Splash Pad

Well, I finally got around to posting these pictures. These pictures are from the first day that Andra and I took the kids to the splash pad. It was nice letting the kids run and get wet while we just sat (unless we were chasing children) in the shade of a nearby tree.

Here's Jenna! She spent most of her time wandering around avoiding the spraying water and splashing a little in the puddles. Eventually she grew tired of the craziness and came to sit in the shade with Andra and me.

Robby had a blast! At one point he got a cup from one of the other children there, and they enjoyed filling their cups and running around chasing and trying to splash each other.

Here's Jenna playing in the shade. She decided that the sand was more fun than the water.

Little James was so cute wandering around on the splash pad.

That's my baby!

You can't really tell from this picture, but she is not very happy right now because she has sand in her mouth! While she was sitting in the sand and playing I looked over and she had her mouth clamped shut like she had put something in there, so I poked my finger in to do a finger sweep of her mouth. Nothing was there, but she got mad at me for intruding upon her mouth and out of protest she covered her mouth with her hand (at the same time depositing a handful of sand in her mouth too!) As you can imagine, she was not very happy about the unpleasant feeling the sand made in her mouth!

Matthew on the run!

Little Robby had so much fun making new friends, playing in the water, and playing on the playground adjacent that he didn't want to leave when it was time. I got the "Mom please! Just one more minute!" Luckily for him we have already been back once and will probably go a few more times before the summer is over. (Especially since it's free and the local pools cost anywhere from $4-$6 for Robby, Jenna, and me to go!)

Standing in my shoes

All kids have a moment when they want to try on Mom or Dad's shoes. For Jenna she tried mine on this week. We had just gotten home, and I was in a hurry to get her some milk since she needed a snack so I just kicked my shoes off in the kitchen. After I prepared her sippy cup I turned around to see her standing there and trying with all her might to get her little foot in my shoe. She just recently started walking everywhere, but her balance is still a little wobbly. For her to lift her foot high enough to slip it into my shoe was quite the feat. And when she would succeed with one foot she would quickly lose her balance and plop down on her diaper padded bottom.

I felt sorry for her and decided that I would help her, so I set the shoes side by side and lifted her up to slip her feet in. As soon as she realized what I was doing she started giggling. She was so proud to be standing in my shoes. (Walking in them was another matter!)

I don't like my shoes, but Mommy's shoes are a different.

Our Dirty Babe

Earlier this week Dad came home and took the kids out in the backyard. Then he introduced Jenna to the garden hose! She had great fun whipping it around and watching the water spray in all directions. Well, playing with the water wasn't enough for Little Robby, so he showed Jenna how water and dirt make mud! (Oh, it's fun being a kid!) Jenna thought this was great and she learned all about how mud feels...

smeared on her body! "They say it's good for the skin!" she says.

Want to pick me up Daddy?!

We milked a cow!

We went on a tour this last week of a local dairy. Besides the cows they also had some other animals, so this was a really fun opportunity for us to introduce Jenna to some real live farm animals up close and personal!

As you can see the horse was a hit! She really like touching his head. I must say this was an extremely patient horse, especially since Jenna tried to poke his eye a couple of times.

Here's Little Robby on the hay ride. They took us around the dairy so we could see the different areas. One thing I found interesting was that cows eat 50 gallons of food per day! And the average cow can give 7 gallons of milk per day (15 gallons if they have just given birth)!

Jenna and Dad enjoy the shade. (The Arizona summer has begun. It was well over 100 that day!)

Jenna's first taste of chocolate milk! Yum, yum!

Robby's in the pig pen (sometimes I think that his room is one too!)

Evidently, the pig got too up close and personal for Jenna's taste. She lost it when he tried to stick his snout through the fence to say hello.

Fortunately, Jenna recovered from her scare with the pig and decided to be friendly with the sheep.
Okay so here's the reason we came... to milk a cow! I must say that it was totally different that I thought it would be. Their udders feel like very thick skin (Robby described it as like the skin of an elderly person only thicker.)

