Rosalie's having a lot of fun jumping around this afternoon!

We're back at the beach again this morning for another fun day in the sun! Last night was our first night staying at a hotel with two kids, and it actually went better than expected! We brought Joseph's blanket from home and he did really well sleeping on a pallet we made for him on the floor, and Rosalie was so tuckered out she didn't wake up more than a couple times in her portable crib. We watched a movie and ate some popcorn and all in all had a good time! We'll probably spend our time at the beach today in much the same way as yesterday, with the exception that we couldn't resist picking up this boogie board from one of the little shops in town to try out. I think it's great fun...

although it's possible my technique may still need a little work! After trying it out, Tim says he'd rather just bodysurf, but I think I could stay out here all day with this thing. This is something I've never really done before, because the beaches in CA where I went growing up were always too cold for me to want to do more than get my feet wet for a few minutes. Like my dad said, just ask the hurricanes where they'd rather swim!

In the meantime, here's Joseph making a big splash with his ball...

and here's Rosalie just taking in the nice view...



and giving us a nice view of her tongue! It's almost time to pack up and head home, but we've really enjoyed having this chance to get away the last couple of days!

We were pretty much all ready to go this morning when we woke up, so we made great time getting to the Port Aransas ferry this afternoon. We're almost to the beach! These Brown Pelicans are everywhere around here, and don't seem the least bit concerned about all the people, cars, and boats nearby.

Joseph is sure impressed with all this water! Our last trip to the beach was over a year ago in HI, so this is like a new experience all over again for him.

Rosalie, as usual, is happy to be doing almost anything, as long as she's doing it with Mommy, Daddy, and Joseph! She didn't seem to mind the three-hour drive at all, falling asleep twice without any fuss. We thought we were going to have to work a little harder to keep her entertained!



Finally, here we are at the sand and the surf! While we get our swimming suits on and set up the shelter we borrowed from Charly and Casey, Joseph is getting straight to work digging in the sand. The weather is perfect out here today: sunny but not too hot, breezy but not chilly. Have I mentioned that TX is a great place to go on vacation?



As soon as we had some shade available, we got Rosalie out of her car seat and situated for a day of beach bummin', which won't be too different than a regular day for her, I guess! Note that we didn't actually take her romper off on purpose. We simply forgot to change her diaper on the way down and had to pay the piper for it. In any case, she apparently didn't waste any time doing what babies on the beach do best: eat sand! I can see some around her lips already!





When Joseph realized Tim was going to take him into the water, he took off running and was halfway there before Tim could convince him to stop and wait! It took him a minute to get a feel for the ebb and flow of the waves, but he is absolutely loving it. He's throwing himself down in front of the waves over and over again to let them wash over him—and I used to claim he was cautious around water!



One of best things about Port A is the abundance of interesting coastal birds! Tim and I have fond memories of our two previous trips together to this area (the first was a field trip for my bird class at UT and second was an camping trip to Padre Island National Seashore), during which we added dozens of birds to our collective life list. We don't get many opportunities for birding nowadays (noisy children and wary birds generally don't mix), so it's a bonus to have a crack at it this weekend. Sanderlings like the three above are really common here, but the Semipalmated Plover below is a new sighting for us!



Meanwhile, Rosalie got pretty sleepy again, so we decided to try to give her a nap right here on the beach. It took her a few minutes to settle down, but she sure does look like an angel now!

Now it's time to switch...

so I can have some time out in the water...

and Tim can take over with the bird photography! We've seen lots of Willets like this before...

but never American Oystercatchers like this! That bright pink bill is pretty impressive, isn't it?



Now that Rosalie's awake again, it's time for a little stroll down the shore. Joseph keeps trying to head down into the water (I think he can't understand why we don't all want to play in the waves all the time), and Rosalie keeps leaning over and reaching like she'd like to do the same! Every time she sees a foamy wave go by under my feet she starts kicking like mad. She's loving being out here, too!

Now, this is something I honestly have never seen before! While we were getting things packed up to go after our walk, Joseph said he wanted to sit in his car seat and listen to music, so we happily obliged. A few minutes later, here he is asleep! We're usually pretty hard-pressed to get him to nap in his car seat, even humming along at highway speeds!



Just to cap things off, here's another new bird for us: an all-white Reddish Egret dancing along in the surf. This has been a great day for all of us, just what we needed to break out of our "all work and no play" doldrums!

Tonight we're getting ready to head off to the coast in the morning and I'm so excited! Good thing there's no hurricane coming through this weekend! We'll see what things look like when we get there: we've heard there might be quite a bit of debris strewn about the beaches near Corpus, even though it's a good five hours south of where Ike came through at Galveston.

It's been about a week since Rosalie tried sweet potatoes, so it's time for something new: applesauce! It comes as no surprise that she likes the fruit a bit better than the vegetables (albeit relatively sweet ones)!

After dinner, here's our ravenous beast showing off her ferocious roar. Pretty intimidating, huh?

Finally, no self-respecting monster would want to hit the sack without a little playtime with Daddy. It's a tough job making it through the day with such a frightening creature about, but somebody's got to do it!

Rosalie doesn't have any teeth yet (which is just fine with me!), but she's still enjoying using her little toothbrush before bed tonight while I brush Joseph's teeth.

Rosalie's starting to sit up! I'm not sure she's doing things in exactly the "right" order, since I think babies are supposed to roll over both ways first, but in any case, here she is sitting solo this afternoon. By the way, her little outfit says "Sweet Pea" on it, and that's one of my favorite nicknames for her (although "Bug" gets used the most, I think)!

