Renae makes a friend . . .

. . .Or at least someone who gives her food.


Uncle Trey feeds Renae whatever it is that he's eating.



Uncle Trey teaches Renae how to make jokes.


Uncle Trey (and Aunt Britt) teach Renae how to eat clovers.


Uncle Trey helps Renae learn to like Bo.


BFF.

10 Things We'll Never Forget About our Trip to France . . .

The trip there and back . . .


The cheese . . .


The smells . . .


The romantic walks . . .


The fake walls . . .


The spouse and how wonderful he/she is.


The scenery . . .


The random butterflies on stilts . . .


The history . . .


The family.

More to come . . . stay tuned!

We're Back . . .

. . . And we're tired. So there will be no posting until we (ok I) get some rest. If you are still impatient, click here to see some pics of our trip.

It's Been Awhile . . .

It's been 2 years since we've seen these guys.

It's also been 2 years since we've been with those guys, AND these guys!

We are in for a lot of fun these next few days . . .

Renae's Ramblings-Part 12

Today's post is entitled, "A Fun Day in the Life of Me." You see, my life is very interesting. Each day something new and exciting happens. Last week, I had a very, very exciting day. Let me tell you all about it . . .

I can usually climb by myself . . .

Swinging with Daddy is so fun!

Aww Dad . . . a kiss in public?

It began when my Mommy and Daddy put me in the stroller. That is always a clue that we are leaving the house as I usually don't get to ride around the house in the stroller. But I try to push it sometimes if Mommy forgets to put it away. We headed out of the apartment and I got really excited. "Woo hoo! I get to see the world! Wow! Look at that woman! And look at that dog that just wet his diaper on the street! How interesting!" I said to myself. (Since Mommy and Daddy still can't figure out what I'm saying . . . they are so slow!)

I stayed in the stroller for awhile observing all of the people that we passed. After a really long time (Hey! Time passes slowly when you are a 1 year old!) we finally stopped at a park! I love when we get to go to the park! What I love most about the park is all of the dirt, cigarette butts, and leaves on the ground. It's so cool! Mommy always tries to talk a lot about the cool slides and swings as if they were made of chocolate or something, but I know that really, the dirt is the best thing about the park. I mean, what's not to love? You can put your hands in it, you can crawl in it, it's the best!

This particular day was really fun because Mommy AND Daddy came. That doesn't always work out. Daddy swung with me, he went down the slide with me, it was a pretty fun time. They even let me play in the dirt . . . for just a little bit.

Weeeeeeee!

So yeah . . my life is pretty sweet. The park was the highlight of my week. Especially since the next day Mommy took me all over the place looking for new shoes for me. That was not my favorite day . . . But in general life is good. Everyday I get up and start walking all over our apartment. Mommy says it's kind of small, but I find it huge. She says it's because I have very short term memory. At least, I think Mommy said that, it could have been Daddy . . . well maybe it was . . . hey want to go to the park?

"Renae, can you PLEASE just sit down for 1 second?"

Just Mommy and Me . .

This is how I point to something I want, something I see, something I like . . . it's a multi-purpose hand sign.

I get a bath after playing in the dirt . . .

Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down-Water Parks

There were a lot of things we enjoyed about the water park here. And then were some things that were very different . . .


Jesse takes a spill.

Thumbs Up

• Lots of grassy, shaded places to relax. A nice break from the crowded cement areas.
• You can bring in your own food and drink here! This is common of many places which is nice since things are so expensive. (That movie in the park we went to last week? We figured we had to smuggle in our food. Then we found out that everyone had coolers with them from home . . .same thing at the water park.)

Walking in the water is fun!

• The park was crowded with loads of people. Lines were fairly short. Always nice . . .
• All of the slides emptied into one big pool so as we took turns riding the slides, one could hold Renae and watch the other flop around like a fish.

But crawling is easier.

• This water park had no topless women. This was very nice.
• Very family friendly. There weren't hardly any annoying groups of teenagers flirting with each other.

I'm about to push off!

Thumbs Down

• Speedos.
• The inability to tell a young girl from a boy. For some reason, little girls only wear the bottoms of their swimsuits. And little boys wear speedos . . . so . . .

Relaxing in the shade.

Daddy and Renae.

• The price. It was a little pricey for what you got, but then again, the price is always a thumbs down when you live in Europe.

A happy Mom . . .

• The wave pool. Oh. My. Word. I was SO excited for the wave pool. When we arrived, people were swimming in the wave pool, but the waves weren't on. We figured the waves would start soon, and run every 10 or 15 minutes like in the states. We hit the slides first and waited to see the waves begin. An hour and a half later, there was an announcement that sad the wave pool would be starting. About 3/4 of the people headed over to enjoy the waves. After about 10 minutes, the wave machine finally started humming. Jesse swam out first while I played with Renae. After a few minutes, he came back and I took my turn surfing the sea of people and waves. No joke. I enjoyed the waves for about 3 more minutes and then they stopped. The waves ran a grand total of 5 minutes. We thought this must have been a fluke. But everyone got out, and we decided they'd probably run the waves again in a half hour or so. TWO hours later, there was another announcement that the wave pool was beginning, and again, 3/4 of the people crammed into the wave pool. Again, it lasted only 5 minutes. Sigh . . .

One tired girl.

A Trip Back in Time . . . Sort Of UPDATED

Have you ever wondered if you would have been friends with your parents or siblings had you attended the same high school as them? Well now is your chance. Check out their Yearbook now . . .


Jesse-Class of '74
Voted Most Likely to Purchase Hairplugs by the time he is 30.


Julie-Class of '72, Wendi-Class of '72
Voted Most Likely to Be Best Friends for Life


Jesse-Class of '98
Voted Most Likely to Start a new Reality TV Series entitled, "The Biggest Loser."


Wendi-Class of '90
Voted Most Likely to Raise the best 4 kids in the world.


Rick-Class of '82
Voted Most Likely to Skip classes, cheat on tests, and feign illness. As they used to say, "Not!"


Julie-Class of '94
Voted Most Likely, to like, maybe go to College or something.


Renae-Class of '62
Voted most likely to Change the World

***Penni-you are lucky I couldn't find one of you . . . I tried and tired and learned we don't have very many pictures of you! It must be because you are the paparazzi behind the camera? And I was on my way to do all of our siblings but . . . well it's 2:30 in the morning. WHY am I up doing this??

I found one of Penni!!!! She was a real beauty back in '82 . . .

Renae the Cheeseball . . .

This is the look Renae gives us all the time. But the funniest is when we lay her down to sleep. She usually cries for about a minute anytime we put her to bed. But before that happens, she first gives us one of these. The room is dark, we slowly put her in the crib, then she looks up and gives us her cheese face. Priceless.

Feliz Cumpleaños Renae . . .

The party begins . . .


We had a doll theme as you can tell.


The guests watching Renae open gifts.



Both sides of our family got to watch the action!


Renae gets her first REAL baby doll! For the theme of course . . .


"When are we eating the cake??"


Her friend helps.


"What's this?"


"Well that was fun. So really . . . when are we eating the cake?"


"FINALLY!!!!"


"Can we hurry this song along?"


"Whew . . that's sweet!"


"But soooooo good . . ."


Pin the body parts on the doll.


Renae and her buddy!


Well worth it . . .