Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day morning--first Valentine's day ever (we celebrate at the Mountain House) and Canaan gets an educational toy.

That's what happens when you have a teacher as a mother.

And she thought it was funny to put a bow on my head.

Canaan was especially excited about the very sweet card that her Daddy gave her. She was also excited about the tissue paper--as you can see in the background, she's already tried to eat it.

And in the spirit of giving, Canaan gives her Grandma and Grandpa a balloon and candy--Canaan was hoping they'd give it back to her to play with. But we learned a little lesson about "Indian Giving."

Next, Canaan gave her Grammy and Uncle Roy (Maureen's actual Aunt Beth and Uncle Roy from Minnesota) a chocolate rose. Everyone was clearly excited.

Next, Canaan presents her Uncle John (Maureen's brother) and his new dog Val, a valentine--lots of candy. Canaan was thrilled about Val and secretly hoped that her Uncle John would give her Val for Valentine's Day.

As you can see in this video, eating a dog is way better than eating any kind of Valentine candy.

So to celebrate her first Valentine's Day, Canaan had to change outfits (again) into the cutest brown outfit given to her by her Grandma. And after eating the Valentine card she made for her Grandma, Canaan gets ready for her "First Valentine's Day Interview."

Her Grammy and Uncle Roy had come to visit, her Uncle John is there, Val is anticipating what Canaan will say, Grandma and Grandpa are watching, Daddy is video taping, and Mom is commentating. We are ready to commemorate Canaan's first Valentine's Day.

As you can see in the end of the video, Canaan begins to "zone." She's probably reflecting on the Valentine that's waiting at home...and that lives at 411 Redwood Trail...Andre Clark.

Or maybe she was thinking about how relaxing that nice, long soak in the hot-tub with her Uncle John was.

But we know that she was really thinking about her absolute, all time, totally favorite Valentine's--her Mom and Daddy!

A Day at the Park

Being the beautiful weekend that it was, we decided to go on a family outing to the park! So with picnic basket loaded, baby strapped in the Bjorn, diaper bag and purse in tow, we were off. Through the Swafford's backyard, past the ferocious dogs, navigating the prickly briers, beyond the baseball fields, and we were there.

Canaan was excited to finally be there. A trek through the woods is difficult when the possibility looms that your tights could be snagged on a brier. At least her pink headband kept the sweat out of her eyes.

First stop, the slide! Flip video posed to take in the action, Canaan perching at the top of the slide, Tim ready to push/slide/pull her down, and Canaan was thrilled! It wasn't quite as fast as she would have preferred, but at least it was 17 times the size of the slide in our backyard. Still thrilling.

Next stop, the "big" swing. MUCH bigger than the blue swing in the backyard. This was Canaan's first experience in a big swing and she was ready. We had prepped her in the art of "pumping", to which she proved quite proficient. As you can see in the video, Canaan was hoping she could actually loop around the entire swing set--something only dreamed possible by children in playgrounds across America. "Today," Canaan thought, "I'm going to 360 this thing." We just let her believe she could--"Pump, Canaan, pump!!" we kept telling her.

And after feeling like she could conquer every playground urban legend, Canaan was ready for the monkey bars. While it seemed as though she lacked sufficient upper body strength to make it across, her daddy saved the day and "helped" her make it to the other side. Dads really make you feel like you can do anything. We decided to teach her to hang by her legs during our next playground visit.

Next stop, trying to drop wood chips down the holes on top of the kids hiding below there.

Just kidding--we think she was only pooping.

Ahhhh...the feeling of a good poop!

Before we could eat our picnic, Canaan had to experience one more marvel of the American Playground...the bouncy thing.

Canaan was not as excited about the bouncy thing as she was about the monkey bars. In fact, after "experiencing" it, she let go of the handle bars in an attempt to jump ship, but instead happened to "Heimlich" herself. Causing even more trauma on the bouncy thing.

Finally, lunch time. A little mush, a nice apple, and a cold bottle of water to wash it all down.

We love the park!