Daddy's dream come true

On our way up to Indiana to see friends and family, we stopped in for a quick stop in Cincinnati to visit Great American Ballpark, home of my Cincinnati Reds. I hadn't been to the new park before, and since the Reds weren't in town I settled for the next best thing...a tour of the stadium. The tour was really awesome as they let us down on the field and into the dugout. I was able to get some really memorable pictures of Brooklynn sitting in the dugout and walking up the steps onto the field. They also had an awesome Reds Hall of Fame which brought back a lot of memories from childhood, and they had a huge giftshop where I was able to buy Brooklynn some Reds gear. You have to raise your children right, you know.

Froggy Caboggy

Brooklynn received her first pets this past weekend as her aunt Sara, who teaches fourth grade science, had some extra African water frogs that needed a home. She brought them over to our house and Brooklynn was immediately obsessed with them. All she wanted to do was watch the frogs. In fact, the very next morning Brooklynn woke up and the first word out of her mouth was "caboggy" (she can now say frog, but how cute is that). We ran out to Petsmart and got her new pets a home and she just loves watching and talking about her frogs.

My new favorite place...

We took Brooklynn to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time tonight as we met her cousins Anna Kate and Lauren there for dinner. She loved all the little rides and really enjoyed playing on the toddler playground. I think we'll be coming back here quite often in the near future seeing that Brooklynn cried when she had to say goodbye to "Chuck-E".

Brooklynn's First Fair!

Our friends Bill and Sabina called up and invited us to go the the Upper South Carolina State Fair tonight. We weren't sure we were up for it as it was pretty crowded last year, but we decided to take Brooklynn this year and let her see the animals and ride all the rides. It turned out to be a really great night. There was hardly a crowd, there was no waiting in lines, and the weather was nice. Brooklynn loved every minute of it. She got so excited when she saw the elephants and zebra, and she wasn't afraid at all to ride the rides...even the huge ferris wheel with her daddy! All in all, it was really cool this year watching Brooklynn have so much fun at the fair. Oh yeah, she kept asking for that cotten candy which turned her into a little smurf.

"I got my own little lunchbox!"

Our little girl is growing up way too fast! Brooklynn started "school" this week as she's attending Mother's Day Out two days a week at a church here in town. She did really well her first two days and it really gives her a chance to learn to interact with other kids her age. Upon picking Brooklynn up the first day, Joy asked the teachers if she did well. They said she was really good, but she sure was a climber. They said they turned around for one second, and when they looked back she had gotten herself up into the sink. That's our fearless little girl.

Brooklynn's First "Build-a-Bear"

The store that is known as "Build-a-Bear" has always amazed me. You could walk past that place 2 minutes before the mall closes and it's still going to packed with mobs of kids getting yet another stuffed bear to add to their probably insurmountable collection at home. This business is not even close to hurting financially, and we contributed to their profits this weekend. We took Brooklynn there for the first time and we were happy to see they actually had a Winnie the Pooh bear as we had been looking for one for quite some time. Brooklynn loved every bit of it and she wouldn't let go of her Pooh-bear for the rest of her night. I really hope this isn't the start of what could be a very slippery slope of stuffing-filled, wallet-draining bear toys...who am I kidding. Let the bears begin!

One last summer swim

This weekend Brooklynn was invited to go swimming with her cousin Blythe at the public pool. She absolutely loves the water and has no fear of going in the deep water with daddy. The pools around here close pretty soon so it was good to take advantage of the heat relief one last time.

The "Bigger than Brooklynn" Bear

Brooklynn received one amazing gift this weekend and it came all the way from New Jersey. Joy's Uncle Bob and Aunt Eileen came down for a few days to spend some time with Brooklynn and they brought her a stuffed bear...a humongous stuffed bear! I'm guessing that Brooklynn absolutely loves it as she tackles it, rolls around and cries "WHHEEEEEE"!

Ice cream with the Highsmith cousins!

