the monkey house: June 2009

Sunday, June 28, 2009

WAS@thelakehouse - KAYLEE EDITION

Kaylee has really developed the photography bug - at least a quarter of the shots we brought home were hers. Here are a few of the highlights from the collection:

ELEPHANTS!, from the wildlife collection, 2009

LION!, from the wildlife collection, 2009

SQUIRREL!, from the wildlife collection, 2009

DORKS!, from the wildlife collection, 2009

Picture of my picture, environmental portrait, 2009

Door, environmental portrait, 2009

Boat ride, environmental portrait, 2009

Where they make the clouds, environmental portrait, 2009

Mom, portrait, 2009

Aunt JJ, portrait, 2009

Uncle James, portrait, 2009

Izzybutt, portrait, 2009

Uncle thumb-face, portrait, 2009

Dad and GG, portrait, 2009

Grandpa Charlie & Grandma Cindy, portrait, 2009

Aunt Bex, portrait, 2009

Uncle Steve, portrait, 2009
(a "Grandma Trimmer photo" for those in the know)

Aunt Mary & Aunt Ruth, portrait, 2009

Alice & half an aunt, portrait, 2009

The artist, self portrait, 2009

WAS@thelakehouse - part 4

The most important part of the trip for all of us was making sure we spent time with GG - especially the girls. Kaylee made the trip out to see her twice - and she visited us at the Lake House twice. We were so busy spending time with her that we even forgot to take a picture of the three greatgrands with her.

We'll get that one next time.

WAS@thelakehouse - part 3

The high point of the weekend was probably our day on the boat. It was Kaylee's first time out on the water and I don't think I've ever seen her so entertained.

"Now, where the heck are we again?"

Despite his irrational fear of boats, open water and being eaten by a giant squid, James managed to have a good time. As long as he didn't get too close to the edge.

Each of the girls took a turn driving. It's scary how fast Kaylee picked it up. Turning was no big deal - she's seen me do that in the car numerous times. But she also figured out where the throttle was and what it did pretty quickly.

I'm not sure what happened, but how's that for a moment? I'm pretty sure either someone fell out of the tube, or we had a giant squid sighting.

The joy she found on the boat was second only to Kaylee's love of riding in the tube ...

... with Dad ...

... and Grandma Cindy ...

... and riding with Grandpa Charlie would have been a lot of fun too ... if he could have gotten in the tube in the first place.

WAS@thelakehouse - part 2

The North Carolina Zoo was a surprise hit. It's HUGE. It may be in the middle of nowhere, but it's worth the drive. Sure, we only got to spend an hour there and it was miserably hot and muggy - but that didn't slow the girls down. Too much anyway.

We found huge rocks to climb on (and make Rae uncomfortable). And wild snakes to chase.

And every exhibit has life-size statues of the animals to play on.

Aunt Rose and Uncle John's back yard is amazing. It's huge and the landscaping must have taken them forever. But the number of bugs per square inch makes me never want to leave my arid climate ever again.

But it's great for running.

And acting stupid.

Kaylee's experience with Izzybutt makes me think that she'd make a great big sister. (Don't get your hopes up, it's not happening.) She loved holding the kid and feeding her was a special treat. It had to be one of the highlights of the week for her.

WAS@thelakehouse - part 1

It must have been a good vacation - because I didn't take pictures of most of it. We were too busy making memories to document them. Hopefully someone else had a camera going.

This is also going to be more of a photodump than a coherent thought. The writers in the family will have to excuse me for not having any sort of linear thought process.

The whole vacation basically revolved around this ... laying around and enjoying the company. James even woke up for some of it. The girls loved it. The "adults" loved it. The grandparents cried like babies when it was over.

The girls managed to love hanging out. Most of the time anyway - being two-years-old does get in the way of getting along every now and then. (MINE! No, MINE! AAAHHHH!!! MOOMMM!!) But when they were getting along (which was most of the time) they were a blast to watch running around the house.

Thanks to some great floaty-things Grandma Cindy found, they took to swimming pretty quickly. Rounding out the outfit is Kaylee's Little Mermaid swimsuit - complete with "her beautiful tail." And I don't think she wore anything BUT her new swim shoes for most of the trip.

The water was (much) warmer than last year but we traded that for no beach, leeches and fish who liked to nip at freckles and moles. Maybe next time we'll find something warm, with a great beach and fewer blood-suckers.