Glimpses

I'd like to think that our summer could be defined solely by this picture of a chicken. You know, kinda crazy, a little unexpected, but likable all the same.

However, I suppose it could be defined by all of the following pictures as well. :)

Grace spent most of her summer looking more or less like this. That kid sweats like nobody's business. This picture was probably taken after she did something exceptionally strenuous---like walk from her bedroom to the living room. Seriously.

She may or may not have inherited this from her mom.

One of the highest points of our summer was definitely our trip to Utah. We spent the first few days in Moab with the Bardsleys. Grace was in heaven because our campsite looked like this:

One, gigantic sandbox. She enjoyed all the cousin time, too.

We went on some hikes, swam in a little creek,

AND I saved Jacob from a rattlesnake.

This little guy was surprisingly friendly. Spencer...
We had such a good time and look forward to the next Bardsley family adventure!

While there, Grace and I (Spencer had gone back to Ohio by then) also got to meet Jacob and Whitney's new little boy, Taylor. Grace loved him.

She'll make a really great older sister in five years... :)

Grace and I also stayed with my family for a week but accomplished only one picture since I left my camera in Provo. Which is shameful.

But we also had a great time with them and can't wait to go back.

Jacob and Whitney's friendly backyard horse.

Another highlight was our visit to the Ohio State Fair. You can thank this trip

for the chicken at the top of this post. And then you can thank Sunny 95 for sending us to the Fair for free! Woo-hoo! It'd been a long time since either Spencer or I had won a radio contest, and it was HIGH time.

Grace went on her first "ride" of any kind and loved it.

Mostly she loved giving her ticket to the attendant.

The rest of the ride kind of terrified her. She wouldn't let go of my arm at all and pretty much just stared at the floor. But once it was done she said, "Again!"

Weird kid.

Spencer and I, however, had a blast. You know, there are a lot of things that become much

harder when you have children: eating, sleeping, going anywhere, shopping, etc. But, there are some things that become exponentially more fun. Like State Fairs. And zoos. And parks. And holidays. The list goes on and on. With this idea in mind, we've come up with a business idea which I will now pitch to you:

"Rent-a-Toddler."

Just imagine the possibilities. You set up a booth at the front gate of the zoo, fair, etc., and hand 'em out like candy---for a small fee, of course. It'd be fabulous. :)

The rest of the summer looked a lot like this:

And this:

And this:

And this:

And a lot of this.

Grace got really good at kite flying:

Though she was already pretty good back at nine months:

And we enjoyed a really amusing Fourth of July Parade, replete with high school reunion floats and these ladies.

And now you have glimpsed a bit of the Bardsleys' summer.

The Bardsleys Go to Washington

A few weeks ago, we got back from a much anticipated (though somewhat thrown together...) trip to Washington, D.C. The idea was born when we realized that Spencer would have some "free" time in between work and school that conveniently fell right on his birthday. To us, it seemed like a no-brainer. DC is a mere seven and a half hours by car from Columbus (eight and a half hours by toddler...) and we have family and friends there. Plus, Spencer had never been and I hadn't been since I still believed in the tooth fairy. That is, right around my sophomore year of high school. :)

Anyway, we were quite excited about the trip. We figured that for sure it would beat our other somewhat thrown together family trip (is anybody sensing a pattern here?) to Detroit. It did. By far. Sorry, Michigan, you're great, but...where's your White House? :)

However, I did NOT get to add any more states to my repertoire (unlike the Michigan trip...) while Spencer and Grace got to add three ( West Virginia, Maryland, and Virginia) more. Sigh. North Dakota, how are we ever going to become friends?

Our first stop was the Shenandoah National Forest, which came highly recommended from Uncle Ralph. And it did not disappoint. We went on a beautiful little hike through a seemingly very haunted forest. It had a little abandoned cemetery and everything. And there was NO ONE there. Apparently, no one else hikes at 6:00 p.m. on a Friday night. Grace really likes hiking and spent the majority of her time trying to get out of the hiking backpack so she could jump over everything in sight. And telling us to be quiet so she could hear the frogs.

The local wildlife was quite friendly.

The next day we spent the majority of our time exploring monuments in DC and complaining about the $100 parking ticket we got. I mean, seriously, could the parking signs be anymore confusing? I submit that they could not. Here's to hoping that the people at the D.C. Adjudication Services agree. And are having a good day when they read our penitent letter.

