Mid-Week Memories 08/18/2010

Before we left for vacation last week, Mallory and I headed up to Grandma's house to say hello and play for a little while. Mallory loved every second at Grandma's house. She ran around the yard, took a ride in the golf cart, played with bubbles and even colored on the driveway with chalk shaped like ice cream cones. I would like to say that she didn't attempt to eat those ice cream cones, but she did. I am sure that was quite tasty. Out of the 100+ attempts to get some good pictures of this child running around like a crazy person, these are the four that came out pretty well. I was pleased. It took some time to sift through the unfocused shots that were a result of her moving too fast, but it was worth it. Always a good time at Grandma's and she never wants to leave.

The Girls

Trying to catch up on the blog after vacation is not an easy task. These pictures are from an evening several weeks ago when we went to Lisa's house for pizza and fun in the pool. Lisa is Mallory's sitter and her two little girls, Lizzy and Vivi have become two of Mallory's very best friends. It was fun watching her walk around the back yard like she owned the place, looking back at me excited I was there to watch her play at her regular weekly hang out. She was quite taken by Vivi's hair dunking attempts in the pool and admired Lizzy as she danced from pool to pool. She loves these girls and learns so much from them.

It is always a good time hanging with the girls.

Mallory's favorite hang out in the back yard.

What on Earth is Vivi doing?

a ha! She got her hair wet!

Lizzy jumping from pool to pool

My happy girl

Celtic Pride

Despite the heat and crazy crowds, we headed out to the Dublin Irish Festival a couple of weeks ago. I have never seen it so crowded there. There was hardly room to walk the stroller down the walkway. We got some food and followed Aunt Erin to some tables next to a small tent. It was the perfect sitting and people watching point.

What we didn't know, was that inside the tent next to us, was a group of Irish musicians jamming together in a circle of folding chairs. The music reminded me of Leprechauns and River dance. It was very fast paced and uppity and of course, caught Mallory's attention. For the rest of the evening, Mallory spent the majority of her time in the tent clapping, dancing, and spinning to the music. She drew attention to the musicians and they were quite fond of her. One nice man even let her play his drum. She smiled in anticipation between each song. Below are some pictures of the evening, along with a short video of her dancing. Dancing with her is her great uncle Dennis. They both have some very stylish moves...

I think we may have to make this a Poland tradition.

Mallory meets Tucker

Auntie Erin strolled into town this weekend minus an Uncle Todd and plus a new puppy, Tucker Sesto (or Tuck for short). Tucker is a Golden Retriever/Miniature Poodle mix or in other words a Golden Doodle. He is all puppy and very much full of energy. He actually got along with our dogs very well, and aside from some barking here and there, the house wasn't too chaotic. The only down side was Mallory's jealousy of the puppy. She was a little disappointed that Aunt Erin was preoccupied with her new puppy and not paying the appropriate amount of attention to her. Not great news for us whenever we decide to make Mallory a big sister! We will cross that bridge when we get there.

Swinging with Auntie, decked out in their cool shades.

Tickle giggles!

This was the closest shot to Mallory actually looking at the camera.

Not so sure about each other...

So cute...little Tuck

I think Grandpa may have ulterior motives. Run Mallory!

Mid-Week Memories 08/04/10

EINSTEIN:

This week Mallory and I stopped in Jack's aquarium and purchased a new little edition to our family. Meet Einstein. Einstein is a Gold Fish with white accent stripes that has created a permanent residence on our kitchen counter. He swims, eats, and swims some more. So exciting, right? To Mallory, however, it is quite exciting. She likes to poke the bowl and get him to swim around quickly. In retrospect, she is probably scaring him to death.

The name Einstein is a story in itself. Earlier this year, when I was in Hawaii, I got Marc a shirt with Einstein on it. He was wearing it one night when Mallory curiously pointed at Einstein and asked "whas that?" Marc explained to her that was Einstein. She looked at him and replied "Stein Stein?" Now, she will say Einstein when asked. It is a mystery to me why I can't get her to say "Grandma" or "Grandpa" but she can say "Einstein." Perhaps we should start calling Grandpa and Papaw Einstein....just a thought.

Mid-Week Memories 07/28/2010

Back to the zoo on this edition of Mid-Week memories. Not so sure it was a bright idea, however. The heat index was nearing 100 and it was packed. Nonetheless, we packed everything up and headed out to the zoo. Grandma Sachs joined us and we got there around 10:00 AM. We immediately headed toward the Polar Bears, the newest exhibit at the zoo. The Polar Frontier was packed with more kids then I think I have ever seen in one place at one time. Needless to say, we didn't see any Polar Bears.

Next stop was the petting zoo. I was hesitant about letting her out of the stroller to pet the animals, but after my mom explained to me how much I LOVED the petting zoo when I was little and that the goats were my absolute FAVORITE I decided to give it a go. So...I let her out of the stroller and watched her stamper into the petting zoo pen. Mallory started running and to my surprise ran right by the sheep....right by the goats...right by the ponies...straight to the hay. There was not much petting going on at all. There was a group of 6 or so goats munching on a pile of hay, and there was Mallory, standing right there in their circle playing with the hay. The only real reaction we got was her pointing at the goats and exclaiming "Mo! Mo!" No honey, those goats are not our dog at home, they are goats.

Here are some snapshots from our adventure...