The World According to Victoria

Wonderful World of Victoria

 

Welcome to Victoria's World. She's a happy, rambunctious, curious pre-schooler. There's no end to the adventures to be had when you're turning into a little girl. Here's to watching the transformation.

 
Saturday, November 21, 2009
  Heading Home
Here's Victoria after the Security checkpoint. It went pretty smoothly in Orlando. We're about to head over to the tram to go to our gate.
Victoria was fascinated by the trams. She sat up on the seat this time rather than standing.

The best part about the airport... she got a chocolate chocolate chip muffin to eat before the flight to tide her over. Luckily, the cafe also had bananas.

On the airplane heading home, she spent most of the time watching her cartoons on the iPod clicker.

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  Back to the Airport
So, it's the end of our vacation. We're all packed up and heading to the airport. Here's Victoria modeling her backpack.
The only way to travel.. with iPod. She's watching My Friends Tigger and Pooh right now.

We're pretty sure this is the new jewel in the Carnival fleet, the Carnival Dream. It's supposed to be the largest cruiseliner to date. It really is impressive. We could see it from the 528 highway on our way back to Orlando.

And, still hooked up to the iPod as we got on the Hertz shuttle to the airport. Been there, done that already. LOL!

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Friday, November 20, 2009
  Afternoon
We spent a lot longer at the pool than I thought we had. So, we were late getting out for lunch. Headed off to the Pizza Hut again. Not so many choices with a picky eater like Victoria.
She's getting pretty good with those word searches. They're handy to have around when the restaurant doesn't have kids menus with games or coloring on them.
A little on the tired side after getting back from lunch. So, she worked on the Cars watercolor book from her backpack.

Victoria re-found her energy when I reminded her that she wanted to visit the game room. She and I played the air hockey game while Daddy played an Old West-type gunfight game. The one she really wanted to play was this Gauntlet Legends. She started playing and then Daddy joined her. That games takes a lot of tokens. Victoria did pretty well, even if it did eat up all our tokens.

Once we'd used up all the tokens, we went swimming again. No pictures of that because I was actually in the water the whole time. I got my exercise swimming the length of the pool. Victoria hitched a ride at one point and I pulled her across with me. That was fun. Very tiring, but fun.
Here she is at the end of the night. Not the best picture of Victoria. She's really flagging by this point. But, you can see the crescent of the moon behind her. We'd managed to play in the pool until sunset.

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  Adult Pool Swim
We've moved over to the adult pool now. Victoria's becoming more confident in the water without either the floaties or the ring on.
She made up a new game of ring toss. LOL! She's allowed to defend and put her hands up to knock away the ring. Daddy can't do that.
So here he is being ringed by Victoria.

The margarita Jeff brought me back last night was just as delicious. I didn't share that one. Mmm!
And here I am.... your friendly neighborhood photographer. I just love how crystal clear aqua blue the water was.

This drink was absolutely marvelous. From the pool bar, it's a Cherry Bomb Smoothie. Yum! Yum! Victoria and I shared it. Not too willingly on either side after we'd gotten a taste. Wow! Wish I'd known this yesterday. Best $6 non-alcoholic drink I've had in a long while.

The margarita that Jeff brought me back last night was delicious too. I didn't share that one. LOL!
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  The Pirate Ship Pool
There are probably more pictures of me on this vacation than on the last 2 that we've taken before. Helps to have a fancy new point and shoot that I can hand off. :)
I'm being given instructions by Victoria here. I was supposed to stand to the side of the slide and toss the ring over Victoria as she slid through.
I had just as much fun with the water bomb as Victoria. It was just like playing fetch. I got to really wing it and Victoria would rush off to get it.

She was trying her best to get some good throws. Definitely need to work on overhand tossing. Most often it landed just a couple feet from her. Good for her because she always got the water bomb back.

She also experimented with going down on her tummy. Being the worrying parents, she was only allowed to do it feet first. That worked okay on the pirate tunnel slide with all the water shooting out. Not so good on the other two slides. She didn't know enough to really push off to get her momentum going down the slides.

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  The Second Day Begins
Victoria really enjoyed being able to run around without shoes. Here she is on the Promenade, walking back to our loft after breakfast at the Captain's Grille.
Victoria and Daddy almost always leave the room before me at the beach. Victoria has no patience for waiting. And, if I end up getting hurried putting on my sunscreen, then I get sunburned. The compromise is that I get Victoria all ready to go, make sure Daddy has sunscreen on his back, he makes sure I've got some on mine and then they head out to the pool. Leaving me to finish up my sunscreen.
This time I arrived to find them playing water bomb.

I couldn't find Victoria's inflatable ring from our trip to Ocean City. We were lucky enough to find one in the gift shop here. It's very precarious to balance on though. Not meant to be used as a seat.

Ah, there she is with the water bomb. Another $2 dollars well spent. Found it in the gift shop. She really wanted the water pistols. Wasn't ready to go there yet. LOL! Cheap and flimsy, but it served its purpose. Victoria had a blast with it.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2009
  Oh, wow, the beach...
Just look at that beach. Just perfect. And it was late in the day. Look closely, you'll see Victoria and Daddy out there. :)
She was right there in the waves. As soon as we dropped our stuff, she grabbed Daddy's hand and away they went. Pretty brisk in terms of temperature. Again, didn't bother her one little bit. She wanted to jump waves. And, she did.

Look at that face. I got a "Mom!" from that one. She can't be distracted from watching the next wave coming in.

It looks like she's collecting seashells here. And, she is. Except she's collecting them to throw in the surf. :)

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  First Day Continues
And, eventually Daddy joined us in the pool. Here she is without her floaties or the ring. Daddy tried teaching Victoria how to swim. She just doesn't get it yet. We'll have to keep working on it.
This was Victoria's game. It was a ring toss. Only it had to go over a person's head. She was giggling like crazy as she tried to toss it over Daddy.

