Beach Baby

Merrilee enjoyed her vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She is already a beach baby. She went shell hunting and she spent a lot of time playing in the surf and making sand castles. She loved the road trip down to Cape Hatteras to see the lighthouse.

Merrilee, mommy and daddy were joined by uncle Jim and aunt Judy from Arkansas, along with cousin Blakely.

Merrilee is already asking when she can go back to the beach.

Here are some assorted pictures and video.

And...some random video shots...

Gotcha Day -- 2 Years Later!

Has it really been two years already?

It was August 18, 2008, that we were in a little non-descript government building in Wuhan, China, getting to meet our precious little Merrilee for the very first time.

After almost four years of waiting, and traveling halfway around the world, it was a moment we will never forget...

Some days we miss that little girl so much. The time has gone by so quickly. But she has grown into one fine little buckaroo!!!

Happy anniversary, Merrilee. Happy "Gotcha Day!"

Playground Visits

While mommy has been away on another temporary duty assignment, it's been in the 90's again here in Baltimore.

And, almost every day, despite the heat, Merrilee wants to go to the neighborhood playgrounds.

It may not be the playgrounds though. It may be the snowball she gets from Opie's Snowballs afterward to cool down.

Here are some random playground scenes...

The Little Buckaroo!

One of the really cool things about the Goddard School is they do more than just the traditional school pictures.

A couple of weeks ago, they brought in a photographer who brought a pony to the school. All of the kids got to dress up and get their picture taken with the pony!

That day, Merrilee packed jeans for her picture. But when the time came to get the photo snapped, it was about 100 degrees, so Merrilee opted just to stay in her shorts. Still, it may be the cowboy hat that sets the tone.

Here she is -- our little buckaroo!

Vacation Bible School

Merrilee had a split day last week. In the mornings, she went to the Vacation Bible School at our church, Catonsville United Methodist. In the afternoons, she went to her regular school, the Goddard School in Hanover, Maryland.

On Friday night, there was a big celebration at the church to mark the end of Vacation Bible School. 266 kids attended this summer, and dozens of volunteers made it all possible and there were lots of generous donations of supplies.

Here are some scenes from the Friday night celebration. Not the best quality, but you'll get the idea.

A Scorcher

It was a scorcher yesterday. The temperature was above 100 degrees (after you top that, what's a degree or two?) The heat index was around 110-112 degrees.

In the morning, Merrilee made a visit to the local library with mommy.

Then, after Merrilee's nap, she got to enjoy the pools...both the big pool and her baby pool. She is becoming quite the fish, and she gets all around the big pool with her swimmies on. She even puts her head under water now. She's learning how to float and how to paddle around too.

After that refreshing dip in the pool it was grilled pork chops and roasted vegetables, including the green beans we grew in the back yard. And mommy made some yummy potato salad too!

Dress Up Day

Today was dress-up day at Merrilee's school. All of the kids were allowed to dress up in costumes, or dress as their favorite characters.

Mommy did a great job helping Merrilee get dressed up as Ariel!

Can you tell Merrille loves to play dress up?