To Catch Up.... A series of posts

Ok. Stop sending harassing emails and phone calls..... The McCain family has been super busy. But here, at long last, is the first in a new series of posts entitled "To Catch Up." The topic of this afternoon's post is "What Hazel has Learned." In addition to the photographic evidence below, Hazel has five words in her vocabulary (in addition to "Daddy"). She says "Hi" "Uh-Oh" "Ashley" "Bobbi" (Her two teachers at school) and "Audrey" (her cousin). We don't have any video evidence of this yet, but we will soon, I'm sure. So, without further delay, we present "What Hazel has Learned."

Hazel has learned to pick her nose.

Hazel has learned to push buttons on the television remote.

Hazel has learned to climb the stairs.

All...

the way...

up...

the...

stairs.

Hazel has learned to eat spaghetti and meatballs.

Hazel has learned to walk with assistance.

And to love it.

And Hazel has learned to look out the window.

Stay tuned for Episode 2: Daddy's Birthday.

Fun without daddy

This past week, Megan and Hazel have done all kinds of fun things without me. As such, I am going to look at some of the pictures they took and make up the stories around them as I see fit. That will teach them to have fun without me...


First, Megan and Hazel went to the zoo without me. However, they did bring Anne and Audrey. My interpretation:

Megan encourages Hazel to try her keys on the tiger cage while explaining that they are "just like your kitties at home."

After watching the dolphins do tricks for fish, Megan forces Hazel to do tricks for her chicken strips.

The girls play it cool while they plan their escape.

Later, Megan forced Hazel to sleep in awkward positions, punishment for the previously mentioned escape attempt.

On Saturday, Megan and Hazel went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum with some of Megan's college friends, Chris and Brian McGarry, and their kids Ben and Ella.

Megan threatens Hazel: "The dinosaur will eat you in one bite! You look very tasty!"

The dinosaurs come after Hazel and Ella!

The little ballerina, just happy to be away from the hungry dinosaurs.

"Hazel, what did the roaring dinosaurs look like?"

Poor Hazel! Megan forced her to hold her own bottle, and then wouldn't even let her sleep in her own bed!

Ok, admittedly, this may not be exactly as everything happened, but I'm sure I'm pretty close!

Visiting the Marsdens - Day 3

Day 3 - Saturday, August 16 2008

Hazel finally figured out that she doesn't have to wake up at 6:30 central time -- she actually slept in until 8:00 or so. Aunt Stephanie was already up, expecting us to be up earlier. So she made us chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and we all got dressed and headed off to the lake house. When we got there, we got a tour of the new "addition" that is being built to the house, and we visited with Richard's parents "NeNe and MoMo." After lunch we headed out on the boat. Uncle Richard pulled Stephanie and Glenn on the tube, then Stephanie pulled me and Richard. Then Richard pulled Stephanie and me. After we'd had our fun on the boat, we headed back and played on the jet-skis for a little while, and Richard taught Glenn and I how to paddle-board, which is like surfing, only with a paddle and no waves. (The neighbors at the lake house called it river-surfing. They'd never seen anything like it.)

We wore ourselves out playing in the lake and then headed back to Huntsville for a sushi dinner and some well-deserved rest. All in all, it was a busy busy busy weekend, but we had such a blast!

The view of the lake house from the roof of the boat dock. You can see just a hint of the addition to the left of the house.

Hazel didn't think the life jacket was very comfortable, but safety first.

Stephanie gave Richard and me a very wild ride!

Glenn was pretty good at paddle-boarding.

But I was better.

And, because we can't resist jumping into bodies of water from high places, Glenn and I jumped into the lake from the roof of the boat dock (about 20 feet up).

Glenn's dives were fancier...

Including somersaults and twists...

I don't think they would have won him any medals in Beijing, though.

