Peril in the Chesapeake

This weekend, we went to the beach
Hannah I talked about it a while in advance, but we didn't nail down any plans until about an hour before we left. So we threw our stuff together and headed off the the Chesapeake Bay, about 45 minutes from our house.
We ate a little lunch
And played in the (HOT) sand
Bria even sat in a custom-dug chair, crafted by Rob
The weather was gross. Oppressively hot and humid, with neither shade nor breeze to be found. And the water was warm. I still had a lovely time-- even though it's apparently jellyfish season. We began a little jellyfish graveyard that morphed into a rather large one as we fished jellyfish after jellyfish out of the water with sticks (and some crab shells too)
And then, Sam, Rob, and Bria were out in the wonderfully shallow water when Sam spotted a jellyfish perilously close to where Bria was crawling. As he went to grab her, he got stung.
Now, despite what you may have heard about how to treat jellyfish stings, the best treatment we found was rinsing the area with rubbing alcohol.
We were just so relieved it wasn't Bria who got stung. Eventually we just avoided the water, because there were jellyfish at every turn. But, you know, the water is only half the fun of going to the beach! So . . . let's hear it for sand!

Texas Part Two

The remainder of our Texas trip included . . .

Bria's determination to carry her own suitcase
Sam turning the big 2-8.

Bria having nine cousins to entertain her everyday . . .

which made up for her getting about nine hours of sleep a night instead of 13
(but still being pretty happy)

Family pictures (in our reunion shirts!) (and an ant bite that made me shriek at an embarrassing decibel)
Searching for frogs in the yard

And catching a couple

Stealing naps in the car (and being so sleep-deprived, Bria feel asleep mid-draw)

A small crush on a great-with-little-kids cousin Trevor

The Alamo (and so much heat and humidity it makes for an awkward family photo)
Tons of fun hanging with the family
And, finally, four not-so-horrible flights. (thank goodness for new toys and candy)(The only two exceptions to the otherwise easy travel days were both on our last flight, when, minutes after take-off, Bria exclaimed "my seat's all wet!" And, indeed, she had experienced a major diaper leak. Hence the lack of pants in the above picture. Shortly after that, while climbing from her seat to Sam's lap, Bria kicked a full cup of icy apple juice right into my lap. That made for a comfortable couple of hours.)

All in all, we had an awesome trip. We're already looking forward to the next Mangum reunion in 2012!

Texas Part One: Sea World

We spent last week in San Antonio, Texas with Sam's family for the biannual Mangum Family Reunion. We had a great time with everyone, and I think it may have been my favorite reunion so far. I was a little nervous about going Texas in July, but (joy of joys!) it was actually cooler in Texas than it was in DC last week. (Not that it was cool by any means.)
Our camera has been on the fritz, but just a couple days before we left for Texas, Sam got the new iphone 4 for his birthday. The camera on the iphone is actually better than our Canon camera. So I only took one picture with our regular camera, and then we just had fun using the iphone all week. We took hundreds of pictures and tons of video. I'm just picking a couple highlights for the blog.
We went to Sea World two of the days, and as I could have guessed, Bria loooooved it.
Part of this was because I pretty much let Bria eat or drink whatever she wanted while were in Texas (with the obvious exception of soda). She wouldn't drink water at Sea World, and in a desperate attempt to keep her hydrated, I let her guzzle lemonade and fruit punch all day. Part of my soul died a little, but at least she didn't get dehydrated. (Right?!?!)On the first day, we took Bria to the little kids splash pad, where Bria practically died from joy running around in the water. She has very recently gained courage when it comes to water (like, the day or two before we left), so I was a little astonished when she ran around sticking her head in full blasts of water. She was lucky her Aunt Rachel was willing to take her around in the water (because I didn't want to get wet). I think it was the highlight of Bria's life.


At first I made her wear her cousin Mallory's sandals (I made her wear full on shoes and socks the first day thinking it would be more comfortable), because I have public water place germ phobias, but then, like with the fruit punch, I turned a blind eye and let her go barefoot.

We also saw two sea lion shows, which thrilled Bria to no end:

We also saw Shamu twice. Bria had a love/hate relationship with the shows, because there is a lot of down time between tricks, and a lot of dancing and music by overenthusiastic performers, but, hey, I think she did pretty well considering her age.

We saw penguins:
And, the coolest part of Sea World-- we got to feed dolphins. As we were walking in to Sea World the second day, and had yet to see the dolphins, Bria kept saying "I'm coming dolphins! I'm coming dolphins!" It was awesome. And they did not disappoint. You can buy fish and then walk right up to a tank and feed the dolphins. So cool!And once we ran out of fish, Bria kept saying "I don't have any fish, buddy. Sorry!"
Poor guy just wants some fish from me. Sorry, buddy!

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Bria loves ice cream.

And I mean loves ice cream.
This is not an accidental-eyes-closed picture. She held this pose for, like, 10 whole seconds while she savored the bite.
Who knew a 50 cent ice cream cone from IKEA could bring this much joy?

Meet Princess Girl

As you can see, Princess Girl is in trouble.
Bria has been having a lot of talks with Princess Girl lately about listening to mama, not hitting or biting, and speaking kindly. And when Princess Girl is in trouble, I hear a lot of stern "no, no, no, no"s coming from Bria's room while Princess Girl sits on the chair.

My only question is, if Bria understands this enough to explain it Princess Girl, why doesn't she internalize it for herself? I'm just sayin'.

Countess Bria

Bria temporarily forgot her camera shyness which allowed me to capture her mad counting skills. She counts anything and everything all the time. The other morning, Sam was getting ready for work, and he could hear her in her crib just counting. I love the way she pronounces 4 and 11 the most.

The following should be ignored while viewing this video:
1) You can see that I am wearing pajamas, and it was, like, 4 pm
2) Bria has chocolate all over her mouth
3) Bria has street urchin hair

Thank you for your cooperation.

(whitney moves) and papa visits!

A couple weeks ago, my sister Whitney made the long drive from Utah to Virginia-- and not just to visit. She couldn't stand to live so far away from me, so she found a house and a job close by and moved out here. It's like Christmas!
And it was even better because my dad drove her out here, so I got to see him! I haven't seen my dad since we moved, and Bria has grown up so much since then, so it was fun to see him for a couple days before he flew home to woo-tah, as Bria says.
Unfortunately, this is how Bria looked almost the entire time he was here, because she came down with some sort of bug Sam brought home from Nat Geo (he had it the week before).
But on one of her better days, they sneaked in some quality bubble time. And if you know Bria, then you know a quick way to her heart is through bubbles.



Needless to say, Papa was a big hit.