Drove around quite a while looking for a place to have lunch. Surprisingly, not too many eateries here. I guess all-inclusives must be big in the this resort area. Finally found a Pizza Hut where Victoria dug in and ate the entire kids pizza.

Next door to the Pizza Hut was a Surfware/Beachware shop. We stopped in to see if they had any cheap and decent towels. Victoria loved a dolphin towel. Daddy found a really cool shirt. While he was trying on clothes Victoria and I headed outside for a walk. Nice area. You can see her in her cool sunglasses. Behind her, way in the background, is a trolley car.

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  Kids Pirate Pool
This is where Victoria wanted to be all morning. She kept asking when she could go to the Pirate Ship. The water was a little on the chillly side though. Not for her. She was right in there.
It had all kinds of slides there in all different directions.

I missed having my D80. Just can't get close-ups with a point and shoot unless your right on top of someone. And, really, I dipped my toes in and didn't go any further. LOL!

However, the adult pool was another matter. Victoria did talk me into swimming with her. It was okay once I was finally in and swimming. I even managed to swim the length of the pool. Should do that more often. Good exercise.

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Tuesday, November 17, 2009
  The Routine of Arrival
Victoria had her own carry-on. We'd gotten this backpack after shopping at the Outlets at the OshKosh store. We were able to pack the important things for Victoria... Dolly, Puppy, her blanket, gummy dots, headphones, word search, pencils. :) However, the backpack just didn't fit her well. She wobbled. A lot. If we do this again, we'll have to get a better sized backpack/carry-on for her.
Riding the monorail into the terminal for the bag claim at Orlando Airport. Everything was an adventure for Victoria. She really liked that you could stand up in the train.

And, of course, our little helper. She had to help get the bags off the belt.

She was pretty tuckered by the time we reached the car rental. We had to wait for our car. So Victoria sat down in one of the chairs and watched Backyardigans on the clicker. I love the little grin she's got on her face while she watches her cartoon. She getting pretty good with the iPod.

[As always, you can click on a picture for a bigger image.]
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  The Adventure Begins
We're off to Florida for a couple days of fun in the sun. This is Victoria's first plane trip. She was so excited.

I got a new camera for the trip so that I wouldn't drag the DSLR onto the plane. LOL! So, Victoria gets the old camera. Here she is in the airport at Gate 21 taking pictures of the plane and tarmac. Have to get the photos downloaded and see how she pictures the airport. She kept asking when we were going to get on the plane. Thank goodness we get to pre-board with her. I'm not sure she could have stood the suspense of waiting much longer.

On the plane we were in row 7 seats D, E, & F. Unfortunately we didn't have a window. Probably why those seats weren't already booked. Didn't matter to Victoria. She could still see through a sliver of the window in front of us.
And, it was a gorgeous day to fly. Smooth sailing. Beautiful blue skies and puffy white clouds.
Here's Victoria disembarking in Orlando. She's absolutely giddy with excitement, turning in circles. LOL!
[As always, click on a picture for larger image.]
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Monday, October 06, 2008
  Catch Up
Still working through vacation photos. Had a great time so I have tons of photos to put into layouts.

These are all just too darn cute. :)


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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
  Back to the Beach
Okay. I'm officially sick. I'm all stuffed up. I can't breathe. I'm living on cold medicine. I need to go back to the beach.

Soo... since I can't do that. I thought I'd go back and daydream about sun, sand, and warmth. :)

Add a few pictures of Victoria, mix it all up, and that's about right.

Here's my Rockin' Beach Babe.


Journaling reads: Just as excited about going home as you were about arriving. We put you to work to use some of that energy.

Your job was to open the door for Daddy when he came up to the room for another load of our suitcases and bags.
Journaling reads: Finally, it’s time to go. You’ve packed all your toys into your very own backpack. And, you’ve got it upon your back. You’re just waiting on the okay to go out the door. The end of our vacation. Time to go.

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Thursday, September 18, 2008
  And some more...
I really like this one, but the pictures just don't tell the whole story. I've got to make another layout with journaling that explains just how much fun Victoria has with the dinosaurs. We have such a variety of them to play with. Mom and Dad end up voicing dinosaurs as Victoria plays. Miss Bossy tells me exactly what I'm supposed to say. :)
Victoria really likes the rest stop along Rt1. We stop in Smyrna. It has this little playground that she's taken too. She even tried swinging on the sling swing instead of the bucket swing. Big accomplishment for Victoria.

The only castle to actually make it to completion. And, then, Victoria had fun smashing it. :)
Click on picture for larger.

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Sunday, September 14, 2008
  Another Round
I've had quite a time with our vacation photos. Here's some more. And, yes, the top and bottom photos are really the same one. :) But I liked it so much I had to make a larger, close-up. Journaling reads: This is the closest that you got to the ocean. Our next to the last day at the beach and you finally got adventurous enough to venture down to the surf. You kept a cautious eye on the waves, always ready to run to safety. But that didn’t keep you from your usual excitement. You were jumping up and down as the waves raced towards the shore, careful to be just at the edge of them. How proud I am of your bravery.

I had to document Victoria's first successful attempt at miniature golf.
Journaling reads: Victoria found that she liked miniature golf this year. She, of course, played by her own rules. Mommy placed the ball on the tee and Victoria took a couple swipes at it. She’d get partway down a green and then pick the ball up and place it next to the hole. Then she’d proceed to knock it in. We stopped keeping scrore. She was having fun and that was the whole point.

Click on photos for larger.

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Friday, September 12, 2008
  Still at the Beach
at least in my heart. :)

Here's some more pictures I've been working on.


Journaling reads:
Such a look on your face. I wonder what you are thinking. Captured. Still. Pensive. Only for a moment. The next moment and you are back on the move, on to the next activity. About to break into a smile. About to launch yourself forward along the sand. About to become just as adorable in motion as you were in stillness.

