Peace, Love & Ray Family Reunion

So after our weekend in Phoenix my parents and I played a trip to Dallas for the following weekend (October 3-5th). On Friday, the 3rd, we headed toward Dallas so Mommy could try on her bridesmaid dress for Aunt Erin & Uncle Ben's wedding and we could have a nice relaxing dinner with them. We ended up having to get the dress from Houston but we did find Mommy some shoes plus I had a phenomenal time running around with all the sparkly stuff to look at! After a great dinner with Aunt Erin & Uncle Ben at On the Border, Mommy, Daddy and I retired to our home away from home at the LaQuinta on Landmark to prepare for our drive to Dangerfield for the Ray Family Reunion on the 4th.

Friday night was a little rough as I had a hard time sleeping and thus so did Mommy and Daddy but after a late start we did manage to make it to Dangerfield by 1215pm (and with only one stop for a diaper change to boot). Our annual trip to the Ray Family Reunion is the only time we get to see some of our family plus I got to see Great-Grandpa Ray and spend some extra time with Busia, DzaDza and Uncle Paul. Mommy and Daddy didn't take any pictures of our adventures in Dangerfield, luckily DzaDza had his camera at the ready.

As soon as we got to Dangerfield I wanted to explore and meet everyone. After she finished eating Busia tailed me and tried to keep me occupied.

Busia eventually had other things to attend to so Uncle Paul came to keep me company. We had fun playing on the stage while they handed out the door prizes.

I reconnected with Busia during our annual Bingo game - Mommy, Daddy and Uncle Paul played two cards each and filled in for Busia, DzaDza and I.

Here is Great-Grandpa Ray, Me & Busia. Sadly Great-Grandma Ray came down with the flu or cold the day before we the reunion so she couldn't come to the reunion. Since Great-Grandma Ray was sick and didn't want to get me sick Mommy, Daddy and I shortened our trip and didn't go to Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa's house. Therefore, with the reunion over and our trip to the Great-Grandparents house out of the picture, Mommy, Daddy and I began the long drive home to College Station.

Over a two day span, we put over 600 miles on the car and spent close to 12 hours in the truck. Thankfully this road trip went much smoother than our last attempt. It's amazing how different a car ride can be when you don't have tonsilitous.

Peace, love & Ray family reunion,

Bailey

Peace, Love & Washing the Pup-pups

While we were in Phoenix Busia, DzaDza and Uncle Paul kept Abby & Izzy. After five days of living it up in Bremond our pup-pups were in desperate need of a bath! Since the weather was beautiful on the 30th, we made bath time a family activity. Here are some pics from our play time before we started bath time as well as the infamous bath time.

Here is me in the front yard - can you believe my hair is finally getting long enough that I have wispies (look on the right side of the picture above my ear).

Running around in the front yard is always fun but by this point I had tuckered everyone else out - Abby is behind me to the left, Mommy is right behind me, Izzy is to my right and Daddy is taking the picture. As usual I still have tons of energy!

Here is a pic that Daddy captured of me peaking around the column by our front door over the mexican heather that Mommy planted in our front flower bed (the mexican heather has grown where everything else has died).

A girl's gotta stop and smell the mexican heather every now and then.

Can you tell who's upside down... me or Daddy?

Play time with Daddy!

Catching some air during play time with Daddy!

Taking a milk break.

Daddy's little helper during the pup-pups bath time - I'm holding the soap! Abby doesn't seem near as excited about bath time as me and Daddy.

Helping Daddy with the hose (it looked like more fun that holding the soap). Mommy was really impressed that I didn't get Daddy wet or spray Abby in the face!

I did manage to get myself completely soaked but I had a blast doing it!

"Are we done yet?" (We weren't, Izzy still needed a bath.)

"Do you need more hose Daddy?"

After bath time while the pup-pups were drying off, Mommy and I went and played tag in the cul-de-sac. Mommy wanted me to put this picture in cause I was doing my happy dance and if you look really close my tongue is sticking out! My Mommy thinks the strangest things are cute.

Time to go inside.

Time for my bath - Daddy made this bath extra special by adding bubbles!

More cute pictures from my bubble bath time... why do parents think bath time photos are so adorable??