Visiting the Marsdens (Day 2)

Day 2 - Friday, August 15 2008

We were up early again. Hazel can't seem to figure out this central time zone thing. Since summers can get kinda hot in Alabama, we decided to cool off by heading to the Point Mallard Water Park. I wouldn't really call it a water park myself, more like an aquatic center, but it was pretty cool nonetheless. There was a really neat kiddie area where Hazel could sit in the swing and drag her feet through the water. She loved that! There was also an Olympic sized pool with public 1 and 3 meter diving boards and a 5 and 7 meter diving platform tower which Glenn loved. There was a speed slide, three tube slides and something which they called the Space Bowl which was kind of like a tube slide that dumped you into a giant toilet bowl which you spun around in and then got flushed through a hole in the center. It was pretty fun. There was also a beach area on the Tennessee River where you could play in the sand and the river, but Hazel wasn't too sure she liked the sand. It certainly didn't taste very good!

After a full day at the water park, we headed home for some dinner and a rest on the couch before bed.

Sarah Kate had a great time showing Hazel all the fun things to do in the water!

One of Hazel's favorite past-times is playing in the swing. (And you can see her two bottom teeth which Daddy has affectionately named "Old Chomper" and "New Chomper")

Here she could combine two of her favorite things: playing in the swing and playing in the water!

Glenn demonstrates the "Flying Squirrel" off the three meter springboard.

And Glenn shows Megan there's really nothing to jumping off the 7-meter platform.

Hazel is not so sure about this sand stuff.

"Hmmm... I wonder what it feels like in my fingers..."

"Hmmm... I wonder what it tastes like in my mouth... Blech!"

The river water is a new experience for Hazel too.

Hazel thinks she's ready to head home now.

Visiting the Marsdens (Day 1)

This weekend, we took some time off and drove down to Huntsville to visit Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Richard and Sarah Kate. Since we had such a busy few days, we decided to post some pictures in a three part series. (Hey, if they can make two movies out of the seventh Harry Potter book, we can make three posts from a three day vacation.)

Day 1 - Thursday, August 14, 2008.

We arrived in Huntsville at 11:30 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday night. Hazel had fallen asleep in the car around 7:30 p.m. and unfortunately, she awoke right as we were pulling in the driveway, so she was ready to play! We played for about a half hour and then tried desperately to get a little sleep. Hazel eventually went back to sleep, but then woke up around 6:30 a.m. central time. After breakfast and some play time, followed by a morning snack, Stephanie and Sarah Kate took us to Cathedral Caverns State Park to hike through the cave. It was fun, and Hazel LOVED testing the acoustics in the cave by singing as loud as she could and listening for the echo. She wasn't the least bit disturbed by the bats either, even though Momma kinda was. After a 1.3 mile hike to the back of the cave and then a 1.3 mile hike back to the entrance, we had a picnic lunch before heading back to Huntsville.

When we got back to Huntsville, Aunt Stephanie and Sarah Kate volunteered to watch Hazel so that Glenn and I could see "Batman - The Dark Knight." We got to sit in the over-21 VIP balcony and be grown-ups again for just a little bit, and it was a nice break. After the movie, we met the others for dinner out at the Marsdens' favorite Mexican restaurant. When we got home, Aunt Stephanie and Sarah Kate had a surprise gift for Hazel. I would describe it, but words won't do it justice... You'll just have to see the pictures below.

Aunt Stephanie and Hazel are best pals already!

Cathedral Caverns holds the world record for the largest cave opening (plus three other world records that I can't remember off the top of my head.)

And.... yet another fabulous picture ruined by Glenn's inability to look normal in photos.

Apparently, the explorer who discovered the cave called it Bat Cave before he reached the back and decided it was too pretty to call it that, and changed the name to Cathedral Cavern.

Hazel had such a great time in the cave, she hardly noticed that lunch was an hour late!

Among the gifts that Aunt Stephanie and Sarah Kate gave Hazel were a pink bow for her hair, a pink tutu and pink and white shoes that squeak when she walks. She LOVES her gifts and was very proud to show them off for the camera.

Hazel gets a little distracted by the doggies, but you can tell that she is going to love squeaking all over the house very soon.

p.s. Hazel has three teeth now, and is working on a fourth. I will try to get a picture in the next few days to post.