This one has a special place in my heart.....

Journaling reads:
Mom and Dad have each been down to the ocean’s edge to watch the surf and dip our toes in. Until today you’ve run away every time you’ve gotten close. The surf is a little calmer today. Dad went down to wade in a little ways. Mom stayed up on the bank, well above the surf line. With a safe place to run to when the surf gets a little enthusiastic, you ventured closer than we’ve gotten you all week. -August 29th, 2008

Here's another that I adore. The text is from LeeAnn Womack's song, "I Hope You Dance".



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Friday, September 05, 2008
  Beach Days Again


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Wednesday, September 03, 2008
  Beach Days...


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Monday, September 01, 2008
  Day 6 Details
Our last day at the beach. Did we spend it at the beach? No, of course not.

It was a beautiful day, but we went off looking for other things to do.

Still having problems with Victoria's eating habits. Couldn't get her to each much in the hotel room. So, we headed over to Layton's for breakfast. At least when we're there, she seems to eat more. She got pancakes and I got French toast. I traded her two slices of French toast to go along with her pancakes. She ate most of it and drank some of my orange juice along with her milk.

Considering she had some heat rash and a slight sunburn, we decided to find something else to do. She seemed like the idea of the amusement park. We headed out to find the Jolly Roger. The rides weren't open but we wandered through and looked at the various ones. We ended up along the water park. It looked like there was a section for littler kids at the back. Up front were the giant slides and a splash climb/jungle gym type area. We walked along the fence and then Victoria walked away from the water park and watch a couple play miniature golf.

She was fascinated by the miniature golf course. That's what she wanted to do. We bought our tickets and chose our balls. Then got started on the course. Miniature golf with Victoria is interesting. She's got her own rules to play by. We managed to set her up on the tee and get her to swing at the ball there. She'd usually get two or so swings on tee off to get her up the course. Then she'd (mostly/sometimes) let Mom and Dad go next. When it was her turn she'd pick up her ball and put it right on the edge of the hole. Then she'd tap it in.

I was actually doing pretty well on the first half of the course. Which is odd because I'm horrible at putting. Then Victoria decided to help. She scooted in and picked up my ball and set it down next to the hole like she does for hers. At that point, Jeff and I decided to quit keeping score. She was having fun and that's really all that matters.

As a matter of fact, she was having so much fun that it was hard to get her away from the course. It was hot out. Hotter than I'd expected. There was some shade on the course, but not enough. We all needed something to drink. So we pulled Victoria along with us to the concessions stand. For an amusement park that supposedly catered to younger kids, there wasn't apple juice or milk on their menu. Jeff and Victoria got Fruit Punch Gatorade and I got a squirt bottle of water. We cooled off under and umbrella for a little bit, managed to get Victoria into a restroom, and then headed back to play another round of miniature golf.

Victoria was getting better on that round. She was starting to figure out what worked for her. She didn't always place the ball right next to the hole. Sometimes she managed to shoot the ball from farther out and get it to roll in. It was harder to let her take her time and putt around as the course was getting more crowded.

We finished the second round and had to fight through a toddler tantrum to go get something to drink. We were all hot and tired. Maybe me most of all. I know I was completely soaked and my face was bright red. I was probably on the verge of heat exhaustion. I know I was shaky and felt nauseous even drinking water. I went into the ladies room and held cold wet paper towels on my forehead and neck. Sitting on the bench and drinking cold water helped.

Then we debated what to do next. Victoria kept changing her mind. Out of all the choices, hers was to go back to playing miniature golf. My suggestion was to head down the road to a Dough Roller with an attached miniature golf. Jeff suggested either staying at the Jolly Roger and eating or walking a couple blocks down to the McDonalds. Considering the lack of decent drink choices, I wasn't thrilled with the idea of actually eating a meal at the concession stand. Jeff didn't really want to drive off to the Dough Roller. Neither of us even considered going back to play miniature golf. So, the McDonald's it was. At least that would be a little easier on our budget than some of the other places we'd eaten.

However, Victoria threw a temper tantrum at the thought of leaving. We picked her up and started out, stopping at the car to pick up the cooler. Victoria's temper tantrum got worse instead of better. At that point, it was head for the hotel. Victoria calmed down enough to declare that she was hungry. Now she wanted chicken nuggets. And, of course, we were heading in the wrong direction for McDonalds. Include the fact that I was thinking there was another McDonalds on our way back to the hotel, and we took the scenic roundabout route to get there. Eventually we ended up at a McDonalds drive-through. The good news is that Victoria ate about 4 nuggets on the way to the hotel.

We were lucky enough to find a parking space in the garage under the hotel when we got back after circling the lot a couple times. Then Mom and Dad got to eat their dinner once we got to the hotel room. I don't think Victoria ate too much more herself. Pretty good to get a few chicken nuggets into her.

The rest of the afternoon and then the evening were spent packing bags. Victoria came up with a new version of hide-n-seek to subject us to on the balcony. Or, maybe it was more along the lines of iSpy. Victoria dumped all the sand toys out of the pail and scattered them around the balcony. Then she'd ask us what we see. If she agreed and that was what she wanted us to have then she'd pick it up, hand it to us, then we had to put it on the table.

We were a little closer to Victoria's normal routine, because everyone would have to be up early tomorrow to pack the car and drive home. We had to pick up the cats from the kitty hotel (Hickory Pet Inn) before 4pm.

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Friday, August 29, 2008
  Day 5 Details
We reached the beach about our normal time. We walked along for a time looking for a spot. It was pretty well taken back to the surf line. I nixed one spot tht Jeff wanted and made us walk further along. The best spot I could find was just back from the surf line and didn't have too much detritus. I set up the beach blanket and towel while Jeff got us two umbrellas and two chairs this time.

