Smile for the Camera!

We've entered the phase of fake camera smiles :




Or, "Show me your crazy monkey face."

At least we still have "Show me the fish!"

Random

Saw this cupcake cake in the store today. Seriously, how can you do that to a butterfly?

And here's the monkey with her gator.

Bikes!

Finally, here's Becca in her helmet---super cute!

This last weekend we took the bikes out for a trip along the Southwest (?) fork of the Rancocas.

Rich liked it so much that we went back fishing that evening.

And little Becca fell asleep in my arms as we stood along the river. That hasn't happened in a while.

Karma

As you know, Becca loves, loves, loves the neighbor's dog, Karma. Here are a few quick pictures of the two of them, right before Karma "went to Jamaica" (a friend's house) with our neighbor (went to Jamaica) for the week.

Her hair clips are only staying in for a few minutes these days, but they sure are cute. At least they're cute on her, but they spend WAY to much time in my hair (not so cute).

Old Friends

It was great to see some old friends this last week . . . .







(This was Becca's first shucking experience. I tried to get her to smile for me, but she was all business.)

Notes to Self

Just a couple of things I don't want to forget about this age--please don't feel you have to read these.

She acts out the "Story of G-Pop" almost every nap time.

Becca, holding my hair across her upper lip, pulls it away from herself and says, "Off!"

"What came off?"

"Mustache"

"Who's mustache?"

"G-Pop"

"Why did he take off his mustache?"

"Betta"

"That's right; he did it because he loves Becca."

Kisses mommy.

Too much TV? Or just great product placement on our yogurt?

"A . . .B . . .C . . .D . . ."

"What comes after D?"

"iego!"

The Horror

After chasing Daddy away with the hose the other night, Becca aimed it right at her feet.

In other gardening news, it looks the a deer found Rich's backyard tomato plants:

And the ones in the front:

So much for the great tomato crop of 2009 . . . . . . .

Jay's Big Day

Cousin Jason turns 5 this week; here are some of the party pictures from Sunday:

And we took the opportunity to get that bike seat Rich has been dreaming of, since our Pro Pedals connection comes in handy now and then--thanks Big Jay, for working on your day off!! Here's Becca's first bike ride. I forgot to bring her helmet, so she's sporting one of Jason's, but hers is sooo cute I can't wait to show you (Jason's parents gave it to us way back at the baby shower).

Animal Kingdom Zoo

Saturday we went to check out a little zoo about 25 minutes from the house. No it's not quite the same as the Philadelphia zoo (it looks like something we'd stop at on a cross-country drive through the south), but the Philadelphia zoo's a two hour round trip (at least) so this seemed an easier option.

And I don't think we could do this at the big zoo:

Or this:

FYI--the monkeys don't care for the peanuts in the $4 bag of zoo feed. Their preference order is Fruit Loops, popcorn, peanuts, then kibble. Well, at the very top was the banana I packed for my lunch, but don't tell. When Rich held the bag out the monkey swatted at the stuff across the top, knocking everything out until he found the Fruit Loops.

This guy would watch to see what Rich put down the tube, and if it was a peanut he wouldn't even reach out--just let it fall to the ground.

The donkeys and nursing monkeys were the only ones that seemed to go for peanuts.

And the peacock, if you shelled it first.

Pot-bellied pigs.

Super-religious family whose boys ran from Becca. And a llama.

Petting the baby camel--they're much softer than I would have guessed.

And her favorite animal of the day . . . . . a puppy.

When we put her in the car, about an hour-and-a-half past nap time, she chanted, "more animals," over and over. When she woke up in her crib she continued the chant. We'll be going back (with an extra stash of Fruit Loops in the diaper bag). And say what you want about the aesthetics of the place, but I've never seen a place with more babies (primates, giraffes, pigs, and camels) so they must be doing something right.