Well these pictures rap up our trip to Phoenix, I had a fantastic time hanging out with my extended family but I'm glad to be home with my pup-pups. I am looking forward to seeing everyone again soon! Now that I've caught y'all up on my trip to Phoenix I just need Mommy to upload the pictures from the Ray family reunion and then I'll be caught up to present day. It's funny how things always seem to happen all at once in my family.

Peace, love and washing the pup-pups,

Bailey

Peace, Love & Splash Pads

A trip to Phoenix wouldn't be complete without popping over to the other side of town to see the other side of my extended family - The Wendelboes (Aunt Nita, Uncle Nick & Boe) & McIntosh's (Katie, Rob, Necoli & Elyse). Here are some pics of our great visit.

Grandma drying me toweling me off after round one in the splash pad.

Here's round two with the splash pad - this time I brought a bucket to help me catch all the water.

After I finished with the splash pad, had a quick change of clothes and a new diaper, it was off to try out Necoli & Elyse's slide.

Necoli & Elyse are soooo lucky, on the opposite side of the play center from the slide, they have a climbing wall combined with a staircase. This is me & Elyse climbing up so we can come down the slide.

After Elyse and I played on the play center we decided to try our hand at driving. I did most of the driving as you can see but Elyse was a great friend came along for the ride. She didn't even complain that I went backwards instead of forwards!

Here's a close up of me studying the wheel, a girl has to know how it works! Elyse is looking on, hoping we will get moving soon but being super patient with my inquisitive nature.

Mommy said I had to put this picture in so that everyone could understand just how patient Elyse was being with me. The car was only made to seat one but Elyse and I wanted to do everything together (Mommy even took me out at one point and I tried to crawl right back in). Anyways since my side didn't open that meant the extra room came from Elyse's side, we squeezed but Elyse was still only halfway in the car.

Here is Aunt Nita, Elyse, Great Gram Freeman, me & Granddaddy Doc. I know that not everyone is looking at the camera but this was the only one that I wasn't screaming. I really wanted to be outside playing with Elyse not getting ready to leave or taking a picture.

After a great visit across town, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Granddaddy Doc and I returned "home" to Aunt B's for a quick visit with Aunt B & GiGi then it was off to bed for me and night of packing to return home for everyone else. Before I turned in for the night I climbed up on the couch between Mommy and Missy Girl (Aunt B's pup-pup). If Missy Girl were Abby or Izzy it wouldn't be a big deal seeing as I terrorize them on a regular basis but Missy Girl is normally very skittish around people and hadn't spent much time around little ones like me. So this evening was a huge deal because Missy Girl not only got up on the couch next to Mommy but then she staid there while I climbed up, turned around, sat down and then waited to for Daddy to get the camera and take a picture. It shows how much Aunt B has worked with Missy Girl - its amazing you give a pup-pup love and miracles really do happen!

Peace, love & splash pads,
Bailey

Peace, Love & GiGi's 90th Birthday Celebration

I'm so excited that I was able to go to Phoenix and celebrate GiGi's 90th birthday with her. It was fun to get to see so many family members and even more fun to see GiGi blow out all those candles :) The party was at a country club and we could look out onto the golf course and the lake from our room in the resturant (Iron Works). It was a wonderful celebration filled with lots of laughter, tons of family, good food and plenty of BINGO!

This is my GiGi and her beautiful cake. Notice the bingo cards that we used to decorate the cake - GiGi is a serious bingo fiend. We played at the Senior Center the day before her birthday and she won $8. I'm not sure she's been in a bingo game that she hasn't won at least one round!

This is GiGi with her two great grandchildren (me & Riley) in the adorable Halloween outfits that she bought us. This was the only picture that had most of us looking at the camera, who knows what I was looking at.

Here is a better picture of me & Riley in our outfits!

This is a picture of the entire family - FRONT ROW: Cherie, Aunt Becky, Joey, Judy, Christin, GiGi, Aunt Linda, Carol, Kenneth & Riley. SECOND ROW: Don, Aunt B, Eric, Aunt Patty, David, Sandy, Michael John, Grandaddy Doc, Michael, Grandma & Amber. BACK ROW: Jonathan, Mommy, Me & Daddy. Told you there was lots of family in town!

From the country club we headed back to Aunt B's house for a nap & then Mass with GiGi. When we got home from Mass we chowed on leftover Mexican and played Oops until everyone was exhausted and headed home to their hotels. Stay tuned for pictures and tales from the last day of our visit to Phoenix.

