Weekend at the Lake!!!

We had a mini-getaway last weekend to hang out with my Iowa family and spend some time at the lake. Since half of Iowa is under water, when we first got there the lake was "no wake." The lack of business on the water caused us to be able to have a great weekend of fishing though!!!

 

We did some cruising around the lake in Dad's new Polaris (until Sam and I were driving around and we got a warning that we were out of gas... bummer!). We mainly used it to make trips up to the marina when we needed more worms or catfish bait!


Chacey got to do plenty of swimming in her turtle pool/sandbox on the deck. I couldn't believe how nice and enjoyable the weather was, since we had just been enduring a week of 100+ degrees in Kansas City!


Chacey loved the nice, slow boat rides that we went on (we had to go slow so that we didn't make a wake). The radio in the boat kept her entertained; we just cruised around the lake while she danced and danced!



On Sunday afternoon, right before we were getting ready to leave, they lifted the no-wake and we were able to do some tubing. The picture below is of Katie and Rebecca tubing. I didn't realize how difficult it was to do it with two people! Trying to hang on sideways made my neck and shoulders sore for a week!

Finally, just a sample of Iowa's floods...
If you look at the picture below, you can see the top of a big passenger van. This was on Sunday afternoon. When we went through on Friday, all you could see was the roof panel, so the water had actually gone down quite a bit by this point!

Where Sam Can Be a Kid...

Today we decided to take Chacey to spend a couple of hours at Chuck E. Cheese. She had such a good time! We wouldn't have even had to spend any money, she just wanted to sit in all the seats, push the buttons, and run around! We did end up getting some tokens though (more for Sam than for Chacey) and Chacey and Daddy played a few games.

They both became Skee Ball experts. Chacey started by throwing the balls as far as she could toward the targets. When that didn't work, she just climbed onto the ramp and walked the ball up there. In the bottom right picture, she is looking in the hole where she was getting the balls from, confused because they were all gone!

 

We have taken Chacey to the play area at Independence Center several times, but she usually just plays in all of the toys, sitting in them and moving the steering wheel/pushing buttons. Today she got in the Clifford toy and I put in a token, turning it on. She was AMAZED. She hung on for dear life, but smiled and laughed the whole time! I have a feeling she isn't going to enjoy just "sitting" in them anymore!

Chacey and Daddy got to spend the day playing a whole bunch of games, and they were able to get a "sketched" picture of themselves... which would have probably turned out better if someone had willingly sat still. While I am sure that Chacey had a great time, I think Sam enjoyed it more than she did!!! I think he almost shed a tear when I told him that there were only three tokens left! I guess that they both got to be kids today.

 

Introducing... Our New "Pish"!!!

So... I REALLY want a dog. Obviously a dog isn't ideal for us right now, so we settled for... a fish? Chacey loves Elmo and Dorothy, and has recently gotten very excited about identifying the "pish" in all of her books/Sesame Street shows, etc. So, today when we met Amy at Target, Petco called my name! We stopped in and started investigating the fish. After the very nice, helpful Petco employee flat out told us "you will kill them" to our first choice of fish... we decided that a Beta would be easiest.

We bought a Beta Kit... which comes with the enclosure, food, a little cage decor, and wall mountings! Yes, apparently it is very serene to decorate with Beta fish, mounting them to your wall. Then we bought a bottle of "Beta water," which is probably tap water in a bottle with a pretty label on it, but whatever, anything for Chacey's fish. We selected the most beautiful $8 fish we could find and headed for home!


On the way home, we were talking about the fish and Chacey randomly yelled "Pablo!" So I guess that we now have a Beta fish named Pablo. :) Chacey and Sam got Pablo's new home all assembled and filled with water, then dropped him in! We are going to have to continue to keep him far out of reach... someone thinks she can carry him around, but other than that she enjoys him! She runs into the dining room, stands on her tiptoes and peeks over the edge hollering "pish! pish! pish!". Pablo is definitely the perfect pet for us!

Girls and Their Shoes...

Chacey got a box in the mail yesterday full of excellent goodies. She got a few new outfits, a book, some toys, and a pair of shoes. Her favorite thing, of course, was the shoes.
















Even after bath, when we was all clean and in her pajamas, she had to have the shoes on. She kept walking around the apartment, stopping every few minutes to pull her pant legs up and show me her shoes. She stopped several times to get the piano music going and did a little dancing, too... guess she had to make sure that she still had her moves!

















