"Just the Facts Ma'am"

Just a quick (well, that's the idea as of right now) post covering Thanksgiving. I figured this was the only way to ensure getting some pictures and quick commentary up about our Thanksgiving before Christmas is upon us. This post will be without fanfare, bells, whistles or snazzy high dollar production value. Okay, maybe that is a bit much, but humor me. Let's just say this is mostly a pictorial with just a bit of commentary. My homage to Joe Friday "Just the facts ma'am."

We were unable to make it out to Kansas City again this Thanksgiving (hopefully we will make it next year, fingers crossed that the housing market turns around and everything else goes well). However, we were graciously invited to spend Thanksgiving with family up in Panama City.




After loading up the family vehicle with enough provisions to complete the Oregon Trail we headed up to Panama City Wednesday afternoon (a couple hours behind schedule of course). The ride was fairly uneventful. Although Taylor didn't sleep nearly as much as our previous venture up there, she was a trooper and did just fine. Once we arrived it was immediately apparent that Taylor would need some pretty close supervision. While Andy and Beth were outwardly very calm and understanding, I was on edge most of the weekend hoping Taylor didn't destroy their home. Their home is baby proof in much the same vein as suede is waterproof. Not that anything was dangerous to Taylor, just there was a lot of stuff that she could get into and destroy. She has gotten into the habit of grabbing everything within reach for closer inspection. Luckily she didn't destroy anything (that I'm aware of). But I had visions of her banging on their coffee table or pulling a lamp off an end table. She did almost pull over a cactus plant onto some nice creme colored carpeting. I did move that into a bathroom and closed the door. She just got too interested in that plant. Anyway, that was anxiety brought on by myself more so than anything else. Even with such disasters lurking the visit was very enjoyable and relaxing.

Andy and I got out to play a round of golf although it was very chilly. It worked out fine because it was a built in excuse for any poor shots we hit. We didn't keep score, but I'm pretty sure we both flirted with the course record. I won't say whether it was a high or low score record we were flirting with.

We played some pool, which Taylor thoroughly enjoyed watching. First sitting on a stool and watching the balls, then running around the table trying to grab the balls out of the pockets (which she couldn't quite reach yet). I think it will be a few more trips before I have to worry about her marking up the felt.

Taylor really enjoyed exploring the yard, looking in the gardens (especially the peas for some reason) and flower beds. She really liked the sidewalks and seemed to really want to go introduce herself to all the neighbors. Then there was the retention pond across the street. A perfect place to look for rocks and get muddy. All in all it was a great adventure for Taylor.

She did some acrobatics with Dad which she really seemed to enjoy. Mom didn't enjoy that near as much, as I think it made her just a bit nervous. I'm not totally sure as my concentration was on catching Taylor, but the partial comments and gasps coming from the general direction of Linda clued me in on her discomfort. I hear the same stuff when pushing Taylor in the swings. Meanwhile Taylor was laughing, but I guess it only takes one slip to change that... don't worry, I was careful.

Dinner was of course great. Last year Taylor had a little bit of whipped cream off my finger. This year she had Thanksgiving dinner and big fork fulls of pumpkin pie! She did pretty good eating most everything, but the cranberry sauce was a big hit. Everything tasted better with some red stuff on it, especially the turkey. I made a mental note to learn to make cranberry sauce just in case we find stuff she won't eat, just need to put a little magic red stuff with it and she'll gobble it all up. Her version of eating pumpkin pie consisted of running back and forth between Mom and Dad getting fork fulls from both. Next year she may graduate to getting her own piece, but I think she did pretty good for herself in the quantity department this year.

Anyway, the trip went well and we all enjoyed getting away and visiting with Andy and Beth. We don't see them near as often as we'd like. It's nice to have some family within driving distance over a long weekend.

Here are some quick pictures of the weekend with a link to an expanded album to follow:

Taylor gets a bite of Mommy's pie, which will be followed by a run around to the other side of the table to get a bite of Daddy's.



















Taylor explores the retention pond across the street, loading up on pebbles. If only she had 4 hands, she could carry twice as many rocks.



















Taylor flies, while Mommy worries. I know, I know... it's what Moms do. I'm pretty sure I was doing what Dads do.



















Once again with full hands. Taylor playing in the kitchen with magnetic letters and stacking cups. Well, I say playing because I'm not sure what else to call it. Technically I should call it carrying, but to Taylor it's playing.



















Here's a link to some more pictures from our Thanksgiving Trip. Thanks to Beth for some of the pictures taken. Thanksgiving Pictures

An additional note to this post since I have no idea when I will get the next one done. Last week Linda found a used play slide on Craigslist for only $20. Seemed like too good of a bargain to pass up so we now have a swing and a slide in our back yard for Taylor to play on. It's not in perfect condition, but Taylor doesn't seem to mind at all. She had a lot of fun playing on it, and is getting more proficient at climbing the stairs and going down the slide every time we go out there. I'll surely take some video at some point and try to get a little movie up about. But for now I'll just post some pictures I took the first time she played on it. You'll notice she still wants to carry hickory nuts in her hands every time she goes outside. I keep trying to tell her it would be easier to play if she used her fingers for more things than carrying loot, but she will have nothing of it. She also decided to make a game of pretending to put stuff in her mouth to get a reaction from Mommy. She really seems to enjoy games like that. On a side note, someday I will get grass to grow in our backyard... someday...

Here are the pictures of her playing with her new slide. Slide Pictures

That's it for this installment. A little bit longer then I initially intended, but still very quick in terms of time compared to many recent posts that require a couple of days to complete. Hope to gets some more stuff up soon. Taylor is really becoming the dancing queen and showed a few new moves tonight while we had the 70's station playing. The house is pretty much decorated for Christmas, except for the outside lights which I may try to do this year (didn't get it done last year). We have noticed that all the decorations around waist level are being quickly undecorated as Taylor discovers each one... oh well, one lives and one learns.