Busy Times

Pappa and DeeDee at Alberta Falls

Hey, Dougie. Its been almost 3 weeks since I've made an entry on our blog. I have been thinking about you, but was not able to get to the computer to update until now.

Pappa and DeeDee have been on vacation. We went out to Colorado to see your Aunt Katie and Uncle Michael and then spent a couple of days in Rocky Mountain National Park. We stayed at the YMCA of the Rockies, which is ajacent to the park. We can hike into the park from our lodge, which we love to do. Of course, the park is so big and there are so many things to see that we always drive in at least once a day, as well.

We saw lots of wildlife this year. The Elk rut occurs in September, so we always see lots of Elk. This year we also saw ducks, wild turkeys, deer, lots of different kinds of birds and 3 bears!! We saw the bears the first time when we were walking along one of the YMCA trails, getting ready to cross over into the park. We saw them again after we entered the park. They were traveling parallel to the trail foraging for food in the stream and meadows. We didn't get too close to them because they can be very dangerous. The Elk, however, were not at all shy about getting close to the people...as you can see by this photo...that is the mirror or our car in the picture!!

When we first got to the park, it was quite warm. However, on our last day there, a front came in and the temperature dropped very quickly. We hiked up above Alberta Falls and got back to the parking lot just in time for a little rain. By the time we had a snack and had hiked around Bear Lake, the temperature had fallen about 20 degrees and rain was falling very hard.

Snow for our ride back to Denver!!

By the next morning, we had snow!! Colorada did not disappoint us...we always get a bit of snow on our early fall trips to Colorado.

We were so glad to see you when we got back home. You and your mommy stayed with us this weekend and you and Pappa really enjoyed hanging out together. You do all of the "boy" things...you especially like playing ball with Pappa. You could push that ball back and forth for hours without getting tired of the game. You have also enjoyed watching DeeDee's washer...your mommy took a video of you. The video is over a minute and a half long and you did not even move...you were so interested in watching the clothes spin around.

We are so glad to see you again, Dougie!! We missed you so much.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Finger Lickin' Good!!

If you only knew how much your mommy HATES carrots!!

A Night with DeeDee and Pappa

Hey, Dougie. You and your mommy spent the night with DeeDee and Pappa last night. Pappa and I had a great time with you before you went to bed while your mommy was at her school meeting.

When we ate dinner, you ate applesauce. It wasn't any of that baby stuff, it was regular Publix applesauce and you LOVED it!! You reminded me a lot of your Aunt Katie...the only food she liked before she was 1 year-old was applesauce. She ate it every day and she wanted to feed herself. Unfortunately, when she was finished, she would always wash her hair with the leftover applesauce. Needless to say, it didn't take DeeDee very long to figure out that Aunt Katie could only feed herself at dinnertime...I would take her directly to the bath tub as soon as dinner was over. You wanted to help feed yourself last night, but since I did not plan to give you a bath, Pappa and I decided that we would feed you instead.

When you got up this morning, your mommy put you in one of your new fall outfits. It looks so cute on you!! As soon as you were ready for school, you wanted to play. You sat up and played with your favorite musical toy and the new ball that Pammie sent you. You also had a very good time showing us how good you are at sitting up these days. You have finally learned that bracing yourself with your hands when you are leaning forward prevents a face-plant...you only had one of those this morning.

It was sad to say good-bye to you when you left for school. Pappa and DeeDee are going to LA later today, so we will not be able to see you this weekend. Thankfully Pammie and Granddaddy are coming to visit for your daddy's birthday, so you will have another set of grandparents to love while we are gone.

Love you, Dougie. See you next week.