Swing!

We got a baby swing the other day to add to our new playset so Lexi can swing (she had done a little swinging on the normal swings, but they obviously aren't ideal for somebody her age). She loves her swing! She started grinning as soon as she got in. It was hard to get her out when it was time to go in.

Here are a couple videos. She liked swinging, but she thought it was WAY funnier when she got to kick her Dad in the tummy when she'd swing forward. Both videos are pretty similar, but I couldn't choose between the two so I'm posting both.





And here's a more recent pic of the playset. Still not finished. We have since added the climbing wall and started on the tunnel. Monica has also started staining it with weather sealer, and we have started battling with carpenter bees which are boring holes in the wood. :-(

Goofin' With Gramps

Here's a video of Lexi goofing around with Grandpa Ray in his driveway. Turn the sound up so you can hear her laughs. The laughing is the best part.

Big Build

Last Sunday we took on the project of assembling the wooden playset we had bought for Lexi. We were up at Monica's Dad's house Friday and Saturday for a wedding, so him and Sylvia came back down to our house Sat. evening to help us with the construction project. Sat. night we layed out and labled the parts, and then Sunday morning we got down to business.

We started around 8:00 AM, and didn't get finished until after 9:00 PM. When I say "finished", I mean we finished the main tower portion of the set, and got the slide attached. We still have a beam with two swings, a tunnel, and a cimbing wall that need to be added.

Here are some pics from the build. Lexi was a big help as you'll see. We did have one incident near the beginning where the whole structure came crashing down, almost on top of me, but there was no major damage by some miracle (only one slightly cracked board) so we were able to continue.

Zack Yaks!

I got a kayak last year for a great price on a "day after thanksgiving" sale, but I had yet to use it, so I decided today would be the day. I took the day off work and headed to a local river.

Believe it or not, I took the picture above by myself, by holding the camera out to the side while sitting in the yak. Here are a few more pictures from the trip:






The last two are of a 19" Smallmouth Bass that I caught. My first fish caught from the kayak.

Multi Talented Girl

Lexi's multitude of talents were on full display this past weekend. She showed off her reading skills, her gardening skills, her artistic skills, her hopping skills, her acting skills, and her shark petting skills. Here are a few pics and videos of her displaying her talents.

Helping Monica plant flowers.


Doing some digging.


Water painting a picture of her favorite guy, Handy Manny.


Hopping like a bunny.


Lexi acting out her own version of the "I drive a Dodge Stratus!" skit from SNL. This is a dead-on impression of that skit. The kid has some serious acting chops.


Petting sharks at Indy Zoo.

Lexi's First Boyfriend

Lexi has her first boyfriend and his name is Manny. Handy Manny to be exact. He may be an animated character from a cartoon, but she loves him nonetheless. Being that it is a show about a handy man who has a set of talking tools that help him fix things, it is most likely intended to be a boy oriented show, but Lexi is a girl of diverse interests, and she can enjoy boy shows along with girl shows. If you ask her what show she wants to watch, she'll almost always say "Manny!". In the picture above she is holding her Manny doll, and wearing her Manny PJ's. She's a full fledged Manny nut.


We went to Fort Harrison state park yesterday after work to enjoy the nice weather by going for a hike with the dogs. Lexi had a great time running around on the trails. In fact, she loved it so much that we had some "issues" when we had to pick her up in order to get moving a little faster. If she had her way and got to walk on her own as much as she wanted, we would have been in the woods until after dark. She's an awesome little nature girl. She loved looking at all the wild flowers and trees (she even says "flowa" when she sees flowers).


Here's a video of Lexi doing some trail running. You may want to turn the sound down before playing it in order to avoid hearing daddy's embarrassing baby talk.

Lexi at the Museum

We took another trip to the Indianapolis Childrens Museum Sunday. We got there late so we only had a little over an hour to stay before they closed, but Lexi managed to cram lots of fun into that time. She got in 3 carousel rides, and lots of time in the water table in the Playscape area (the area for the little kids).


Here's a video of Lexi dancing to the music from the carousel. She really knows how to shake her groove thing, and the groovy disco looking area of the maze she was walking through was the perfect spot to bust a move. She enjoyed checking out her moves in the surrounding mirrors.