Tyler the Explorer

"Now that the weather is nice, Mom and I can go outside more often and I can go exploring in this huge backyard we have. Let's see what I can find today."













"Wow, two sticks!! I love to play sticks."













"Hmm..let's see if I can put some
rocks in here."



"Aww...a cute little ladybug. Mom says not to eat the ladybug because ladybugs are our friends."Click photo to see ladybug.







"I've never climbed up these stairs before."




"Look it's my buddy, Sophia!"










"I'm trying to make this stick a branch again."
















"Practicing to be a drummer."














"I did all of this in 30 minutes. Boy, I am pooped. Oh and I also said the word 'bath' for the first time yesterday."

Sock Theft

There seems to be a thief going around stealing socks. This little sock thief is very sneaky at his craft too; while Mommy was talking on the phone, he quietly and very carefully slid off both her socks! Then he took the socks and proudly paraded them around the house waving them with both arms as if to say "Look what I got! Look what I got!".

Tyler does have this thing with socks. He always likes to take off his and as soon as Daddy comes home and takes his off, Tyler is quick to grab them off the floor. No socks allowed at our house...at least when Tyler is out on the prowl.

Memorial Day Weekend

To start off our Memorial Day weekend, we had a barbeque in the backyard. This was our first cook out for the season. After enjoying our pork chops and Italian seasoned potatoes, we joined Ute out in the front yard for a little chat.

While we were talking to Ute, Tyler was wandering around and exploring this new territory. Before we knew it he was climbing up the front steps! This was the first time he ever tempted this himself, so he came as quite a surprise to us.

On Sunday we decided to do a little caching. We went to a two different parks in the area that we had never been to before. One of them had a really nice beach that we never knew existed and there weren't many people on it. However there was one couple that had a dog that was playing fetch in the water. Tyler, being the dog lover that he is, was just fascinated by the dog playing in the water. The dog eventually came over to see us and when he did shook water all over us!

Then on Memorial Day we decided to head to a nearby beach for a little R&R. The beach is in a park that we had been to before, however it was in the winter and on a very cold day, so we never ventured to go down to the beach area. There was a half a mile walk to the beach, but when we finally reached our destination, we were quite happy. The beach was nice!

Steve dug out a ditch for Tyler to play in and once in a while the water would fill it a bit so that Tyler could splash around.


Tyler also had fun collecting sticks (his recent favourite toy) and playing with the shells by putting them in the back of his dump truck.

Overall, we had a very nice Memorial Day weekend, filled with fun and a little rest.

14 Hour Drive Home

Rather than eat the crackers, Tyler thought it would be more fun to put the crackers down his pant leg.






Stopped to get a clothing and diaper change. We took Tyler for a little walk around the Rest Stop; he enjoyed playing with the water pump.











After taking off his shoe, he had fun trying to get it back on himself.

Florida Update

We're back from our trip to Florida. We arrived home around 8:30 last night. It was really nice to get to see everyone and to be able to attend Brian's high school graduation. After the graduation ceremony, we all went over to George and Judy's house for a celebration and of course some photos.

Monday was not only Brian's graduation, but it was also Tyler and Garret's birthday! Tyler turned 15 months and Garret turned 16 months. It was fun getting the kids together. They all have grown so much since Christmas, which was the last time we were down. We tried our best to get a few group shots of the kids, but unfortunately we waited too long in the evening and they were pretty much done for the day, not to mention their clothes a little dirty from cake and other food items.
The next day Steve, Brian, Sandy and I worked on the beach house that Sandy had started awhile ago in her backyard for the kids. Steve and I put in some flooring and then Steve and Brian put on the roof, while Sandy and I painted the floor of her shed. Then we all worked on painting the rest of the beach house. The colours inside are really bright and cheerful. We can't wait until it's finished so that the kids can enjoy it.

While we were busy painting, Tyler had fun playing with some buckets filled with water and toys.

It was wonderful seeing everyone again and we hope it will be soon before we can all be together again. We had a really nice visit!

Fun Florida Finds

We spent the majority of our afternoon looking for some caches. Some of the caches we found were really neat and different from the mainstream of caches we usually find. To start off, Steve found this cache container in a guardrail. It is by far the largest cache container we've ever found in a guardrail. The typical container a cacher uses to hide a cache in a guardrail is a small hide a key, so imagine our surprise when we found this whopper stuck in a guardrail.

This cache was especially neat, it is a Travel Bug Hotel that the owner made to look like a real hotel inside. It was really cute and inspired us to think about doing the same if we ever hide a Travel Bug Hotel someday.
Then there was this cache which was really clever. The owner hid the cache by removing one of the reflectors off the sign and then gluing a magnetic hide a key behind it so it still sticks to the sign.
Another cache we did took us to an area filled with "wild" orange trees. It was a nice walk through the park and we also saw a cool lizard that was looking for a mate by flashing his orange. These caches really inspired us to come out with some neat caches of our own, so beware Maryland cachers, we have some new tricks up our sleeves now...Hee Hee.

