Aloha!

I wish I could say the title was a reference to a trip to Hawaii, but no, I was stuck trying to find a blog title and I had a few handy pictures of Ashlyn with a lei on.  We had a Make-a-Wish foundation event at work on Friday for a girl who’s dream was to go to Hawaii, and I brought back a lei for Ashlyn.

I brought her a lei, but mom brought her a snow cone.  My gift was much cleaner, but I think mom won.

We went to a new park this weekend, and it has a lot more things to play with.  We started out with the traditional swings…

…and then moved on to some bouncy things that I don’t know the name of.  Ashlyn liked them though.

On Saturday we went swimming in Ft. Worth.  It was an eventful pool visit with 4 dogs running around, including Auntie (pronounced “oughn-tee”) Sisa’s bear of a dog.  It took awhile for Ashlyn to get comfortable with the situation, but once she got settled in she went on a swim with Mommy and played with Grandma in the front yard.  She started kicking her back legs at the end, but she’s still a long way off from swimming on her own.

This next picture has nothing to do with outdoor events, but we thought it was funny.  Ashlyn has a monkey backpack that she’s fond of walking around with.  This picture was of Ashlyn walking around in circles trying to catch the monkey.  It didn’t work, no matter how much she tried that darn monkey was always one step ahead of her.  You could say that she needed to get that monkey off her back (hahaha.. get it?  Monkey?  Back?  *cough*).

And another random picture, this time it’s Ashlyn playing the guitar.  I was trying to teach her “Mary had a Little Lamb”, but it’s difficult since she can’t reach all the strings.

Words of the week:

There are no new words really.  Instead of learning new words, she’s starting to piece them together to make short sentences.  She now knows where her arm, leg, toes, and fingers are, and is starting to sing parts of the “ABC” song.

An evening with Chuck-E

The comedian Rodney Carrington once said, “If you’re ever thinking of having kids, go to a Chuck-E-Cheese on Saturday.  By God you’ll leave there and go get yourself a dog.”

Today (Sunday) marked the first, and I’m guessing not the last, trip to the famous Chuck-E-Cheese.  We weren’t sure how well it was going to turn out, for us or Ashlyn, so we recruited help in the form of cousin Heidi.

It actually turned out pretty good.  Ashlyn didn’t know what to think at first, so we started with a little Skeeball.  She didn’t score any points, or get any tickets, but at least one of the balls actually went down the lane instead of flying behind her.

We then moved to the toddler area, which is primarily made up of cars that will run for approximately 5-6 seconds after you put in a token.  The first ride surprised Ashlyn, as you can see from the picture below on the left.  This is what I call the “What the?!?” picture when the ride started to move.

After that our pizza arrived.  Not to be denied more 5 second per token rides, Ashlyn tried to make a break for it by crawling over the booth.

Mom was faster, and bigger, so Ashlyn was stuck.  She fussed for a bit, rather loudly, but luckily the sound of a child throwing a fit is drowned out in the sea of games and children screaming.  After Ashlyn calmed down, she enjoyed some high quality pizza.  At least I think it was pizza, it tasted very pizza-like anyway.

 

When we finished with pizza, it was time for more rides.  The yellow truck ride was fun at first, and then something bad happened.  I don’t want to talk about it, so I’ll let the last picture below cover the details.  Let’s just say that I hope I don’t run into the plastic truck driver on the street.

 

So it was, except for that one event, a great time.  Thanks Chuck-E, we’ll be back.

In other news, we took our first walk in the rain on Friday night.  Ashlyn liked the rain and amused herself by splashing in puddles.  Mom and Dad just got wet.

And finally, bath time with mom took a strange turn this week.  I walked in to see this wonderful hairdo, and as any good parent will, I immediately ran downstairs and got my camera.

 

After bath, it’s teeth brushing time.  Ashlyn is starting to brush her own teeth, although we have to give them a good scrubbing first.  But she’s doing well with it, which is good.

  

 

iPods, animals, and gardening…

I’d like to say that we spent this weekend relaxing after all the Mother’s Day festivities last week, but I’d be lying.  Well, there was some relaxing involved, as Mommy and Ashlyn sat back for awhile playing on their iPods.

