Another Year Older and Wiser Too (You Got That Right!)

I had a great birthday that lasted all weekend long! On Saturday, Ryan, Tess and I took a trip to Annapolis, MD.

Before

Ry had scoped out a fun crab house, Cantler's, where we managed to polish off a dozen crabs between the two of us. The crab was yummy, and cracking open those crabs made me feel like a kid again. Dad, remember my short-lived attempt at starting a crabbing business? Just me and a couple of turkey necks in a canoe--I couldn't keep up with demand!

I could just maybe live in Idaho if crabs weren't so hard to come by there. (When I was at Utah State, I had a neighbor from Maryland who brought a huge container of Old Bay seasoning out to school with him. I thought that was hilarious!)

Tess' favorite part was the brown paper they put down on the table. She was a good sport--it takes a good bit of time to work through that many crabs! The old men sitting next to us wanted us to dip her bottle in the Old Bay seasoning. We resisted the urge, but I do think she able to absorb some of the local color.

After--aka "the carnage"

After lunch we spent some time bumming around downtown Annapolis. It was SUPER hot, so we just kind of checked out things to do on a return trip. It's a beautiful city right on the water, and I didn't realize there was so much to there. We had a fun time together.

The Maryland State House, circa 1772
(It's the oldest state legislative building in the country.
It served as the U.S. capitol in the 1780's.)

I waited CLEAR until Sunday to open my birthday presents, when Wendy and Keith came over for lunch. Ry made us lunch (I showed him how to do crockpot barbecue) and W&K brought yummy cake for dessert.

Tessie getting in lots of loves.

Tess proved that she has warmed up to Nana & Papa, though we couldn't convince her to show off her butt scooting trick for the grandparents. I guess you just have to be in a certain mood for a butt scoot.

Thanks to everyone for the fun birthday presents. Ry's present was TOTAL surprise! He gave me a first edition copy of Memories and Musings, a book of poetry by Emmeline B. Wells (after whom we named our Tess Emmeline).

A while ago, we had read in her biography that she had published a small book of verse and I mentioned to Ry that it would be neat to see if we could track one down some day. Well, leave it up to Ry to surprise me with an amazing copy (it was actually owned and signed by Leonard Arrington!).

Anyway, I guess if you have to get older, this is the way to do it! Thanks to everyone for such a nice birthday!

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head!

Tess and I beat the heat today with her first trip to the Spray Park! It's a bit of a splashy place and she wasn't quite sure what to make of all the noise and water drops that kept sprinkling her nose.

Tess was a brave girl, though, and she sat with me off to the side where we encountered only the occasional spray.

She did let me dangle her feet over some of the splash jets and she'd kick and kick at them as if to say, "Oh yeah? Take that!" That's the way, Tessie! You show that splashy water who's boss!

I think her favorite part was snuggling with me in a warm towel afterwards and watching all the other kids play. I liked that part, too!

Butt Scootin Boogie & Biter Biscuits

Two video clips highlighting Tess' recent adventures in mobility and tasty treats!

The background music is an organ solo from a rebroadcast of Music & the Spoken Word.
Don't ask me why--it was just on.


You should have seen the bath water. We could have made biter biscuit soup!

The Swing of Things

Well, I've been back home for a week now, but it still doesn't feel like things are back to normal yet.

A crash course in fish identification.
One of our boys caught a catfish and another caught an eel (gross!).

Last week was super-crazy because of Cub Scout Camp. We have 11 boys who attended this year, and it's quite the ordeal to get everything organized and ready to go. I think the boys had fun, but they were absolutely exhausted by the end of the week. I think we're all pretty glad it's over!

The harrowing rope bridge. I could hear one of our boys whispering under his breath, "Scary, scary, scary!" the whole way across the bridge. At one point he actually slipped off. I thought, great, this is going to be one of those traumatizing boy scout moments that will haunt him the rest of his life. When he got done, he asked me, "Do we get to do that again?"

After doing some pretty knuckle-headed, absent-minded things last week, it finally dawned on me that I was probably still sleep deprived from my Idaho trip. Let's just say that we played a lot and slept very little for those 2 weeks! Ry let me catch up on a lot of sleep this weekend.

Tess was bit subdued for her Sunday morning photo shoot today. Yes, that's a huge gash to the left of her eye. I swear, I cut her nails every other day and it just doesn't do much good. No matter how short they are, they're still sharp! She's like a baby Edward Scissors Hands!

I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine this next week. I've REALLY got to get back to eating better and exercising. With so little sleep in Idaho, there was more time to EAT, and boy am I paying the price for it!

Tessie showing me how I should be doing my leg lifts!

They canceled my baby & mom exercise class over the summer and I really miss it. No excuses, though. Next week I'm getting back in the swing of things!

Just Checkin' In

Tess had her 6-month check-up yesterday, and she passed with flying colors! My little baby is getting SO BIG! She certainly didn't stay small for very long! She is now 16 lbs. 2 oz and 27 inches long! She is in the 50-75th percentile for weight and 90th percentile for height!

The doctor asked if her dad was tall and lean--looks like she may take after her dad after all!

Her doctor said that developmentally, Tess could be an 8 month old baby. She's very alert, aware and interactive. The doctor said her recent bouts of stranger danger are a positive sign of strong emotional and social development.

How blessed we are to have such a happy, healthy baby girl! She's simply remarkable!

The Hoopes Hotel

Now that things are finally starting to slow down, I have a little time to add some commentary to my pics from our vacation.

Tess was such a good girl on our airplane flights; unfortunately the airlines weren't the most cooperative. As it turns out, I got stuck overnight in Denver and the airlines wouldn't put me up in a hotel.

I was trying to make arrangements for us to stay somewhere, but by that point I was so exhausted and frustrated, I was having a hard time forming a coherent sentence. That's when I got a phone call from Laura--Aunt Laura to the rescue! Hooray!

Laura rescued us from the airport and put us up for the night. We were so comfortable and it felt so good to have a place to rest! Best of all, we got to see her cute new house and Brookie, the Fuzz, Nathan and Teri again!

"So, where did you get your oberalls, Tess?"

During the early morning hours, I could hear Brooke upstairs saying, "I have TWO babies in my house!" Brooke was immediately impressed that Tess was wearing overalls (sorry to rekindle that obsession, Laura!), and she ran upstairs to show me Andrew's "oberalls." Brooke gave an impressive demonstration of all things that hop, and she kept asking when Tess' plane was going to come to her house. At one point, Brooke said to her mom, "Mom, we love Tess, don't we? We just LOVE her!"

So, our flight to Idaho took a little longer than anticipated, but we had a fun detour in Denver! I give the Hoopes Hotel 4 stars (I can't forget the yummy morning muffins!). Thanks a bunch, guys!

A Wii Bit O' Fun

Happy Dad's Day Weekend!

We had such fun on our trip to visit the Murdocks, but we sure are glad to back with our cute Ry Guy! Just look at that face--how could we not miss him?

Tessie gives some pretty big smiles these days, but she saved her only mile-wide smile for when she saw her dad again! It was seriously so big, it looked almost painful! We were laughing our heads off because she looked so happy to see him.

And he was worried she wouldn't remember him.
Tess sure loves her dad--no doubt about that!

The Murdock Cousins

Town & Country Adventures