Ride 'Em, Cowgirl!

Does anyone remember those spring horse riding things from our childhood?



Yeah, these ones. Nice big squishy springs that you could get your fingers stuck in... that nice growly screechy stretchy spring sound, the back and forth and up and down trying to get the horse to buck you off.. the stirrups, the plastic handles coming out of the side of the horses head...

Anyway, they have a new sissy version out (I mean safer, better, more kid-friendly version). The springs are covered, the horse's seat has padding, etc. Some of these horses are even PLUSH. A giant stuffed horse you can ride! You probably can't bounce as high or gallop as far on them though, I don't know. I'm too big to test drive the new style ones...

Anyway... Kaylee does not have one of these. She has a little wooden rocking horse with a cute little mane on it made out of yarn, though. We should really bring that out into the living room for her now. I think it's just her size.

But I digress. Just a few days ago, she learned a new trick.



See? She doesn't actually *need* one of these horses. She has something MUCH better; a rocking recliner. Heh...... Enjoy!

Our adventures in Antigua...

After we spent some time in Florida at the first part of our trip, reconnecting with family and friends, we got on another plane and headed to Antigua to visit Papa Ted, along with Aunt Courtney and (soon-to-be Uncle) Chris!

Daddy & Kaylee on the plane...

We arrived in Antigua very late after some weather delays in Puerto Rico. Basically, we flew around the tail end of a hurricane and the planes were very full flights because of previous delays. When we got to Antigua we had to stand in line and go through Immigration before we could leave, so we got to Pillar Rock Condos where Papa Ted lives and pretty much went straight to bed!

Just chilling out at Papa Teds, with Chris and Courtney!

The first morning after we arrived, Ian, Chris and Courtney had reservations for a zipline tour of the rainforest. Papa Ted and I stayed behind with Kaylee, watching the beginning of the adventure and then waiting for the others to finish up and join us again.

Ian on the zipline

Kaylee and Papa Ted

Papa Ted is showing Kaylee something interesting...

After the zip line tour, we bought souvenir photos and a movie, picked up some souvenir brochures, and then headed over to Mama Pasta for lunch. Their gnocchi was really REALLY delicious!

Lunch at Mama Pasta

We mostly relaxed the rest of the day and went swimming in the condo complex pool. It was Kaylee's first time swimming and for the first couple minutes she wasn't too sure about it, and then she started having a blast and we splashed around for HOURS. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy relatively cool day, and we were *mostly* inside, but Kaylee managed to get a kiss of sun that was a little hot that evening and was a little pink for a day. You can clearly see it in the following pictures... By the second day it had faded AND we used high SPF sunblock every single day first thing in the morning and never had another burn even though we spent HOURS at the beaches.

Kaylee's first time in a swimming pool!

Finally she couldn't keep her little head up any more and just put her head down and closed her eyes while Ian was chatting.

Kaylee fell asleep on Daddy at the pool.

The next day we went shell and beach glass gathering at a beach just down the road about 1/2 mile. It was a gorgeous day, and there were tons of shells and beach glass there just waiting for us. Papa Ted held Kaylee while we were all shell hunting and she eventually got sleepy and conked out on his shoulder...

Sleepy time...

This place also had a gorgeous beach, and we went there for a while and went swimming. Later that evening, we had a birthday cake for Kaylee's first birthday. She got to spend her first birthday in Antigua! What a very lucky little girl! We can't believe it's already been a whole year that she has blessed our lives; we are the luckiest parents ever and look forward to many many more wonderful years of experiences and love with Kaylee. (She had more birthday celebrations as well, which will come with the next post.)

Still a little too young to get the concept of blowing out a

birthday candle, but she thought it was interesting.

Yay! Chocolate cake! I can't wait to try some!

Oh yay! It's my birthday! Cake! Mmmmmm, good!

The next day we did some more exploring around the island, seeing the sights, seeing an amazing view from the top of a mountain in the park, and by evening we ended up at Shirley Heights for music and food and drinks. It was an amazing time, and a very full day.

