Good times with the Brooks cousins

We recently returned from a trip to California to attend the funeral for Mary Louise Brooks, Aaron's maternal grandmother. She passed away peacefully and unexpectedly about two weeks ago. It was an emotional trip, especially for Aaron, and we have great sympathy for Janet, who lost both her mother and her housemate.

At the same time, it was also a fun trip with lots of great family time. This was the first Brooks family trip where Juniper was one of the kids, not one of the babies. She was able to run around with the big kids, and she had an enthusiastic blast. One of the highlights of her weekend was getting to swim in the irrigation pond for Uncle Walt's vineyard.



Janet got some water wings, which worked perfectly. Juniper was able to float and kick and "swim" all by herself in the deep water. Can you tell how much she enjoyed her watery independence?



Juniper and her Aunt Rebecca paddled a boat around the pond (with help from cousin Brooke, whom you can just barely see kicking up waves as she motorboats behind them).



Steep sides plus an inflatable boat made for a fun water slide.



In fact, the slide was so much fun that just a photo doesn't really do it justice.



After a while, Juniper was even willing to brave the water slide, as long as she could go down snuggled up with her dad.



Post-slide, Rebecca, Aaron, and Juniper floating in the water.



At the end of her pond adventures, she was all tuckered out. We know Juniper's a good sleeper, but it's been a while since she fell asleep at a dining room table.

She crawls!

Saturday afternoon, Hazel crawled for the first time! She's still not very reliable at it, but there have been multiple repeat performances. I'm comfortable saying that she has a new skill. Video evidence to come soon.

Ooh, and the yellow one goes here.

Piggy-back ride

Here's one way to build up those crawling muscles fast: give a piggy-back ride to your much bigger big sister.

Almost crawling

Hazel really, really wants to crawl.



She's got the right idea,



and is trying just as hard as she can,



but so far it's just rocking and push-ups. And pushing herself backwards, which often results in a lot of frustration and she keeps getting farther and farther away from the thing she wants. Soon, kiddo, soon. A few days or a few weeks, but you'll be moving forward soon.

Big girl dance party

A few months ago we rocked Juniper's world by moving her clock radio/CD player from the top of her dresser (where she can't reach it) to her nightstand (where she can). In this video she's enjoying a brand new mixed CD Aaron made with some of her favorite songs.



(Not featured is the song with a F-bomb that prompted me to shriek like a harpy at poor Aaron, who pleaded innocence on the grounds of a general obliviousness to song lyrics.)


Click on the vimeo logo in the bottom right corner to watch a higher resolution version of the video on the vimeo website.

You know you're a heavy sleeper when...

Your dad can pick you up out of bed, carry you to the bathroom, pull down your PJs, set you on the potty and support your weight while you pee, pick you back up, pull up your PJs, carry you back to your room, and lay you back down in bed - all without waking up.

Hazel, meanwhile, woke herself up from her morning nap by sneezing.

Smiling, reading, flaming

More strawberries!

Strawberry picking has become a Honeycutt-Dill family tradition. We can't resist a fun activity that results in getting to eat lots of something that's really delicious. Piles of plain strawberries, strawberry shortcake, strawberry salad, yogurt with strawberries, strawberry jam, and lemon-strawberry marmalade. And did I mention the bowls full of as many strawberries as we wanted to eat?



This was Juniper's third time picking strawberries. Hazel's first, though I'm not sure it really counts since she can't even eat strawberries yet.



We obviously went at the right time; the strawberries were ripe and plentiful, and picking was easy.



Juniper was a great picker. This year, she put more strawberries in her bucket than in her mouth (many more, in fact).



Jorge also filled up several buckets.



Meanwhile, Hazel chewed on her father's hat.



Of course, we had a fair amount of snicking along with our picking.



If superhero-astronaut doesn't work out for her, perhaps Juniper has an agrarian future in store. She's come a long way since her first strawberry outing.



This one's for Ellen, who was impressed with how plump and red the berries were.

Mountaineering Skills

Aaron and Juniper recently went on a family hike with some other families from Juniper's preschool. Every good mountaineer needs a walking stick.



She and a friend found a sheltered sandbox at the top of the mountain.



Next stop: the Alps.

So thoughtful

Juniper knew just how much I would love this Mother's Day card. Do you see the flaming-hot-pink-sparkly-Superman (or Supermom) symbol on the front? Of course that must be my very favorite of all possible cards.



There's no way she could know that what would really melt my heart was seeing her first written "MOM" on the front of the envelope.

We're back!

We just got back from a great trip to Arkansas to visit Cheryl, Jason, Violet, and Henry. Little Rock photos to come soon, but here's a cute one of the girls to satiate the grandmothers (who haven't complained once about a week with no new photos).