Initially, Little Robby didn't want to try and milk the cow, but we eventually convinced him! Click here and watch the Let's Milk a Cow! video to see what Chap thought about milking a cow!

And last of all, our two sweet cuties taking a ride on the tractor! Watch where you are going Chap!

The Birthday Girl!

Amazingly, Jenna just passed the one year mark! Hard to believe isn't it?! We celebrated on Saturday with Aunt Andra, Uncle David, Matthew, and James. It was good that things worked out this way too because poor little Jenna was sick on her birthday. She made it almost completely through her first year before having an illness with a fever. On the Sunday before her birthday she came home from church acting very lethargic and she felt very hot, so we took her temperature and sure enough she was sick! The illness lasted until Wednesday which was the first day that she seemed better. Then Thursday and Friday she had a splotchy rash-like appearance over her face and tummy, but luckily by Saturday she was all better. Just in time to celebrate her birthday! And boy did she have fun!

This is a picture of the birthday girl on her birthday! You can see she was still happy even though she was still sick that day.

Little Robby wanted to write about Jenna's birthday party (with some editorial comments by Dad):

Yesterday, Jenna had a birthday party. Matthew and James (cousins) came over. First, we talked and hung out. After that, we ate cake and ice cream.

Around the time that we were eating ice cream we decided to crack a coconut. First, we drained the coconut "juice." We decided to drink some of the juice. Ewwww! It was kind of bitter. After we ate our cake and ice cream we opened the coconut. The part that you eat inside the coconut kind of tasted like Brazil nuts. After we opened the coconut Jenna opened her presents. First from Mom she got a little farm set.Secondly, she got a stuffed horse which she really liked from me. Then she got a little doll from Mom and Dad. She also got a very big set of Mega Bloks from Grandma and Grandpa. She also got books from her grandparents. After she opened her presents we decided to play with them. I decided to play with the Mega Bloks. (No surprise there!) I built a big house! Matthew went into my room and decided to get out my Tinker Toys. I decided to use the Tinker Toys to become a ninja master! (All of his Tinker Toy weapons were stuffed in his waistband, creating quite the effect. Aunt Andra commented that he "looked like he was about to detonate.") After that I got a little tired, so then I wrapped up in my sheet. (Wheww, was I tired!) Matthew was trying to get me up, but I still wouldn't move from my spot. A few minutes later Matthew and James had to go home. What a day!

The Grand Canyon

We really had fun this past week taking Grandma to the Grand Canyon! She had never been, so when she decided to come out for a visit Robby decided that it would be a good time to take her to see it. Andra had never been before either so she was excited to plan the trip, and Tommy decided to drive down from Utah and meet us there. All in all, we had a grand family trip!

We arrived about 4pm, checked-in to the lodge, and set up camp. Then we took the shuttle to Hopi Point, one of the look-outs, and watched the sunset with about a hundred or so other on-lookers. Here Grandma poses with Matthew and Robby at Hopi point.

Jenna gets a ride from Dad. (Notice one shoe on, one shoe off -- that's Jenna for you!)

Andra and Matthew (her oldest) pose for a picture!

Here's our little family posing with the setting sun.

That night Grandma, Andra, Matthew, James, Jenna, and I spent a restless night at the lodge (poor Andra spent almost the whole night comforting her children - we thought James was going to be really sick, but fortunately he wasn't.) The rest of the crew which consisted of Robby, Little Robby, Tommy, and his girlfriend Doris, spent a very cold night (25 degrees was the low - Brrrr!) camping. The next day Grandma, Tommy, Doris, Robby, Little Robby, and Matthew decided to hike about a mile down one of the trails that leads to the bottom of the Canyon. Andra (who is expecting in late Sept.) and I opted to walk along the rim pushing James and Jenna in strollers. All of us really enjoyed taking in the scenic views of the Canyon.

