Afternoon with PawPaw

Walker loves going to his PawPaw's house. There are tractors, tools, horses, and all sorts of stuff to play with.

Performance and a Muffin

This morning, Walker's school had a Mother's Day performance. All of the kids sang a song which they've been practicing for weeks. Just before they started singing, Walker grabbed a muffin, which still had the paper liner attached to it. Keep your eye on the paper liner. (You might need to watch the video full screen to clearly see what happens.)

New Playscape

For Walker's birthday, Marmee and Papa Gator got Walker (and Findley) a great new playscape. It has swings, ladder and slide, monkey bars, and a picnic table. Walker loves it!

Findley Giving a Smile

Walker's Birthday Party

We apologize for the lack of posts lately. We've taken lots of photos and videos in the past few weeks, but we just haven't had a chance to post any until now.

Walker's second birthday party was so much fun. He got to see lots of family and friends, and we all spent a beautiful afternoon in the backyard.

Mama made an awesome chocolate cake. (Thanks to Sara for decorating it!)







When Walker was done with his cake, he went over to Granny to get more.


For about two months before his birthday, Walker was asking for a bicycle. He was so excited when we rolled out his new present.


Pawpaw and Granddaddy showed him how to ride around the yard.




The morning after the party, Walker woke up around 7:00. He pulled his cowboy boots on over his pajamas, grabbed his cowboy hat, and ran outside to get on his new bike.

Waking up from an Afternoon Nap

Walker: "Daddy, get up."
Me: "What do you say?"
Walker: "Please."
Me: "Can you say that in one sentence?"
Walker: "That in one sentence."

He's a walking punchline.

Drinking Salsa

This boy loves his salsa.

Cute Outfit

Awesome Bridge

There's a really cool pedestrian bridge near our house. Walker loves to run on it to make it sway, and he has fun dropping rocks and leaves into the water below.

Siblings Wrestling

Sick Boy

Walker got sick, so he got the royal treatment. Mom set him up with cranberries and a movie to help him take his mind off of feeling bad.

Findley's Photo Shoot

Findley put on her tutu for an afternoon photo shoot in the backyard.

At the Park

This afternoon, we met up with Jenny, Phil and Reece at the park. Findley got some tummy time on the blanket while Mama and Walker pushed Reece's stroller.

Singing and Saying Hi

Walker showed off his new haircut and his singing skills tonight.

Findley's First Food

Findley had her first big girl food tonight. Mama gave her some avacado, and she seemed to like it. In other news, Walker stayed at the table through his entire dinner, which we're pretty sure is a first also.

Frog Outfit

Findley loves wearing the froggy outfit that Granny and Granddaddy gave her.

Plane Flight

For my birthday, Leann got me a flight on a Douglas C-47 based at Meacham Airport. The plane was built in 1941 for American Airlines, and was placed into military service the next year. At one time, the plane was owned by the President of Mexico, and it was later used by skydiving operators.

Walker got so excited when we pulled up at the airport and saw the airplane.


While waiting for the flight, we walked around the Vintage Flying Museum and took a look at all of the great airplanes they have, including the Pacific Prowler, a beautiful B-25 Mitchell.



The pilot was nice enough to allow Walker to ride along on my lap. Prior to the flight, the pilot told us the history of the aircraft, as well as a briefing so that we would know what to expect. As we climbed into our seats, we put on our ear protection. Walker was really patient, and sat in my lap as the engines warmed up for about 10 minutes.



Then, we taxied to the runway and waited another few minutes while the pilots did their runup and mag check. Finally, we lined up on the runway and took off. Those 1,500 horsepower engines were incredibly loud as we climbed.





Soon after we were in the air and the pilot pulled back the throttle, we were able to take off our hearing protection and walk around inside the plane. There are several large windows that were just the right height for taking photos and admiring the view. We flew around downtown Fort Worth, then did a couple of circles around Cowboys Stadium.







One of our fellow passengers was kind enough to film us for a couple of seconds.



Here's the last photo I took of Walker on the flight.



Those of you paying attention may have noticed that Walker wasn't exactly smiling in these photos and videos. He did in fact smile the first time he looked out the big window, but most of the time he looked very serious. I am obviously a terrible dad, because I didn't recognize that serious look as air sickness. About 30 seconds after that last photo, Walker puked all over both of us.

He seemed to feel better after throwing up, and we landed shortly afterwards. Mom was ready with the camera as we got out of the plane.

Reading Lonesome Dove

A couple of weeks ago, Sam sent us a wonderful book of photographs taken during the filming of Lonesome Dove. It's a beautiful book, and Walker was immediately fascinated. He now asks (demands really) to read it every night before bed. He loves the horses and knows most of the characters by heart.

Snow Day!

We got about 2" of snow on top of a half inch of ice last night, so we all stayed home. Walker got to play in snow for the first time, and Findley came out for a couple of seconds to check it out, too. It was around 17 degrees when we took these photos, so we didn't stay outside for very long.



Walker tripped a couple of times and faceplanted into the snow, but he didn't seem to mind at all.