Start Your Engines

I'll let you take a look at these fun pictures and then I'll explain...

Go Faster Mommy, Faster!

I'll just close my eyes and hope she knows what she's doing

If you know my dad then you know he's a major car buff. His most recent purchase was an official Pace Car from the Brickyard 400 and as you can tell, the adult version of the car came with a matching go-cart that is supopsed to be for Miss T. We all know the likelihood of any of us ever getting to drive this little car is slim-to-none so I'm sure Gramps will have to buy a rough and tough go-cart once Taryn is old enough. RJ and I had one growing up and we had more fun than you could imagine. Dad put wood block on the pedals since our legs were too short to reach (hmmm...that might have been a sign that we were too young to drive)! And after an "incident" that resulted with me on the asphalt he even installed seat belts.

During our impromtu visit to Meme and Gramps we also took some time to play...

Toys at Meme's house are way more fun that at home

...even if they are from the 1980s

Supposedly avocado green high chairs are making a comeback

On the Move

I think we're about to have a crawler on our hands any day now!

Copycat

Taryn's new thing is to try and copy whatever we do. Here's a cute video of her playing around with Mommy!

Little Girl in a Big Chair

These pictures of Taryn in her big high chair were too hilarious not too share. For the past few months we've been feeding her in the Bumbo chair which fits her just right. Our friends, Rolando and Shandra, gave us this nice highchair so we thought we should get it out and start putting it to use.

And then Evan had a fish-eye type lens on his camera so the pictures were even funnier! I love how her little toes barely reach the end of the seat and she is almost resting her chin on the tray!

1st Pool Party

This weekend we went to our first pool party of the season! Our friends, Stan and Bekah, had a great pool put in the end of last summer and they invited a bunch of friends over to swim and grill out. Bekah gave Taryn a bikini before she was even born but its still way too big for her so we ran out on Saturday morning and got her this super cute suit. She loves baths but we weren't sure how she'd like the pool. In the beginning she wasn't quite sure what was going on but by the end of the evening she was kicking around under the water and making little splashes!

Gramps, if you read this Taryn told me to tell you she's ready for you to install a big pool (with a slide) at your house!!

We also have a few cute videos but we need to edit the size before we can post them...hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow night.

The "Before" Shot

Testing the waters...and a little surprised by this giant size bathtub

Floating with Daddy

Caleb and Michaela making a big splash

Ainsley sporting her Jackie-O shades

Amber, Ainsley, Taryn and Me

Vacation

Over the long Memorial Day weekend Evan and I got the chance to take our first vacation since Taryn joined the family. One thing we've learned recently from friends is there is a different between a vacation and a trip. A trip is when you take your kids and a vacation is when you get away without the kids. So this was a vacation! We spent 5 days in Lake Tahoe with RJ and Tiffani to celebrate RJ turning the big 3-0. I'll post pictures and more on our trip later. But while we were gone Taryn got to take her first overnight trip to Meme and Gramps by herself! As you can imagine she was spoiled rotten and loved every minute of it.

She finally got to try out her tree swing now that she's a big girl. Judging by this smile I think she liked it! Meme and Gramps have a few big trees with lots of birdhouses so in addition to swinging she'd wake up and enjoy her morning bottle on the patio listening to the birds chirping.

Anyone who knows Gramps knows you don't come to visit without spending some time in the shop tinkering with old cars. If you're like me you try to get in and get out of the shop real quick...nod a few times before going inside to help with dinner or whatever excuse pops to mind! Looks like this little girl is having fun though and she didn't even come home with grease under her fingernails.

From what I heard the first few days were a little hit and miss between Taryn and Gramps. Anytime he'd try to talk to her or get close she'd wrinkle up her face and start to cry. I think it's because she's not used to being around too many men other than her daddy. Thankfully this only lasted a few days and now these two are buddies.

To wrap up the day they'd make laps around the circle driveway in the shade. When it's nearly a hundred degrees outside you've got to ride in the umbrella stroller so your legs can get a little breeze.

Looks like Miss Taryn had just as much fun on vacation as we did! We missed her tons but with all the attention she got I'm not so sure she missed us!

6 Month Check-Up

We visited Dr. Robert last Thursday for Taryn's 6 Month check-up. She turned 7 months old on Wednesday so she thinks she's big stuff now! Despite a few tears from getting a shot and having the wax cleaned out of her ears she had a good check-up. As expected she's still on the petite side but even though she's small she's gaining weight and growing right along with the growth chart just on the very bottom! She's been eating lots of fruits and veggies and we got the go ahead to start her on meats so we'll probably try to do that within the next few weeks once we've finished rotating through all the veggies.

Here's a breakdown of her stats:
Weight: 13lbs, 8oz (below 5%)
Height: 26 inches (25%)
Head: 16 1/2 cm (20%)