Beach Bum

 Our little calendar girl

 Pretty as a picture

Enjoying the crystal clear waters of the Emerald Coast with my Mamaw and Paw.  I loved the water so much this year that I floated ALONE in my mermaid ring and played with fish that my Daddy caught in a bucket for me!

Thanks Mamaw and Paw for a wonderful vacation!



Happy Easter 2012

We hope that everyone had a great Easter weekend filled with fun, family, faith, and friends!

Friends from near and far

 I am a lucky girl to get to spend time with my friends.  Since the weather has been so nice, I have had visits from friends near and far.  Sonny is one of my best friends.  We are usually running wild together, but in this picture we are very subdued watching Finding Nemo.

 Mr. Henry and Mrs. Bernis (along with Mr. Stefan and Mrs. Becky, not pictured) came to visit us.  I got to ride on the Chattanooga Duck Tour on the river with all of my friends!

 My littlest friend, Baby Beckett.  I turn into a big sister when I am with him.

It was our friend Cadden's birthday.  Here I am in the Adventure Center acting silly at the party.

Daddy's Day Out

 Daddy has been on the road a lot lately participating in many boring meetings, so we decided to scoop him up for the day and show him some real fun during Mommy's spring break.  We are lucky to be near the TN Aquarium and started of our day with a bird show, and then Mommy's favorite, the river otters!  There is one swimming behind us in this picture.

 Vi gets really up close and personal with the fish.

Vi is not scared of red-bellied piranhas!

 Just "taking a little rest" as Vi says.

 We took a lunch break at Mellow Mushroom and Vi and Daddy had staring contests.

 Vi did much better this visit about putting her hands in the water to touch the fish.  Mommy is a little scared to touch the fish, so it was good that Daddy was around to encourage her more.  The stingrays are very friendly, but we had much more fun playing with the "Dori" fish.  Daddy, as usual, is a regular animal charmer and could make her dance.  Our previous post during Christmas break shows him charming birds in an aviary.  He says that animals can sense his kind soul :)

Daddy the fish charmer

Getting a 360 view of giant crabs!

 I just really liked this picture.  Vi calls this spot her "room."

 We made a stop at Coolidge Park and took a couple of rides on the 100 + years old carousel.  Each "animal" has a plaque that tells who carved it, when, and the animal's name.  She wanted the cat.  His name is Beauregard.  We thought this was a funny coincidence since her Daddy lived in Beauregard, AL during college.  And it's also a town in France :)

 At the fountains

 Riding another animal at the fountains; the building behind Vi is the pavilion where they house the carousel.  I think this is an awesome potential birthday venue, but we will definitely wait until she is tall enough to ride alone so she will feel like a big girl.

Final stop: cupcakes!

We had an awesome family day, perfect in fact.  Days like these make me very thankful for my sweet and loving family.  We have so much fun together.

A real "artiste"

Vi has always shown an interest for coloring, painting, cutting and crafts.  Some of her latest artwork is actually pretty good and interesting (but of course I am her Mommy).  She always have 5 or 6 paintings on her clip at school while the other kids maybe have 2, so I can tell she is enthusiastic about her artwork.

This one is entitled "Vi's Mommy" - It's the VooDoo version of Mommy :)  And the two sticks at the bottom are legs, not whiskers.

Vi says the darndest things...

Here are the latest hilarious Vi-isms....

Mommy is wearing a button down shirt and Vi asks, "Why are you wearing Daddy's shirt?"  See, Dad, you really do have a "uniform."

Vi wakes up from a nightmare and says, "the little girl opened the door and there was a ghost!" before flopping back over and passing out.  Nothing will top the time she woke up in the middle of the night and said, "Mommy, I hear the ice cream truck."  We know what she dreams about!

According to Vi, you have to say "au revoir" to everyone when exiting or leaving.  Some people actually understand what she is saying and crack up.

At Cracker Barrel, Vi asks an elderly lady if her husband is her grandpa and then says, "I have a Grandpa, too, and a Paw."

With love from Vi!

Happy Valentine's day from Vi and her Valentine "pal" Scooby-Doo.  This was one of her Valentine's gifts.

Vi did an excellent job of helping prepare, bake, ice, and decorate the cookies she made for her Valentine's party at school.  They are lemon cookies with lemon icing mmmmmmm (adapted from Ham n' Goody's lemon cookies).

Vi hopes you have a very special Valentine's Day!  XOXO