Rehearsal

Baby Bella managed to get into Mommy's old hair bag and put on a cape. Her fascination with watching Mommy and playing with her tools of the trade makes me wonder if Baby Bella isn't rehearsing for a future in hair business.

Carrying Her Load

With help like this....

Baby Bella the gardener was back at it today. She helped Daddy water the flowers and pick up leaves. With help like this, who needs to work at all.

Feeding the Feline

It's official! Baby Bella is one of the smartest little eighteen month old girls around.

We continue to be so amazed at the number of new things she is adding to her repertoire. What really gets me is the behavior she observes and then mimics as if she's been doing it her whole life. Such was the case today.

Bella Britches and I were buttoning up a couple of things outside when I turned to find a missing Bella. A quick glance across the garage and I discovered Bella Britches scooping cat food out of the bin.

She had spotted the extra feeding bowl that we keep in the garage and decided she wanted to feed the cat. Two things make that astonishing to me. First, the food bowl we use everyday is outside on the deck - yet she connected the dots and arrived at the correct conclusion that the bowl in the garage was also be a pet food bowl.

Secondly, she is almost always inside when Skyler goes into the garage to scoop up the pet food. Yet she knew precisely which food belonged to the cat (versus the dog food bin) and how to scoop it up.

The cat was nowhere in site so Bella Britches poured the food in the bowl and stood guard with a watchful eye. Having heard the familiar clang of kibbles 'n bits against the bottom of the bowl, Tiger Lily came charging into the garage. Baby Bella Britches threw both hands up in celebration.

As Tiger Lily finished her surprise afternoon treat, Bella Britches decided the cat needed a second helping and began scooping yet again. But seconds were as far as she was willing to go.

Tiger Lily approached the food bin to explore the possibility of a third scoop but Baby Bella Britches scolded her with a firm "NO."

And so, I rest my case. Baby Bella Boo Bragging Britches is one of the smartest eighteen month old girls around. If you don't be me, ask the cat.

Centennial Craft Show

Grandma Cain joined Daddy and the kids for the annual trip to the Centennial Arts & Crafts show. Baby Bella is sporting one of the hand made bows we found.

Yes, I know. You're saying to yourself, "another bow?" Yes, another bow. Bow is one of the words she can totally pronounce and she usually starts her day pointing the wall, asking for a bow.

Seriously, that is the first thing she said to me this morning when I went into to pick her up. Do we have a diva or what?

She was being a clown at lunch, playing with her straw. The more Grandma laughs, the more she clowns around.

Silver Star

Baby Bella enjoying her very first ride aboard Silver Star. Silver Star is a Blythe family heirloom - lots of tradition, emotion and love.

Nana had Silver Star as a little girl. Grandpa Blair hand painted Silver Star and kept her in mint condition. What a wonderful hand down from generation to generation. I hope to see Baby Bella's little girl ride Silver Star one day.

Silver Star - The Video

Enjoy this video of Baby Bella riding Silver Star for the first time. Turn your volume up, you can hear her say "Wooooo."

Wall Flower

She cracks me up! Baby Bella was craving peaches so she takes them out of the refrigerator, hands them to Daddy, walks over to the wall and proceeds to slide down.

Literally slides down the wall - it's like watching a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Can this girl get any cuter?

Happy 28th Birthday, Baby!

Mommy gets a day off from work for her birthday but applied it to last week so the family could get away to the mountains. Still, the kids and I wanted to celebrate our blonde wonder when she returned home from work.

Happy Birthday, Darling.

Reflections

Good to go away and good to be back home. I have to admit, I might not have returned had my bed been in the cabin.

I can't say that we came back rested. I can say we came back with terrific memories of another family retreat in the mountains. These are some of my favorite memories growing up and they continue to be some of my favorite memories from the six years Deborah and I have been together.

I can see it now. 40 years from now, Skyler and Baby Bella will be blogging (or using whatever medium rules the day) about their memories of our mountain trips.

The circle of life is a beautiful thing. Thanks Mom / Dad and Papa / Nana for starting the tradition of an annual mountain pilgrimage. And for passing down your love of the Great (and I do mean, Great) Smokey Mountains.

Go Carts

A vacation post script:

Yes, that's my son ahead of me on the Go Cart track. I am both proud and sad to say that he beat Dad for the first time. But you know what they say about old age and treachery. Dad beat him later by spinning him out in the final turn. It was just one of those racing deals, as they say in Nascar. (But Mommy made me apologize anyway.)

And why is Baby Bella crying on the concrete? She and Mommy were watching us race, Baby Bella got her feelings hurt because Daddy waved at her but didn't stop his Go Cart to come to see her.

Baby Bella has maintained a strong conviction, all of her life, that Daddy must acknowledge her, speak to her and hold her if he enters a room where she happens to be at the moment. That is kinda of hard to do when I am racing big brother who has learned to protect the corners and drive wide open.

Half n Half

You can't make it up and make it any funnier. The family stopped by Shoney's to grab some quick breakfast on our way out of town. Baby Bella was being her usually rowdy restaurant self - X's two.

She had managed to get her hands on some of Papa's Half n Half and seemed to have it in her mouth. I turned her around to make sure she wasn't about to puncture a hole and make a mess.

Guess what? She was!

As soon as I turned her around to look at her face to face, she clamped down on the back of the container and sent Half n Half exploding through the lid and onto my face.

Nana nearly lost her breakfast and Mommy couldn't manage to find a napkin for laughing too hard. Somehow they did find a camera to document my calamity.

What a ceremonious conclusion to our mountain vacation.

Illegal Immigrants

We had two vehicles in the mountains but decided to use just one for our short sight seeing trips around town. To accomplish this feat, we had to stow Papa and Skyler in the very back where the luggage would normally sit.

We started referring to them as our illegal immigrants. OK, not exactly politically correct. But it did seem that way at times. We would arrive at our destination, get out and raise the hatch to allow our illegals to climb out.

Papa and Skyler were good sports. Those two are such good buddies you could just about call them anything when they are together and they would smile.

Gatlinburg

This was our morning to walk the Gatlinburg boardwalk - Buckboard Too, The Candy Factory, Earthquake Simulator...

Baby Bella is a little young to appreciate much of what attracts people to Gatlinburg. Finding it hard to keep her entertained, we cut our trip short and headed back to Pigeon Forge.

Exploring

Baby Bella found a black bear to pal around with. She also continued her facination with screws. She tried to unscrew every man hold cover on the Gatlinburg boardwalk.

Field of Dreams

Some of the best things are not things at all. And some of the best ideas are not planned at all.

We found ourselves with time to kill and not a lot of options in terms of places that would simultaneously entertain an eight year old and an eighteen month old. We spotted an empty field and decided to get out of the car to play together in the open field.

I've heard it said that simple can be liberating. I would like to add that simple can be both fun and beautiful. We had a great time running, chasing, wrestling, rolling, yelling, laughing and watching Baby Bella try to prove to herself that she can do anything big brother can do.

In the end, we all had allergies. But we also had memories. The allergies will fade, the memories will last a life time.