routine, one part of which was Village Inn. Every Sat. morning we would go get breakfast, chat about the week and generally let it sink in that we didn't have to go to work. We got to know the waitstaff and manager by sight. They noticed as Cristy got more and more pregnant. At the end they kept asking when she was due, assuming it was any minute. Alice starting coming on a Sat. morning just as we were getting ready to go to Village Inn.

We missed the weekend breakfast trip for six weeks. Our first trip back they all ask about how it all went, etc. Our second trip back was with Alice. We went very early (since we were up...) when there are almost no customers there. The manager and staff all came to look at her and we heard how cute and wonderful she was...

Alice chilled in her own seat for some time (top picture), letting mom and dad eat most of their food until she ran out of patience and was ready for her breakfast. Mom fed her a bottle (middle picture) while dad kept drinking coffee.

When I tried to pay the waitress said it was on the manager, and that we have a wonderful baby. I was beaming and carried my girl out to the car... stopping briefly for a photo op for the blog.