Vacation, part 3

We drove over to Tulsa and went to the aquarium!

Why Tulsa?  Oh, cause we wanted to see Aunt Meredith and Uncle Parrish!

And Aunt Meredith went to the aquarium with us.

Which was really good, because we very much needed one more adult to keep Audrey from jumping in the fish tanks.

Oh, she liked touching the starfish as well.

Genny fed some turtles.  She was very serious about it.  See Audrey?  Diving in.

Gen loved the aquarium.

She also fed some shrimp to stingrays, which was very cool.

Audrey loved her Aunt Meredith a lot!

Here we are in the shark cage.  

Audrey vs. eel.  

Watch out eel.

Us girls.

Family picture with some shiny fish.

Vacation is fun!

Vacation, part 4

Bathing beauties need a good breakfast.

Aren't they cute!

Today we're headed to White Water.  We were nervous about this since... well, we just didn't know how either Gen or Audrey would do.  It could have been a big pricey flaming disaster.  But it wasn't.

Turns out the kids area was a good place for both girls to get started.

And ride some slides and stuff

And get wet.

And take some pictures.  

But after that, we headed over to the slides where you ride down in your own inner tube. No pictures of this, we were too busy riding rides!

Now Genny was a little apprehensive.  But she bravely followed Robert up to the top and had a very serious discussion at the top of the slide about the various ways back to the bottom:  slide or stairs.  She finally decided to go for it and allowed herself to be loaded up into a tube.  At the bottom, she immediately announced "I didn't like it, and I made this face the WHOLE WAY DOWN!"  {picture a Genny terrified face}  Somehow we got her to try it a couple more times, and by the end of the day she was loving it!  She's a brave little girl, and boy did she look teeny in that giant inner tube!

Taking a rest, about ready to go home.

By the end of the day, Audrey had had enough!

Vacation, part 2

We went to the Oklahoma City Zoo, and it was so neat.

This was a creek in the children's area that you could take off your shoes and play in!

We all liked it.

Gen and I went exploring and found a tunnel.

There was an area where you could pet goats.

And a place where you could feed larakeets.  Now you can't tell here, but this is a moment that is fulfilling a long-time wish of Genny's:  to have a bird land on her arm like Cinderella.  

we all liked the larakeets.

well.... maybe not all of us.  some of us don't really dig on swarms of birds.

but the larakeets liked Robert....  he thinks he looks like a pirate here.

We found the giraffes.  Seriously, how could I not take this picture?  Hilarious.

And somewhere along the way, Audrey's hair melted.  

It was unbelievevably hot.

the girls found the flamingos.  

And the butterflies!

Vacation, part 1

We went to Oklahoma City for a family vacation.  Our first family vacation as a family of 4!

Driving up to the motel....

"Genny, we're here!"

The girls were excited to check out the motel and the snacks we brought.

and the TV.

We loaded up and went to Bricktown, which was really neat.  and warm.  very warm.

it was a neat place to go, and we rode a boat around for a tour.

Afterwards we ate BBQ and ice cream and headed back to the motel.

where some monkeys jumped on my bed.

To be continued...

Bye, bye tonsils...

Gen had her tonsils out.   And adenoids.  And new ear tubes.  It was an ordeal.

Wednesday, Day of surgery:  riding high!  Doing well! Look at my new toys!

Everything is still numb, apparently.  You should have seen the tonsils.  Don't worry, I don't have a picture.  They were really large.  Seems like removal was a good choice.

Tuesday, the Next day:  "..."

The pictures are from her sweet friends, as are the cookie bits.  Her friends broke it into smaller pieces so she could eat it without hurting her throat.  (so cute!)

The doctor advised she drink 2 quarts of liquid each day to speed recovery.  Don't bother to pull out a calculator, I'll do the math for you.  It's 64 ounces.  That's a lot of liquid to convince this child to drink.  Capri Suns seem to be the favorite.  Turns out it takes 11 Capri suns to make the required volume.  

Audrey is taking advantage of the fact that sister doesn't feel well, and she is drunk with power around here.  I've never seen her like this.  

Lunchtime:  "Mommy, I'm really really hungry so I want a LOT of sandwiches!" 

At least she ate something.

And everyone's doing their best to entertain Genny while she's down.  sorry the video's sideways.  It's still funny.

Audrey is 16 months old!

Dear Pickle, today you are 16 months old!  This has been a big month for you.

Here you are, having dumped all the froot loops on the floor for a snack for you and Daisy to share.  You are not clothed because after the pool, I didn't have the will to fight with you to put them on.  I got the diaper on, and I decided that it was enough.  You are quite a fighter, little one.

You are walking!  Really walking, as in standing up on your own in the middle of the floor, just because you actually desire to travel on your own little stubby feet.  That's new today.  We are thrilled, and it's so good to see you so proud of yourself!  Your previous favorite method of mobility was walking on your knees, and we've never seen another kid do that so extensively for so long.  We feared you would walk into kindergarten on your knees.

You've added some words.  I think you are up to 10 now.  Your favorites are ball and dog.  We hear them a lot.  I think you would talk more if your sister would speak less, breathe more or eat more.  Sorry about that.

You started school, which is a big step.  We are proud of you!  You are so big!

I love that you are starting to draw pictures with sister and play babies too.  It makes me so happy to see you have interests that are starting to form!

You can still throw one hell of a shrieking, screaming fit.  Perhaps one day you'll stop this.  Or maybe it will serve you well in life.  I think it's quite shocking to people since you are still such a tiny thing.  And beautiful!  So it's surprising when you scream like a rabid weasel at virtually no provocation.  Oh well.

We love you, Audrey Kate!

Plum picking goes eventful....

Today we are purchasing this:

because during our family reunion at the ranch we went out to do this:

and while we were picking wild plums, some of us found something slithery up here:

that required one or more of us to discharge a firearm repeatedly

Ending like this.  

57 1/2 inches long.  

No bites, but now I think we need a snakebite kit.