Kaylee in her car seat while we drove around...

The next day, Courtney and Chris had to leave by mid-day, while we stayed on until the end of the week. We spent most of the week at the beach - swimming and snorkeling. The beach immediately behind Ted's condos was so beautiful, and the beach just up the road a bit was totally amazing as well, with the cleanest, whitest sand... and we also went to Darkwood Beach where we picnicked on the yummiest fried chicken EVER and then Papa Ted entertained Kaylee for a while and Ian and I went snorkeling. They have the biggest conch shells I have ever seen! So a couple more beach photos, and then on to the next post for more birthday pictures!

Kaylee and Daddy at the beach... FUN!!!

Kaylee *finally* relented and allowed us to
put the sunglasses on her. Once she realized
she could see without squinting, she left them
alone and wore them most of the afternoon.
CUTE!

Until next time!

Time in Florida...

We were blessed to be able to take a vacation this year, the primary purpose of which was to go see Kaylee's Papa Ted in Antigua. Since you have to go through Florida to get to Antigua, we had a little time to see other family and friends there on each end of our travel from Florida to Antigua. (Antigua coming next post). Here are some photos from some of our fun times in Florida...

We went to Sunset Beach in Pinellas County one evening
with our dearest friends and their kids. Here's a picture
under the most amazing Sunset ever. Florida's west coast
definitely has gorgeous sunsets!

Will and Kaylee just hanging out in their Cosco strollers.

Will & Emma

We got to go to lunch at our favorite little Italian place, Campanellas, with Tracy:

Mmmm, that was YUMMY!

Tracy and Georgine

Kaylee was the lunchtime entertainment.

We also spent lots of time with Kaylee's Grandmother Johns, playing with her kitchen stuff, going to the Tampa Aquarium, and watching Yo Gabba Gabba on Grandmother's TV.

Kaylee's favorite show, "Yo Gabba Gabba!"

Kaylee with a suitcase of toys. The suitcase was fun, too!

Kaylee and Grandmother Johns

Some jellyfish... how gorgeous are they?!



Kaylee and Daddy looking at the fish

If you've never been to an Aquarium, you should really take the opportunity to go. Tampa has a nice one, and I hear Atlanta's is AMAZING. Totally worth the trip, and count on it taking at least two hours to see everything.

We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends in Florida. We wished we had a longer block of time so we could have taken a few side trips in Florida to see more of you. Maybe next time!

Getting caught up.... finally...

Just letting you all know I'm finally getting my act together. Been working on a few projects here and there that let time get away from me.

I'm going to make a few posts to get you caught up on Kaylee since mid-summer or so, and then I'll start posting movies and pics of what she's been up to recently. Some funny stuff there... :)

So if you're still hanging in there waiting for an update... keep watching!

I, G, & K :)

BTW - These are some new slip-on leather shoes we just got for Kaylee with some of her birthday gift money. This lady in Ontario makes them by hand and sells them in an Etsy shop. They're WONDERFUL. Her little company is called Mini Toes.

Visiting Aunt Rela

The first weekend of August, Kaylee's Nana and Papa and Mama took her to St. Sauveur-des-Monts to visit with Aunt Rela, who is Kaylee's great-great Aunt (John's mother Claire Fournier Green's sister). We hadn't seen her for a good long time, and she had never met Kaylee yet, so we decided to make the trek while we had summer weather and take advantage of the holiday weekend.

Here are some photos from the visit:

Kaylee doing what she does best -
just being a cutie pie.

Kaylee letting me take lots of pictures of her cuteness.

Kaylee and Papa standing on
Aunt Rela's dock on the lake.

Kaylee and Mama both squinting in the sunshine.

Kaylee and Nana

Clockwise from front: Papa, Cousin Cliff, Aunt Rela,
Kaylee, and Nana.

On our way home - what a long drive!