Howdy Folks! Welcome to the State Fair of Texas!

We have a calendar in our Study that shows various pictures of DFW landmarks and Caroline had never mentioned one of them, until the picture of Big Tex came up. I explained to her who Big Tex was and where he was... Soon it became a promise that we would take her to the State Fair to see Big Tex.

And then we were there! Caroline informed us that "Big Tex is tall" and that "he got boots"... And like every good female in America (never miss an opportunity to get more shoes!) she proclaimed that she wanted some boots.

Caroline bought right into to her Daddy's philosophy on the State Fair... EAT! EAT! and then EAT some more! We had corndogs, candy-apples, corn on the cob, french fries, funnel cakes, oh my!

She also got to experience what life would be like working on a farm! The exhibit "Little Hands on the Farm" was great fun.

Caroline loved the State Fair and Big Tex. She often requests to be tall like Big Tex... And she does an excellent impersonation of him as well. We're already excited about next year's State Fair. More importantly, Caroline would like to say to each of you-

"HOWDY FOLKS! WELCOME TO THE STATE FAIR OF BIG TEX!"

Swimming Lessons

For two weeks in August, four afternoons a week, we went to parent/child swimming lessons at the local YMCA. Caroline learned to "swim" on her stomach and on her back (with mom helping to stay afloat), blow bubbles, climb out of the pool (elbow, elbow, knee, knee), and get her head wet. She did make a lot of progress over the two weeks and still talks about swimming lessons every now and then. When we make the turn off the highway to go home, sometimes she points in the opposite direction from our usual turn (towards the Y) and says, "I go swimming lessons!"

Here she is going down the steps into the pool:

The last day, the swim teacher put this canoe in the pool and all the kids got to sit in it.

Caroline loved the canoe! So much that she was quite mad when it was time to get out. She kept crying and pointing, "My boat! My boat!"

Swimming on her stomach.

Swimming on her back. Caroline never really liked this part, so I had to float on my back and tow her along with her on my chest.

Good times.

More Marker Fun

I got smart and bought the washable kind. I don't get the allure of marking all over yourself? Surely we all did it when we were younger, but I don't remember doing it. Caroline just LOVES this activity, obviously. Bathtime immediately followed this little art project.



Yes, she's still in diapers. We've had a potty for oh six months now and she really has no desire to use it. She sure loves Pull-Ups, though! I have explained till I'm blue in the face that only big girls who use the potty wear Pull-Ups and that if she wants to wear Pull-Ups she has to sit on the potty. She'll go sit on the potty for a bit to humor me, but nothing ever happens on there. Then she hops up, ready for her Pull-Up because she held up her end of the deal -- she did sit on the potty! Hmmm . . . methinks I need a new strategy.

Birthday Happenings

Aunt Kimmy and Uncle James celebrated with Caroline in a big way even though they are way across the pond in London. They sent Caroline a couple of cute dresses including this navy polo dress, along with the must-have item for any hip two-year-old: a Barbie four-wheeler!

Eat my dust!

Love this expression when she opened her sack of birthday books.

Caroline was fascinated with the musical card from Kim and James that sings "Happy Birthday" when you open it, complete with British accents. This remains on her bookshelf and not in her scrapbook because she still likes to look at it from time to time.

With a little help from Dad, Caroline figured out how to blow out the candles! Here she is putting her bubble-blowing skills to use.

Go Cats!

One of Caroline's birthday activities was attending the Fort Worth Cats game. Some VeggieTales characters were in attendance and, since Caroline loves VeggieTales, she was very excited to see Larry and Bob. That is, until we actually got up close and personal!

This is about as close as she'd get on her own. I said hi to Bob myself and heard the whirring of a fan inside that costume. That explains how they can wear these things in the middle of July without fainting!

Dodger, the Cats' mascot, was a big hit with Caroline. She sat on her dad's shoulders and yelled and clapped for him. Dodger acknowledged her by throwing her this T-shirt and Jason caught it one-handed! He was pretty proud of himself. I have to agree it was a pretty good snag.