On the Road Again

Thursday we packed up the car and headed to Florida, however before doing so Steve had to work in the morning and so Tyler and I got wait for him on the base. I took Tyler to the playground where he walked around for the first time exploring everything the playground had to offer. We also went to the library and registered for a library card. Then we headed on over to Steve's office and ate lunch with him. Around 1445 we were officially on the road. We made it to South Carolina the first night.
The next morning we woke up and our first stop was Manning, South Carolina. This is a regular stop for us during our Florida trips. We found this really cool cafe that makes real cappuccino (almost as good as in Italy).
We arrived in Florida at 5:30 p.m. and we have enjoying our visit ever since. This morning we went to visit Chellee in the hospital where she has been staying now for almost a week because of some complications with her pregnancy of the triplets she is carrying for her Intended Parents. She was in good spirits, however she was really anxious to go home and be with her family. We did receive good news tonight that she was indeed released to go home. Yay, Chellee!
This afternoon we met Janell and Wyatt in Blue Springs park where they have their camper set up. We had hot dogs and then we walked throughout the park.







During our walk, we saw a turtle, a crab, fish and a couple of rabbits. The closest rabbit was not afraid of us until Tyler noticed him and started getting excited. It was a beautiful evening and we all had a good time.

Kristin

For those wondering about my sister in law, Kristin, after her scooter accident in Mexico, you can check out her Blog at http://kriswalker.spaces.live.com/ or go to the right of this page under Blogs and click on Kristin & Joe.

Playing Around

The night before last, Steve and I took out a new toy for Tyler to play with. Tyler got so many toys for Christmas last year that we put some away to save for those days when he just needed something different to play with. Chellee and Peter gave him the Ball Popper. As soon as we put in the batteries and the balls started flying up into the air, Tyler got all excited. He really didn't know what to do. He started making the same noises that he makes when he sees a puppy. Then he tried to catch the balls and we showed him how it works. It wasn't long before he was getting the balls and putting them in the machine himself and then starting it all over by pushing down on the button.

Last week, Tyler started rocking on his own in the rocking horse that my mom gave him for his birthday. He loves to rock on "Pony"; when he does he laughs.

Mountain Climbing

This morning while I was cleaning the windows in the living room, all of a sudden I noticed Tyler right beside me on the sofa! He had never climbed on the sofa before, so was kind of shocked to see him there beside me.

Then while I was in our bedroom, I noticed that it was way to quiet. I have learned from the past that when it is quiet and Tyler is not in sight, it usually means he is up to something he isn't suppose to be. I expected to see him in one of the kitchen cabinets when I walked in the kitchen to see what he was up to, but instead I found him standing on the stool that I left out after cleaning the kitchen windows!

Of course, these photos are only re-enactments to show you what he did. When he really climbed up on the sofa and the stool, I freaked out and quickly got him down in fear that he might fall and hit his head. I really need eyes in the back of my head now!

So Happy to be Tyler's Mom

My Mother's Day started looking for a geocache. We had spent 8 hours the day before looking for it with our caching buddies, Barbie and Richey, and so when they called us to say they were on their way back to give it another shot, we were quick to pack up our things and head out and join them in the fun. This was cache so clever! We've never seen anything like it before. Steve ended up making the find roughly about 45 mins after we arrived on the scene and with that won a $20 First to Find prize! We are so glad to finally get that cache done! It had driven all of us crazy the day before, though we had a lot of fun with Barbie and Richey. They are really nice people and we found out we have a lot in common with them.

On the way back from our find, Steve asked me what I wanted to do for Mother's Day. I really couldn't think of anything. I was hoping for nice weather to go to a park and have a picnic, but the breeze was a little much for that. We drove around a park that we hadn't been to before and then headed home to grab some lunch. Steve took me shopping the night before to buy a pretty dress to wear to Brian's graduation, so I considered that my Mother's Day present, however once home we got an urge to go out and enjoy the outdoors again, so we found another park down more south and loaded up some caches to do while there. The park was beautiful and we really enjoyed our walk throughout the trails.

On the way home, Steve said he wanted to treat me to dinner and so we went to a Chinese restaurant that we haven't been to before. The waitresses just loved Tyler. Steve gave Tyler a wonton to try and the look on his face when he put it in his face was so funny. We think that he thought it was a fry because of the way it was cut. He eventually got the hang of them and ate some more. In the middle of dinner, Steve gave me a card from him for Mother's Day and one from Tyler. They were very sweet!!! I told him that we are so blessed to have a son like Tyler and that Tyler and I are so blessed to have Steve in our life. Even though this Mother's Day was just so wonderful and special, I feel that everyday is Mother's Day because I have such a loving family.