We'd just started digging when Daddy asked if Victoria wanted to walk along the surf. It was low tide and the surf wasn't as rough as it had been. Victoria didn't make it very far before she turned and ran back to me at the top of the little hill there. She stood and watched Daddy for a while. Then she started down the hill. She'd get a little closer each time but would turn and run back when a wave crashed in. She never actually managed to get her feet wet in the surf. She came pretty close to the edge though so that was good for Victoria. It was fun watching that dance. I have lots of pictures of Victoria's back.

We dug up our mound for the base for the castle. Just one today. Both Mommy and Daddy working on it. Got a fairly substantial mound built up. Then Daddy started digging down into the sand to get wetter sand for the castle parts. Victoria liked the hole. It seemed to fit her just right. She helped her Daddy fill up a couple of the castle pieces and tried her hand at setting it down and patting it out. That was more difficult for her. Hers didn't turn out quite as well as Daddy's.

They made it around one side of the castle before we ran into problems. They made a gate for the cars to go through. Then Victoria didn't like one of the pieces that Daddy set down. We had to determine what pieces should go there instead. Victoria became the architect and told us whether a square, a rectangle, or a circle went next. That seemed to fix the problem and Daddy was able to continue building. He managed to finish a castle for the first time this vacation. I have a ton of pictures of it in progress and then finished.

Then it was lunch time. Victoria ate her jelly sandwich and drank her juice box without much complaint. Of course, what she was waiting for were the Oreo cookies I had packed in my bag. Such a chocoholic.

While Jeff was gone, Victoria and I decorated the castle. She was very proud of her decorating skills. It can get a little tedious as we take turns putting the various pieces in place. But she's so happy with the game that I keep going long after my brain goes numb.

Jeff headed off to Franco's to get our lunch. They're a little pizza shop down the Boardwalk. Feel bad for them as it's obvious their business is suffering with the slow down in the economy. I got a pig in a blanket and Jeff got a stromboli. We shared a basket of Old Bay seasoned fries, which Victoria helped herself too as well. She also spent our lunch chasing the sea gulls away. She's getting bolder and running a little farther chasing them before she heads back.

Then it was time to knock down the castle. This is Victoria's favorite part of course. She stomps on them, smashes them, and then rolls down on top of them. It's fun to watch her go to town... a little Victorianator.

We cut our time on the beach short. Today we were heading to Rehoboth to go to the Big Fish for dinner and then to the outlets for shopping. Victoria hammed it up for me in the mirror as we were getting ready to go. She can be so silly.

Unfortunately it was again a fight to get her to eat. I think she managed a couple fries and some crackers. She wouldn't touch the fish fingers, which looked excellent. At least she amused herself by drawing on the table while we got a chance to eat. Jeff got Mom's Meatloaf again. He just loves it. I admit it smells delicious. I had a tough time choosing. I just love seafood and fish. In the end I ordered a pecan crusted tilapia with coconut rum sauce over rice pilaf with a side a mashed sweet potatoes. Mmmm! Mmm!

We headed to the outlets next. There's a Carter's and a Childrens Place outlet in Tanger. I started with Carter's with Victoria while Jeff headed into the VF outlet. He was looking for pants and we've sometimes found some for him at VF in Reading. Carter's was having a 50% off sale. Victoria was actually pretty helpful this time around. I told her what tag we were looking for and off she went to find 5Ts. Hopefully the fact that she helped pick the clothes out will make her more willing to actually wear them this fall. We finally stumbled across their play tables while we were wending around the clothes racks. I lost her to the toys. She played nicely with the other kids who were there. They each played with their blocks, showing each other what they made. I didn't get a fuss when I told Victoria she had to come with me while I paid for her clothes and we went looking for Daddy next. She handed her legos to the other little girl and came with me.

We had more fun in VF. Victoria picked out a skirt. She also picked a couple shirts off the rack. I wasn't sure about sizing. We headed to the fitting room. Turns out Victoria likes trying on clothes in front of a mirror. She had a ball trying on the different outfits. She giggled and spun and threw out her arms. I wish I'd had my other camera with me. I'm afraid the pictures on my point-n-shoot won't turn out so well.

It was late when we left. I'd have liked to have gone into the Coldwater Creek outlet or made it over to the Children's Place outlet on the other side. We spent enough money on clothes in the two shops that we did go into.

Of course, Victoria was hungry when we got to the hotel. No surprise. She hadn't eaten dinner. We pulled out a variety of food and let her eat. She gobbled down some yogurt and had a lot of goldfish.

It was very late when we got her into bed. Way... way past bedtime. Totally blew her routine. Hoping she sleeps late into the morning.

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  Beach Day 5 in pictures




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Thursday, August 28, 2008
  Beach Day 4 Details
The day started off with a temper tantrum. Not completely unexpected but frustrating nonetheless. We let her finish it out and then went out for breakfast. Jeff's been wanting to try the English's Breakfast Buffet so that's where we headed. It's only about a block down from Layton's where we normally go. And Victoria, for someone who didn't want breakfast, she sure chowed down.



The day was forecasted to be overcast with periods of rain. It was fairly humid and we kept expecting the rain. Except it never materialized. Seems the rain went north and south of Ocean City but didn't really hit us.

Instead of going to the beach, we headed for the Boardwalk. Figured a walk after the buffet breakfast was a good idea. Also, we'd planned on getting Victoria's exercise in before we were all confined to the room (which never happened).



Victoria's been fascinated by the kites. We encouraged her to walk the Boardwalk by planning a stop at the Kite Loft. She and Daddy picked out a simple kite to try their hands with. Victoria was so excited, she wanted to open up the package and get it out right there.

We managed to keep her contained until we headed back to the hotel. She and Daddy worked to put the kite together. Then we gathered our bags and headed back to the beach to fly a kite. It took a little while as Daddy figured out how to get the kite in the air. I had to keep Victoria entertained and managed to stumble over her a couple times. But they managed to get it flying. So Victoria because our "little Kite Flyer".



