Amazing moment of the week---Amelia eats an apple!

No, it's not really amazing. Amelia was just being cute and I liked the light in our hotel room. And she liked the apple.

Nice Comb-Over

Here's Amelia in our Tacoma hotel room, displaying some serious baby-pattern baldness, and *owning* it!. Cute!

Chuck E. Cheese!

I took Amelia to C.E.C. in Seattle to get her out of the hotel room and blow off some steam. Um. Wow. That place is crazy! We played in the toddler play area for a little while, and then I taught Amelia how to cheat at Skee-Ball. Fun!

Seattle Zoo

Here's some pictures of Amelia and a couple animals that she would really love to play with.

Seattle Ferry Boat

Mimi's first time on a boat, and first time having ice cream on a boat!
Trying to jump ship

With Daddy

With Mommy

Where in the world are the Hendersons?

Just when one trip is over, it seems the next one starts. We just got back a few weeks ago from a loooong (3 1/2 weeks!!) trip to Great Falls and Missoula, Montana.

I've been working in Tacoma, WA, since March 30th, and I will be here for 2 weeks. Austin and Amelia will be flying up to join me on Friday, April 4th. We will all leave here together on April 12th.

Then, Amelia and I will be flying to visit my family in Wausau, WI, from April 17-23.

In May, I will be traveling again for work...schedule is not final yet, but it will either be Pearl Harbor Navy Shipyard in Hawaii or MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida.

The cutest outfit!

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This outfit arrived for Amelia a few days ago from Grandma Sally, and it is the cutest outfit ever! Amelia loved the shoes, as you can see in the video, because they made a really satisfying noisy slap-slap sound.

She finally called me "Mom!"

Not sure how to take this...

Happy Easter!

Amelia's Easter present this year was a cute Dora the Explorer mini-papasan chair.

What was she watching on TV while she tried her chair out?

Dora the Explorer, of course!

Helping Mommy Bake

Amelia has been a grand champion Crabarella since we got back from Montana, so we've been trying to find new ways to distract her from her antics. So I enlisted her help in making cupcakes. Since she and I were going to be the only ones eating them, I let her dig her hand in the bowl of cake batter. Yum!

Montana Pictures

Okay, here are the pictures of the highlights of our trip. I didn't get a picture of Grandma Dawn and Grandpa Jerry, but I want them to know that seeing them was also a highlight. Miss you guys!

1. Austin's parents house with some fresh snow

2. Aunt Jenny (Austin's sister) showing Amelia her new puppy

3. Amelia making goo-goo eyes at Uncle TJ

4. Amelia's first solo shower, in Great Falls

5. Hey, Gunner Boy!

6. Grandma Keith and Grandpa Kathy with Amelia on the first warm day of our trip

7. Amelia eating Grandma's red vines

8. A visit from Grandpa Jack and Grandma Glenda

9. Amelia with Grandpa Keith, the only person besides her dad whose shoulder she will rest her head on.

10. Uncle TJ and his girlfriend Kyla, with Amelia being used as a human shield.

Going to Montana is like having a tutor!

We finally left Montana on Wednesday morning, dragging our feet because we wanted to stay up there forever. We even delayed our departure a day because we weren't ready to leave yet. And believe me, we are taking our sweet time getting back. Here it is Friday night, and we've only made it as far as Plainview, TX, about 450 miles away from San Antonio, but we do plan to get back home tomorrow night.

So, being around other people really helped Amelia to increase her vocabulary. Here are a few new things she learned to say:

"Hi Grandpa" (but not "Hi Grandma" because Amelia totally plays favorites.
"Hi Gunner" (to Grandma and Grandpa's dog....she has been saying that a LOT today)
"Here you go" (I woke up to that one morning, over and over)

And the best one of all:

"Ma ma ma ma ma!" Of course, she doesn't call *me* "Mama" but at least she's *saying* it.

Mimi and the Geese (MY 200th POST!!!!)

We took Amelia to a nearby park today in Great Falls to feed the Canadian geese. Amelia loved playing around the geese, and then walking around the playground...so much that she *wailed* when we put her back in the car.

The Cutest Dog Ever!

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Here is Amelia with Bear, her Aunt Jenny's Shih-Tzu puppy. He is the cutest dog we've ever seen, and Amelia loved him!

Really happy to be out of the car!

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Well, we made it! Actually, we got into Montana on Sunday afternoon. We spent the night at Austin's parent's house in Missoula, and then we went on to Great Falls yesterday morning. Even though we were only in Missoula for less than 24 hrs, it was awesome to be back. Amelia warmed up to Keith and Kathy right away, and even got to visit with her great-grandparents Jerry and Dawn. I've got to admit, I was kinda (really) disappointed that there was no snow in Missoula when we got there...it was warm-ish (40's?) and raining. But, as we woke up on Monday morning for our drive through the mountains to Great Falls, we saw snow...and a lot of it. Our 160 mile drive to Great Falls took us almost 4 hours...we had to cross a mountain pass and the snow made for slow going. Cool thing...we saw a wolf running in a field on our drive.

Anyway, this video is from our stop in Livingston, MT. We had been in the car for about 10 hours, and Amelia was *really* happy to be out of the car.

We will be heading back to Missoula this weekend for another visit...then back to Great Falls Mon-Fri, and then back again to Missoula for a 4-5 day visit until we drive back to San Antonio.

On the Road

The blog won't be updated for a few weeks, because tomorrow morning, we will be leaving for Montana.

I'm going to be working for 2 weeks in Great Falls, and Amelia and Austin are coming along for the ride. After the work is done, we will be in Missoula for a few days, finally returning around March 15-16th.

See you later!

Beach Pictures

Here are some pictures from today's trip to the beach. As you can see, Amelia got totally wet and didn't want to come out of the water. And the water wasn't warm...today's surf temperature was only 65'F. Although, I must say....once you were in, it wasn't too cold. Amelia started out dry and ended up full-on wet, somehow, and still wanted to play. I can't wait until May or June when we can take her back and let her swim for real.

I have to add that it is pretty funny to us that on the same day that we went to the beach, Austin's family went cross-country skiing in Montana.

Amelia goes to the ocean!

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We drove down to Padre Island today to show Amelia the ocean for the first time. As I lifted her out of the car and set her down in the sand, I had my camera ready. This is the video of the very first time Amelia sees the ocean.

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It was pretty warm today for February in Texas, about 75'F, and sunny, so I figured we'd probably walk around, watch Amelia eat sand, and make sandcastles. I thought Amelia would get her feet wet and then scream because the water was cool. Um, wrong! She got in and didn't want to leave. She kept trying to go farther and farther out, and even fell on her butt a few times, and even took a full backwards fall into the water, and she still wasn't done. After about 15 minutes, she was shivering, and we had to literally drag her, kicking and twisting, back to the car to put some dry clothes on her.

Only in Texas

I was at the grocery store today, and I saw this truck when I was leaving. I had my camera in the car, so I pulled around again and snapped a picture, for the sole reason of posting it on my blog.

Erin's Toes

Wow, those are some really ugly toes. Okay, they're my toes. Anyway, this picture was taken about 10 days ago, a few days after I smashed them. I had just given Amelia her bath, and I was carrying her, wrapped in a towel, into the living room so I could get her pj's on, and I pretty much walked right into the corner of the sofa. My 2 small toes went to the left of the corner, the others went right, and here in the result. I had xrays the same day, and the doctor issued me a boot/sandal type thing to wear. I limped around for about 4 days before the nurse called to tell me my xrays were negative. Huh? If I didn't break anything, why do my toes still hurt?