(almost) Wordless Wednesday...

I don't have much to report on. Monday, Mom and Aunt Joyce arrived to spend the week with us at the beach. We're having the best time at the girl party (as Maggie likes to call it). The girls are thrilled to have new playmates and I'm grateful for the help and extra hands. It sounds like the weather at home is awful, so I'm thankful for a few more days in paradise....





















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Can we keep her??

This is Molly, Maggie's new "best friend"....Maggie and Molly will both be 4 on May 20th....what are the chances? Molly's dad is the head golf guy here and THANKFULLY he let her come play today. I begged him to let her take the week off school and come play every day, but he didn't think her teachers (or her mother) would appreciate that. It's so nice to have someone her age around to play with, they keep each other busy (even when they are arguing and bossing each other around) and I don't have to be her constant play mate. As you can see they are equally goofy! Next time I'll plan our vacation around Molly's school schedule :)






Here are a few other pictures from the last couple of days....



Grace has eaten mostly bananas, chicken and avocado since we got here, she's loving it.....but I think we better mix it up a little.


Grace seems to love the water, maybe not as much as Maggie the fish, but she did okay when daddy......


....dunked her FIVE times. That's right, 5 times. She didn't cry at all.


All that swimming makes a girl tired!!


Maggie has lots of "homework" to do while we're here :)


Where is the whale dad??


Maggie got herself stuck in the baby swing. Not long after this she started screaming.


Grace on the other hand, was totally relaxed in it!


Arnie headed home yesterday, so this morning it was just the girls and I for brunch. We had a good time and the food was delicious! Isn't this glider cute? too bad it won't fit in my suitcase.


Grace thought her pancakes were so good she'd save some for later....


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A chance to catch up and a few pictures...

A year an a half ago, Irvin, one of our favorite waiters here at El Dorado was paralyzed in a swimming accident. We've been able to communicate with him a little via his blog and follow all of his outstanding progress but hadn't seen him. On Wednesday he came for a visit. His family came with him and Maggie spent all afternoon and most of the evening playing with his daughter Yirah (pronounced Yir-A), they swam, ran around, watched a movie, had dinner and really enjoyed each other. Irvin was always SO proud of to tell us about his daughter and his wife, it was nice to finally meet them and get to spend some time with all of them. His progress has been remarkable, but is a slow and painful process. He can move his head and has some motion in one arm, he showed us how he can flex his other bicep and is hopeful that he'll get some movement back in that arm too. Maggie was a little scared of his wheelchair, and very apprehensive about getting too close to him, Grace on the other hand loved him and just laughed when he talked to her. Irvin was always famous for handing out shots of tequila, he'd talk even the most apprehensive guest into trying it, and somehow Wednesday afternoon, he talked Arnie into it again!! Really?? Somehow I didn't get a picture all afternoon....

but here are a few other pictures from the last couple of days....

Now that Gracie is proficient at standing, she's just showing off....standing and drinking, standing and playing,
standing and trying to give big sister a drink...
Maggie was playing play dough, so guess who else wanted to get involved...
she played for awhile, then she tried to eat it.

Last night we went out for dinner, there was a jazz trio playing...maggie decided she was going to dance. (no one else was dancing, but she didn't care. Neither did the musicians.)
mmmmmmmm....butterscotch pudding.....
HEY....don't forget me!!!
These are the pictures we'll pull out when she plays her first LPGA tournament......or high school golf match. Whichever.

Take that, Doc!

A couple of weeks ago a doctor expressed some concern about Grace's inability to pull herself up. She said that she really should be pulling herself up and walking along furniture. We tried not to worry too much, but it did have me a little concerned. Well, here we are 2 weeks later, and she has mastered both. (I've never tried to upload a video from my ipad, I hope this works.)

I guess all she needed was a challenge :) I think maybe her helmet has slowed her down a little, it's hard to see around and makes her feel a little more confined. She definitely moves quicker when we take it off. A couple more weeks and hopefully we'll be done with it for good.

Now that she's standing and getting around, I know our days are numbered before she'll be walking.

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Maggie's "Hole in 1!!!"

This morning Arnie took Maggie to the practice green for a little while...
She got out her knocker (driver)....


WHACK!!!


Look where the ball landed.... (seriously!)


Can you see Maggie?? Arnie took her picture from the hole....it was about 25 yards.



After a shot like that, what else is there to do....



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flamangos???

This morning the girls and I were playing at the park. There are fruit trees all around it, last time we were here the trees were full of fruit, this time they're empty. Maggie asked me what kind of fruit was on them and I told her that a couple of them were limes, but I couldn't remember what the rest were. Maggie said, "Mom, some of them were flamango trees." She's almost right, some of them were mangos :)


Grace doesn't love the grass....


Maggie has been really excited to play with all the big kids who are here for Presidents Day. It's fun to watch her mature, last time we were here she was pretty timid about leaving us or going to join other kids in a game, now she just runs off.


Last night was Movie Night on the lawn, we watched Mr. Poppers Penguins. Maggie loves that movie. In the movie, they call the goofy penguin Nimrod. Maggie doesn't understand why we won't let her call people that. She told us today her new nickname for Pops was going to be Nimrob (Norfolk Iron and Metal and ROBinson)....i think she was just trying to come up with a crafty way to get to say the word :)








She sure is one of a kind :) she changed her sunglasses 4 times before we left the house....and by the way, she insisted on the matching outfits with Grace. I told her I think this was the last matching thing I packed for them and she said, "well I'll just need to do a load of laundry."





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I wish I was kidding...

We made it safely to Cabo yesterday. Hillary Clinton was in town for some meeting, so the airport was a cluster and there are guys with machine guns all over on the highway....BUT the crazy part of our day was in San Diego...

When we went through security at the San Diego airport, I was carrying grace in the baby backpack. I travel with canned liquid formula and always have. The people at security saw the cans and told me I could choose to open ALL the cans of formula for testing or have a full pat down. That didn't leave me much choice, so I agreed to the pat down. Once they were done with me, another officer came over and told them that they were going to have to pat down the baby too, because she was attached to me at the "time of interception"....seriously! My sweet little smiley girl, (with her helmet on), was subject to a full pat down. They even rubbed her hands for explosives.....they only thing they didn't touch or check was her helmet. I was really hoping Arnie would come up with a way to take a picture of Grace's pat down, in hindsight it's probably best that he didn't, I didn't have time to bail him out of jail.

That's our tax dollars at work....20 min of time to search a baby girl and her mother over sealed, labeled cans of soy formula!!!


She looks like a threat to national security doesn't she......

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