Brooklynn got to go see her big cousin Anna Kate play soccer tonight and afterwards we all went out for ice cream at Brusters. We took advantage of the moment and snapped a quick shot of Brooklynn with Anna Kate and Lauren. It was great to get all the girls together again.

"Turtle-dough"

Brooklynn is always asking us to play with her "turtle-dough" (Joy always makes her a turtle each time they play with playdough). She hasn't learned how to make anything yet except for a mess, but it's still great fun to watch her play and learn each time.

She loves to color!

Brooklynn just loves to color, whether it is with her crayons or markers, and she is always asking us to get them for her. She's getting better and better each day as we see her stay somewhat in between the lines.

Brooklynn's Bathtime

Brooklynn loves her bathtime. Other than the bothersome washing of her hair, she loves every bit of splashing and playing in the water. She almost makes it her own little pool as she rolls on her tummy and "swims" around the tub.

July headaches with our cable modem...

You all have probably been wondering why there have been so few posts this month about Brooklynn. Well, we've been having a lot of internet problems the entire month of July and we finally made the big switch to DSL. We're back up and running!! Updates should now be appearing and appearing frequently! Thanks for your patience.

Another aquarium visit!

Last weekend we took a trip down to Atlanta to take Brooklynn to the brand new Georgia Aquarium. Once again, she just loved it. This video was taken in front of probably the biggest "wall of fish" that I've ever seen.

Backyard beach...

Being the fact that Brooklynn just loves to be outside in our backyard, she was running out of things to keep her occupied...so we ran out and got her her very own sandbox. She just loves it! We've brought the beach to her.

"Look at all the 'ish!"

While we were down at the beach we took Brooklynn to Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach. She absolutely loves fish, so you can imagine how much fun she had watching all the different kinds. Watching her enjoy her first aquarium trip made the admission price well worth it! Oh yeah, and the sharks we're really cool too.

Even more...from the beach.

Just when you thought you'd seen everything from our beach trip, here's even a few more photos for you to check out.

More from the beach!

Here are some more photos from our beach trip last week. Enjoy!

Somebody loves the ocean!

We just got back from a wonderful week at Pawley's Island and boy did Brooklynn love the beach. As soon as we took her down to the ocean the first evening, she ran straight to the water and didn't want to get out. For the rest of the week our time on the beach was spent chasing after our little ball of energy who figured that she could run straight into the ocean without parental supervision. Look for more photos soon. Our internet has been down, so sorry for the delay.

Look at the 'do!

Even after 3 haircuts I have managed to get Brooklynn's hair in little pigtails and, boy, does she look cute with them. I have been waiting forever for a chance to do something with her hair, and now the day has come!

Come on, baby, just dance with me...

Brooklynn loves to dance. Whenever there's music in the room, she's always in the middle of the floor showing everyone her moves. I just had to capture a little bit of it and share it with everyone.

Finally, something to keep her busy!

This past weekend we made the trek out to Toys R Us and finally got Brooklynn her own little kitchen. She just absolutely loves it and can't stop playing with it! We put it in the kitchen right by our fridge, and it seems like she's always in there cooking something up for us...okay, maybe she just opens all the doors and drawers and dumps everything out, then puts it all back in...such a little busy-body!

It's carnival time!

We took Brooklynn to a little carnival downtown tonight and it was so much fun. She got to go on her first "ride" which was a little train that went around a pretty small circle. She must have been the youngest one on there, but she was such a big girl and rode all by herself. She loved it so much she had to ride it again...she then proceeded to clap her hands each time she came by us. We also gave her her first taste of cotton candy, which she pushed away with a yucky face at first, but then became addicted once she had her first bite.

Little sleeping beauty...

Brooklynn is so cute at nights when we put her down to sleep. She can't go to sleep unless she has her "dee-dee" (baby). I went in one morning last week to wake her up and I just had to snap this picture. Covered with her blanket and baby in hand...she was sound asleep.