Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Bad birdie

A bird flew into the window by our kitchen table tonight while Cara and I were eating dinner. Needless to say, this warranted additional examination....

See the bird? By the railing? (OK, pretend you see it)

It also prompted Cara to deliver a stern lecture on proper flying etiquette:
"Birdie! You do not slam into the window. That's a bad choice. You get a booboo. You fly over there."

Fortunately, the bird recovered and flew away after a few minutes.

With rings on her fingers and paint on her toes

"Look!!!"

"I have painted toenails, just like Shelby's!"

Ride 'em, cowgirl

For Christmas last year, my parents and grandparents gave Cara a wonderful horse swing made out of an old tire. Good stuff! Much excitement!

Of course, then we had to wait 7 months for my dad to actually hang it in the yard. : P

But... I can say that it was totally worth the wait! Look at how cool this is. Poppa actually built the arch to hang it on himself and did a fine job of it.

Of course, Cara just loves it.

Thanks, Nona, Poppa, Gigi, Deedee, and Great Grandpa!

Put me in the zoo...

For my birthday, I decided I had better things to do than work on my birthday. So we went to the zoo instead. Jenna had the day off too (what a coincidence!) so she and Tristan came along.

It was absurdly hot (and I do mean absurdly hot) and sticky, but the kids had a good time altogether. They always get along well, despite the age difference. Tristan is very careful and considerate of Cara.

We had the pandas all to ourselves for a good fifteen minutes. The kids had a swinging good time.

Then they got up close and personal.

Mei Lan really is adorable. Several million dollars worth of adorable? I'm not sure, but she is definitely a cutie.

We visited the kangeroos, who were much less bouncy than my daughter. You can faintly make one out sprawled on the ground in the background. Yes, it is in fact looking at Cara - I think it was surprised that someone has the energy to jump in this heat.

Next stop: the petting zoo. Cara liked the goat. Well, it was a very friendly goat. Tristan thought so too.
In fact, the goat was so friendly that it offered to pose for a photo with us all. Such a nice goat.

We visited several exhibits, including the elephants, and had a picnic lunch sitting by the lions.

By this time, it was blazing hot, so we saw a few more exhibits and called it quits for the day. But it was a fun excursion, and a great way to spend my birthday.

And of course, I got my mom's mouth watering strawberry cake for dinner. Mmmmmm.

Cinderella and her Prince Charming

Strawberry Girl

I am woefully behind in posts... I will try to make it up this week!

A couple of weeks ago we went up to a pick-your-own strawberries farm in Dahlonega. We went up early in the morning to try and beat the heat (unsuccessfully, I might add). Mom and I picked and Cara "helped" put them in the buckets.

Of course we also had to sample the berries, you know, for quality control.

Cara was very diligent in this task, and tells us they all passed inspection, thank goodness.

We picked a ton of berries - probably more than we needed - but I froze a bunch and Aunt Meg promises to make some yummy concotions with them.

And about half of them were promptly made into strawberry shortcake and my birthday cake. If you have not had the pleasure of tasting my mom's strawberry cake... well... I am very sorry for you. Come to my birthday next year, and you can have some : )