Peanut Butter Boy

This week I started giving Tyler peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. At first he was unsure of how to eat it, but after some ripping, tearing and smashing apart the sandwich, he sort if figured it out. He still makes somewhat of a mess when eating it and has the occasional urge to spread peanut butter on the table part of his high chair as well as getting some in his hair, but he eats most of it and really enjoys the taste of the peanut butter.

Tyler Takes a Stand & Tries Mom's Sneakers

Well after walking around for the past couple of days, practically non-stop throughout the house, Tyler has learned how to finally stand up by himself without holding on to anything. Before when he would fall while walking, he would either come to me and climb up on my leg to a stand, crawl to something he could pull himself up to, or call for me to assist. There are some times that he becomes a bit frustrated when trying to stand himself, but he is really doing a fantastic job!


Also this morning, I caught him trying to put on my sneaker!

Welcome Liam!!!

Liam was born yesterday weighing 8 lbs and 8 oz and as cute as can be! You may remember a posting in our blog awhile ago of Vanessa standing by an Infant Parking sign holding up a sign of her due date to tell everyone of their wonderful news.

Look how proud Daddy looks holding his new son. Congratulations Aaron and Vanessa!!! I wish you lots of joy and happiness with your newest little member of your family.

Friendship Garden

A few weeks ago, Ute and I planted some sunflowers together that she had bought. We both never planted sunflowers before, so we didn't know if they would grow alright or not.

Well, yesterday Ute came to my door to say that the first one started! Hooray!!! We both were really excited about it.

Last night, as I was showing Steve the "prized" sunflower, he noticed another had already popped up.

Ute and I planted about a dozen or more sunflowers so hopefully the others will grow as well.

He's a "Walker"

Tyler has been making some huge improvements in his walking abilities, especially this morning! He walked all around the kitchen and living room. It was so awesome to see!!!! He was having so much fun and he just wanted to walk more and more. Each time that he would fall, he would come to me and climb up on my leg so that he is standing and go walking again! I am so proud of him!!!!

We've worked at this for so long now and he is finally getting that confidence needed to succeed. My neighbour, Ute, was a huge help in building his confidence. She showed me that if I hold him around his upper torso instead of his hands and then gradually bring my hands back as he is walking, that he doesn't notice me not holding on to him anymore and he keeps on walking. Thank you again, Ute! She has raised three wonderful boys, so she has lots of experience with all of this.

Tyler, you are growing up so fast. I am just loving every second of you soooo much!!!!!

We Survived CAM 2007!

Yay! We finally completed our CAM caches! For the past month, our focus has been mainly aiming to complete the required CAM (Caching Across Maryland) caches in order to go to the big CAM event. Only those cachers who have completed all CAM caches are allowed to go to the final CAM picnic. And insuring that this was the case, they placed secret letters in each cache in which we had to cross off on the CAM card they provided for us. A few days before the event, they released a decoder to give us the coordinates of the secret CAM event location.
The event turn out was excellent. There were lot of cachers who showed up. To celebrate our hard work and dedication in finding all CAM caches, we had a potluck picnic. I was originally going to bring cupcakes, but the day before it was rainy and I was kind of bored, so I ended up decorating a CAM cake. I wrote on it "We completed CAM 2007" and decorated it in official geocaching colours.



During CAM they encouraged us to really enjoy the beautiful scenery that Maryland has to offer and in doing so, they had a photo contest which they judged and announced the winners at the picnic. Steve won for several of his photos and surprisingly enough I won for Best Overall Photo for my barn photo.
It was funny because at the last minute, Steve asked me if I wanted to submit any of my photos that I took while CAMing and I hesitated at first because I didn't think I had very many good photos and so I selected my barn photo just to say that I submitted something. I'm so glad I did now :)
The event was a lot of fun and we think it was the best one that we've been to thus far. It was wonderful just to get together with our caching friends and meet some new ones. We actually met another Baby Tyler who also caches. He is a few months younger than our Baby Tyler. It was fun to get them together. Tyler also made another new friend, Becka. They were practically inseparable during the entire picnic. It was so cute!!!
Of course, Tyler was so happy to be reunited with his favourite puppy or should I say, Geo-cousin. Geo Uncle Richie and Geo Aunt Barbie took their adorable and very sweet dog, Bailey to the picnic. Tyler just loves Bailey!
After we ate and talked a bit, we headed off to find some caches that were hidden in the park. There was a bunch of us all from our Southern Maryland group that went out to find them. There were so many cachers out doing the same thing, that we actually had to wait inline and sign the log. To say the least, finding them for the most part wasn't too difficult.

We had an awesome time at the event and we already can't wait till the next one!