We headed back to the Boardwalk for dinner. Victoria'd asked for grilled cheese. Seems to be her new favorite. We thought we'd check DaVinci's since it would be on the way. We stopped and looked at the menu but there was no grilled cheese. Victoria said she'd have pasta instead. Unfortunately we probably should have kept walking. While Jeff and I had some great pasta, Victoria took one bite of hers and declared it yuck. She did eat the bread though. And we brought strawberries and watermelon with us. So we indulged and headed down to Julia's for dessert. I got my funnel cake, Jeff got an ice cream cone, and Victoria got a hot fudge sundae. She took quite a while eating hers, but eventually she finished and we headed back to the hotel for goodnights.

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  Beach Day 4 in pictures






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Wednesday, August 27, 2008
  Beach Day 3 Details
Today was a let Mom sleep in day. I got paged at 1am and ended up unable to fall asleep afterwards. Victoria tried to wake me up. At least I'm pretty sure I remember a little hand patting me on the cheek and a little face next to me on the bed. I think I sent her off to find her Dad though. I don't really remember.

We breakfasted in the room so that we could get out to the beach at a reasonable time. We'd no sooner gotten ourselves settled on the beach when the Good Humor truck pulled round. Jeff went off to get something for us. He came back with snow cones. Yum! I haven't had one in ages. Was really good. Victoria enjoyed it immensly of course.

Then it was time to get down to serious work. We had to build up our mounds. Victoria chose the spots for them. And, Daddy and I started digging. I got a pretty decent mound dug up in a fair amount of time with that little hand digger. I should have stronger hands by the time we're done. :) When I patted it down, I decided to embed a couple of the eggs around the top as decorations. Well, Victoria took that idea and ran it into the ground. She spent quite a while decorating the mound. She used just about all the sand toys in decorating the mound. Not quite what I'd pictured us doing, but she had fun. It was Christmas time to her and we were decorating. Then Christmas would be over, all the decorations would come down, and she'd huddle on the beach towel with me until Christmas came again (and the decorations could go back up). I'm fairly certain that went on for an hour or so. My mound looked a little worse for wear by the time she finally gave it up.

Then she started playing with the bucket. It was a little big, but she still put it on her head. Can you guess what she was called? Yes, a bucket-head.

Somewhere in there, we actually had lunch. Well, Victoria had lunch before Mommy and Daddy. Jeff made here a jelly sandwich. Which she ate, surprise.. surprise. She had some of the peanut butter crackers. She actually drank most of a juice box for me. Another surprise. Then she helped herself to the chips that Daddy brought back with our sandwich. Jeff got us an Italian hoagie at Subway that we split.

Dad wasn't allowed to use the castle parts to finish off his castle. They were being used to decorate the mound for Christmas. So, instead, he used the big bucket. Took a lot of work to fill that bucket and compact it. But, boy, did it create some cool towers around the castle.

Victoria took to chasing sea gulls today. They were being rather annoying with our food and I shushed the away. I told Victoria she was allowed to chase them off. That's all it took for her. She was off and running. Let her run a little further away from us too. Made me a little nervous when she was going in the direction of the surf. But, I know she won't get close enough to even dip a toe in this time because it's so rough.

Then Thomas and James made an appearance as cars and not as decorations. Finally my roadway was going to be used. For a short time. That is until Victoria decided that the bucket towers were much more interesting. James and Thomas got to perch on them briefly. Then, out came the rake and the towers got raked down to the ground. Once the towers came down, it was only a matter of time before the castle came down. Stomp. Stomp. Stomp. Here comes monster castle-wrecking Victoria.

We came in from the beach and got Victoria a shower. Then we turned on the TV and let her watch what was on Nickelodeon, I think. With everyone showered and changed, we headed down the street to Phillips for the seafood buffet. Jeff and I enjoyed it. I know I got my money's worth on the crab legs I ate. They were done just right. This was a picky night for Victoria though. We just couldn't find anything at the buffet that she was willing to eat. Jeff brought her spaghetti without sauce, an ear of corn, and a roll. I brought her fish sticks and french fries. Jeff even found watermelon. I found some grated cheese. It was a rather frustrating night. I probably shouldn't have, but I brought her dessert anyway. She got cookies and ice cream with chocolate sauce. She ate the cookie and mostly the chocolate sauce. I must admit, the cookies were very good.

Stuffed, we headed out to walk the boardwalk. I don't remember exactly, but I don't think we got too far. I think we made it to the Commander Hotel and then called it a night and headed back for bedtime.

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  Beach Day 3



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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
  Beach Day 2
Our second day on the beach. We got a late start. Which was actually a good thing, considering the weather.

I got up a little after Victoria. We played dinosaurs for a while in the morning. I have to do the voices for the little dinos. I have to post one of the pictures of them. It was interesting. Victoria keeps coming up with these scenarios to play out. Some are repeated... ad nauseum. Sometimes she comes up with really clever ones though. The bedside table has a single drawer and then an open shelf. The open shelf became the dinos home. Everyone huddled in there at various times.

I played a little too long with Victoria. We missed the buffet at English's. So, we ended up a Layton's again. Not such a bad second choice. Victoria likes their pancakes.

We headed down to the beach closer to lunch time. We got an umbrella and two chairs, today. Mostly overcast so we didn't need as much. And, we don't get to spend much time in the chairs this time around anyway. Victoria is very active on the beach.

I thought we'd be doing Turtle Hill again today. Well, sort of. I brought the cars down to the beach to play with. So Daddy built up a hill on one side and I dug up a hill on the other side. And then I built a road between the two.

Victoria named the cars, Thomas (orange) and James (red), and the tow truck, Henry.


