Dance Recital

Josie is going to be in a dance recital this weekend. We are looking forward to it. Here are some pictures of Josie and some of her friends from dance class during a recent dress rehearsal.

California Trip

We went to Carlsbad, California May 16-20 and stayed near the beach. We also visited Lindsay's grandmother, Marge and had a great visit. It rained a little the first couple days we were there, but there were enough breaks in the weather to make it to the beach a couple of times.

There were hundreds of sand crabs on the beach and Josie was scared of them, so she didn't have a lot of fun until the last hour or so when she overcame her fear and went wading in the water. She had a blast then. I was really proud of her for overcoming her fear. She even rode on Ferris wheel later in the week. We had a great time with Merrie and Oliver, friends from California, and Oliver's son, Oliver, and Merrie's kids, Ava and Cole.

Music Instrument Museum

Grambee and Grandpop gave us some money to enjoy a day at the Music Instrument Museum in North Phoenix/Scottsdale. We had a great time at the museum and lunch afterward. The museum has numerous large display rooms and displays from all over the world. There is also a large interactive room with examples of drums, and string instruments to play.


Josie, Amelia and Lydia trying on the headphones that automatically play music samples as you approach the various displays.


Lydia and Amelia in the experience room.


Josie and Amelia playing one of the many drums.


Jef experimenting with the Theremin. The volume was so low compared to the noise in the rest of the experience room, it was hard to know if your movements were making a sound effect, or not.


Sheryl playing the board-marimba. For just old wood planks, hollowed a little on the underside, and struck with sticks with what appeared to be bicycle tire rubber tied to the ends, this marimba had a wonderful mellow sound.


Josie and Papa playing guitars. Josie has the strumming down - and she is starting to get the idea that her other hand has to do 'something' on the neck. Once she figures that out, we will have to hit the coffee-shop circuit.


Lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. The girls got balloons and I (Andy) got second helpings of the vegetarian leak soup.

Thanks Grambee and Grandpop! -- We all had fun!

Enchanted Forest

There is an amusement park for toddlers in Encanto Park in Phoenix. We took Josie there a few weeks ago. She was shy at first, but after braving her first ride (after she saw Lindsay ride on it), we couldn't keep her off of them. Here she is on one of her two favorite rides. She also liked the Rock and Rolla -- a spinning cup ride.

Goofing around

Lindsay and Josie goofing around on the couch. Josie loves to ham-it-up for the camera.

Sleepover with the cousins

Amelia, Josie, and Lydia enjoyed their sleepover at Josie's house a couple of months ago. After the sleepover we went to Josie's favorite place, Jump and Shout, and Josie and Amelia had a blast climbing ladders, sliding, and jumping in bounce houses. Meanwhile, Lydia was finding out what it is like to try to entertain yourself with 18 month old magazines while the younger kids were playing.

Josie modeling a new outfit.

Hummingbird Funeral

Sally found a dead hummingbird clinging to a branch. We brought it home to show Josie and we had a funeral out in the back yard a couple of months ago. About two weeks ago, we saw a movie where an animal died, and Josie asked to go see the hummingbird.

Grambee made hats for Josie. The first one was a little small (below), but the second one fits perfectly (I will upload the bigger hat later).

We had a great time at Organ Stop Pizza. Courtesy of Grandpop and Grambee. Here are the cousins taking a break from running around outside after dinner. Josie was a little scared of the cat puppets, asking if they had legs that could run upstairs.

Josie's winter jacket. Practicing her stance -- she looks good up to the swing, and then always drops one hand and golfs the ball with one hand. She is great out in the field, though - always uses both hands to catch.

Trying on glasses

Josie tried on CuCu's glasses. I think she is going to do a Harry Caray impression.