whew

We are falling behind in our blog posting! No shortage of new material, but until it is organized, here are a few shots from the past week. We had a great time with Grandma and Grandad who came out to visit - many, many fun adventures! Here is Abigail checking out Grandma's shoes....

"No silly! These aren't MY shoes, I'm just trying them on for fun!"

Another day, another outfit. This one is from Papa's travels to Ecuador.

Good buddies Auntie Emily and Auntie Clare come for dinner!

Grandma and Grandad were so helpful with our early mornings . . .helping to keep our little early-bird occupied. Here, Grandma and Abigail do some reading in their pjs.

Judging by her smile, Abigail seems to give Grandad's stroller pushing skills two thumbs up! Off for an early stroll....

In other, less photographed events, in order of excitement: 1) We went on a tour of the White House and saw Bo! (Abigail stayed home with Auntie Clare, opting to wait until her attention span increases and need for snacks and other prohibited tour items decreases), 2) Grandma and Grandad and Papa whipped our yard into shape - goodbye weeds!, 3) Abigail has decided that it is okay to say "mama" and "papa" outloud a little more often.... 4) We enjoyed many delicious meals - thank you G&G. And thank goodness for A's tried and true food items - hummus, peas, and soy chicken patties we are talking about you - as she works her way through a picky eater phase, and 5) Mommy pulled out her flute after a long hiatus, and Abigail danced to a piano/flute duet . . . until she realized neither of her parents were paying attention to her and reminded us of that.

long weekend in mn

We're home! We had a fun long weekend in MN and got to catch up with many friends and relatives! This was our first time traveling by plane with a "walker" - and perhaps only one word can sum that up. WOW. Abigail is a strong-willed little girl and when she wants to wiggle there are few things that can stop her. Abigail does a good job innocently ignoring flight attendants pointing to lighted seat-belt signs, but her parents feel obliged to comply. We were so happy to arrive and have a chance to catch up with so many people! Apparently, we were so busy chatting that we didn't take any pictures. Luckily, the Robfam was there and took a few pics.

We did pull the camera out to document Abigail's love for blueberry scones.

Especially a scone from Goodbye Blue Monday. A's mommy kept expecting to see Ella at her old haunt!

Never underestimate how much A can fit in her mouth at one time.

Afterwards, a little jog around the fountain with Papa.

Looks like Abigail might win the race!

Little A scheming about her next move.

We are hoping, hoping, hoping that other buddies remembered to take their camera out more frequently and that we'll be able to add some P.S. pictures to this post. To tide us over, here is one shot of good friends, with A unpacking her diaper bag in the foreground.

We were so lucky that we got to meet up with little baby Alistair and his parents! Seven weeks old and as sweet as can be!!

Our dear, sensitive Abigail was very upset when her mommy took a turn holding baby Al for a few minutes. You have never seen a lower lip tremble like that before, followed with some suitably dramatic hysterics. Baby Al took it in stride and slept peacefully through it all.

Abigail: still mad. Alistair: still snoozing.

Luckily there were some swans and their babies strutting around - that took A's mind off her troubles.

And a giant cottonwood tree, with a couple of bikes resting on its trunk.

Abigail's papa thought this tree was pretty neat.

And finally, a quick walk before heading to the airport to come home . . . it started to sprinkle as we were out walking, so Grandma and Grandad stepped up the pace and each took a stroller handle, we got home in no time, and didn't get wet at all.

Thanks everyone for a fun weekend!

new real estate

How lucky is Abigail? Her cousins Natalie and Emily passed along another great toy. A small house for the backyard! **Bonus** - Emily and Natalie, with the help of their papa and grandpa, assembled the house too. Abigail's parents are very grateful.

Abigail's general fascination with and love for doors continues to grow.

A gives us a tour of her new digs.

Plenty of windows to look out of, so Abigail can keep an eye on her parents, birdies, and other things going on in the yard.

One more visit to the house before dinner!

tent

Abigail loves her tent - for playing in and sleeping in when she's away from home.....

She jumps right in... giraffe comes along.

Screen down!

How fun is this?!

But wait!!! This isn't supposed to happen. What is PAPA doing in A's tent?? This situation provided Abigail with yet another opportunity to use her favorite new phrase "no no no no no no no" while pulling on papa's arm to get him out of her tent.

travel by tricycle

Abigail loves to go for bike rides up and down the block . . . she hasn't quite got the hang of the pedals, but luckily, A's trike comes with a parental push-bar. Many thanks to cousins Emily and Natalie for the great hand-me-down! These 3 cousins sure have grown up a lot since this cousin-reunion last September!

high energy hugs

Post-dinner excitement . . . Grandpa George is in town for a visit! First, a hug for Papa....

Then a hug for grandpa....

Back to Papa...

Off for a little jog around the living room...

And then swooping back around for another hug session.....

rocking with friends

Abigail does love her rocking chair. She can even get into it by herself now. Remember last August when she was so small and couldn't even sit in it by herself?

She's a big girl now, that's for sure.

Auntie Clare and Papa help convince Abigail that her dinner really is *delicious*!

Uncle Shaun was there too - visiting from California! Abigail shares some pre-bed giggles with Shaun and Clare, then she was off to catch some zzzz's.

early summer evenings

It was such a beautiful summery evening on Tuesday that we went out for ice cream after dinner. Abigail loved it.

Yum yum.

Tonight, there was more after dinner fun . . . exploring the stairs. She's just about to demonstrate how well she can speed up - and now down! - the stairs. She has almost mastered going down the stairs feet first on her stomach, and enjoys showing off her skills.

A walk around the block before it started raining.

And she caught up on her buddy Georgia's blog. Georgia has a *dog* and sometimes G's doggie is in the videos on G's blog!!! This is very exciting for Abigail.

low-photo weekend

We had a fun weekend . . . but even though the camera came along with us on our excursions (Kai's 1st birthday party! Pizza dinner with Jessie and her parents!), no photos were snapped. It must be hard to eat, drink, chase a toddler, manage toddler meal-time/cake eating, and try to carry on conversation all at the same time or something. Here are a few from a visit to the park today.

In pursuit of bird. Those birdies sure are fast!

This is the look you get when you call Abigail's name when she's mid-jog through the grass. "You called??"

Another bird sighted in the distance.... and she's off!

bye

Here's Abigail, saying "bye!" to her good buddies Madeleine and Bo at the end of the day . . .

walking, reading . . . the usual

What a beautiful spring morning. Hey...who's that coming over the bridge?

Why, it's Papa and Lovey!

Teddy came too.

Speaking of teddy.... here's Abigail getting him buckled in the booster seat for story time.

Reading a teddy-sized book!

Story time is over - time to get out of my chair teddy!

PS - isn't the orchid looking good?