B, B, and T's Birthday Party at the Farm!

Birthday girls and me

Bailey LOVES Baby Luke!

Luke's first time in the saddle.  Maybe next time the saddle can be on a horse.

Hanging with Gigi

Their birthday cakes were soooooo cute (and yummy!)

With Dotty and Big Unc

Benjamin took that cupcake down.

Bailey took a cupcake break to smile for the camera.

Today we celebrated three of my cousins' birthdays.  Benjamin and Bailey turned 3 and Teagan turned 4.  They had a fabulous petting zoo and pool party out at their farm and oh was it fun!  I loved the animals and swimming with Dad, but I also just loved seeing my family.  Happy Birthday you three!  Lots of love!

Dinnertime in the Bumbo

Well I am finally big enough to eat in my Bumbo.  Here I am enjoying some carrots.  Kate does not care for the attention I am getting from both of our parents, apparently.....

Happy 15th Birthday, Pater!

Today we celebrate Pater turning 15. That is 105 in dog years.  Even though he is getting older, he stays just as sweet.  We love you, Pater man!

Matagorda 2011

Day 1: Taking it all in.

That crab!

The waves, the wind.  Can't. Stay. Awake.

Gigi and me

Let the bed jumping begin!

From our deck you can see and hear the ocean!

Relaxing after a long day at the beach

Here I come, Uncle John!

Napping again.

Of course, Ariel was at the beach, because, "You know Mermaids live in the ocean."

Sand chair.   That's not my beer.

Mom and Aunt Rachel in the 80s

This year we celebrated Memorial Day in a very special way: we took our first trip to Matagorda.  Now this is the beach where not only Mom grew up visiting, but so did Popo.  Our family has been going here since the 1960s.  When Mom was little, her Mimi and Popo Vogt had a beach house here and they would go every summer and she says some of her best childhood memories were in Matagorda, so we decided it was time we take her back there.  Friday Mom, Dad, Luke and I drove to Yoakum to pick up Gigi and Popo and head down to Matagorda where Uncle John was going to meet us.  As soon as we got there, we went straight to the beach.  It was Luke's first trip to the beach so it was fun to see his face when he saw the ocean and all of the sand.  Apparently the beach was the most relaxing place he had ever been, because he could not stay awake when we were there.  I, on the other hand, was so excited I could barely see straight. First of all, the beach house had a room with 6 beds lined up and they were just asking for me to jump from bed to bed to bed, so I spent quite a bit of time doing that.  Then when we made it to the beach I just wanted to jump into the waves and Uncle John played some pretty fun jump into the waves games with me.  Then, Dad halted all of our merriment by catching a crab from the ocean and showing it to me.  Yeah, it was cool, but I was not interested in going back in the water that day, so I honed my sandcastle-making skills. (Don't worry-by the next day, I was back in the water running and splashing and saying, "I'm screaming because I am so excited to be at the beach!")  So for three days, we splashed in the water, built sandcastles, took outside showers (very cool) and had a fun time playing on the beach where my Mom, Uncle John, Aunt Rachel and their cousins and Popo played when they were little.  What a perfect weekend at the beach.

Six months old

Look at that tooth!

Of course, Kate had to tickle me right in the middle of my photo shoot.

6 month old birthday dinner: Bananas!

Today marks my 6 month birthday.  I have been here for half of my first year and I can't even believe it.  I guess it is true what they say: time does fly when you are having fun!!  This month I met several milestones.  The biggest news is that I am getting my very first tooth!  You can see it in my bottom gum in the picture and I love to bite on Mom and Dad's fingers whenever I can.  I am also learning how to eat by eating twice a day: about four jars in all!  I have quite an appetite, but mostly for the sweet things.  I do not like peas.  I will spit those back at Mom every single time she tries them out on me.  But I love all fruits and carrots and sweet potatoes.  She keeps telling me she is afraid I might turn orange if I don't expand my palate.   I also took my first dip in the pool this month and I loved it.  And I assure you that when I check back in with my 7 month milestones, crawling will be on the list.  Right now I can get up on my hands and knees and rock, rock, rock back and forth and I can scoot around to get whatever I want.  Cell phones and remote controls really get me moving.

Camp Gigi

Alligator river

Vegetable stamping with Gigi.  She's artsy.

Luke napped a lot.

Bath time with my favorite alligator

New bikini from the dollar store in Yoakum

Homemade chocolate ice cream

I splash Max.  Max loses his mind.

I wore out poor Maxi Boy.

Luke absolutely cannot wait to play the "splash Max'" game.    For now, he just sits on Mom's lap and watches all the tomfoolery.

Snakes and alligators. The fake kind.

Magic capsules.  They turn into little sponge animals!

Watercolor masterpiece

This weekend Mom took Luke and me to Yoakum to visit Gigi.  We had so much fun.  We did lots of playing in the yard, painting, and playing with "Maxi Boy".  Luke did a whole lot of napping.  Here are some photos of our weekend that tell the story of the amazing time we had.