the longest short week

Rachel nor I have felt 100% this week, which made the time drag by. We went to the lake with Aunt Julie and Mr. Landin Thursday and Friday, though, and that was a great distraction. Rachel rode on the boat, which she hated--mostly because I wouldn't let go of her the whole time. She went swimming--well, not really...she just floated on me on a floating chair, but it was fun. She played with shells and rocks, she fed ducks and fish, and she even watched Aunt Julie catch a huge catfish with a Fisher Price toy fishing rod! Jarrad almost broke his body trying to ski and wake board, but he and I had a great time joyriding on the Seadoo while Julie and Landin chased Rachel around.

cute moment

Aunt Julie's poodle, Jack, was vacationing with us, and, since he is just Rachel's size, she fell in love with him. He was really into Rachel's favorite pastime--being chased. She ran from one side of the house to the other, and he chased her and licked her hands and tummy. She giggled and then would run to me or Julie, saying, "up," for a break from Jack. She quickly got back down to start all over. The funniest part for us was seeing her boss Jack. Rachel's grunt-style communication has really become quite sophisticated. Friday afternoon, Rachel went over to the sliding glass door that leads out to the screened porch. She pointed to the door and then to Jarrad, "Kuh. Kuh." Jarrad opened the door. She pointed to Jack and then to the porch, "Kuh. Kuh." Jack exited, followed with Rachel commanding the door to be shut. I guess Jack understands her language as well as we do.

non-toy toy of the day

Rachel had a blast with full access to her Crocs while we were at the lake. Interestingly, she almost always took her shoes off, only to reverse them and replace them on the wrong feet. She walked around at least half the time with her shoes on backwards. Rachel also carried around two near-empty 12oz soda bottles most of the afternoon on Friday.