Hallam Fam News: February 2008

Hi everyone! Let's start with a quick trip back in time. When we were in the Bahamas, we had the huge blessing of having both Grammy and Nana and Pops taking care of Kinsey. Grammy was here for the first 1/2 of the week and then Nana and Pops took over. I got some pics from Grammy of their time together and wanted to share that here.
While they were here, they took our minivan to get washed and got these 6 inch foam puzzle pieces - I know, a car wash is a weird place to buy toys, but that's what happened. Apparently Kinsey decided that it would be fun to stand on the puzzle pieces. She loves the Elmo Christmas Countdown special and I guess it was more fun to watch it while standing and dancing on the puzzle piece :).

And she also loves to wear house slippers. So here she is dancing in those as well.

Grammy brought her a singing bear for Valentine's Day. He sings "Sugar, Sugar" and the truffles in his heart dance. Kinsey loves that thing and listening to her singing "You are my candy girl" is hilarious.

And finally, Kinsey apparently found her SCREAM! Grammy said she was sitting in this chair just yelling her lungs out and laughing hysterically. Douglas and I got to see a little bit of that at Lowe's last night.

So now back to February. Before we went to New York, Kinsey and I spent a few days in Jasper. We had a great time and the weather was just beautiful. As you may recall from last time, feeding the ducks is a highlight! First they had to get the corn and walk down to the pond.

And then they got to the business of tossing the corn ("corn, not popcorn" as Kinsey says)...

And we spent some time down at the swing...

And we spent some time with the rocks. I couldn't believe Kinsey remembered playing with the rocks, but it was the first thing she said when we mentioned the swing.

And then Grammy and Kinsey played Kinsey's favorite game. "Elmo, are you in there?" This game is played with food, the bathtub drain, and now rocks. Pretty much go through all the Sesame Street characters to see if any of them are in said object. Anyway, I'm not sure if Elmo was ever in the rocks, but it was sure fun watching them ask.

Here's Mommy and Kinsey hanging out at the swing after the rock time :)

Grammy and Kinsey also kicked sweet gum balls for the dogs, which was a big hit.

She really loved being outside, no matter what it was that she was doing.

Speaking of the dogs, Kinsey had a great time with them. Here she is with Tasha. At night, the dogs were much calmer and they were so good with her, she rubbed all over Tasha and leaned on her and just laughed so hard.

But inside was pretty fun, too. Here's Kinsey playing her fishing game with Poppi.

And here we are watching either the Wiggles or Nemo, I can't remember.

And here she is "feeding" me goldfish. Her new game is to pretend to give you a bite and then try to take it back. She thinks it's pretty funny.

And here's Kinsey getting some royal treatment on the massage table. She thought this was just too cool since she loves getting her back scratched these days.

And here's the view of her face under the table.

Ganny and Bill came to visit on Sunday and it was fun to hang out with them. Here's Kinsey and Ganny.

Ganny had not seen the Wiggles - can you believe that???? Anyway, Kinsey showed her some of their moves.

Here's Kinsey and Grammy and Ganny at the swing.

And here's our 4 generations picture...

So Kinsey's other favorite thing at Grammy and Poppi's house was playing in the creek. Here's Kinsey and Grammy headed for the sandbar.

And here are a bunch of pics of them playing. The water was pretty cold and we tried to keep her dry, but the sand is really like quicksand and Kinsey was sinking like a rock!

So then Kinsey decided to dig in the sand...

...and show me her messy hands!

So then of course we had to clean off our hands in the water which led to much splashing and laughing.

She also found a leaf which was very exciting.

And then the big hit was the stick. It was a great tool for splashing and getting Grammy and herself all wet.

The creek was a blast and we left before hypothermia set in.

It was a really great trip to Jasper and Kinsey had a ton of fun.

So while we were in New York, Kinsey got to do some really fun stuff with Obi and CC and even Brian, Crystal, and Hailey. Unfortunately I don't have those pictures, but I will try to get them from CC the next time I see her. In the meantime, if you haven't already looked at Hailey's blog, please go over and check out Kinsey and Hailey hanging out. So cute!!!

Wanted to share just two more pics with you from New York. As you know, we got snowed in and had to stay an extra day. We did get a lot of work done so we had very little to do once we got home. New York was fun, and the hotel was beautiful. It was way too fancy for our tastes, but we didn't mind being there for free :). Here's a picture of the drive-up on Park Avenue...

It was so sterotypical New York, there was a doorman in a big overcoat and hat with a whistle and he would flag down cabs for guests. And here's the other picture to share - Douglas at Rockefeller Center. It was really pretty, but somehow we passed up the chance to ice skate!

In answer to Marni's question, we did go in M&M World. We actually didn't buy anything (gasp!) but it was cool. We also walked through Toys 'R Us, which was pretty impressive. And I actually do think a Starbucks hot chocolate tastes just a little better there - must be the excitement of the city.

So now we are back at home and we are so glad to be with our punkin again! Oh wait, one more trip back in time. Before we left, Robert (Douglas' youngest brother) played at a concert in San Antonio. He plays saxophone and he's awesome at it. Anyway, we got to see him play and also have some dinner. It was great to see him. He and Kinsey shared some joke at dinner about a plate and Kinsey still says "Did Kinsey tell Uncle Robert Plate!" No clue what that means!

Sorry for Douglas' goofy face in this pic. We took two and in the other one, Kinsey and Candy were looking crazy so I went with this one where there was just one nutty face :)