Black Bear

M and some guys he worked with had a surprise visitor at their office today - a black bear!! Keep in mind this is like 1.5 miles from my house! Apparently this is a baby bear and animal control has been trying to catch him for a couple of days. The guys chase this bear for a while through neighbors' yards and across streets. They lost him when he went through some briars, but were able to get this picture of him before he got away!

Ahhh... just another day at work:)

NC Roadtrip - Part 1

This past week Gigi and I took S to visit her Papa in New Bern, NC. It is quite a drive and S did well all things considered. S kept us very busy and on our toes the entire trip. It is an understatement to say that Papa's house is not babyproofed! I was worn completely out by the time we got back home, but I loved our trip and it was great to see Papa!!

Me, S and Papa

Lovin' some snacks:)

Gigi, S and Papa

Watching the boats at the river.
The playground downtown that S and I visited every morning.

Throwing flowers into the river.Helping Gigi vacuum.Playing on the stairs.

She LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the beach!!!!!

Long Lost Love

Oh, Texas Roadhouse, how we've missed you!!

M and I use to frequent Texas Roadhouse almost every Sunday after church. However, with S's nap schedule, it has been a very, very long time since we've been. Probably a year or more!

But, today that changed and we went after church this afternoon. It wasn't too crowded since a lot of people were travelling for the 4th. It was everything we'd remembered it to be and more!:)

S was totally into posing for pics while we were there. She had one more July 4th outfit that needed to be worn since we didn't get to do all of our planned stuff this weekend so I'm glad she was in a picture-taking mood:)

4th of July

This year things did not go as planned for the 4th. We had so many fun things planned to do and then, wham, S got the stomach bug:( This was the first time I had to deal with a vomiting child and it is most definitely not on my list of top 10 things to do.

Before she got sick, our church had a celebration for the 4th of July with hotdogs, sprinklers and a live band. S really got into the music and loved dancing around the gym where we were all gathered and hamming it up!

After the bug passed, we were able to have an alternate celebration to enjoy some July 4th festivities. We headed up to a state park and cooked out as a family since I really did not want her or us around other people indoors. S had fun playing in the rocks and blowing bubbles. They also have a lake at the park with a huge slide going into it, but we are still a few years away from that I think!

Pool Time

This past week we had 2 pool play dates.

The first one did NOT go very well. I had not bought anything for S as far as flotation because I wanted to get a feel for what her other friends were using and what worked. So, we went to the pool and all I had was what I had for her last year. That did not last very long and all she wanted was for me to put her down and let her be by herself (which I obviously could not do). It was a short playdate for us as S went downhill very quickly when she realized she wasn't going to be allowed to be Miss Independent.

I got some good ideas of what kind of flotation I was going to get S from several different friends and ended up going with this one - Stearns Puddle Jumpers .

It was a much better playdate the second time around. S was happy to be able to "swim" by herself and was jumping off the wall to me in no time at all. I think she is part fish! However, there is a downfall to the no fear attitude coupled with the independent attitude S has. She does not always listen very well and in this case went straight down the stairs and into the pool by herself without me being in it! I watched it happen and she did have her new swimmer on, but nonetheless she was in serious trouble after pulling that little stunt! Oh the joys of raising a strong willed child:)