The surf was really rough. We were back far enough today that we weren't threatened by it. Although as high tide started coming in Victoria would switch from playing in front of the chairs to playing behind. You can see one of the larger waves crashing in behind Victoria as she played in Daddy's castle.



And, just to prove that I'm actually here on vacation too. Daddy took pictures. Victoria and I are playing with Thomas on my Turtle Hill. It's not as fancy as Daddy's castle on the other side, but we had fun building it and then driving around it.



Then we played bury the cars in the sand. Daddy was amazed to see my Turtle Hill with a castle wall around its perimeter. It was accomplished because I provided the voices for the cars. Thomas would be buried by Victoria and then I'd call for James and Henry to help dig him out. Of course the variations would be James or Henry buried in the sand instead of Thomas. Or, there was Thomas and James buried and Henry to the rescue... Thomas and Hentry buried or James and Henry... well, I'm sure you get the picture. Imagine I did that long enough to get the castle wall built.

It was late afternoon before we headed back to the hotel. We had a tiff at the elevator. A hotel employee intercepted Victoria before she could get on an elevator without us. That lead to the reminder that she needed to wait for us. Which turned into a crying jag from Victoria. And, the usual tear-filled demand to go home. A quick shower rinsed her off. Then she climbed into bed and took a two hour nap.

So much for going out to dinner. Jeff and I waited her out for a while. Then he headed down the Boardwalk to get us pizza. Victoria awoke while he was gone. We channel surfed for a while until we found Nickelodeon. Of course, it was SpongeBob SquarePants. Daddy got back with really good greasy boardwalk pizza. We really enjoyed it. Victoria picked at food. She had a little of this and a little of that, topped off with a donut for dessert.

A little bit of play time. Then a bath. And off to bed.

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Monday, August 25, 2008
  Beach Day 1
First day - up and running...

Victoria wasn't out of bed early. It was closer to her normal time to awaken. So that was good. Everyone knows I'm not an early riser. I woke up to Victoria moving the curtains aside and declaring that the sun was up. Yup, it was. Now, so were we.

We headed to Layton's for breakfast. Then to CVS for necesities, such as beach toys. I'm sure there were a few other things, but the most important were the toys for the beach. Couldn't go dig in the sand without a pail and shovel, at the least. And, well, Jeff and I need the castle parts too.

Back to the hotel to get ready. Victoria had to be convinced that she needed to wear a swimsuit. Once it was clear no swimsuit meant no beach, she picked one out right quick.

Off to the beach with gear in hand. Was a really nice day to be on the beach. A little breeze but not too hard. Warm but not too hot. The surf was too rough for Victoria. Jeff and I enjoyed it though. There's something about waiting the waves pound the beach.

I've got a ton of photos of Victoria playing on the beach. Here's the first of many.



We hit the Boardwalk for lunch. I brought an orange and cheese crackers with me for Victoria. Jeff had pigs in blankets and I had two slices of greasy boardwalk pizza (mmm!). We split some Old Bay fries. He bought chicken fingers for Victoria but she had no interest. She did drink the lemonade. That was really good.

Back to our little spot on the beach. I created Turtle Hill. I also created a Victoria monster as she had much fun knocking down Turtle Hill. (No actual turtles were harmed in the destruction of Turtle Hill.) We were chased off the beach when the surf started overtaking the ridge of sand in front of us. Time to abandon ship for Victoria. The waves were fine so long as they were over there. When they started getting close to over here then we pack it in.

Victoria had a shower and then a very (VERY) long bath. Jeff and I contemplated naps during that time. Probably not a good idea with the 3 1/2 year old in the jacuzzi-style bathtub but it was tempting after a long day in the (somewhat) sun. I believe I got roped into playing dinosaurs again after my bath. It's a little fuzzy though.

We headed out to the Dough Roller for dinner. It's a very kid-friendly restaurant here. Victoria chose the grilled cheese again. Jeff and I had a hard time deciding. I think he went with the spaghetti and sausage while I had the clam strips. Rita's Water Ice is right next door to the Dough Roller so we walked over there for dessert. Victoria had a chocolate water ice and Jeff had a vanilla custard in a cone. I got the kid's size vanilla custard with hot fudge. Who do you think got the majority of my hot fudge? Of course, my budding choco-holic helped herself. Next time, I'm getting her one of her own.

The rest of the day was shopping. Grocery shopping because the oranges downstairs haven't been the greatest and Victoria really goes for them on vacation. Fresh fruit is always a fall-back for getting Victoria to eat so we found strawberries and watermelon too. A few other snack-ish type things... and a bouncy ball for Victoria. (She calls it a super bouncing ball.) Because a standard beach ball isn't going to work with the wind as it is. Stopped at a couple Sunsations along the way looking for shorts and a mesh carry bag for the beach. Found a floaty vest at one and an Ocean City mug at another for Victoria. We had to stop at Candy Kitchen and get our fudge for the week. Mmmm! I think Victoria got taffy... and can you guess which flavor? Chocolate, of course. I had to stop in CVS for more sunscreen. Couldn't find my SPF50 and needed a spray bottle of Victoria's Coppertone Baby.

Then back to the hotel where Victoria went right to bed. She'd had a long enough bath earlier. She was obviously tired and went right to sleep after we went through our nightly ritual.

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Sunday, August 24, 2008
  Beach Arrival
A long day of getting to the beach. Keeping Victoria occupied through the morning as Jeff packed the car. Playing dinosaurs for ages, it seemed. Only one cartoon before going back to dinosaurs.

That is, until it was time to get in the car. Plenty of cartoons in the car. Mommy stocked up the "clicker" (i.e. iPod) with cartoons downloaded from iTunes and some converted from the TiVo.

