April

April was the month that Mike moved to Gillette for a few weeks while we tried to figure out what to do next.  He was facing a possible layoff, and we weren't sure what God had in store for us at the time.  We tried to make the best of it, and you'll see lots of pictures with Mike and Sammy.

A fun new way to eat Cheerios.  Haha!

Putting blocks down his shirt. 

How many can I fit???

Daddy's turn.  

At Uncle Jeff's an Aunt Kelly's house wearing a coonskin hat.

This silly boy and all his faces! He cracks me up!

Not that he learned it from anyone....  :) 

Playing in the dirt 

Our Hollywood look

This is one of the first pictures where Sammy looks more like a big boy to me.  He looks so tall, and not like a baby or toddler so much.

Sammy did this himself.  He loves to cuddle with his bear and puppy, but I can never quite figure out how he gets them on his back. 

Sammy was making a new face that looked like an exaggerated "ooh".  He did it in such a way that it pulled his eyes down a little.  Silly boy!

One day, he found a winter hat (that doesn't fit anymore) and had to wear it around the house for the better part of a day. 

"I mustache you to stop taking so many pictures!"

My mom and step-dad visited during the month right before Mike found out about his transfer to New Mexico.  The day after they left, we woke up to this HUUUGE snowfall.  I blamed my mom because it had snowed in Colorado the day the left to come to our house, and they almost weren't able to visit.  I'm sure she brought it with her. :) 

Kissing Violet.  This is the cat we gave to our daughter, Shae, when we moved to New Mexico. Violet was the only one who could tolerate Sammy, but he was starting to be mean to her too.  She is a very spoiled and pampered princess in her new home, so we know it was a good decision.

May Highlights

 It's been such a long time since I posted that I thought I would go through and make some brief posts about the last few months. 

Sammy wearing daddy's ear protection for work.

Sammy is like that cat on YouTube that tries to fit in any size box - here he is trying to fit into our small cooler.  He's getting so big that he doesn't fit!

At the park near our house, we found a mama duck and 12 ducklings.  They were about as big as a man's thumb, so I think they were pretty new.

Sammy fell asleep with part of a cracker hanging out of his mouth.  I didn't know kids could fall asleep while in the middle of chewing. Haha

The first weekend we were in New Mexico, we went to historic Old Town, where I got a blue raspberry sno-cone.  I forgot how they stain your tongue, lips, and teeth.  Sammy thought it was funny.  Mike tried to take a picture of us, but for some reason, Sammy thought he should try to kiss me or that my tongue looked more like a lollipop because of the color. 

He definitely cracks me up!

Spaghetti face

Sammy's first selfie.  He figured out how to work around my screen lock.  

Wearing other people's shoes must be fun!

Falling asleep while eating again. :) 

Silly boy

Having fun in the tub with daddy.  I tried to get video of the laughing going on with them, but I wasn't there in time.  We'll have to try again. :) 

Albuquerque Aquarium

One weekend when it was really hot, we decided to check out the aquarium.

In the car on the way there, I found out Sammy can roll his tongue.  Mike has a grandma that cannot, so it was fun to let Mike's mom know so she can pass it along.  

The manta ray pool.  They would come right up to the glass like they wanted to see you, be pet, or to escape.  I haven't figured it out yet. They would try to go up the glass as high as possible, then back into the water.

Up close.  We weren't allowed to touch them, but you almost wanted to see how soft they felt.

Sammy was standing on one window ledge when a ray appeared. It was right up against the glass, and I think Sammy thought it was trying to touch him.  He got a bit scared, although I think I would have too. 

This one looks like he is flying.  They have always looked like underwater birds to me.

An underwater tunnel.  It was only  10 or 15 feet long, otherwise I don't think I could have gone through it.  I get reminded of a scene in "Jaws", and I don't like those movies!

The tunnel was set up like a coral reef, and the water over the tunnel was pretty shallow from what I could see.  Really neat to walk through.

The highlight of our visit - the big fish tank!  A large ray.

Some sort of shark.  Sammy really liked looking at this one.  

He was running back and forth in front of all the fish saying "Whoa! Whoa!"

In the middle you can see a couple of sharks.

I'm not sure what this is.  My first thought was tuna because I know they can get pretty big.  This was by itself and not in a group, so I'm not sure it is.  Really neat fish though.

We found some fun accessories.  

And this is what happens after the aquarium.  I went grocery shopping while these guys napped.  I think Mike said they slept for close to an hour like this, and Sammy slept on the way home too! I guess looking at all those fish wore them out. :) 

Albuquerque Zoo

One day it wasn't as warm (it was only 87 degrees), so we decided to head to the zoo. I didn't take many pictures, but we all had a lot of fun.  It's a pretty nice zoo, I would say right up there with Denver.

I don't think I've ever seen a peacock with its tail-feathers out like this.  A zoo worker said it was still a teenager, so maybe he was just practicing.  There were no other peacocks or peahens around, and no one was bothering it.  It was an interesting sight to see.

 Sammy and I rode the zoo carousel.  You can tell from his face he's not overly thrilled at this point.  He did seem to like it once the ride got going though.

This is an alligator snapping turtle.

The Air Show

The 1st weekend in June, the air force base hosted an air show.  We haven't been to one since before Mike and I got married, and we thought Sam would enjoy the planes.  

We had to go early because the weather has been so hot here.  I think we got to the base around 10 a.m. and it was already in the 70's.  We left by noon because it was so hot.

There were inflatables for the kids.  We thought Sam might like the slide, but it was more to bounce down than slide down.  You can see toward the bottom Mike was walking down.  I'm sure we won't be able to keep Sammy off of these in another year or two.

I think this is a C130.  These flew all the time in Colorado Springs, so it was a familiar sight among all the changes we've been through.

Sammy got so excited about the planes he wanted out of his stroller.  You can see his little fists balled up in excitement.

"Ooooh!"

This is the plane he went up to saying "Ooooh!" to a lady sitting underneath, while he was pointing emphatically.  So funny how he communicates with people around him. 

 "Come on, Dada.  Here's another plane to look at!"

A stunt bi-plane we got to watch perform.  It was pretty fun.  I tried to get other pictures but it's hard to get a decent photo of a moving object. :)