Cute shoes

Sometimes, even a man can admit when cute is cute.

Magellan Jr.

The little explorer strikes again, this time with Grandma's tupperware bowls.

Cattywhompus

Sometimes you just don't notice that things didn't line up just right until much later. Surprisingly, that diaper caught everything Grace threw at it.

Cousins

Grace got to meet her cousin Jack last night and is obviously captivated by him. Family is a huge part of the Hesseltine world. Today we are headed to the Morse (Grandma H's family) family reunion. There Grace will get meet many of her mother's 23 cousins and 29 second cousins. Before going to bed last night we drew a family tree to make sure we counted everyone. I will likely keep the tree in my pocket and reference it often throughout the weekend.

By the looks of how much Grace is enjoying time with, as of now, her only cousin, she is going to love being part of a large family.

Back at Sam's

First breakfast in Denver and it's got to be at Sam's 3. Again, famous burritos for Mom and Dad, fruit for Grace.

Milk Drunk

Grace has entered a phase where she is the pure definition of a wiggle worm. It's hard to give here a hug for more than a millisecond before she's squirming to go do something else, experience something new and different. This of course can be hard for parents who just want to hug, cuddle, and love on their child. The only time of the day when Grace will sit still long enough to allow for some quality one-on-one time is during the first bottle of the day. Grace is so ravenously hungry after her 10 hours of overnight sleep that she can focus on little else but gulping down her pre-breakfast bottle. As you can see in the photo, Sarah takes advantage of these precious few minutes to have a calm and relaxing interaction with her daughter - the last relaxing one she'll get for the day. It's also quite apparent that Sarah is in a similar state of mind at this time of the morning. I like to call it Sleep Drunk.

The pediatrician said we should have Grace weened off the bottle completely by the time she is 18 months. Unless we find another way to get some quality calm time, that might be one of the most difficult challenges to date.

The inspiration for this blog comes from the birth of Grace's first cousin, just a mere five days ago. We welcome Jack Allan Buckmaster to the world. Enjoy the story of his arrival, and how he gets mild drunk at the Buckmaster blog Four Bucks.

Day at Owen's Beach

The weather here has been consistently great as of recent. It is a welcome change to one of the wettest and coldest springs on record. We recently took a trip to Point Defiance Park, Owen's Beach on one of the particularly nice days. Grace has been to the beach before, but this was the first time we have allowed her to crawl around and play in the sand. She is now old enough (and we as first time parents are finally relaxed enough to allow her...) to eat handfuls of sand. Grace loves the outdoors, and a simple afternoon walk in the stroller keeps her occupied looking around at the world, but the beach was a real treat - one we hope to repeat many times in the future.

Tasting the rocks. Mmmm... minerally.

Sand drawings - an artist in the making.

Grace will walk all over the place if you allow her hands hold onto at least one of your fingers. As for walking on her own, she has begun "cruising." That is to say, she will use furniture and other support items to balance using both her hands while she shuffles along. She has yet to use only one hand while completing this maneuver, but we feel it's not far off. She constantly reaches up for us to allow her support and then she will drag us all over the house, beach, or wherever it is we are located at the time, to explore. We feel it won't be long before she's walking on her own.

Of course, Porter came along. He loves the beach too!

Check out all the photos from the day at Picasa: Owen's Beach

Girls at the Zoo

It finally feels like summer here in the Pacific Northwest. With the beautiful weather comes greater incentive to venture outdoors, even if you have nothing planned. It was with this in mind that 3 generations of Templin ladies decided to go to the Point Defiance Zoo this past Friday. Sarah didn't think Grace would be that interested in the animals, but she was mistaken. As was told to me, Grace would point and stare at almost all the animals. She specifically preferred the animals which moved a lot, so the seals in the photo above were by far her favorite attraction.

One of the few times she looked at the camera instead of the animals, showing off her Napoleonic style flat-front sun bonnet.

The penguin exhibit. Grandma is still not looking at the camera.

The ape exhibit.

The grumpy camel exhibit.

There were many other exhibits, and Grace pointed at every last animal she could spy. Grace has many books with many animals in them, but I believe she enjoys the live versions better than the drawn. Considering we live a mere 1.5 miles from the zoo, and how much it appears Grace enjoyed the visit, we might shortly become members...

See all the photos at Picasaweb: Girls at the Zoo

Our Little Explorer

Someone found the hidden treasures of the Tupperware drawer.

Mommy's Helper

As I tend to my deck pots, Grace is learning the art of gardening. She may deadhead fresh blooming flowers instead of the old blooms but she'll learn. She definitely likes to look and smell all the different colored flowers and feel all the different textures each one offers.

We are heading off to her first visit to the zoo today. More pics from this event soon!