Peace, love & GiGi's 90th birthday celebration,
Bailey

Peace, Love & Granddaddy Doc

As I mentioned in the last entry the last couple of weeks have been pretty busy and between having a cold, traveling and not blogspot not letting me upload pictures, its been ages since I've shared my comings and goings. Maybe today I'll catch up :) On September 25th Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Granddaddy Doc and I caught a plane and made our way from College Station to Phoenix, Arizona. Our plans were to celebrate GiGi's 90th birthday with family from various locations in the US and play lots and lots of bingo. We kicked off our bingo playing at the Senior Center with GiGi and her friends on the 26th and then headed back to Aunt B's place for some family fellowship and great Mexican food. The next two picks are of Granddaddy feeding me! Do I have him wrapped around my finger or what?!?

Thanks for sharing Granddaddy, this stuff is tasty :)

Keep it coming Granddaddy!

Guess I got my love of Mexican food from my Mommy! We had a great dinner at Aunt B's and got to visit with GiGi, Aunt B & Don, Shirley & David, Grandma & Granddaddy, Micheal John & Sandy, Cousin Kenneth & his daughter Riley & girlfriend Amber, Aunt Linda and of course Mommy & Daddy! It was a great evening and from what Mommy & Daddy said, it lastest until well after my bedtime. The two hour time change didn't bother me much but I think it put Mommy, Daddy, Granddaddy and Grandma through the ringer! Stay tuned for pics from GiGi's 90th birthday celebration!

Peace, love and Grandaddy Doc,
Bailey

Peace, Love & Updates

I know that its been awhile since I've updated my blog and you will have to forgive me for letting life get in the way. You see Mommy and I were sick last week and then we had a trip to Phoenix for GiGi's 90th birthday and now we are trying to get ready to go to the Ray Family Reunion this weekend. Anyways, I wanted to update my statistics real quick and I'll try and post some photos of my journey later on today.

As of my 15 month check up (September 18th) I am now 32 inches tall and 27 pounds. My weight and height put me in the 90th percentile, who would have guessed I'd be tall? The doctor said I'm doing great and that we could start potty training. She also said she thought I was getting ready to grow again! To top it off I've cut two more teeth - now I have a nice straight set of pearly whites on the bottom. That's all for now, its time for Kindermusik.

Peace, love & updates,
Bailey

Peace, Love & My Sandbox

It has become a tradition that every morning after breakfast Mommy and I go and sit out on the back porch. Normally Mommy and I explore the backyard or Mommy watches as I terrorize the puppies. I've discovered all sorts of interesting things in the backyard - from dog poop to a football as well as the dogs water bowl and a plethra of dirt. The other day as Mommy and I were waiting for Hurricane Ike to decide his path, I stumbled upon a new discovery! Hidden beneath the green turtle which I normally climb on top of was SAND! This is incredible new because now not only can I climb over the turtle but I can lift his shell and climb inside to play with the sand! I highly suggest that if you don't have a sandbox you get on because its super fun to play in... just look at the pics!

" Look what I found Mommy!"

Building sand castles :)

"The sand slides through my hands much easier than the potting soil."

Throwing the sand at Mommy so she can share in my new discovery.

Doing the "I'm having fun in the sandbox" Dance!

Aside from the discovery of my sandbox I also started Kindermusik class this week before Hurricane Ike rolled in. Kindermusik was different and it was fun to have some special time for just me and my Daddy. We got to dance around and act silly plus it was fun to get to play with some kids my own age.

The last thing that I did this week was celebrate the 7th Anniversary of September 11th. I'm not entirely sure what happened on that date since I wasn't born yet but Mommy and Daddy explained that every September 11th we celebrate Patriots Day to honor those men and women who protect us - both overseas and within the United States. College Station had to downsize their event due to Hurricane Ike but we still took a moment to remember those in the Military as well as Police & Fire Service who had lost their lives while protecting ours. Although I didn't listen to all of the speeches I did get the chance to thank all of the fire fighters who work beside my Daddy everyday. It was fun to sit and eat dinner with them, especially since they let mouch off of their plates! Plus I had a great time running all over the playground with the other children. Sorry but Mommy didn't take any pictures at our Patriots Day celebration, maybe next year.

Peace, love & my sandbox,

Bailey