Last weekend Keith and I went with Mia to spend the weekend in Branson with Keith's two sisters and their families.  We left on Friday morning and caravanned down 44 and planned a couple stops along the way.  Our first stop was to the world's largest rocking chair... we teased Don the whole way there about how silly it would be but we really did enjoy our stop!  They had a little shop there that Keith enjoyed looking around, and even enjoyed a free shot of whiskey.  Like dad said, that's just the thing to give out to those traveling down 44!  Yikes!  We planned to also stop at the Laura Ingalls Wilder house but Don and Mimi had a horrific car accident on the way there.  Thankfully everyone was fine in both cars involved and we were able to fit the family with all of their stuff in our van and Chris's vehicle.  We went ahead and headed to Branson since we were so close instead of turning around and driving hours and hours to get back home.   And everyone was so glad we did!  We had fun swimming, boating, tubing, jet skiing, fishing, and just playing!  Mia was in her glory hanging out with Chris and Mimi's little girls!  One night at dinner Mia and her BFF Millie had a 5-minute conversation across the table that had all the surrounding tables in stitches!  Mimi and Chris were really funny and interjected dialogue... coming up with what they perceived the girls were saying to each other about their dinner and the sleeping accomodations back at the condo.  Everyone made it back safely, with a promise that we would do it again next year!

Mia and I went to the zoo again last week with my good friends from Dinner Club.  Because of the predicted high temps and even higher humidity we met at 8 a.m. and left at noon.  It was a great trip!  Sure, it was warm and sticky, but we were able to see many more animals than we did on our last trip.  The zoo allows free admission to the Children's Zoo and the Stingray exhibit during the first hour, so we enjoyed see those special stops.  Mia was really in tune to the animals!  After leaving the zoo we all went to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and enjoyed visiting with everyone!  Mia and her buddies Logan and Kate were great the whole time!

SO BIG!

We have been having camera problems these last couple of weeks, so I have not been able to take new pictures or make new posts.  The good news is that Keith fixed the camera!  
We had our first "Family Fun Night" last Friday evening and we had been looking forward to it all week long.  Keith and I will be taking turns planning a fun day/night with Mia... kind of like a Date Night with her.  :)  I planned our first one and decided we would go to the zoo, then to dinner, and lastly to Ted Drewes!   Keith works until noon on Fridays, but since it was really warm on Friday we decided to wait until after Mia's afternoon nap to leave.  That way the sun would be lower and maybe the crowd would have thinned out a bit.  While Mia napped I carefully planned what we would need to bring in the diaper bag to make our trip out as lengthy as possible. 
We luckily found a great FREE parking spot quickly and as I was getting Mia out of the van I realized I forgot the diaper bag!!  I was so disappointed and thought our night would have to be really short.  However, a super-nice couple offered us a couple of diapers so we would at least make it through the zoo.  Keith purchased a disposable camera so we wouldn't lose those first zoo memories and even got Mia a really cute souvenir hat (which was lost before we got back to the van at the end of the visit).  
We decided not to zoom through the entire zoo since we could come back another time.  We visited the bears, the apes, the Monkey House, and the Reptile House.  Oh, and the sea lions!  We weren't expecting a lot of interaction from Mia since she is only 8 months old, but we were pleasantly surprised that she enjoyed watching the apes!  The apes were hanging out close to the glass so it made for some great camera opportunities (and we did the best we could with the disposable).  
Mia was as good as gold through the zoo and during dinner at our favorite Vietnamese place called Mekong.  We opted to skip Ted Drewes on this trip... it will give us a reason to head down that way again!  Mia really needed her bottle, and the baby food we picked up at Walgreens wasn't buying us much time.  
I learned a very valuable lesson! (Other than the diaper bag is a wonderful resource.)  I learned that there will be times when Keith and I will need to be creative and resourceful, and it will always work out just fine.  I can't wait for Keith's turn to plan Family Fun Night!  Remember when he used to plan Mystery Dates before we were married?  He's very creative and fun with that stuff!

Hello there!

So pretty!

Do you see the monkey up there? And holding me?

There are sea lions back there.

Until next time!

Last night we went to the Cardinals game again but it was a short night because of the storm that came in.  Our friend Sandy threw out the first pitch (well, one of them) and we were excited to be there! 

I was able to visit Dan and Steph last weekend and was so glad to meet little Kate!  What a precious little girl!  Of course it was just as great to spend time with Dan and Steph!  I love that Mia has another cousin her age and will have a playmate when we visit the west coast!  Thankfully, both Kate and Stephanie are doing well!

Enjoy some pictures from Mia's first Easter! 

What an exciting first game for Mia to attend!  And Fred Bird even found us before the game... Mia wasn't too sure what to think.  Too cute.  :) 

Tonight we're bringing Mia to her first Cardinals game!  Let's hope they can bring home a winner!

A couple months ago Mia went with us to the Blues game, too.  Where we go, she goes... and we love it!

Now that Mia is rolling like a champ, she's ready for bigger and better things!  At least, she wants to be!  Mia got a cute butterfly toy for Christmas that cruises along the ground and flaps its wings and she just loves it.  Just like at the Butterfly house, she likes to grab it and crush its wings.  The idea is that she will crawl after it, and you can tell she really wants to.  Sometimes I think I can see the wheels turning in her mind, trying to figure out how to move her body forward to get it.  I feel terrible when she gets frustrated, at which point I will nudge her forward by pushing on the bottoms of her feet.  She'll get it, though. 

Mia is also sitting up almost completely independently.  Last night at Abby's birthday party she sat and played Barbies with Allison and Aunt Dawn for quite awhile.  When we're at home and she's leaning against a pillow she will pull herself up and play with anything she can get her hands on.  She also loves her new bigger-girl carseat because now she can sit up and watch the world go by.  I guess she doesn't get carsick sitting backwards... I think I would! 

Let's see... what else?  She doesn't like green beans and carrots, but loves peas and sweet potatoes!  She's getting the hang of drinking from a regular cup, and the sippy cup thing is still tricky for her.  Mia babbles all kinds of sounds throughout the day, even mixing her sounds up so it sounds like another language.  She can give hugs and kisses, and even high-fives!  And she gets really excited when it's time for her bath and just loves to splash and splash!  I can't wait until she sits up really well so we can use her blow-up ducky bath that my cousins Mike and Angie gave her.  Mia's cousin, Lauren, just loved hers! 

Lastly, Mia seems to enjoy going places with us.  We enjoy eating out with her since she sits really well in the highchair... for now, at least!  She's really easy to bring just about anywhere and it's fun to watch her 'soak it all in'. 

P.S.  We have to start using You Tube for our videos now because Google is going to stop the video uploading capability... please let me know if you have trouble viewing the videos from now on.  Thanks!