Memorial to Thomas Jefferson. Very beautiful; very big. I wish this picture could do the dome justice. John Adams would've been appalled. I mean, honestly, where's his monument? :)
View of the Washington Monument from the Old Post Office bell tower. The Washington Monument acted as our North Star during the trip. We could see it everywhere we went and it anchored our safe return to our car. So symbolic of what the man it memorializes did for our country's founding, I think.

World War II Monument. This one was new to me. A big circle (perhaps dome) of columns representing every state's WWII Veterans surrounded a beautiful fountain. Once again, the picture just doesn't do it justice at all. It was pretty spectacular. We wanted to take a picture by the column of each state we'd lived in as a family, but only ended up with Iowa and Utah. The Ohio column was overrun with Ohio vets in wheelchairs. I mean, how can you compete with that, really?

Spencer practicing his photography skills. :) Views of both ends of the reflecting pool with the Lincoln Memorial (above) and the Washington Monument (below) as the focal points. It was beautiful, but very buggy and the water was kind of dirty. And by kind of dirty I mean really dirty. So, whatever. We still liked it.

Lincoln Memorial. Loved this one. Grace was unimpressed. Spencer and I were not.

I just thought this picture was kind of funny. I couldn't see very well and I didn't know I was cutting Grace off. :)

Thus ends DC day number one. The next day we did Sunday stuff. Saw the temple. Visited with fabulous family and friends. And spent LOTS of time in traffic. On a Sunday afternoon? Seriously? DC traffic is unreal. The metro (thanks Camilla!) is definitely the way to go.

View from the roof of the Wilcox's building. Wow. They live in Maryland, but you could see the temple, the Capitol, and the Washington Monument from their place. I didn't think I could ever really picture myself being a city dweller. Now I can. :) They have a pretty sweet set up. Without question, the company (the Wilcoxes and the Stephensons) were just as fabulous as the sights.

The next two days were spent trying to cram in as much as possible: the Capitol, Library of Congress, and every Smithsonian museum possible. Which...with a toddler and a lot of time spent in traffic, wasn't very much. We were able to take a tour of the Capitol, which we loved.

Apotheosis of Washington, Dan Brown readers? :) I wasn't able to get a ton out of the tour (shocking) because of Grace, but the rooms we toured were amazingly beautiful. You can ask Spencer what they signified, 'cause I don't know. But...still worth it.

The only museums we were able to see, much to our dismay, were the Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Natural History. We barely scratched the surface in either of them and could have easily spent all day in one. Grace and Calder were great sports, and even got a little cat nap in their strollers.
There was a lady handing out free, gigantic bugs to anyone who wanted to hold them and Grace was all about it. In general, I think the Museum of Natural History was the highlight of her life. She loved every bit of it and called every large dinosaur she saw a crocodile.
Spencer and I did not hold one bug. Just for the record.

There's so much more that we saw and experienced that I didn't capture by camera, so you'll just have to take my word that the trip was a fabulous success and that we were a part of a bomb scare at the White House. :)

And now I'd like to leave you with the highlight of a particular young squirrels life. Me and rodents. I know.

The Ultimate Tool of Toddler Manipulation

Potty training is in full swing at the Bardsley house. For the most part, I think it has gone really well. Grace is really motivated and loves going to the bathroom in her "Grace potty." I feel like a pretty lucky momma in almost all respects. Except...as evidenced in almost all other aspects of her life, Grace has a great talent for working the system. You'd think there wouldn't be a system to "work" with potty training.

There is.

Grace uses her bowel movements as a way of joyously yanking her mother around on a chain. She KNOWS that if she tells me she has to go potty, I won't refuse her. So, if I'm not paying enough attention to her I hear, "I have to poop! Poop in the potty!" Or, should she not feel like going to bed when I put her down, she shouts to high heaven that she needs to pee. Again, and again, and again.

And, like a sucker, I bend to her every whim--because I don't want to kill her enthusiasm or make her think that it's okay if she just goes in her diaper sometimes. So, FREQUENTLY we rush to the potty and she gleefully sits on the toilet, smiles up at me, and does...NOTHING.

