Butter Bear!

Sorry for the delay between posts. We've had lot's of activity around here. Dan and family were in town for several days, then Grammy spent a week with us, and then our old friend Andy was in town for a day or so. We also celebrated Abby's first birthday at the zoo (how appropriate!). Of course our deluxe new Nikon camera took a dump the first day Grammy was in town, so we missed lots of photo ops. The good folks at Staples let us retroactively buy a warranty, so we're sporting a new camera now. Anyway...

Dan's kids have grown an unbelievable amount in the 4+ months since we last saw them. Wow! Dan and I got to ride dirt bikes several times and drink plenty of cold drink, and that's always loads of fun. They brought some rainy weather with them from Portland, but rain here in the high desert is always a good thing.

Grammy and Tate had a great time getting reacquainted. Grammy did some baby-sitting while we worked, and Aunt Toni drove down to visit for a few days. I for one ate way too much and we're still working through left-overs. Before Grammy left she went to our least favorite big box retailer and bought a box that looked liked it contained a swing for a toddler. As it turns out, that box was the bulk delivery container for 4 swings. If you need a swing, let us know!

Andy was in town for a day and it was good to catch up. We did some dirt bikin', beer drinkin', meat eatin' and smack talkin'. If you weren't there then chances are you were a topic of ridicule. Good times, good times.

Here's a pic of Tate in her new swing. Wow, does she get excited!

We don't have many good branches to hang the swing from. The branch that I chose is about 25 feet off the ground. That makes for some impressive travel and the Tater squeals with delight when we really get the swing cranked up.

Here she is at the near part of her arc:

And here she is at the far part of her arc:

Good fun! Thanks Grammy!

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Here's a pic of Famous and Tate. I can't explain the look on Tate's face. She's full of funny looks these days...

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Here's a pic of Famous doing a manicure while Tate catches some extra beauty sleep. It's hard work being a baby!

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Here's a pic of Lucy, which is not particularly interesting until you notice the clump of white fur hanging from her mouth. She just finished rough-housing with Baby the Cat, and she apparently pulled off some fur in the process.

And here are the Campbell-Smiths celebrating Abby's birthday at the zoo. Abby's mad-dogging someone. "I said, stay away from my cake!"

Here's a pic of Tate sleeping with her mouth open, drooling up a storm. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

And finally, here's one last pic of a happy Tate. She's Mama's Butter Bear!

Kids are cool,

Sweet Potato and family