A dream come true for Helaina.

One of Helaina's dreams came true over the weekend when she got to pet the Asian elephant, Siri, at the zoo Sunday morning. It was the last weekend for the elephant demonstrations, which she loves. When the demo is over, Helaina is always the one who is clapping the loudest & longest, and also yelling "yaaaahhhhh". Thank goodness the ban on petting the elephants was lifted about a month ago. Apparently the elephants like the contact with humans as much as we enjoy the close contact with them. As I've said before, Helaina's favorite animal is the elephant, and Daddy and Momma couldn't wait to have her up close and personal with Siri. As Siri was led down the fence to where Helaina and Jim were standing (I had the camera ready), I think I was more excited than Helaina was! Here are some photos of the monumental occasion.

Helaina's first touch - you can tell by the look on her face that she was both thrilled and hesitant!

It was a semi-rainy morning and there weren't too many people at the zoo. That worked out well because there were only a handful of people waiting to pet Siri. Helaina had many chances to pet this beautiful, impressive animal and she enjoyed every second of it.

Just one more touch - yah, right.

I think Daddy was impressed too.

Indy, the male elephant, during the demonstration. One of the most amazing things that Indy did was skip across the yard. It was hysterical, but very impressive.

A great picture of the red panda.

"Milking" the wooden cow, and playing with the penguins -who would actually follow your hand up and down the glass.

This donkey was very interested in Helaina's fingers because she was eating some Cheez nips and he must have liked the smell of them!

Boating, carousel rides, haircuts & a baby.

A recent fishing excursion was actually successful - Daddy caught a fish. Helaina is always excited while reeling it in and curious when the fish is finally in the boat, but still doesn't have any interest in touching it. She takes after her Momma!



"Ok, put it back now, Daddy."


Having a granola bar snack, and pointing to a seagull flying by.


"How come your pole doesn't have Dora on it?"


"Can we go 'bumpy fast' after my snack?!"


A trip to the Carousel Mall is always a good thing - can't get out of the place without a carousel ride. Actually, we can't do anything in the mall until Helaina has her ride - the girl has her priorities.




Another good thing about the mall - a frosty from Wendy's.


We tried to get Helaina's hair cut at a salon once, but that didn't work. She protested in rare form when put in the seat for a trim. Wouldn't sit on my lap, couldn't be coaxed with marshmallows or bribery. Nothing worked, so after about 5 minutes of crying, squirming and trying to escape we gave up and left. She's so leary of anyone coming near her (especially in any type of uniform or "lab" coat) because of her nightmare blood draw and everything she went through with surgery. So, I trim her hair at home just to get the scraggly ends even every once in a while. We save her hair in a ziploc bag and she cooperates as well as a toddler can. I must say "sit still Helaina" about a hundred times. Jim thinks it's time to try again at a salon, but I say we're going to get the same reaction.



This is actually an "after" picture, but you can't really tell!


And finally, Aunt Cathy's grand-daughter visited us. Helaina loved holding, feeding, burping and kissing 3 week old baby Nic. She was very motherly toward her - it was so cute!

The Apple of Our Eye

A few weekends ago Helaina had her first trip to Apple Country - we headed for Lafayette on an unusually warm Sunday morning to Beak & Skiff orchards. Helaina loved every moment of the adventure - from the tractor ride to the hot apple fritters to the pony ride - she had a blast, and so did Momma and Daddy. We will definately be heading back there for another apple picking adventure in October.

Here's our beauty enjoying an apple she picked herself from a tree. The funny thing is that at home, Helaina will only eat apples if they are peeled, cut up and dunked in caramel apple dip! Must be they taste better if you pick them yourself because she ate 2 apples she plucked from the trees. She had apple juices running down her chin, her chubby little fingers and her arms - so funny.




"Is this a good one, Daddy?"








"Want a bite?"

After the apple picking came the hot apple fritters - a sugary hit with Helaina.

And cold cider too. "Um, Dad, is that my fritter you're eating?"

The crowing glory to the trip was Helaina's pony ride. She waited in line (impatiently jumping and shreaking) for her turn. Her pony's name was Brownie, or "Rownie" as she called him. For $4 it was a pretty long ride - she got her money's worth and enjoyed every second of the ride, as did Daddy.

When the horses came to a stop and Jim told her she had to get off Brownie, she leaned forward and gave him a kiss!! Is our daughter the most adorable, loving child there is??!!!

Daddy's Birthday

September 19th was Jim's birthday - first birthday as a Daddy! Helaina and I baked a chocolate cake. She loves to help with anything in the kitchen. She dragged the chair over to the counter, climbed up on it and started making a mess immediately!

"You sure we have to pick out the egg shells?"


"Watching this mix is boring. When can I lick something gooey?"


"Now this is more like it."


While I was cleaning up the kitchen, Helaina was unusually quiet. I looked around the corner and saw that she had piled her pillow, piggy and elephant on Heidi - and Heidi didn't even move! The picture's a little blurry, but still cute. I love Heidi's one eye peeking out from under the pillow as if to say "what the heck?"


Helaina LOVES birthday cakes and candles. Look at the smile on her face! We had to sing, blow out the candles, sing, relight the candles and blow them out again - several times. Heaven help us on February 27, 2009 when Helaina turns 3!

Waiting for the moment to blow them out...

Go!

Helaina models - reluctantly

At the end of May I decided to take some "posed" pictures of Helaina. I made my own backdrops and dressed her up in some favorite outfits and gave it a whirl. Now I know why professional photographers charge so much. I must have said a thousand times "Helaina, stand still. Helaina, get your finger out of your nose. Helaina, move back a little. Helaina, leave your hair bow alone. Helaina, get your hand out of your diaper. Helaina, smile. Helaina....." - well, you get the drift. She was fairly cooperative, for the most part, and I spread the "photo shoots" out over several days so it wasn't 5 hours straight of changing outfits and posing! Some of the pictures are adorable, and here are just a few of the MANY that I took!

This was the last photo taken on the last day. Helaina's pursed lips and hands on her hips (which I did not tell her to do) say it all: MOM, I've had enough pictures taken already!!!!