Now, once again, I'm happy that she likes going. I realize it could be much worse. But I hate that she has found the golden request. The exception to every rule. The ultimate tool of toddler manipulation.

Would it really be that big of a deal if she stayed in diapers the rest of her life? I mean, really.

My First Modeling Gig

That's right. I've been discovered. And Grace, too.

Today: a one page spread in the Ann Arbor, MI, travel guide.

Tomorrow: the world. :)

Two Years of Parental Bliss

I honestly don't know how it happened, but somehow my dear, little daughter has progressed from this:

to this:

It has been more than a pleasure to be an observer and active participant in this process. I feel that in these past few months, I have come to know Grace as a person, instead of just a dependent, smaller extension of me. Everyday she impresses me with her intelligence, wit, and overwhelming ability to be cute. She is playful, daring, creative, caring, persistent, and quite possibly capable of leading a small army. Or so her innate bossiness and self-confidence would indicate. :)

She learns quickly and loves to do so. She has mastered all visible body parts, the colors, animals of every shape and size, a plethora of shapes, and can spell her name with ease. She loves to "read" and spends a good portion of her day doing so. She can make a mean play-dough snake, and happily sits still while I paint her toenails whatever color she fancies that day. She is always the first to remind me to pray, and can sing "I am a Child of God" word for word. She's practically begging to be potty trained, but I've been dragging my feet...

This past month, she and I did a lot of traveling together. She sat/played/slept/cried her way through eight flights and a fairly ambitious number of long car trips. Barring one infamous three hour flight from Cincinnati to Salt Lake (which was her first long flight), she amazed me with her resilience and patience. Whilst Spencer and I stewed with anger and frustration about an airline delay that cost us about nine hours, Grace cheered us with her silly personality and jumping prowess. People stopped us after numerous flights to tell us how pleasantly surprised they'd been to fly with such a well-behaved toddler.

Now, I was the LAST person who would have expected Grace to receive such praise. I'm well aware of her tantrum-throwing ability and tend to expect the worst from her in most situations. I guess I was still seeing her as the volatile infant who could explode into a fit of inexplicable crying at any instant. It was a big turning point in our relationship for me to see her in this new light. She's actually a good kid, perhaps in spite of me. :) She had her moments on our trip, of course, but for the most part, she did so much better than I ever would have imagined. I just wasn't giving her enough credit.

I love her so much and just can't imagine my life without her. It just keeps getting better and better.

In honor of her reaching the great milestone that is the age of two, we had a little party. Far from being infested with other toddlers (though there were a few), it was mostly attended by friends of ours. :) Grace spent the majority of the time trying to escape. Typical. :) But she enjoyed bits of pizza, hot dogs, cake, and ice cream, and REALLY enjoyed getting presents. Here are a few snap shots of the evening:

Grace and our neighbor, Jennifer. Grace loves Jennifer (as do I) and

tries to visit her often throughout the day. While we were in

Utah, she picked up my phone and had imaginary conversations with her at least twice. :)

Unfortunately, I don't feel like this year's cake was much of an

improvement over last year's, but Grace did like it. The concept

looked so much better in my head.

Wait for it, wait for it...

Here it comes!

Grace mostly blew out the candles by herself, but

her control freak mother might have

helped a little. I didn't really even mean to.

Friends Mandie and Makaya. And, yes, Grace is trying to steal that toy from her.

Friends Nicole, Robin, and Robin's mother (and son), Carolyn.

Friends Laurie and Cortney (holding Duke).

Friends Turhan and Clint (who belong respectively to Nicole and Laurie).

Sand bucket and shovel---brilliant! Why I hadn't thought of

that before I don't know. Thanks to Mallory and Jimmy.

Will and Grace. :) And again, yes, Grace is giving Will

the "don't touch my new caterpillar" glare.

More present opening with Jared and Will looking on. Grace

seems to get along better with little boys than little girls.

This does not bode well for her teenage years.

Grace's fabulous outfit is courtesy of my wonderful sister, Ellie,

without whom very little that I do would be possible. It's quite possible that

Grace asks for Ellie more than anyone else, including me. :)

Grace's "big" present from us. :) It cost all of $5 at a

yard sale. The LAST one we went to that day, of course. Her wardrobe

was furnished by Grandma and Grandpa Merkley.

It's been a great two years.