Here the trail hikers are ready to take off down into the Canyon. (Robby is taking the picture.)

Taking in the magnificent view!

At the end of their trail they took a little while to enjoy the view from this look-out.

Tommy and Matthew

Apparently Matthew was too tired to hike back up so he got to ride. In the end, many of them had to fight off fatigue to hike back up the trail fast enough for us to get Grandma off to her surprise.

Eventually, they all succeeded!

Overall, it was a truly fun family trip that we will all never forget!

Breakfast in Bed

I must be doing something right because Little Robby loves me enough to make breakfast in bed for me! On Easter morning the family let me sleep in, and as I was getting up Little Robby insisted that I go back to bed. The next thing I knew he was coming in with my breakfast, and Dad was assisting by getting the bed tray for him. Evidently it was all his idea, and so far as Dad knew Little Robby made it all by himself (although I suspect Grandma helped a little!)



Dad did take one more picture of Little Robby and I sitting together on the bed with the tray in front of me, but seeing as my morning appearance might be enough to frighten everyone (even myself!) I will spare you from viewing it.

Watching the Butterflies Fly By

This past weekend my parents flew to visit us over Easter. While here we took them to the Botanical Gardens to see the Spring butterfly exhibit. It consists of screened in portable building that they fill with thousands of flowers and hundreds of butterflies. It was so fun seeing Jenna get excited about the butterflies that were flying all around us.

Here we are waiting for our turn to enter the butterfly house.

My two happy little ones.

One of the pretty butterflies we saw.

Jenna doesn't realize that there is a butterfly friend on Grandpa's shoulder.

"Grandpa, do you see the butterflies!?"

Here Little Robby and Jenna are sitting inside the butterfly house. If you look closely you can see some butterflies on the plants behind them.

And here we have a Chap-apiller.

And here is a Jennafly.

You too can have hair like this!

Who needs expensive hair care products when you can achieve the same great look naturally?! Simply combine mushed bananas and dash of pineapple juice, squeeze it together thoroughly in your hands, apply a small amount (or large if you prefer) to your hair, and style as desired! It's so easy even a baby can do it!

A Day at the Zoo

This past week was Spring Break so Little Robby, Jenna and I went to the zoo with our friend Alison and her two children Casjen and Piper (Casjen and Robby were in the same kindergarten class last year.)

Here we are posing in front of the giraffe and ostrich area.

Here Casjen and Robby were looking at the zebra below.

It was fun trying to show Jenna all the animals. I had trouble getting her to look in the right direction, but a couple of times she did point and I think she may have seen what I was showing her. (Or else she was just being cute and pointing because I was pointing too!)

This is one of the little monkeys that we all watched. I like this cage the best because it is a very large enclosure and they let the people walk inside and watch the monkeys climb all around. Sometimes the monkeys even climb over ropes suppended over the sidewalks. It's really enjoyable to watch them do their acrobatics from tree to tree.

This is one of my little monkeys!

A Spring Baseball Game

On March 8th, we had fun taking a family outing to a baseball game. We were disappointed to attend a game where our team lost and was almost beaten to a pulp. For a while, the opponent was beating the us 8-0! All until, the 6th inning when we scored 6 runs (2 runs batted in, and a grandslam!) I had never seen a grand slam in a game that I was attending so that was pretty exciting. In the end, we lost 8-6. Despite the loss, Robby, Little Robby, Jenna and I still had a great time being together!

Smile for the camera!

Jenna is a Daddy's girl!
It was a little chilly that day and Little Robby forgot his jacket, so by the end of the game I was sharing my jacket with him. Jenna decided that she wanted in on the warm fun too!

Jenna loves to wear her food!

I'm Popeye the Sailor Babe...

not really, but this picture reminded me of the Popeye face!

As you can see Jenna looks particularly cute with green mush on her face!