Several forgotten items necessitated stops along the way. First off, batteries for the portable speakers. One stop at the Christiana Mall to have a late lunch and get batteries. Batteries were found at Radio Shack. Lunch at Ruby Tuesday, the only restaurant within the mall confines that looked like Victoria would eat at. She picked apart a grilled cheese sandwich. This led to a discussion where we figured out that Mommy forgot to pack Victoria's potty seat. A detour over to JC Penney to see if they would have one. And, no such luck.

On the road again. Smooth sailing. Several cartoons for Victoria.

Next stop, Smyrna. The rest area is a favorite stopping point. Mommy and Daddy get to use the rest rooms. Victoria plays in the little playground. She swung in the bucket seat for Mommy. Then ran over to play on the see saws with Daddy. She managed to swing on one of the big swings, the ones with the sling seat, for the first time.

On the road again. Still more cartoons for Victoria.

One last stop in Rehoboth at the Wal-Mart. Found a potty seat and step stool for Victoria. Also found a lined hoodie for her in 5T. Of course I picked it up. By the time she'll actually want to wear it, they'd have been long sold out in her size. Also bought goldfish crackers and pretzel for her as she was complaining she was hungry again.

On the road again. Well, you get the picture about the cartoons. Ate most of the goldfish and some of the pretzel. Also drank most of the milk.

Arrived in Ocean City much later than planned. All good. An excited Victoria couldn't wait to get to the room. Also needed to try out the new potty seat. Then off to the beach. Even though it was dark, she still NEEDED to go to the beach. The surf was pretty rough so we didn't get too close. We stayed closer to the boardwalk. She walked back and forth between a couple of the steps from the boardwalk. I had to restrain her from taking off further than the boundaries of the hotel. Who knows where we'd have ended up. We left the beach when the sand cleaners came along. Victoria was fascinated by them.

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Friday, August 15, 2008
  Dutch Wonderland Redux
Here's some more layouts to look at.
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Journaling reads:
I think this was Victoria’s most favorite ride at Dutch Wonderland. This one was the only ride she went on twice. I think she could have spent an hour riding the racers if they’d let her. She was good about getting off when we asked her so other kids could get a ride. It’s such interesting little scooters. You push off and get the momentum started and then wiggle the handlebar to keep going. She couldn’t quite get enough speed going by wiggling the handles so she spent most of the time peddling around. It sure looked like fun.
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Friday, August 08, 2008
  Dutch Wonderland
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Journaling reads:
"Not so enthusiastic right now. It was a longer drive than expected because of the traffic. We’ve barely made it into the Park. You’ve ridden the Wonderland Special train with Mommy and driven the remote controlled boats with Daddy. We sat you down on a bench while we looked through the map. You looked hot and tired and out of sorts and not at all in the mood to be playing. Seemed like a good idea to head over to one of the air-conditioned eateries. We found the Mill Stream Eatery just down the path from here. We had to wait in line, but at least it was air-conditioned. We got to cool off while we ate. At first I thought we were just eating for me. Then you started digging in. You drank down an entire juice box, pulled the cheese off of two slices of a personal pan pizza, ate some of the fries, and completely devoured the cheese curls. Guess that was the right decision."

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Journaling reads:
"Go from the Entrance to Wonderland Express (1) to Remote- Controlled Boats to Mill Stream Eatery (4)
To the Wiggle Racers (10)
To Duke’s Lagoon
The Slush Shack (9) back to the Entrance and to the car park
Entrance to the Turnpike Sweetstop (6) to the Silo Slide (5) to the Turnpike (4)
To the Wiggle Racers (10) and then the Sky Ride II (17)
Got off at Sky Rike I (32), walked back to Space Shuttle (31) and played some games"

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Tuesday, July 29, 2008
  Eclectic Vacation Pics
Daddy and Victoria took a day off and visited the Philadelphia Zoo. Another set of pictures from Black Lake.
Some cute pictures from Ocean City
See, I told you up front that this was an eclectic selection of vacation pictures. :)

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Saturday, July 19, 2008
  Back to the Beach
So I've spent a lot of time on the Black Lake photos. Now, I've gone back and worked on some of the beach photos. There's actually some photos of me in there. Guess Jeff must have gotten his hands on the camera. :) Of course, the majority of them are still Victoria.


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Thursday, July 17, 2008
  More Fishing Photos
So, here's some more from Black Lake. I suppose you can say that I had a good time. :) At least I have good pictures that tell a fun story.


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Saturday, July 12, 2008
  More Black Lake

More photos from Black Lake. Victoria had a great time. I didn't get the camera out nearly enough. [smile] I've got a lot of pictures from the back following Victoria around. I've got some beautiful landscape pictures too that I'm trying to figure out what to do with.


Now on with the pictures. It rained the morning of our first real day at the campground. We managed to keep Victoria occupied during the downpours. Once it lessened though she was ready to get going.


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One of the best things this week was the family of ducks wandering around - momma, daddy, and 8 babies. Here we are heading over to see the duck family. It's hard to see them over the edge of the bank.


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And let's not forget the picture of the fish that was caught. Not the first one. I didn't have the camera for that one. Daddy helped her catch this one. Victoria is very proud of her little fishy. I absolutely love the grin on her face. That's priceless.


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Tuesday, July 08, 2008
  First Fishing Photos

Here they are. The first pictures of Victoria fishing. I'm going to work my way through a couple layouts. Of course I'll have to post the pictures of the fish she caught. :)

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Sunday, June 22, 2008
  The Wagon on the Beach
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Who knew that that a cheap little yellow and red plastic wagon would provide so much entertainment at the beach. It was so much fun. It got filled with sand or water. You barely fit in it. When you did, sometimes it was for washing off the sand (in order to go get more sand on you).

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Thursday, June 12, 2008
  Greeting the Waves
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Journaling along the wave: "Our first full day on the beach. You were so excited to see the waves. You greeted them enthusiasticly. And this year you were brave enough to get your feet wet."


