Camping out

Only during the summer can a little girl enjoy "camping" in the back yard with her daddy, and get up to enjoy morning cartoons! :) Ahhhh...what a life!

Rice Cereal!

Tonight Aubrey got her first taste of "real" food (if you can call it that)...a few teaspoons of rice cereal. Yum-mo! One bite, and she was hooked! She got the hang of the "open mouth = get food" thing right away, and kept asking (grunting) for more.

Big bite!

Dribble...

The aftermath. Am I in trouble for making a mess, Mom?

This solid food thing is AWESOME!

Eight years

Brian and I on our wedding day. Man, were we good looking (and skinny!) ;)

Today is our eight year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it...it feels like just yesterday that we celebrated in 98 degree heat with our friends and family. We certainly have been through a lot together in eight years, both good and bad. Some of the highlights (and lowlights) by the numbers:

• Three moves
• The purchase of one home
  
• The addition of our "first child," our kitty Maggie
  
• The deaths of one grandparent and two close friends
• Four pregnancies: two losses and the birth of two beautiful daughters
• The making of countless new friends
• Watching two of those best(est) friends move away
• Two teaching jobs
• Too many coaching jobs to count
  
• The death of our "dog"(big orange cat), Jack
• Traveling to four states, and one foreign country
  
• Three bouts with kidney stones (I had to throw that one in there!)
• One car accident
• One dislocated shoulder
  
• Three years of graduate school for Melanie
• Unending years of graduate school for Brian :)
  
• And so much more!!!

No matter what happens, though, there's no one I'd rather experience the highs and lows with than you, Honey. Happy Anniversary!

Pigtails or Antennae?

Who ever heard of a four month old with enough hair for pigtails? Maybe 'Lovebug' really is a suitable nickname for her...

Disneyland!

We're back from our big adventure! We had a blast, and we are exhausted!!! Although we missed Aubrey terribly (she stayed home with her Mimi and Papa), Camryn got the Mommy and Daddy time she's been craving and deserves. We can't wait to return in a few years with both girls, even though Camryn's ready to go back tomorrow. :)

Camryn's favorite ride was the teacups. We rode them three times!

My two hams being silly while waiting to ride in the 'Finding Nemo' submarine.

We couldn't convince her to ride in a flying elephant, but this Dumbo stayed on the ground, so we at least got a good photo! :)

Favorite characters

All of us visiting Mickey "on the set" of his movie, after a tour through his house! :)

The beloved Minnie, who with her bermuda shorts, appeared to be on vacation in California Adventure.

Pluto :)

Everybody loves Pooh Bear! (Tigger got a hug too, but not Eeyore. She said, "He's too grumpy." Ha!)

Princesses!!!!!

For those of you who do not know, Camryn loves all of the princesses, but there is one that she adores above all others...Cinderella. She's got the movie, the book, the doll, and can recite and sing all of the songs. Her one goal on this trip was to meet Cinderella, and we were going to make it happen.

The first day we arrived, we spent over an hour waiting in line for the princess royal walk, a line up of three princesses who are available to meet, hug and smile with your children individually. They are hidden of course, so we were taking a gamble on who would be there. Well, we lost. We got Sleeping Beauty, Pocahontas (who she didn't know, and wouldn't greet), and Snow White. Ok, 2 out of 3. But no Cinderella.

No worries though. I had thought ahead... We had it cinched because we had made reservations to attend lunch with the princesses at Ariel's Grotto. Well, as luck would have it, we arrived to find that every one of the royal ladies was in attendance except Cinderella. Figures. As Brian choked down his burnt, $28 cheeseburger, I too, felt sick to my stomach. What were we going to do? It was the afternoon of our final day in Disneyland, and we hadn't gotten to meet Cinderella. How would we explain this one?

Well, after a little bit of investigating, we found out when and where the golden haired one would be appearing just briefly that afternoon. So, as we exited the much anticipated Playhouse Disney! show, Brian dashed for the stroller parking lot, and I bear hugged Camryn, and sprinted (yes, sprinted, for those of you who are laughing right now) across the park to where Cinderella was appearing. We arrived just in time to slip into line and greet her before she was whisked away. Whew! Crisis averted. THIS was the magical moment we had waited for, and it had finally arrived.

Ariel greeted each of her guests as they entered her restaurant, 'Ariel's Grotto.'


Sleeping Beauty, who(Camryn always reminds us) has another name...Princess Aurora. And of course, she is correct.

The "original" princess, Snow White.

Camryn and Belle.