Starting May 1, I was out of town for about 8 or 9 days doing geotechnical exploration work (doing in-place tests and collecting soil samples for lab tests). I was on Whiskey Island, one of the barrier islands in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. We are involved in the preparatory engineering work for a restoration project on the island that will build up the dunes and beaches and establish a marsh on the protected side of the island. The weather was beautiful for the most part and the work went relatively quickly, which was a blessing, because the location is highly sensitive to poor weather conditions, and we could have spent many a day not even getting to the island due to wind, wave, rain, and lightning conditions.
While I was gone life carried on for Amanda and Hannah. They managed to make the best of it, though Hannah developed a cough and we found out she has ear infections in both ears (poor thing). Not long after I left, Amanda and Hannah went to a nearby strawberry patch with some friends. At the strawberry farm, she discovered the joys of the merry-go-round...
...had fun visiting the animals at the petting zoo (here she is with some pigs)...
...and she even rode on a pig (a statue of one, at least).
Here she is with her good buddy Evelyn, hanging out with the crows.
After she got home, she explored the wonders of the giant puddle/lake that is our driveway during/after a good rain storm.
A couple days after the strawberry patch adventure, the weather was hot and sunny, so Hannah decided to experiment with streaking through the sprinklers.
She also developed her first notable allergic reaction while I was gone (to what, we aren't sure, but she had big welts/hives up and down her legs and on her torso).
After I returned, we had a day of transition where I unpacked from my work trip out of town and we packed for our family trip to Denver. The main reason for the trip was for Benjamin and Emily (Amanda's brother and sister-in-law) to be sealed in the Denver temple to their son Damon, whose adoption was finalized a couple months ago. We extended the trip beyond the ceremony to include a fun-filled family affair that stretched from Friday evening, when we got in to Denver, to Wednesday morning, when we left.
Here are the girl cousins with their DiDi in front of the temple
Here are all the cousins together. From left to right: Hannah, Addyson, Cade, and Damon.
After posing for pictures for a little while, the kids had to let off some steam. They played a rousing game of "Chase Addyson" Which went something like this:
Addyson would run away while Damon and Hannah chased.
Addyson is much faster than the littler kids, so to make it more fun she would occasionally play dead.
This would result in her being tickled by the little ones to wake her up.
Later in the vacation we had a general grand ol' time. We walked around Boulder. Hannah and Addyson raced each other on more even footing than their own two feet...That is, Hannah used my feet and Addyson used Grandad's feet.
The kids had a ton of fun playing "Ring around the Rosies" with Grandad and DiDi.
We all went swimming at the hotel. Here is Hannah in her floating ring. It restricts her mobility, but keeps her head well above water, which keeps her more comfortable in the pool.
DiDi helped Hannah and the other kids renew their love for bubbles. Here is some video evidence of the fun that was had.
Hannah also nurtured a relatively undeveloped love for climbing stairs. We live in a single level home, so she doesn't have a ton of opportunities to stair climb on a day-to-day basis, but between the stairs at the cousins' apartments and the stairs at the hotel, she more than made up for lost time.
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