Fall is finally on it's way! Since the weekend when Hurricane Ike came through, our temperatures have dropped around 10 degrees overall and it's really pleasant to be outside. Joseph has started to act a little bored around the house lately (number included), and was running around the house today banging out a rhythm on anything and everything with the palms of his hands. To be honest, it was starting to drive me a bit bonkers, so I finally just booted him into the back yard! Here he is absorbed once again in the sandbox. I just love simple entertainment like this!

A little later, when it was time for Joseph to come eat lunch, it finally occurred to me that he had been sitting in mud the whole time. Time to do some laundry, I guess! No matter what, I'm so glad he was having fun outside!

At a little over six months, we decided to give Rosalie her first crack at solid food! Here she is excited to be up so high in her Bumbo seat...



and here she is trying out some sweet potatoes! It's obviously a whole new experience for her, but she keeps opening her mouth for more, so I guess that means she likes them. I can't believe she's already big enough to be eating like this!

I guess it's true what they say: younger siblings really do learn a lot from watching older ones! In any case, Rosalie definitely seems to have caught on to the whole "numbers are a fun thing to play with" thing pretty early in life.



Meanwhile, here's Joseph telling himself a story. I sure love watching these kiddos at play!

Tonight we had a bit of a breakthrough for Joseph: he ate potato salad and sloppy joes for dinner, just like the rest of us! Joseph has always had a difficult time managing to chew and swallow certain tacky or tough textures, like potatoes, pasta, meat, or vegetables. In looking for a solution, I came across the idea of using a food processor to finely chop foods to at least allow him to experience their "better" flavors. I'm not sure he loved his meal tonight, but he was able to eat it without choking and gagging! I also came across a book I'm planning to order with some oral therapy suggestions we'll try at home before attempting more speech therapy (he doesn't have any problem with speech, just eating). Here's hoping for a little more progress all the time!

Rosalie's grabbing skills are definitely improving! On a side note, she seems to have a longer attention span for playing with toys than Joseph did. I'm not saying that's a good or a bad thing, just different! She hasn't even played with half our baby toys yet, while Joseph had blown through them all and was completely bored with them by this point. We were so glad to get to the Bentleys' where we had access to a whole new stash to use for free! Anyway, I just love these cute shots of her playing with her little elephant!

This video is pure Joseph: checking out the cookies, narrating his own moves, pounding on everything in sight (that's a recent thing, but he almost can't stop!), and showing off for the camera! We sure love our little guy!

There has never been any doubt in our minds that Joseph is not your stereotypical little boy. We just love his unique interests, his tender heart, and the way he makes us a little better every day! Here he is, as Tim says, kicking back with one of his favorite CDs and perusing the number-filled phone book after dinner tonight.

A few minutes later, we discovered this "number" on the bathroom counter. I guess Joseph decided he needed to get creative since our number set is somewhat limited! Tonight I wonder, as I do often, what the coming years will bring. In some ways, I wish my sweet kiddos would stay small and innocent as they are now, and yet I yearn to know who they will be as they grow and learn. I suppose that is the eternal, melancholy paradox of parenthood. I heard the quote below not long ago and it has reminded me to be glad I'm where I am each day.

"The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make....I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less." —Anna Quindlen

As it turns out, Rosalie and I slept just fine last night! She woke up a couple times, but settled down quickly with a little snuggling from me. We each slept on a Therm-a-Rest mattress topped with several blankets, and to my surprise, it cooled down quite a bit and I had to turn off that fan! Here's Rosalie hanging out with Charly this morning while I pack things up to go. I'm definitely ready to start planning our return trip already!

I love camping! We haven't been since last summer when we made our big cross-country camping trek from VA to AZ and back again, so when I heard about our stake mother-daughter camp-out, I decided to be brave and take little Rosalie for her first night in the great outdoors! Here we are getting things set up this afternoon at Paradise Canyon campground. Luckily, I don't really have to do it all alone. Charly is here (wearing an orange shirt in the background) with Logan, and agreed to let me join her camping group, so I'll have help if things get hairy with Rosalie. Plus, I've already had a couple gals I don't even know offer their help getting things out of the van and staking down our tent, too. Looks like we're in for a fun time!

It's a hot day, but we've still got to get a fire going for dinner, of course! Well, these ladies have to get a fire going, that is. Since I have Rosalie, the most I can do is offer some moral support from the sidelines. Our tent (or half of it, at least) is on the far left of this shot behind Charly's friend's little girl. We're on a little bit of a slope, but at least we have plenty of shade...

from all these big trees! It seems like everywhere you look there's a little girl, like Logan here, climbing around in one of them.

My favorite part about the campground, though, is the fact that it's butts right up against the Medina River and has this big shallow area just perfect for swimming! Isn't it gorgeous?

Since I've got little Rosalie, I'm not planning to do a whole lot of swimming myself...

but here are Logan, Charly, and Charly's friend's daughter getting ready to take the plunge...

and here I am cooling off my feet! It's a bit chilly at first, but ends up feeling heavenly on this sweltering day.

To me, this is TX beauty at it's finest! I can't wait to come back here again with Tim and Joseph!



When Rosalie started getting tired, we left the riverside and headed back up here to our tent. Since it generally doesn't cool off a whole lot here at night with the high humidity, I'm wrapping Rosalie up in her swaddling blanket wearing nothing but a diaper. We'll see how things go getting her down. Now that I've gotten her all ready, she doesn't seem particularly sleepy anymore!

A little while later, here's a picture Charly took out next to the fire. Yes, that's Rosalie there in my lap. No, she wasn't really ready for bed after all. I don't really mind spending the time with her though, as long as she's happy to be awake. This is a mother-daughter campout, after all!



Finally, now, here we are back in the tent a couple hours later getting ready for bed once again. Rosalie has been having lots of fun snuggling with me and Charly and watching the fire crackle and the bugs fly around the lantern. She's just about ready to pass out now! It probably won't be too long before I hit the hay as well. It sure has been a fun evening!