Virginia

As I mentioned before, it was a very lovely trip to Virgina this past May. It was so great to get out of Texas and head to the cool, lush and verdant, mountainside town of Charlottesville for some rest and relaxation with family. My aunt and uncle are blessed to have their four children and grandchildren living close, so we in turn were able to visit with everyone. Granny was there, my aunt Sonja from San Diego, two new babies in the family.... yes, quite wonderful.

Ruby had a fantastic time meeting and playing with her cousins, my uncle's new golden retriever, and of the course roaming around children's paradise, aka my uncle's backyard. I didn't have a shabby time myself, waking up and drinking coffee on the back porch, watching the budding Virginia spring backdropped by the Blue Ridge Mountains. Simply gorgeous.

We went shopping, we visited Granny's new place, we ate, we went for walks, we had a party for my aunt's 60th birthday!, we ate, we had Mother's Day, we ate, and ate, and ate. Oh it was wonderful. It was sad having to leave, but I was ready to get back to home life. And, oh! It was Ruby's first plane trip, and she did grrrrrreat! I was sorta worried, since she was just getting over her first ear infection, but thankfully it wasn't an issue. People commented they didn't even know there was a baby on the plane! The way back was a slightly different story. There had been bad weather the last couple days of our stay, and we had a two-hour bad weather delay, while on the plane! I had to let Ruby run up and down the aisles to get the wiggles out, but luckily she was having a great time, and charming all of the other passengers, flight attendants, and pilots. She fell asleep after a little while in the air, and stayed asleep. Ahhh, success!

We stayed in Dallas for another day to decompress from traveling and relax a bit more. Ruby, as always, had a great time and bonded with Charlie dog and Papa Jim.

You can view the whole album of pictures here.

And some of the highlights:

Already comfy in the play room

Smelling the pretty flowers

Wandering through Paradise

A stroll in the gardens

Nature's Perfection

Mud Play

On an adventure with Uncle Mike

Earth Mama and Garden Girl

Four Generations

Finally! (again), update and new posts to come

So much has happened in the two months since I've posted last! I can't say for sure I will get better at consistently posting, though I would like to, sitting at the computer is not my favorite activity when I have a free moment to myself!

Ruby has grown and grown. I cannot believe we have an eighteen month old little girl, and she amazes me at every turn. All of her triumphs and personality nuances deserve their own post, though, which will come later. For now I will sum up. In May I finished a very tough semester, but it was followed by a wonderful trip to Virginia with Ruby and my mom to visit family. Ruby and I were finally able to see Granny, which was so deeply special. We haven't seen her since Ruby was a week old, and I felt horrible about not being able to be there at Papa's funeral. But we had a very lovely visit, which culminated on Mother's Day, and although we spent the large part of the day traveling, it was appropriate that I spent it with my mother and my daughter. We had a blast!

We've had other trips to Dallas, visits here from MeMe and PaPa, friends and family members have gotten married, and Ruby has had so, so much fun playing outside, and with her friends! At least the one positive to all this record breaking heat is the necessity to play in some water! I know all toddlers seem to obsess over water, and our little monster is no exception! Whether she's drinking it, splashing it, pouring it, running through it, swimming in it, or bathing in it, this girl loooooooooves water ("wahduh", or "wahyuh")!
In short, Ruby is freakin' precious, and I smother her in kisses all day! I figure I better get my cheek kissin' in while she still likes it! Well, most of the time.....

Here are a few photos dated shortly after the last post. Enjoy!, and stay tuned for more!

Running into the middle of the drum circle at Eeyore's Birthday

Sitting pretty on the back porch

Beautiful, happy girl

Making music