Childrens Museum Visit

We had a very fun visit to Portsmouth's "Virginia Childrens Museum" today. We met my girlfriend Julie there with her daughters, so Abby and Emily got to see the exhibits up close! It was a lot of fun and there was more to see than we had time for, so we'll have to go back again.

Emily & Abby....checking out the giant clock
Abby is about 7.5 dollar bills tall! (really she is 33"....got measured yesterday at the dr!)

Driving the firetruck..Abby steered while Emily shifted gears; neither could reach the pedals!

The "Bubble" exhibit....this was very cool! It had a few different bubble stations; this was one where you stand in the blue center and pull a rope down and a giant bubble surrounds you....until it pops!!

Story time.....there was even a reading room for kids to, well, read!

Abby and her "Elmo"....or as she says it...."Melmo"

TRAINS!!! "Choo Choo Trains" are Abby's new fascination the last few weeks. She knows exactly what they are and mostly what they do. We need to get her some train engines to play with at home!

The Giant Computer.....this exhibit was definitely geared toward the older kids, but cute nonetheless. It gave you an idea of what the inside of a computer looks like, as well as this giant stepping keyboard!

Abby's catch of the day.....a giant Nemo!

Park Fun

So there is a cute little city park just across the street from the entrance to our court, and we walked Abby and Roxy over there tonight to play for a bit before bedtime! She had a great time! Her favorite part is ALWAYS the swing....but she had a lot of fun with her daddy on the slide too!

Our BIG swinger! All she says is "more more more" whenever the swing starts to slow down!
Here she is co-sliding with daddy. She loves to do it together.

Oh, but in case he forgets, she ALWAYS reminds him where he should sit on the slide.

So she taps the spot and says "here" in her cute little Abby talk.

"Weeeeeeeee"

Big Girl Bed!!!

Well, its official!! Abby is now sleeping in her very own big girl bed in her new room! I wasn't going to introduce it so soon after the move, but decided to try it out one day for naptime and it was an instant success. So.....it stuck and the crib is now empty and waiting to be filled with another cute Smith baby in November.

Abby knows whenever we say its time for "night-night" we walk in there with her and she climbs into it all on her own and lays down. We close the door, and asleep she goes! She's slept through the night almost every night since! She only needed her mommy a couple times the first night and since then its been a breeze.

Her favorite past-time this last month is coloring. Her favorite shape to draw is a circle....and she's really good too! And she says the word after she draws it. She's pretty good about staying on the drawing surface, but we keep an eye on her to make sure our pretty white walls stay that way! Orange and purple just are not my colors!! Here she is coloring with a pen (her favorite tool) next to Roxy by the back door). I made her sit on the towel to ensure the safety of our floors while I supervised!

Old friends made new again....

One of our favorite parts of moving back to Virginia was reconnecting with all of our Navy friends we've met over the years that were still living out here. So today we had our friends Dan & Julie and their daughters Emily & Reese over to play and swim! The girls had a good time together!Abby & Emily eating lunch side by side on the floor! My cutie patootie!

Self-portrait of myself and my "cheese" camera monster!

Pool times

We've been here less than a week, and already we attended our first kiddie pool birthday party! Abby had a great time...didn't venture into their pool (they have an in-ground pool too), but fun nonetheless! The cupcake at the end was definitely her favorite part!

Final Travel Photos....

Here are our final travel moments that we caught while we crossed the country.

Abby loved to ride on the bellhop cart at this hotel!
And she got ahold of one of my bras and the dog leash and decided they made good accessories! Who knew!

This was a happy meal toy, cute little binoculars that she figured out how to use! Apparently you see better through them when you're naked!

And of course, no photo shoot is complete without a cute bootie shot!!! Don't you just want to pinch it!!

This is how we travel.....

This is how we travel cross-country! Abby loves the hotel telephones!

And here is the back-seat crew....and "pile-o-crap" in the back!

Walking in Mommy's Shoes

If it were only that easy.....she loves to try our shoes on these days, she managed to get my shoes on by herself and even take a few steps! The half-naked part was what was so funny!

Tree Time

Mike caught some cute photos of Abby playing on her own outside yesterday. She dragged her little squeaky dog out across the yard to the tree to pick "imaginary" flowers!

"Awwww Dad!!! You caught me!!!!"

Final Visit.....in California!!!!

Great Grandma & Grandpa Reiss came up to visit one last time at our California home....future visits in Virginia!!

Even the squeaky bird got in on this photo!!
Great Grandma with her Granddaughter and Great-Granddaughter

Grandpa Bob biting Abby's toes to make her giggle

Copying Daddy

Here is Mike changing the light......Abby snuck up behind him and climbed up the ladder while he was on it, "cheesing" between his legs in excitement.

This is the look of a toddler doing something unapproved.....but still being cute enough to get a laugh out of us.

Abby meets the step ladder

So we've started our pre-move cleaning/organizing, and Abby's curiosity is in 4th gear! She's never seen us use this step ladder before, and Mike had it out today to clean the light on the ceiling....she dared the climb all by herself; before we scolded her and made her climb back down.