The Nashville Zoo

We had a wonderful time with the Stokes at the Nashville Zoo last week while we were on our way to Memphis (Memphis photos will come soon).

It was a beautiful day and we got to see some great animals.

I think everyones favorite parts were the play gym at the end and Abbey seeing the "feesh".

This has been such a busy summer. I can't seem to keep up. We have had a wonderful harvest from our garden this year and I'm so glad that I have been able to work in it a little more this year. I still need to make more time to garden to get the most out fo it, but I have been pleased. I finally got my first cucumber and I have a watermelon the size of a softball growing. I have had more okra than I can pick and the tomatoes are really starting to come in. I will be making my first batch of sauce in the next day or two. Other than that, we have a trip planned to Memphis in August to visit with Clark's family and then a small get away to Nashville at the end of the month, just the two of us (oh, and all the wonderful people at the airport conference). :) So, it is a business trip, but it will be fun and Clark gets to come too. Nothing else going on here lately, just the normal work, eat, sleep routine. Abbey is growing like a little weed and she is saying so many words that we can't keep up. She is at the stage now that you can ask her to say something and she will give it a try. She can count to five, if you count with her, start her off by saying "one", and if you are alright with the number six or nine coming after two. We are working on it. She can say her ABC's up to the letter "D" because those are the letters on her barn toy, so we have been working on that one too. She is really getting independant which in turn makes her fussy at times. She wants what she wants, but what kid doesn't. Well, that will get everyone caught up for now and here are a couple of pictures to tide you over until our next event.

This morning's bounty

Just had to share a little from my garden. This is what I picked this morning and the other pictures are from last weekend. As you can tell, Abbey had a ball playing in the sprinkler. Please ignore the weeds. Clark mowed, but didn't trim and I hadn't weeded the garden when we took these pictures.

Update...

Well, I haven't posted anything in a bit, but it is because I've been so busy lately. I'm sure you understand. Between work, home, baby and best of all the garden, I've had no time for me. Enough with the excuses, I'll just give you a quick update. Home life is pretty normal, we go to work, we come home. I have enjoyed the fruits (or rather veggies) of my labor. We have had great success with our zucchini and green beans in our garden. The squash is coming along, but I've only picked a couple of them. We also have numerous green tomatoes that I'm just waiting to turn red. The pumpkin vine has grown out of the garden into the yard about five feet and I have to stay on Abbey not to walk on it. We have a three foot watermelon vine and very small cucumber vines (I planted the cucumber late). I cooked a large batch of the green beans last night and couldn't be happier with the results. Finally, I have some one inch okra starting to come out on the plant and my sunflowers are about 5-6 feet tall, no flowers yet. Abbey got her first watering experience last weekend. I put her in her swimsuit and turned the sprinkler on to water the garden. She had a ball. We have pictures and maybe I'll get those on here by this weekend. Otherwise, we are just doing the normal stuff. For those of you who get the Herald Chronicle, I should have another artcle coming out in Friday's paper so look for that. I was very excited that my last article made the front page, but I doubt it will happen again. This is a follow up article to the first one so I'm sure it will be buried in there somewhere, but look for it. We have a family reunion this weekend and then the July 4th weekend. I'm very interested to see how Abbey will do with the fireworks this year. Well, until next time.

Summertime

Well, Abbey is enjoying her first real summer. She was only 5-7 months old last year so she didn't really get to do much, but now she is mobile and she wants to go out everyday when we get home. I came home from work a couple of weeks back and after going through the house looking for them, I found Daddy and Abbey outside. I don't have a picture, but she loves to pull on the branches of the weeping willow trees in the yard.

She loves to play music

But then again I guess I should have expected that. Look at who here parents are. Thought you might like this video of Abbey and Daddy playing music. This has become a regular thing. The most used entrance in and out of our house is through our music room, so now I have to make sure we are ready in plenty of time if we are going somewhere because Abbey can't go pass the instruments without playing something.

I guess we need to watch what we say...

Abbey is learning so many new words, and fast. She can tell you about her "toes", "knee" and the "stick" she likes to drag around the back yard. She knows where her "nose" is and asks for either her "Meme" or aunt "Nina" every morning when she wakes up. The one that we might have done differently came to bite me back a couple of weekends ago. On Saturday mornings I get Abbey up, bring her into our room and put her in bed with Daddy to watch Mickey Mouse for a few minutes. This particular Saturday morning she noticed Daddy didn't have his shirt on and she pointed at his tummy and said "What's 'at?" I told her it was Daddy's "gut". She repeated "gut" and we laughed. It was so cute the way she said "gut". The next day we went to my mom and dad's on Sunday afternoon after church so she could play with her Papa and Meme. While Papa was sitting at the table in the kitchen, Abbey came over and pointed to his tummy and said, "What's 'at?" Papa told her it was his tummy. She looked straight at him and said "gut" and walked off. I couldn't help but snicker because it was funny, but I was a little embarrassed too. I don't think it bothered my dad, he was just surprised that she called it a gut. (My mom laughed too, by the way) We should have taught her to call it a tummy I guess. It is a much cuter term. Last night she was in the kitchen watching me cook dinner and we were talking, going over animals sounds and body parts, and we got to her tummy. She pointed so I asked what it was and again she said it was her "gut". I guess from now on we need to be careful what we call things. Although it is correct (especially for those of us that have a true gut and could stand to lose a few pounds), I don't want her offending anyone. I think coming out of the mouth of a one year old, she can get by with it but it just makes me realize how much she is learning and paying attention to what we do and say. Clark and I have to think before we speak now.