Exotic Zoo

We had so much fun at this place a couple of years ago and decided to make another trip so that Kinley could check it out. Unfortunately, it was a quick trip because it started raining on us and the grounds were a muddy mess so the kids didn't get to play and pet/feed all the goats. I'm sure we'll be making another trip for my animal loving babies soon. :-)

This is what Tyler was so excited about ....

 
 Kinley wasn't quite sure about the drizzle.

Visit at Poppa and Peggy's

Got a few pictures of Tyler at Poppa's house, too!  He loves going for a motorcycle ride with his Poppa.  He has mentioned it several times since we left!  :-)

Kinley is 18 months old!

Kinley is 18 months old.  1 ½ years old!  Technically closer to her second birthday than her first one now.  The time is flying!  I know I sound like a broken record, but there has not been a shortage of difficult moments with Kinley this past month. Of course, it’s not a surprise to us.  I think I have accepted that this is just her.  She had her pediatrician well-check today and I talked with Anna in detail about Kinley’s behavior and she assured me that it all sounded very normal and that we may have to deal with another year of it.  Lord help us!!!  She explained that Kinley is so much more ahead cognitively  than what she can communicate, which results in her frustration (tantrums and constant screaming at us).  It makes sense.  Anna described her as having “high emotions.”  If she’s out of her snack, she doesn’t bring me the bowl and indicate that she wants more.  Instead, she frantically brings me the bowl, hits my leg repeatedly with it and screams at the top of her lungs and then starts crying if I haven’t refilled the snack in .2 seconds.  This is not an exaggeration!  And it’s all the time about everything.  That's just an example.  Anna said that instead of being the quiet girl watching a football game, she will probably be sitting on the sidelines, screaming and cheering loudly.  And for some reason, I can totally picture that! :-)  The rest of the appointment didn’t go well in terms of Kinley cooperating.  She must have finally made the connection with getting shots there, I don’t know.  She kicked, screamed, wiggled and tried to jump off the table while they were just trying to get her stats!  The weight is probably pretty accurate at 24lbs (25-50%), but I’m sure the length and head circumference is a guess with all the fuss that was going on.  Length was 30 inches (5-10%) and head circumference was 18 3/4cm (75-90%).  We tried to get out of there pretty quickly after that. :-)

Of course, things aren’t all bad.  Kinley has adjusted pretty well to the new schedule we have since Tyler started school.  She wakes up about 7:30am, takes a nap around 11:30am and is in bed around 9pm.  She’s still waking up during the night and I’m still hopeful for a change soon.  She understands so much more of what we say now, but she hasn’t added many new words to her vocabulary.  Aside from momma or dada, the two most used words are ‘mine’ and ‘no.’  Of course, those are the two words that most parents probably dislike the most.  ;-)  She calls Cooper 'Bo Bo' and she is calling her lovey ‘weevie or weebie,’ which I just think is the cutest thing ever.  She is so attached to her loveys (yes, pleural... she has like 6!) and carries them around everywhere.  She is really starting to love on her baby dolls more and even rocks them in her arms.  I think it’s amazing how she instinctively knows to do that.  She can finally reach the door knobs in the house and takes great pride in opening or closing a door.  Still a stinker, but sill fun!

And, I think that about covers it until next month.

Pictures from our recent visit to Poppa and Peggy's house. :-)

Play time~

A little fun in the front yard~

Always fighting over the same toy!










Various play times at the house~






What our living room typically looks like (play forts that the kids build)

Grandpa Jim is our Angel

Travis' Grandpa (Tyler and Kinley's Great-Grandpa Jim) passed away on September 8th. This was Travis' last living grandparent and Travis is in California, as I type, attending Grandpa Jim's service where he will be laid to rest with his wife. Grandpa Jim was 96 years old and was generally healthy up until the very end.  He had a good family, was a Major in the Air Force (I think Travis said for 22 or 24 years!), was the pilot of some pretty impressive planes, lived in some awesome places, like Japan, and had a successful career in real estate. What else could you ask for??  It's hard to be sad when someone has lived such a long, healthy and fulfilling life, but we are certainly going to miss having him around us!

I met Grandpa Jim nine years ago and I was warned ahead of time about how difficult he could be and that there was a chance I may not like him. I immediately fell in love with Grandma Winnie, but within two hours of meeting Grandpa Jim, I was pretty certain that I did NOT like him. ;-) He had me attempt to till his garden and when I couldn't do it, he gave me a pretty hard time. He gave me such a hard time that I actually left and sat in the house by myself and sulked. haha. We then hiked through his California hills neighborhood and he gave Grandma Winnie a very hard time anytime she tried to take a small break. He wasn't going to let anyone have a break.  I found out pretty quickly that this man meant business and I was not a fan of his. As he showed me around their home later, he came across several old pictures of Grandma Winnie in their bedroom and I'll never forget his words to me. He said, "Isn't she one of the most beautiful women you've ever seen?" He looked at her so adoringly and told me several stories from their younger days. He told me how she was always the prettiest woman in a group and he was so proud that she was his wife. I melted hearing their love story and obviously, my thoughts of Grandpa Jim changed. He wasn't THAT hard on the inside.  ;-)  I actually grew to have a tremendous amount of respect for him for so many different reasons and really admired that strong personality that he had, probably because I came to realize that we shared a similar personality.  :-)  I'm thankful that I really took the time to get to know him.  I'm thankful for the time we shared together, the stories we shared and look forward to sharing many memories with Tyler and Kinley.  

Back when I first met Grandpa Jim and Grandma Winnie- walking through their neighborhood~

Fast forward and how could you not love this man? Just a moment before this picture was taken, he told me that he had only ever seen one bride prettier than I was and that was his wife.  ~Melt~

One of our fishing trips together and one of my favorite pictures that I took of him.

Grandpa Jim out fishing a group of 15 younger men at Travis' bachelor party.  :-)  He was one of the toughest guys I've known. 

This was the beautiful sunset from the day that Grandpa Jim left us.  It was beautiful for a reason...  We're going to miss him.