 

It seems like we may have another geek in our family.  But considering who her parents are, I suppose that’s not too surprising.

We took a break from the iPods for a little jump rope.  Well, just rope really, since there was no jumping involved.  But Ashlyn got a kick out of spinning the rope around.

If you’re saying to yourself, “That looks an awful lot like a dog leash”, you have a good eye.  But Ashlyn doesn’t know the difference, so shhhhh.

On Saturday we went to Grapevine and had fun out at the Main Street festival.  The highlight of the day was the petting zoo.  Ashlyn had a blast since most of the animals were smaller than her.  She pet some chickens, ducks, a rabbit, and a very curious goat.  She had a fit when we left the petting zoo, but there was a strategically placed sandbox right outside that served as a distraction before going back to the festival.

After the sandbox, she found another animal, this time a fake duck at an artist’s booth that I’m pretty sure cost more than my car.  We snatched Ashlyn away as soon as she made the duck’s neck wiggle.  We didn’t want to tell her later that she couldn’t go to college because we let her break a duck at a festival.

We saw some bands play, and Ashlyn was happy to clap for them after the songs.  Then it was off to another fake animal, and then home.  It was a good day out in Grapevine.  I see more festivals in our future.

 

Sunday was the day to get dirty in the garden.  This time we recruited help.

What a helper.  Actually, posing for those pictures was the most help she provided all day, but she’s a toddler and we’re not going to hold it against her.  She was a good sport for the pictures, so as a reward she got to play with a pasta lunch.

Words of the week:

• Home
• Ouchie
• Boo Boo
• Airplane
• Toes
• Bird
• Rock

To the most wonderful people in the world…

“There is but one and only one whose love will fail you never. One who lives from sun to sun with constant fond endeavor.

There is but one and only one on earth there is no other. In Heaven a noble work was done when God gave man a Mother.”

-Irish Blessing

 

That’s right, today we celebrate the most noble creatures on Earth:  Mothers.  I wrote last year at this time how much I admire all the mothers out there, more so from watching my wife with Ashlyn.  This past year has not changed my opinion, it’s only strengthened it.

 

This year I’ve seen Heather show more patience, love, and understanding to Ashlyn than I could ever hope to see from me.  If I can be half as good of a father as she is as a mother, Ashlyn will be one lucky girl.

So to the moms out there, we’re sorry for all those sleepless nights, but today we can say that we’re truly thankful for your sacrifices.  And to my wife, thank you a million times over for being the rock in our little part of life’s river.  Ashlyn and I both are lucky to have you.

 

Happy Mother’s day!

I heart Texas…

This weekend was spent in New York City, but it was just mom and dad.  Ashlyn got to spend the weekend with grandparents, and from all accounts she had a good time.

This was the first time that both Heather and I have been away from Ashlyn for more than a night.  Each of us have gone away one night (me for business, and a girl's night in Houston for Heather).  It wasn’t easy, the area we stayed in had kids everywhere, so we were constantly reminded of our little girl back home.  But we didn’t worry, we knew she was in good hands and from what I hear she didn’t seem overly upset at us being gone.  I’m glad about that, because I’d hate to think she was upset while we were out… but I wouldn’t have minded if there was just a little bit of homesickness there.  Not yet, but I’m sure that will come later.

As for New York, we walked more than 30,000 steps according to Heather (she has a portable game system that tracks steps).  That’s more than 15 miles of walking.  Needless to say, we’re a bit tired and after three cancelled flights, delays, and switching airports, we’re ready for some sleep.

Since we didn’t have the kiddo over the weekend, I don’t have pictures to share.  So instead, I’ll post some pictures of what you may have seen had we taken Ashlyn to New York City with us.

Here’s a picture of us overlooking the balcony at our friend Steve’s place.  The trees you see are in Central Park, which was awesome.

And here’s one of Ashlyn and mom checking out the Statue of Liberty.

And this is what it would look like if Ashlyn were around 150 feet tall and taking a rest on the Statue of Liberty.

Okay, I think it’s obvious that it’s bed time.  Next week I’ll have some real pictures, I promise!