update......

It's been a few weeks since my last post.  Things have been really busy at the Bickel household ;-)

We had our annual Independence Day weekend over the 4th of July weekend.  With Patra's twins being so young this year, and the weather also not being very cooperative, we decided to have a get together in Dallas this year. 

We spent Saturday over at Aunt Sissy's house, and Alice played with her cousins Jackson, Joci and Jules.  We got in the pool, and had a relaxing(ish) ;-) visit.  Alice got 1/2 year birthday presents from her Gammy and Paw-Paw and from the Miesse Clan.

Her lunch consisted of tortilla chips and chocolate cup cakes ;-)

On Sunday, we had a Meadows/Philips/Jacksons get together.  We had (1) 3 year old - Jackson, (1) two year old (Alice), (2) one year olds - Cooper and Case and (2) 2 month olds - Chris and Sean. 

 Of course there were the adults too.....All the kids played well together, and Chris and Sean were just passed along from female to female.

We have had a few illnesses in the past few months too.  First, we thought she had Roseola, but it turned out to be an intravirus.  Then, she was sent home with "slap cheep" aka Fifth Disease and a few weeks later she caught the Hand Foot and Mouth Disease from a kid in her class.  The Hand Foot and Mouth illness was the worse sickness we have had to deal with yet.  Alice got all her blisters in her mouth and couldn't/wouldn't swallow.  It was too painful, so she held the saliva in her mouth until it drooled all over her clothes and all over mom's too.  We were worried she would get dehydrated because she wouldn't eat or drink anything.  She was in pain and there was nothing we could do about it....it was really heartbreaking.  Luckily, there was only 1 really horrible day and two not so bad days.  This pic was taken on day 3 on the illness, so youcan see she was starting to feel better!

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.

Brief Notes

Note 1:  Alice Likes Pizza
Alice likes pizza.  Last week, when asked what she wanted for breakfast she said, "pizza!" three mornings out of five.  She didn't get it for breakfast (maybe on vacation but not a school day).

Note: 2:  Alice is Talking More
Alice is talking so much more.  She is picking up words at an increasingly fast rate and putting them together into short functional sentences, at least when she feels like it :)  Her greater vocabulary range allows for much more conversation, like"what did you do at school today".   "Paint!"  Of course we knew she had painted since her finger nails were dark blue around the edges, but its so nice hearing her pick something to relay and be excited about it.

Note 3:  Alice Told Daddy, "I love you"
Alice told me she loved me for the first time this morning.  Its June 15th and my daughter loves me.  I am so happy.  I've never had a greater compliment except when my wife agreed to marry me.

Miss "Independence"

Over the past few months, it had become very apparent that Alice has an opinion....specifically about what she wears.  Most mornings are a fight with tears to get her dressed because Alice only wants to wear 1 of 3 Alice-approved dresses.....and there is a ranking to which dress is her favorite, second favorite and third acceptable dress.  (#1 is "My Pink", #2 in "My Blue, and #3 is "My Lello"

She also is very specific about her shoes. She hates new shoes. Alice has to be the one to pick out new shoes because if SHE does not pick them out, you are never going to get them on her feet! Her favorite shoes are her "blwown shues". Since she started walking we have bought her the same style Buster Brown shoe. She has had this specific brown shoe with a velcro strap and a butterfly cut-out for 5 sizes.

The last pair I bought were a size 8, and when I went to buy the new shoes, I found out they are now discontinued. Luckily, I found the last pair in a size 8 on the clearance rack. I looked to see if I could buy the same shoe online, but it really is discontinued and could not find any larger sizes to pre-buy for the inevitable time she outgrows the size 8. I forsee a traumatic event in my future when Alice needs new brown shoes.

Beach Baby - Padre Trip #3

Alice's 3rd trip to Padre was the most fun for her yet.  When she was 9 months old....she couldn't really enjoy it.  When she was 18 months old, it was cold and windy, so not alot of beach time.  This year, at 27 months...with beautiful weather, she had a blast.

We arrived early evening on Sunday.  After a 6 hour car ride, we were all tired, but Alice was great on the car trip down.  She really is a great traveler.  We settled in for the evening, had dinner and watched DVD's.  Alice went to sleep and slept better than usual.

The next morning we got up and lazed around the condo for a while.  At some point we piled in the car and went to McDonalds for breakfast.  After breakfast we decided to take Alice down to the beach. 

We tried to put her swimsuit on her, but she would have none of it.  She wanted to wear her blue dress and was not going to be dissuaded, so we relented and headed down to the water. 

 She was tentative about the sand at first, but within minutes, she was running around and heading for the water. 

Alice ran up and back with the surf, she stomped and squeeled with delight, she kicked over sandcastles, ran after birds, collected and tossed seashells into the water. 

It was so much fun to watch her.  We repeated this every morning we spend in Padre.  Mornings were spent on the beach and afternoons were spent lazing in the condo.  

Tuesday evening we decided to venture out of the condo and went to Pier 19.  We decided to try and eat dinner there since it was outside and not crowded, so Alice could run around if she wanted to. 

Alice sat in mamma's lap and ate cheese sticks and then took fried shrimp out of my hand and proceeded to eat several bites...including the tail! 

It was one of our more enjoyable dinners out with Alice in current memory.
We headed back to Austin Wednesday afternoon, knowing Patra's twins could be born any day and hoped to get some time at home before heading to Dallas for their birth (which btw happened the next week on May 4th)

This is my favorite picure from the trip.  Her exuberant joy is so apparent!

Austin Zoo

Sunday afternoon Alice and mommy went on an impromptu visit to the Austin Zoo.  Alice had not taken a nap that day, and I figured I would drive her around to see if she would catch a few Z's.  I started driving out towards the Austin Zoo thinking that if she fell asleep, I would just keep cruisin the hill country, but if she did not fall asleep, we would run around the Zoo for a few hours.  Booger Bear did not fall asleep, so we paid our fee and entered the Austin Zoo.

Alice was less interested in the animals, but more interested in seeing other kids and running around and climbing up the guard rails.  She did enjoy seeing the big CATS though.  She kept pointing and saying "kitty", and when they kept sleeping as though she wasn't there - she would yell "WAKE UP!"

They also had a train to ride...so of course we had to ride.  Alice enjoyed the ride, and the scenery was nice, but I wouldn't recommend the train to adults or older kids.  To make the ride more interesting....they had cut-outs of alien landings, faireys and gnomes, pirates, etc.  All the cut-outs were old and weather worn and made the ride kinda stupid, but the smaller kids liked pointing out the cuts-outs, so i guess they performed at an extreemly minimal level.

Overall, the trip was enjoyable and we will travel back out to the Austin Zoo again.

Are you ready for a Montage...a montage?

 Action shots from Alice's days at School