The Cats game was a perfect first outing like this for Caroline because there were lots of things going on for her to do. She doesn't sit still for very long, so with meeting Larry and Bob, jumping in the bounce house, eating Kincaid's hamburgers, stalking Dodger around the stadium, playing in the sandbox, and coloring in the coloring book provided by the folks in the KCBI radio station booth, there was plenty going on to keep her busy. It was a great first baseball game for Caroline!

Happy Birthday Caroline!

Caroline is 2 today! I just cannot believe how fast the last two years have flown. It honestly seems like yesterday that I was holding this little one in my arms. I think she will always be this little in my heart :)

Why Purple Marker Should Not Be Used As Lip Gloss

Must ... lock up .... markers ...

Dad's Wedding/Vacation Diaries.

Well... We're still the Borings.

Just kidding! Ol' Clarissa decided to sleep in while Caroline and I went to the pool. Of course as soon as we got to the pool the "Back Room" edict came from Miss Caroline... So back to the room we went to catch/wake up Mommy!

The day after the Wedding we visited the East Battery (I could be wrong on name, but it's a battery nonetheless). This where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Pretty cool to be near these cannons and look out at Fort Sumter... AND it was an excellent place for Caroline to chase pigeons!

As well as learn the role of a Civil War Artillery officer...

Obviously... She couldn't grasp the concept of the safest position to be in relation to the cannon. Or that the Confederate Army didn't use "Sic 'Em Bears" as part of Artillery communication... But as you can see, Caroline believes they should have!

The Vacation Diaries: Part Deux

Well, once the pre-wedding festivities kicked in Thursday, we got pretty busy so were not as good at taking pictures. Thursday evening, Caroline went with the boys to eat barbecue while the girls went to Charleston Cooks! for a cooking class. We made a delicious salad with fried shoestring sweet potatoes on top, seared flounder with succotash and grit cakes, and parfaits for dessert. Here is my mom, my sister Kimberly, and her two friends from A&M, Lauren and Rachel, as we were sitting down to dinner.

As I said in my previous entry, I finally found a way to cook grits that I like: Grit cakes! The cooks showed us how to make grits as usual, then stir in chopped asparagus and parmesan cheese. You spread it out in a pan and chill to firm it up a little, then use a round biscuit cutter to cut out circles of the grits. Then you fry them up in a skillet with hot oil. Oh so good. Of course, it's hard to not like anything fried, this is the South after all. We even fried up the scraps left over after we cut out the grit cakes so that we could eat every bit. The grit cakes were used as part of the main course: first the grit cake, then succotash on top (peas, corn, tomatoes, etc. with a viniagrette), then seared flounder on top of that, then a lovely butter sauce. It was so good and a nice way for all the girls to get to know each other.

Afterwards it was the long-awaited Charleston Idol competition a/k/a karaoke contest! It was my first time to karaoke, believe it or not, and I was pumped. I love to sing so I really got into it. And I probably hogged the microphone too much but hey, you snooze you lose. I don't think I ever did a solo though -- "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" by Pat Benetar was supposed to be my big number, but Kimberly wanted to sing it with me, so she did and it was more fun that way anyway. Rachel from A&M sang several Dixie Chicks songs with me while the Brits looked on blankly. I guess you don't get much Dixie Chicks in Tokyo or London or wherever they all came from. But you have to agree that "Goodbye Earl" is a rockin' karaoke song. And the best of all: I won the trophy! I don't know who picked the winner, but who cares, I won! I'll have to take a picture of it to show off. It has an engraved plaque on the front and everything.

The next day was the wedding rehearsal, a beautiful sunny day. We spent some time in the park beforehand at Spoleto, Charleston's annual arts festival. But Caroline was more impressed with throwing pennies in the fountain than with any of the paintings or music. Here we are leaving for the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner:

After a week filled with gorgeous late spring, sunny days, we woke up Saturday to rain. It rained all day. I'm talking wind-lashing, incessent, dreary rain, apparently extending from Tropical Storm Barry. My sister was so disappointed because the wedding was supposed to be outdoors on the lawn of a beautiful historic home in downtown Charleston. Well, we just moved the wedding inside and had a wonderful time anyway. My uncle Ronald performed the ceremony -- his first wedding -- and it was a beautiful service. We had a lovely dinner and then dancing outside (under a tent). I hope that any disappointment my sister & her husband have about the weather and the change in plans fades over time because everything really was lovely and all of us there were just happy to be there with them on their big day!

