Girls Weekend in Revue

Last week, my friends Jamie & Imee came for a visit. It was so fun to show them how much my life has changed since they were last here for my wedding! We have a house, a baby, two nieces, and a little more time to do some things around town. Kate was a little bit off her feed, but doing so many activities in such a short period of time is bound to tax a little girl! She still managed to completely charm my friends, though. :-) Enjoy our weekend vicariously!

We went for some exercise to Little Mulberry Park in Dacula. It is such a great park. I haven't walked the loop since before Kate was born. I think I need to do a few more circuits so that I can fit into some of my school clothes.


Becky came down for a visit with the girls and a quick visit with Jen & baby Lauren.



One night we got to go out on the town with just the girls. I haven't had that much fun in awhile! We got to Jillian's around 10 o'clock and partied until 12. I was reliving life BEFORE. I didn't have to worry about Kate because she had already had her last meal of the day and was down to sleep. That was very freeing. We had fun playing arcade games and being a bit silly. I got a good workout on the boxing & cop games. (Shh, I was even sore for the next two days). Virtual boxing required actual squats -- lots of them and right in a row. You know, bobbing and weaving. I was pretty good, but I got tired and gave up the gloves. We also raced, played air hockey, ski ball, and basketball.

Before we left, the Baileys had a bit of a photo shoot.



Jamie beat her nemesis, Marvin somebody. She has a great idea that gymns need to have these games. That way people would get sucked into exercising by the pure competetiveness of the boxing (without actually punching someone in the face).


Imee won in our race through Osaka, Japan.


The light in the photo booth was just right for a crazy "take-your-own-picture" shot.


We bought some Hot Tamales with our winnings.


The next day we went to the Georgia Aquarium. It was very cool albeit crowded. We did go on a weekday, but I spose we were experiencing summer crowds. We weren't prevented from seeing anything that we wanted to see, it just took a bit of maneuvering with the stroller for a good line of sight. We bought timed tickets, but weren't able to quite get there by the time on our ticket -- thankfully, that wasn't a problem at all.


There were several opportunities to experience the wildlife up close and personal. These penguins were QUITE friendly.


Kate was a real sweetheart at the aquarium. She loved the borrowed umbrella stroller. She even took a little nap in it. She really loved the aquarium. The proximity of sea creatures, the lights and a smooth movements of the swimming fish were right up her alley.

My new favorite creature is the Beluga whale. Really friendly and kind of adorable in an oversized, white, lumpy versions of a dolphin.


Her cute little shoes were not only adorable accessories but fun, little toys!





My second favorite thing, beside the beautiful Beluga whales, was the enormous aquarium window! I could have watched that window forever. No picture could convey the scope of it -- it was REALLY enormous.

I'm so glad my friends came -- and we managed to cram a lot into six days -- including baby Lauren's arrival and a few afternoons babysitting Lydia. All of the above pictures were donated by my friends as my dig. was kidnapped at church. I do have some pictures on my film camera, but those will take awhile to develop.

Josh, Kate, and I leave on Wednesday for a ten-day vacation in Minnesota. We definitely need it at this point. I have only two days (Monday & Tuesday) to reset the household and pack and GO! I have left you all with a mammoth post because my next one won't be for awhile. :-)

My NEW Best Friend

This new "machine" was mailed to our home a few weeks ago by a market research company for me to field test. It's been great so far! Company X is manufacturing a new high chair and so they wanted to test the top sellers to discover the things that work and the things that don't. I didn't find a lot to complain about mine. It's a Chicco brand, model "Polly." Kate seems to have loved test driving this hot rod, but unfortunately, it's hard for me to get a pic of her enjoying herself. You can imagine why!

peekaboo, i see you

Seven Moons Ago

Katie-boo always loves when cousin Lydia comes over to play. Note that Lydia has also invited pink baby to play. In Lydia's most recent stay at our house, Lydia was a real mom to that baby doll. She let the baby eat, and then gave the baby some spanks. It's interesting to see her process her world by repeating things that she sees (or experiences for herself).



Kate discovered the fun of folding laundry with mom! Needless to say, she wasn't much help. I stacked the clothes on the coffee table, and she persisted in pulling them down about as fast as I could get them folded. She really wants to stand up now, so the laundry basket provided a perfect opportunity. Her falls were cushioned by fluffy, clean, baby clothes.



This is about as close as we get to crawling. She still can't manage to get her legs & her arms up at the same time. As I mentioned, she seems to be much more interested in pulling up and walking. Her personality develops each day. She loves me so much; it's enough to make your heart melt. Of course, at the end of the day when dad comes home and she's fussing because she still wants to be with me, it becomes less cute. She's growing more able to communicate with her body language what she wants. She plays on the floor most of the time, and if I walk by and she wants me to pick her up, she waves her arms in the air and sort of rocks her body, as though she were saying, "Hey, Look At Me!!!!!" She still takes 3 naps, 2 hours each in the morning and afternoon. The evening nap is undergoing construction, sometimes she'll take it, and sometimes she won't. Although she CAN say both mamama and dadada, she has moved on to practicing other sounds now, like papapapa, and bababa.

Best Friends Forever?

When I entered the mini-hallways of Alvarez Elementary as a first grader, I was already behind the curve. I had attended kindergarten elsewhere, and consequently was assigned my future best friend as a guide. She let me follow her around the kid-sized classrooms, bathrooms, halls, and right into her life. We did everything together at school, and I tried to spend as many hours playing Barbie or My Little Pony at Sandra's house as I could. A friendship that would last forever, or at least until the end of the fifth grade.
But, three years later I came abruptly face to face with the fact that friendships don't always last forever. The last day of school, I sat sweating under the covered basketball courts. Sandra walked up to me and declared the end of our relationship. No explanation given, no closure for a nine-year old.
I still have not grown accustomed to the fact that some friendships are seasonal. I have accrued long lists of high school friends, college friends, camp friends, and Sylvan friends. And each time, the transition period has been difficult for me. This is not to say that I am perfect at keeping up or calling or mailing. Even as I participate in the slow unraveling (or quick) of the friendship, I am sad.
However, it has been wonderful to know and experience several friendships which I hope will be life-long. In fact, two of my childhood friends are coming to visit this week. Our friendship remained unscathed during college and singlehood, as frequent trips back home made for wonderful reunions. These days, we have tried to make a point of seeing each other once a year for a Girl's Weekend -- just to make sure our friendship doesn't go into retirement.

Stolen: Some YouTube Video

Enjoy this short laugh-out-loud video.