Gigging

So everybody knows that I'm a park commissioner for my township, and I've taken responsibility for booking, publicizing and running our concert series. It's great fun, since I love music and bands and I love to pick stuff that's different and interesting that I think our neighbors will like. Boo has been my co-pilot ever since I started doing it-- her first public outing was a park concert when she was two weeks old. She's met lots of local artists who have been very sweet to her, even if half of the time she burst into tears when she met them.

Last night we had a favorite kids' singer, Dave Fry. I am in awe of this guy's way with kids. He had them eating out of the palm of his hand for 90 minutes straight. That's a feat.

Boo was a bit reluctant to get involved:

...but then she got braver (that's her in the background going to get a rhythm instrument):

(Note that we're inside-- we had a huge rainstorm that forced the show indoors. We still had a great turnout.)

That thing in her hand is a rhythm stick.

Nature Girl

Boo and I headed for the great outdoors yesterday-- Jacobsburg State Park, which is just a bit north of the Valley and is absolutely gorgeous. We went early and stayed in the shade and drank a million gallons of water, and we managed to have a really nice morning and escaped just as the heat was really kicking in. We hiked a bit but mostly just explored-- the Bushkill Creek runs through the gorge there and was low and slow, so we were able to get close and check it out. We caught tiny frogs the size of my fingernail and threw twigs into the creek to watch the current carry them off and counted tree rings and all kinds of hippie stuff. Good times.

Blacksburgalooza

So here's the rest of our trip to B'burg:

it rained.

And rained.

And rained some more.

This was a bit of a downer, as all of the activities I had thought of for Boo to do involved the great outdoors. I had brought some rainy-day backup stuff, but I hadn't planned for three days' worth.

The first day, we headed to the mall. I popped her on the little crappy mall rides and kept pumping quarters into them so they would keep bouncing her up and down and playing bad music. (One of the rides was called the "Speedster," except some comedians scraped off the S and the D, so it was the "pee ster." Boo took two rides on that one while I cringed.) We also did a bit of shopping and walked around until she got antsy.

The second day was a bit of a blur because SHE WOKE US UP AT 4:30 A.M. We tried for two hours to get her back to sleep, but she was UP. After going for a walk around the hotel and reading the magazines in the lobby, she went to sleep at 9 a.m. So did we. I honestly can't recall the rest of that day.

Finally, we had wedding activities, and the grandparents rolled into town, so we had some stuff to do and things picked up. Boo played with the Heflins and then did her thing at the rehearsal.

The day of the wedding dawned sunny and clear, so I'm glad if it had to rain, it got out of the way before the big day. We finally did some of the outside stuff I had planned. We went to the park that borders the VT barns, so we could feed the ducks and geese while watching sheep and cows in the fields. Alison practiced all of her animal noises. We also worked out our colors by looking at the birds-- red cardinals and blue jays. We also saw the BIG turtle that lives in the pond in that park, which Alison was both entranced by and nervous about.

Alison also buddied up with another 2-year-old girl in the park named Quinn. (Her parents were from Ft. Walton Beach!) Alison and Quinn played two games: 1) Run Around While Carrying the Box of Sidewalk Chalk (But Don't Actually Draw Anything), and 2) Kick the Ball Towards the Pond While Quinn's Dad Sprints to Stop It Before It Hits the Duck-Pee-Filled Water.

Then we headed into the little downtown part of Blacksburg, which is maybe two blocks long, and checked out the hippie shops and the farmer's market. This wore Boo down enough that she got a really good nap before the wedding, which was crucial.

We drove straight home on Sunday, and while Boo did get a bit cranky, she did really well considering her age and how long she had to ride in the car.

So we had a good trip...if not terribly relaxing!

A Wonderful Wedding Weekend With Rashley

In case you hadn't heard-- Randy Heflin: OFF THE MARKET.

It was a really nice weekend-- all the events were lovely, the Shews were lovely, the weather was lovely, life was good. But this blog is about Boo, so here we go.

Pictures first, stories to follow. I have no portraits of her in her flower girl dress-- I couldn't get her to stand still long enough and the official portraits aren't back yet, so I'll share those when I can get them. But I do have some pics for you guys.

Here's her rehearsal outfit:


She was quite squirmy during both the rehearsal...thankfully the church had a kids' book rack which we raided (I stashed a stack of books at our seat for the wedding proper) and the wedding. Granddaddy picked up some of the slack:

I couldn't take pics during the ceremony itself, so I'll have to stick to my fabulous command of prose to tell you what happened. She hung out with me in the Bride Hide room before the service-- then I took off just moments before the processional so she wouldn't have long to hang out sans parents. When her time to process arrived, she refused to carry the flower basket (loose petals-- I told them that she wouldn't scatter them, just pass them out one by one to each guest, and it would take 20 minutes-- more if she decided to then re-claim them, as she is wont to do) and she wouldn't go in the church. I crept to the front of the church and looked back down the aisle at her, and she's standing there looking like this:

I'm thinking, 'oh no, she's going to run for it,' and she did, but in a good way. I gestured to her to come to me, and she saw me, burst into a huge grin and came SPRINTING down the aisle. She jumped on me and gave me a big hug, then went and grabbed Randy around his knees. The crowd just ATE IT UP.

This kid is GOOD.

She was good during the service too, aside from pointing at her books to crow out the name of a picture she saw. ("Do you, Ashley..." 'BABY!" "shhhhhhh!" "...take this man..." "CAT! DADA!") And she recessed with her daddy and I.

As for the reception...she's a bit of a party girl. She danced with both of Ashley's sisters:



...and with her cousin Amanda...
...and with the other kids at the party.


She went until after 10 p.m., and would have kept going if Mommy hadn't put the brakes on and taken her home to get some shut eye. She was fast asleep within 5 minutes of getting back into our room.

NEXT POST: Rainy Days In a College Town With a Toddler!

Photo Shoot

No real news for a while-- we've been house hunting and tied down with finishing up work deadlines before we go to Blacksburg next week. One new cute thing is that Boo loves Itsy Bitsy Spider, and has begun to figure out the hand movements that go with the song. She really likes doing the "spider" gesture.

Anyway, we decided to play with some new outfits of hers last night and cruelly forced our little JonBenet into a brief stint of modeling (we kid, we kid). Check it out.

First up is the flower-girl dress for next week, to make sure we can still squeeze her into it:

I don't know if it's obvious, but we attempted to straighten her hair. We adore the ringlets; I was just curious to see if we could do it. It didn't get Aniston-straight but it did turn out pretty.

We also picked up a Lehigh cheerleader outfit for her last week. I bought a bigger one for football season, but it fits now, so here's hoping she doesn't spurt before September.

TOUCHDOWN!
And this one shows off her pep-squad smile (and my Booster Mom one):

Have a great day!