Brian and Beverly

Rylie got to meet two new friends this week. First, we got a surprise visit from Brian Bunnell. He called Monday morning to let us know he would be in the area and wondered if we might have a space for him to stay. We were thrilled! We love this guy! He actually preached at our wedding, and he and Tripp are two kindred spirits. They even look similar to me. I think that might be why Rylie warmed up to him so fast...he probably reminds her a lot of her daddy. Anyway, we haven't gotten to see Brian in a while. He visited a couple of times while I was pregnant with Rylie, but he's never met her. We all had lots to catch up on and a very little time to chat. Here Rylie is sporting Uncle Brian's shoes while he was away at Southeastern for the day. Here she is waiting (somewhat patiently) for Uncle Brian to finish his dinner. She kept saying, "Brian play." She just couldn't leave him alone!
Uncle Brian was such a great playmate!
Rylie's cheesy face....
...and Uncle Brian's cheesy face
Rylie tried to take Uncle Brian's luggage when he wasn't looking. Maybe she wanted to hide it so her playmate wouldn't have to go.
She of course didn't get very far. Apparently, Uncle Brian's not a very light packer.
Rylie and I also got to spend time with Beverly this week. Beverly is mentoring me. She's such a sweet lady. She has so much to teach me, and I'm so eager to learn from one of the best! She actually reminds me a lot of my mom. They're the same age, and they're both such kids at heart. She's really relaxed and laid back about things, but she's also so full of energy. She's so much fun to be around, and Rylie enjoys spending time with her adopted "MiMi". We got to meet at a beautiful park this week. It's very "nature-y", and Rylie just loves it! Here's Beverly and Rylie setting up our little buffet. Beverly is such a great MiMi-she brought coffe, coke, doughnut holes, goldfish, and yogurt. It was perfect!Tripp and I LOVE this slide. We probably slide on it more than Rylie does. It's so much fun. Rylie thinks it's fun too, and she'll even slide down it by herself.

Beverly also loved the slide. This crazy woman even slid down it on her belly head first. She bruised up her arm pretty good, too. She said she'll just have to wear a long sleeved shirt next time because it's just too much fun to miss out on!
Rylie's discovered the see-saw.
She piled up all this bark on the bench. I'm sure she was playing some kind of imaginative game.
We always seem to find some interesting creatures at the park.

Rylie saw the groundskeepers pulling weeds, and she decided they needed some help. They were impressed that she was actually pulling up the weeds. She did a great job!

This was a nice big porch area attached to the Research Center at the park. Rylie stepped on some goldfish crackers and had to swipe them off the edge. We told her that they were for the birds now. This technique has since backfired. This morning, she dropped her waffle on the floor next to her high chair and said, "Waffle for the birds!!!" Oh well.

One of Rylie's new ways to play in the sand. Bring back any memories mom and dad? She's just a wallowing in it!
Sandy face

Little ballerina pigtails
Sleepy girl
Daddy came to the park with us! We found out about when a birthday party was held there on Saturday. We loved it so much, that's where I decided to meet Beverly on Wednesday. Wednesday night, we took daddy, and then we went again Thursday evening. Can't wait for all the grandparents to see it!

Here they are climbing up the steps so they can slide down the big slide again.

Swing!

Pictures of the play areas

Sandy area in the back with big rocks and bridges
A color game complete with various animal tracks and foliage prints in the cement on the colored spaces.
The very sturdy but also bouncy and wobbly bridge. It's held on with a couple of cables that run through the planks. I have a feeling Granny won't be getting on this one anytime soon. :-)

The last few pictures are sort of random. This is a repurposed towel I made. I'm not sure why the picture turned out sideways, but you get the picture. There were bands of material that used to be near the side edges of the towel. They were shrinking in the wash, but the towel wasn't shrinking at the same rate as the bands, so the towel was really really bunched up. You couldn't even fold it. So, I cut the two bands out on both ends, and I sewed the remaining material back together with a zig zag sitch. Then, I cut up a hand towel and sewed it on as a hood. Now, I have a hooded towel of good thick material that actually covers Rylie. The baby hooded towels just aren't cutting it anymore. I was very pleased with the result of the project, and it took about 30 minutes start to finish!
I don't think I've ever put a really good picture on here of our fish, Poppy. Well, here he is!
Inhaling some pizza. She's gotten really attached to my water bottle. It's the one I got from the hospital when she was born.

We're hitting the "gross things are funny" stage.
This is what she looked like after her snack yesterday. She had cheese, carrots and celery (she loves both of them.) with ranch dressing and peanut butter. She was having a hard time with the peanut butter. It just wouldn't stay in the celery ditch!
My growny girl in a ponytail