We took advantage of....

....the perfect weather yesterday and hit the park!

Yesterday, it was crisp and cool...a little cold in the shade, but we bundled up and drove out to Katherine Fletcher park. It's about 3 minutes away in the car and about 1 1/2 miles away on a bike/walking trail. Since we weren't sure how long Mia would last, we opted to drive. A friendly squirrel came pretty close and had a snack while Mia watched him from the top of the slide. I'm glad there wasn't anyone behind her, because that little squirrel and Mia had a connection, so she didn't budge till he scampered off.
We walked down to the little creek and watched the water flow by. It was so pretty out there. The trees that still had their leaves so so brilliant in color, and the grass was still very green. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Mia ran into a 10 week old rat terrier named Kipper (after a show that Mia LOVES). She was so excited that she got to meet 'Kipper', and his owner was so impressed that Mia remained cool and composed when he jumped all over her. Apparently, two older boys burst into tears a few minutes before. Not Mia, she was all over this little pup. It was a good thing that she had her mittens on, because he teethed on her a little :) Dada was on it yesterday. He pushed her on a big girl swing, picked her up and zoomed her on a zip line, held her hand while walking by the creek. I went down the big twirly slide with her ( a little boy had bum rushed her, so she wasn't feeling very confident) until she was ready to go by herself, I tried to find the 'hat' to the acorn she gave me, and I wiped her nose...it sure does run when she's cold and running around.


Saturday, I ran around a bit doing a little Christmas shopping, came back for lunch then headed off for my hair appointment. While I was gone, Daryl took Mia up to the park, but it was so freaking windy, they didn't stay long at all. Daryl couldn't find Mia's mittens, so they left after playing for about 1/2 an hour. Daryl said she pretty much enjoyed all the pebbles, sticks and fallen leaves.
When I used to ask Mia to smile for the camera, she would look at me and give me a very sincere angelic smile. Well, that's all changed. Now she'd rather not pay attention to my request, but when she does, she screws this silly forced smile on her face that makes both Daryl and me want to bust out laughing. It's like she's saying, 'look, I'm in the middle of something important, but if you want me to stop all my fun and give you a smile, then this is what you'll get...so stop bugging me'. :)

She's also been doing this thing with her tongue. When she's really concentrating on something, she'll poke her tongue to the right side of her smile..it helps her think. :) Also, instead of saying peek-a-boo, she says keep-a-po0. We think she's learning the right way to say it, but she's so sweet when she covers her own eyes, flashes her hands open and squeals 'KEEP-A-POO!!!!'

Keep-a-poo!

zip line fun: