summer time fun

AJ is 21 months tomorrow. And we just can't keep up!!! Every day she amazes us with her burgeoning vocabulary and physical prowess. She talks non-stop and is starting to put 2- and 3-words "sentences" together. She is calling herself "Ashee June". She loves to dance and jump and climb and hug. She is deliciously sweet and so affectionate. She is getting her colors down really now - she knows yellow, pink, green, blue, purple, and just today started pointing out black.  Occasionally she gets red and orange too. She hums along to the alphabet and 1-2-3's and sometimes even predicts the next number.  She loves to pick out her own clothes and shoes (and thanks to our neighbors, she has lots of shoes!) - she is our little fashionista!

Black Hills baby

After the Badlands, we ventured farther west to the Black Hills. We visited Wind Cave, home to the 6th longest cave in the world, but other than that, was not super interesting. AJ did really great considering I had to front-carry her in the ergo. By the end, she was actually asleep. The coolest thing about the cave was the air flow dynamics at the natural opening.

We did the 3 scenic drives around the Custer State Park area - all very beautiful, but not very birdy. We stayed at a campground near Custer and visited the 2 playgrounds in town at least once a day. AJ sure did love the new playground equipment she encountered.

Our last full day, we visited Mt Rushmore. It was July 3rd and there were lots of holiday activities, but we got there early to avoid the crowds and missed the activities.  AJ loves the stadium seating and kept walking across the benches. Trying to get pictures did not go well! It was really neat to experience as an adult.

The BADlands

During the week of the 4th of July, we headed to South Dakota for our second family camping trip. We drove to the Badlands on Sat and spent all day Sunday hiking and driving around. It was surreal! AJ did great on the all day drive there on Sat.

home away from home

RC bought a tent-trailer (pop-up) for the family while we were away in Austin. We returned home to KC at the end of May and just did our weekend trip in the pop-up. We returned to my old stomping grounds, Bennett Spring State Park. I haven't been back there since I completed my field season doing research on breeding birds in restored savanna in 2010. It was a hot muggy weekend, but we barely noticed as our AC kept the inside of camper icy cold, and we had a fridge, microwave, and indoor/outdoor grill - not really roughing it anymore :)

I drove past one of the sites, still a beautiful woodland (below), but didn't make it to my primary site. 

AJ enjoyed seeing and feeding the trout at the hatchery.

Here is our little family in front away from home!

Girls love shoes!

A girl and her teddy

We are back in Austin! Been here For 3 weeks actually. Here is AJ holding her teddy bear in our dining area:

Shadows

"Look mom, I'm helping!"

Ok, she can't say that just yet, but at 14-months old she did help me put laundry into the washing machine!

caught ya

While making breakfast, I turned around and found this!!! The drawer was completely emptied and AJ was smiling so big and squinty as she proudly displayed her feat (and yes, she is holding trash in her hand that I had already taken away from her once).  But who can be mad at that face?!

trip to Georgia

AJ and I flew to GA to visit my family for a long weekend in early January.  We spent too much time playing and having fun to remember to take pictures until we were saying goodbye.  We were so happy she got to spend time with her other family!

AJ and I with Jo, Lexy, and Ava

Aunt Beth got AJ a Peruvian backpack on recent trip to Peru