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  As Time Flies...
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Saturday, June 07, 2008
  Vacation - Almost Done

A new day. Of course we headed back to the beach. Not so early today as there was quite a fog in the morning. We ended up eating breakfast in the hotel dining room instead of walking over to Layton's. Just as well. We enjoyed our breakfast and Victoria absent-mindedly ate her pancakes while watching Disney Playhouse.

Victoria still doesn't want to go to the pool. The beach is okay. She's still excited about going to the beach. She wanted to pack her bag and bring it to the beach with us. She put her sunscreen in it and her beach toys. Well, some of the beach toys. :) Dad ended up carrying the majority of them.

There were more people on the beach today. We were well back from the surf. It made for a longer, winding way to get the water for her. She still spent time pouring it back and forth into various containers.
Jumping on the castle. Well, on the mound that the castle would have been built on if Victoria hadn't jumped on it.
My sand-baby. She attracts sand just as much as dirt.
All cleaned up after the day at the beach. Sucking down a popsicle while watching Toy Story. Ah, the life!
The end of a day... Gee, doesn't seem much different from the beginning. No appreciable dimming of the energy of the everlasting energizer Victoria bunny. Still chattering away.

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Friday, June 06, 2008
  Vacation - Beach Again
More pictures on the beach. It was iffy that we'd actually get Victoria to go to the beach today. She was still insisting on going home first thing in the morning. We took her out to breakfast and talked about options. We were playing with stickers at the restaurant. Victoria saw the umbrella on the sticker sheet. That made her think of umbrellas on the beach. So that's how we ended up going to the beach. And had a wonderful time there. I spent more time running back and forth from the surf than I have in a while, but it was fun because Victoria was having such a grand time.

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  Vacation - Breakfast
On our way to breakfast, Victoria insisted on taking her new wagon. It contained one of the new sand toys and Dolly, of course. We were heading over to Layton's for pancakes, again.
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  Vacation - Too Exciting
Some things were just too exciting today. Victoria was too excited. We went from the beach to the pool. She was so excited that she was running ahead of me. She headed straight to the slide. She was climbing up it as I was getting closer, but I still wasn't close enough to catch her. It never occurred to me that she'd actually slide down until I saw her disappear from the top. I was dropping my bag and stripping out of my clothes as I headed to the edge. I didn't manage to get my pants or my sandals off before she hit the bottom of the slide. I don't think she went under more than once before I dived in and reached her. Scared us both pretty good, I'll tell you. I couldn't help but scold her. I think that added insult to injury though. She started crying at that point and didn't stop. We bundled her in towels and I sat on one of the beach chairs with her. Didn't help. She kept crying and then started in with "I want to go home." Took her upstairs to our hotel room, stripped her down, dried her off, and put her in comfy clothes. Laid down with her in her bed. Still didn't help. She was still crying off and on, still saying she wanted to go home.

Decided to get her out of the hotel. We headed out to have a late lunch. Went to the Dough Roller which serves Uncrustables and Victoria will eat. Unfortunately they didn't serve ice cream there so we had to head out in search of ice cream. First we headed up the Coastal Highway to the Wawa so we could get newspapers and milk. Then we tried the Rita's next to one of the Dough Rollers. They only server frozen custard though. As picky as Victoria is and in such a fragile state, I didn't want to take a chance getting her something that wasn't ice cream. Instead we turned around and drove a little further to a Dumsers Drive-In. Victoria chose to have strawberry ice cream. I had a hot fudge sundae. Jeff had a triple butterscotch sundae. Very tastee as Victoria would say.

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Thursday, June 05, 2008
  Vacation Day One
Our first day on the beach. Victoria was soo excited. It wasn't the best day to be on the beach. There weren't many people out there. Very few of the umbrella rentals were open. It was overcast and windy and a little chilly. Didn't matter to Victoria. She wanted to be on the beach. And this year, she got closer and closer to the surf. As you can see from the pictures, she managed to dip a toe in every so often. :) All action as she dashed back and forth.


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Wednesday, June 04, 2008
  Vacation - Arrival
All tuckered out after a long day packing and a long night driving to Ocean City, MD. She fell asleep almost as soon as we got her into bed.
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Saturday, March 08, 2008
  Few More Beach Pictures

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Thursday, July 12, 2007
  BoardWalk Ice Cream

Okay... last one for tonight. This is another vacation picture. Victoria did manage to get quite a few treats while on vacation. Here's one. She got ice cream to eat while I got a funnel cake. She had to quickly eat her ice cream because it was melting all over the place. She was quite a mess there. But it satisfied her sweet tooth, that's for sure.

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  Sand Dancin'
These are completely out of order. :) Sorry for that. Here's another layout I did for our vacation. This one's called Sand Dancin'. I took these pictures the first day we arrived at the beach, July 1st. Victoria was so excited. All she wanted to do was run and walk on the beach. It was great to see her so happy. A little difficult for us to keep up with her. We managed to briefly convince her to walk up on the Boardwalk so we could buy some sand toys. After that Victoria was convinced that the Boardwalk was just for toys. Imagine that. :)


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Wednesday, July 11, 2007
  Vacation - Time After Time
We're back from vacation. Had a good time. Wish it had been longer.

So, okay... time to start updating the blog. You'll have to scroll backward from this point. I'll post the actual pictures with their stories on the day they happened.

I've got tons of cute Victoria pictures from our vacation. And, I've even managed to scrap a few of them into layouts. I'm going to start with one of my favorites. This one's called Time After Time. Click on the image to view larger.
I just love seeing how she's grown up. Isn't it amazing? She's not so into getting her picture taken right now so I've got lots of photos of her running away from me. She loved the sun glasses so I actually got her to pose with a cute smile instead of her goofy look.

Check out Sun 'n Sand - Years under Digital Scrapbooks to the right or click here to view the scrapbook page. It's last year's perspective on the difference a year makes. :)

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