Long weekend getaway

Last weekend, Jared and I took a little trip out to the Dolan Falls Preserve for a long weekend. My parents and our friend Paige watched Leah for us, as it wasn't really a kid-friendly environment (camping in the desert). It sure was nice to get away for a bit, but we were certainly ready to see our little miss when we got home.

We did all sorts of non-baby oriented activities. Like some unsuccessful aodad "hunting"...

Some fishing...

Some hanging out by pristine waterfalls...

Some swimming in crystal clear water...

Some exploring in teeny caves...

Some risky waterway crossing...

And just some general goofing off.

On the way home, we stopped for a tour of the Shiner Brewery, where Jared got to drink some beer...

...and I did not.

Hopefully it won't be another two years before we can do this kind of trip again!

Enjoying some fresh morning air in her sweet little nightgown, night cap, and slippers.

Pumpkins! Pumpkins! Pumpkins!

Hmmmm... this one looks pretty good.

The Fair!

We finally had a cold front come through, and to celebrate, Jared and I took a half day at work and went to the fair on Friday. It seemed like a good way to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

Leah really enjoyed waving her legs all over the ground in the eating area while eating french fries.

This was the "take a photo of your little farmer" area. The white marks on the fake gourds are a classic example of all the children that sat in this photo area prior to Leah.

Now that we have Leah, I have an excuse to go into petting zoos. Yay! As soon as we walked into this petting zoo, she went straight for the mini donkey and pressed her forehead against his. So sweet.

And then she went over and patted this very, very pregnant goat. I don't think the goat appreciated it.

We sought out a nice grassy area so Leah could run around and stretch her legs. Then they turned on music nearby and she immediately began to dance.

Brazoria County Fair Parade!

The Brazoria County Fair started this weekend, and what better way to kick-off a fair than with a parade?

Madalyn, Mia, and Leah dig through the goodies thrown out to us.

Look at what I got, Mom!

I'm not quite sure what to do with this, so I'll just chew on it.

Mmmmmm, McDonald's cookies. For some reason these don't taste as good when you try to eat them through the wrapper.

This is so much fun!

Watching the parade is great, but I think I'm going to go join it!

We recently purchased a giant new TV and we were fortunate enough to have someone give us their old antenna, so we didn't even have to buy one (you can't get any reception out here without satellite, and we'd already been down that road before and didn't want to get it again). Jared played with it FOREVER and tried many, many different things just to get reception and came in to find we only got 8 channels... I think only two were in English. So we thought about getting rid of the whole deal and going back to our non-flat panel, non-HD TV. BUT, then we got a tip from our buddy Mark, and now we've got about 40 channels (25 decent ones), and most importantly, now we can watch football!!

Jared is pretty stoked. (Excuse the cable hanging across the wall in the back... it's not staying like this, we just set it up temporarily before we hang it on the wall.)

And here is the very giant antenna...For weeks I talked about how much I missed sitting on the couch in the fall watching football, eating yummy food, and having a cold breeze blowing in the window. We had ALL of those things today, and it was fabulous. And then I remembered that it wasn't so much watching football that brought me such joy, but more so the wonderful set up it gives you for a sweet Sunday afternoon nap. I didn't last long, and Paka didn't really help since he laid on me and gave me some good sleep vibes.

Last week I made brownies, and I showed Leah the main reason we make brownies-- to lick the batter off the spoon, of course. She was a fan.

This picture was taken in passing, as most pictures are these days. She doesn't stay still for long, or ever. Unless she is sleeping (and even then there is a lot of thrashing involved).

Jared and I are often amazed at how little she looks like a baby, and how much she looks and acts older (except for her small size, of course). It's like we can already see what she is going to look like when she's a kid, and not a little toddler. And naturally, she continues to live up to her party girl status, with lots of impromptu arm-waving, hip-shaking dancing.

I counted up the other day, and Leah's got about 20 words that she says now, and she has just recently become willing to *try* to say most anything you ask her to. It's very encouraging, because for a while she would just stare at you and whine. We can also tell that she understands *much* more than she can say. It often surprises us when we say something to her and she actually responds in the appropriate manner. (For instance: close the drawer, where's your blankie?, go find Daddy, give Heidi nice pats, look at me, let's go to the tub, give that to me, etc etc.) This very small little girl is growing up quickly!

Bug Out Drill 2009

Our family took a short trip this weekend so Jared could participate in a "Bug Out Drill." It was basically a 15 mile hike with different obstacles along the way, with the intention of replicating having to move through 15 miles of potentially hostile territory... or something like that. Obstacles aren't explained to you beforehand, and the idea is that you have no concept what you are going to encounter and so you have to be your best boy scout and be prepared, for anything. Obviously, the amount of time it took you to complete the course counted, and the person with the best time won. However, depending on how well you completed the obstacles (or if you completed them at all), you would either have time added or subtracted to your score. For never having done it before, I'd say Jared did pretty darn well, and came in 3rd place out of 25 guys or so.

Here's a pre-course photo, nice and early in the morn.
And here are a bunch of guys starting off. They were all pretty chipper at this point... they were not very chipper a few hours later. The rope on the tower in the background was used as one of the obstacles later on.

They started off the day by shooting at a stationary and then moving target from 200 yards, and then participants had to drag a 190-pound dummy for 50 feet.

The start of the third (and final) lap began with climbing across this rope, without touching the ground. (Notice the gap in photos between the beginning and end of the drill-- Leah and I headed back to the hotel so she could take a nap for a few hours... so we missed lots of photo ops.)

Here's a video of Jared showing off his skilz.

Leah and I spent most of the time playing outside, and we watched whatever parts we could. My main goal was to not let her be a distraction to anyone, so I didn't want to get too close to any action. We played with the local shop kitty (who ended up giving her a good smackdown) and another spectator's puppy (who Leah kept referring to as Heidi... she doesn't really understand that not all dogs are called Heidi). And naturally, we played with some rocks.

Check out this sweet rock I found. You want to see it? No?

Ok, well, I'll just eat it.

Here's Jared at the end of his event. Still smiling, but not quite as eagerly as the pre-race picture.

And just so I could prove I was there, I took this sweet "Yay! You're finished!" photo.

Overall, it was a good time. A bit trying for Leah, as she was running on minimal sleep (no nap Friday afternoon [i.e. she was awake for the ENTIRE 3.5 hour car ride out] and only 8 hours of sleep on Friday night), but she was a complete champ. It always amazes us how well she does in "trying" situations, and though we feel bad for testing her as frequently as we do, I honestly think that's why she's so flexible. Jared, naturally, is already talking about how he can improve his time for next year, and he is trying to talk me into doing it with him. We'll see. It would be tough, no doubt, but it would be a great motivator for working off the residual post-baby fat.