Kendall's 1st Beach Trip - the second installment

Well, there won't be much to the 2nd installment either. Not only is Kendall NOT a beach kid, turns out she was getting a lovely lower GI bug, which at least partially explained her uncharacteristic "mood." On Sunday we made it to Barefoot Landing in the afternoon and I think she enjoyed most of this outing. There were really cool tigers (and a liger!) there from a Tiger Preservation Station nearby and, while we weren't supposed to take pictures, Nana snuck a few with her new iPhone.

Nice yams, kiddo!
She basically pulled a Jekyll/Hyde on us the entire afternoon but I really do think her tummy was hurting. Chris and I got her back out on the beach that evening when the sand wasn't too hot and the sun was going down and she alternated back and forth between laughing and squealing as the water hit her feet, and screeching like she was being tortured.

But we had a nice time on the porch the last night watching the sun go down.

Thanks to Saza and Nana for sponsoring Kendall's 1st beach trip!

Kendall's 1st Beach Trip ... The first installment

This post will be short and sweet (I'm exhausted) but suffice it to say that Kendall does not like sand, salt water, or waves. It'll be a while before we re-introduce her to the beach.

But she was pretty cool with sitting in the beach tent and applying "sunscream" to her dinosaurs.

And she was VERY cool with riding the rides at Broadway at the Beach! Still a thrill seeker.

And, of course, still a fan of ice cream.

More to come ...

"Best Mommy Ever!"

This morning when I put Kendall in the car to go to the zoo, completely unprovoked, the child said to me, "Mommy, you're the best Mommy EVER!" I think I remained a puddle for the rest of the morning. And then a pushover for the rest of the day.

After naptime, we made homemade hamburger pizza for dinner:

The finished product!
Somehow or another clothes were shed while the pizza was in the oven so in addition to being allowed to eat her pizza on the couch in front of the television, she was allowed to do so naked.
And then had a bowl of "emmy m's" (M&M's) for "zert" ... on the couch ... in front of the television ...naked.
See what good can come from a simple little compliment to Mommy? :)

Return to the ZOO!!!

This may have been my most favorite morning in over 2 months! FINALLY, the heat broke and the temperature outside was in the 60's when we got up. So we figured it was the perfect morning to reacquaint ourselves with the Dallas zoo. And it was! Kendall was so excited that she literally squealed when she saw the giant giraffe statue marking the parking lot! She did a lot more pushing of the wagon than riding in the wagon ... and a lot of running, which meant I did a lot of running after her (pulling a wagon).

And then there were the puddles ... oh boyohboyohboy the puddles!
We did some snacking with the alligators/crocodiles (still don't know the difference),
Riding on the elephant statues,

And had THREE merry-go-round rides. Of course the first "spin" had to be on the "Pippin animal" (aka the okapi). I am now forbidden to touch her while she's riding. "NO, Mommy! I do it allll BY SELF!" So I can stand there and take more pictures. :) (I have no doubts that soon enough, she'll be kicking me off the carousel entirely)

Then (after a wardrobe change because the temps in the 60's didn't last long), she discovered the Triceratops. It's her new favorite.

I hope, hope, hope the temps stay like this now ... or continue on the downward trend. During our absence, the zoo gained several new additions: a baby giraffe, a baby gazelle, and two baby "warty hogs!" 2 months away from the zoo was too long. I think I may have actually missed it more than Kendall ... if that's at all possible!

Baby Pool Naked Fun!

We FINALLY had a morning in Dallas, TX where the temps were below 100 degrees (at 8:30AM ... they were back up to a miserable level by 10). Kendall's little pool had been sitting on the back porch for the past 2 months collecting leaves, dirt and creepy crawly things. It was waaay past time to bathe the dogs so we decided to have a backyard morning, cleaned out the pool, filled it up, cleaned the dogs, and had some good ol' fashioned naked fun! At least Kendall had some naked fun. I'm sure my neighbors are grateful that I remained clothed ... although Chris did make a brief appearance to water some shrubs in his boxer shorts.

I knew that giving the child the hose was not the brightest of ideas, but I figured I was getting wet bathing dogs anyway so I might as well let her have fun and soak me. And she did, right after I took these 1st few pictures.

Her newest "toy" is an umbrella. She saw a little girl the first morning of school when it rained with a cute little kid umbrella and she just HAD to have one. Why it HAD to come in the pool is beyond me ...

Upon seeing this next picture, Uncle Chip apparently made some comment like, "who's the naked old guy in Kendall's pool with her umbrella?" and I was about to go mama bear on him until I realized that his perception of the picture was pretty darn accurate ... as well as hilarious!

And of course every kid should have the opportunity to play with a toilet scrubber, right? (I'd used it to scrub her pool with dish detergent so it was relatively clean)

And it just wouldn't be a proper "naked time" without the performance of a "big big show" on the grill deck by Kendall and the hi-hi's!

She's a card carrying member!

No, not the NRA (although given where the child is being raised, that might be next) ... Kendall is now a card carrying member of the Dallas Public Library system! And she might just be the youngest, judging by the reaction of the rather rude and quite unfriendly librarian when I asked for a card in the name of a two year old.

Kendall was pretty excited about going - she'd learned all about libraries from an episode of Special Agent Oso. Not sure what I'd do without the Disney Jr. channel teaching my child about life. Unfortunately, while the concept of being quiet was firmly grasped (she practiced her whisper the entire way there), the library proved to be WAY too exciting to be quiet IN the actual building. And the act of pulling books off of the shelf is apparently far more exciting than actually sitting on a comfy couch and having more than 3 pages read to you. Nevertheless, I'm hoping that a healthy love of the place ... a place where books are FREE ... will soon blossom.

Look! Her very own library card!!!

Look! It's in her mouth. **sigh**