We even caught her one time balancing on her head, using her hands to lift her pants, looking at her shoes. I guess she thought that she needed to see them from eye level!





She was very proud of her new shoes (she almost got put to bed in them). People always talk about "women and their shoes"... I guess that we just got started a little early. I have a feeling she is going to need a big closet!

Royals Game

A friend at work had some Royals tickets that he wasn't going to use, so we took advantage of the free tickets and had a great day at the game!

*The Royals won!!!
We are now 3-0 for games we have attended this season!

*Chacey was on the big screen twice...
Once dancing and once waving her giant foam finger around.

*Sam won the "Word of the Game" contest
They put a scrambled word on the big screen (it was Fun Run) and the first person to text in the correct answer wins $50 and their name on the screen!!!

*We also got to go visit the outfield section and the fountains.
Sam and I had never been back there ourselves since all the Kauffman Stadium renovations, so we had to go check it out!

*Our seats were perfect!!!
In the shade with a nice breeze and we had a great time!

 

Busy Day!!!

First off all, Sam and I have a new niece! Her name is Macy Olivia Dollins. She was born at 9:51 this morning and weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds, 7 ounces and was 22 inches long! Mom and baby (and Dad and big brother Truett) are doing well! Ben was able to text me the picture below, hopefully they send more soon!



In addition to the excitement of Macy, Chacey had "eighteen-month" pictures taken today. While I recognize that she is now nineteen months, it is important to remember that when she turned eighteen months I was in Philadelphia. Immediately upon my return she obtained some lovely stitches that I didn't feel would compliment her photos! :)

Also... the two topics of this blog DO tie together... Chacey's dress came from Macy's (the store).



Chacey was playing "shy" when we first got there, so the photographer taught her to push the "test" button on her camera that made the flash go off. So, between every picture, Chacey would push the button and then smile really big and wait for the flash to go off!



In the next picture, Chacey was laughing hysterically while being tickled.



The photographer gave her some beads to play with...





Chacey laid herself down like this for the next picture (which is why her dress is laying all weird). She was posing herself so that she could hurry up and push the "flash" button again.



Her face looks kind of weird in the next picture, but it is the only one that really showed all of her dress.




We weren't very successful in getting family pictures. The photographer couldn't get close enough to let Chacey take the picture, then run back and get all three of us in the shop before Chacey started saying "more, more" wanting to push the button again.

Visiting Maryville

We went to Maryville this week for a visit. We got to hang out with some friends and finally meet Baby Birk. Chacey loved giving kisses to Birk and dancing with Lauren. Stacey took pictures, so maybe I can get some from her to add of the kids. While we were in town, Dan (Daddy's roommate) gave her an early morning music lesson, we played in the fountains of Centennial Gardens, got shots, then had icecream! Each time we go up there, I come home a little bummed though. I miss my old job, our friends, being in class, marching band, homework, and the general crazy-busy that comes with being a college student, a parent, and having a job. Don't get me wrong... I like it here just fine, but still... Maryville was good to me in the four years I spent there!

Anyway, part of the reason for our trip was that Chacey had her eighteen-month well baby visit. She has now reached a whopping 32 3/4 inches, 24 pounds 3 ounces. I cannot believe how much she is growing!!! Visiting the doctor was a traumatic experience (who knew a one-year-old could hyperventilate). The doctor said it is normal, that the whole process would remind her of the stitches and scare her... and that she would probably have issues with doctor visits for the next three to four years!!! The poor thing kept bringing me her clothes in her shoes and crying "bye bye!" Broke my heart... but we survived... and they gave her a free icecream cone from McDonalds when it was all done.

Before the shot experience, however, Chacey got to go play in the fountains at Centennial Gardens. She stepped on the shortest fountain, put her hands in the taller one, and managed to play without getting a drop of water on her clothes!




For the sake of comparison, in reminiscence of how big Chacey is getting, the next few pictures were taken at these fountains last year! Chacey's six month well-baby visit was on July 30, 2009, about a week short of a year ago. At that appointment, she was 27 1/2 inches long and 17 pounds even.






She has grown and changed so much in the last year. She is so full of personality that I know I am going to have my hands full. Today at lunch she got in trouble and I said "Chacey Madelyn,"to which she responded "one... two..."! She has also gotten very good at the phrase "I want it!" I just hope that she develops a little more grace and coordination as she gets older... cause she is clumsy! All in all, she is a great kid, and I know that we have been very blessed.