We had a babysitter for Caroline on-site who tried to get her to sleep, but she would have none of it. She loves to dance! She tore up the dance floor at the reception. Here she is dancing with bridesmaid Heidi, Kim's friend from Tokyo. Check out Heidi's shoes. Caroline was wearing them before the wedding and threw a major fit when we had to take them off her so we could get her dressed in her flower girl dress. I mean, she was mad for a couple of hours about it! Whenever she sees a picture of Heidi, even now, a week later, she always points to her and says "Heidi's shoes." What can I say, the girl loves her shoes.

I was really excited to be at a half-English wedding because I was hoping to see some hats. I was informed that hats are not proper attire for evening weddings -- but little feather things called "fascinators" are. I had to get a picture of the groom's mother wearing her fascinator in her hair. (She is also wearing a navy bow in her hair -- the feathers are above the bow.) I love it!

And here are more dancing pictures. Caroline looks serious in these, but she was not in a bad mood (I guess she had forgotten about Heidi's shoes by this time). She just is serious about her dancing!
And Uncle James and Aunt Kimmy are married! Congratulations y'all!

The Vacation Diaries: First Day

First installment of The Vacation Diaries:

We flew out to Charleston the day after Memorial Day. My sister, Kimberly's, wedding wasn't until Saturday, June 2, but we thought we would make a vacation out of the trip out there. That night we met Kimmy's fiance's family at a restaurant called Fleet Landing, right on the harbor, but we didn't take any pictures that night. We had a good time, although I refused to eat shrimp and grits. I won't even eat grits with breakfast; I don't know whose idea it was to mix grits with brown gravy or whatever and call it supper. Blech. (Note: Later in the week I did learn a way to cook grits that I actually liked. More on that in a future installment.)

Anyway, the next morning we went to the aquarium. It was very interesting, and Caroline really enjoyed it, but she is not one to stand in one place for too long so we really had to speed through it at times.

Here are the real live alligator pictures. Caroline talked a big talk about seeing the alligator, but when it came time to actually touch it, she was not so brave. I think Jason eventually coaxed her into it. I touched it too -- it felt like hard plastic to me.

First encounter with the alligator:

Getting a little closer ... look at her face, she's not so sure about this!

And some pictures of the family in front of the large diving tank and the harbor outside. Did you know this little city is the second largest container seaport on the East Coast? It's also the second most productive container port in the world, behind Hong Kong. (According to Wikipedia, anyway.)

After lunch, I saw a sign indicating the distance to London (where my sister and her now-husband will make their home), and I just had to get a picture of it.

After a nap, we went on a carriage ride through downtown Charleston, including some residential areas. That was my favorite part of the whole day. Our driver narrated the tour and told us all kinds of interesting facts and history about the city. Caroline's favorite part was watching the Belgian Draft Horse, Ralph, drink water at the end of the ride. For days afterwards she reminded us, "Ralph. Drink. Water."

What a fun day!

Charleston: Executive Summary

We're back from a week in Charleston, South Carolina, where we attended my little sister's wedding. Here are some highlights:

Caroline and friend.
Caroline and another new friend: baby alligator!

The lovely bride.Caroline was the belle of the reception -- danced all night!

More to come -- we had a great time!

Boots 'n Bubbles

Caroline loves shoes. Every morning it's a hide-and-go-seek hunt for my shoes because Caroline likes to go in my closet, try on several pairs, and clomp around the house with a satisfied grin on her face. That's often accompanied by "I did it!" We hear that a lot these days, and I try to encourage it, something about building your child's self-confidence blah blah blah psychobabble.

Anyway, she recently discovered her true Texas roots.

Although, it can be a bit hard to walk in boots that are 10 sizes too big for you.

Now for the bubbles part of this post ... we love blowing bubbles. Caroline used to like to watch me blow them, but now she has to be the one blowing. She can't quite get the idea of holding the wand out a bit from her lips, though; she always sticks it right on her mouth and then the film of soap breaks, of course, eventually frustrating her enough that she hands it to me ... I demonstrate proper bubble-blowing technique ... she takes it away and promptly sticks the wand on her lips again ... she gets frustrated and hands it to me ... repeat ad nauseum.