Sandy in the Sandbox

This afternoon it felt great outside so we spent almost an hour in the sandbox.

Isn't that the cutest dirty sand face you've ever seen?

A Day in Waco

This past weekend, we decided to try to accompany Mark to his football game weekend... not the game, but we thought we'd try the tailgate.  We went out early Saturday and since the game wasn't til 6pm, we went to the Children's Museum first.

Anna hasn't been saying a whole lot,  but has been adding a few words in the last week or so.  We were both astonished to hear her yell 'Choo choooooo' alot when she saw this train, cause neither one of us remember ever saying this to her... ha!

  Here's Anna and Mark in the tea party room.

Here's Anna and me in the room with costumes and instruments of the world.

I tried on a hat, but Anna wouldn't wear one.

Here we are drumming in the Native American room.

After the museum we went to a place Mark used to frequent, Vitek's, and got lunch.

After Anna's nap, we went back to hang out with Mark at his tailgate.  It was a bit difficult to keep Anna contained. :)

Bouncin' at the Bounce House

Yesterday playgroup went to a Bounce House that was much fun... our group was the only one there!  Here's Anna and Rachel driving cars in the arcade.

All the kids seemed to enjoy the dance floor that had music, lights and bubbles!

Here's a good one of Anna's hairdo :) 

And since no one else was there, I didn't directly make her get down from playing on the skee ball thingie!

We never put money in, but I think all the kids were in this helicopter at some point.

Here's Anna inside the toddler bounce house.  She had fun, but definitely had problems staying on her feet... but then so did I when I was in there!

And of course with all these fun things to play with, she decides to play on this cart.  ??

Here's a video inside the toddler bounce house.  She was still jammin' to the dance floor music.

And here are her moves on the dance floor...

A Little Ice Cream Mess

Tonight Anna spilled a bit of her ice cream on the floor... and I mean, I couldn't just let it go to waste!  So, I got out the straw and saved a bit :D

Sunshine Today!

After many rainy days, we finally had some sunshine today, so of course we had to go to the park!  Anna was watching the big kids swing and wanted to try it out.  She was content to just sit there and watch the other kids...

And of course she always tries to go up the slide rather than down!

After lunch she decided to try out these cookie cutters as bracelets.  Cool, huh?  Also note this is the shirt she picked out while she was in Switzerland (in the womb).

Anna's Outfit

This is what Anna wanted to wear today and her Daddy put it on her!  Luckily I got her out of it without a fuss. :)

Last of Vacation and a New Chair!

Here's a nice pic from the last day of vacation.  We stopped at Poverty Point State Historic Site and took the tour.  Here's Anna and her Daddy on a short hike up an Indian Mound.

And yesterday Anna turned 16 months old! :O  Today we were in Target and I passed by these cute chairs, as I often do, and they were on sale today!  Hooray!!

Jackson Zoo and a Bit More

This morning we went to the Jackson Zoo.  We got there early and spent most of our time in a mostly deserted zoo, which was nice!  It was finally starting to get crowded as we left.  Anna had fun... here she is having a snack while watching the flamingos.

The orangutan!

Please look closely at this one... here I think the idea was that I was 'in' the display.  They had these little bubbles a few places where you could stick your head.  I think I was with the prairie dogs!

This was part of a little playgroud inside that I believe were supposed to be big broken dinosaur eggs.

Anna's height comparison with the penguins.

That is a lemur in the background... although I called him a monkey.  She's apparently in to monkeys right now.  It is almost the only thing we can get her to 'perform' to everyone... the whole 'What does the monkey say, Anna?'  And she does a very enthusiastic impression!

Giraffes are cool!

This was at a park later in the day... we tried to go to the Museum of Natural Science, but it was closed for Labor day.  The park nearby was fun, though!

A Trip down Natchez Trace Parkway

Today we drove from Jackson to Natchez, via the Natchez Trace Parkway.  We made several stops along the way and walked a few short trails.  Here was our first stop.  Anna enjoyed the walks and didn't want to be held much!

Striking a pose during one of our trail stops...

We stopped at Mount Locust, which used to be an Inn on the Parkway.  Here's Anna striking another pose...

On the back steps of Mount Locust Inn

We stopped at one of the antebellum homes in Natchez, Melrose House, which was actually part of the national park system.  There were grounds to explore around the house, so Anna and Mark explored while I took the house tour.  We decided after our attempt at a house tour in Vicksburg, we better wait awhile before Anna gets to try another!

Here's one of the rooms inside...

Anna hanging out with her Daddy while I'm doing the house tour...

And here is Anna in motion, which is how you can usually find her these days, unless she is strapped into some sort of chair...

We made our way back to Jackson and walked around the capitol a bit before supper!  We had a great day with good weather and hope we get some more good weather tomorrow!

Miss Anna in Mississippi

Today we drove to Mississippi for a mini-vacation.  We stopped in Vicksburg and got a shot of Anna by the sign on her first trip to Mississippi!

We took the scenic drive around Vicksburg and stopped at one home to tour... but this is nearly all of it that we saw... we paid our money and went and joined the tour, but Anna didn't last through one room before her Daddy had to take her outside (she just wanted to get down and walk around and we knew that wouldn't work out). 

They were also doing a re-enactment on the grounds of the house and Anna liked that because she could walk around freely. :)

We stopped to eat lunch and then went to check out what was going on in front of the park... Anna walked right up to these cheerleaders to get her face painted and she enjoyed it, but of course didn't keep her face still, so she had a nice pink blob with white spots. (I think it was supposed to be a heart.)

Then we drove through the Vicksburg Military Park and stopped for a photo op with the cannon.  In the second one, Anna was really getting into it when her Daddy would say, 'Ready, Aim... Boom!' and she would laugh...

Now we are in Jackson and deciding what to do tomorrow, depending on what the weather does!

Swingset Shaping Up!

Today Anna helped PaPa with the swingset...

After a little help from Mark with setting it up, this was the result of the swingset building today!  Anna is excited!

This and That

This was on the drive back from Houston...aren't they sweet?

Here's Anna waving like she's in a parade while driving PaPa's car!

Here's how JuJu fixed Anna's hair when she decided she wanted all her bows!