This last thing I blame entirely on Francine.  See, Kayleigh loves her crib at home.  She likes going to sleep.  She likes her little lamb, and her blanket.  Her crib is where she unwinds after a long day of entertaining Mommy and Daddy.  On the other hand her playpen is EVIL.  Long story, but the gist is that the playpen is where Mommy puts us when she needs a few minutes to herself.  Kayleigh's been going through a "I must be held.  Constantly.  And entertained" phase, so hanging out with her toys in her playpen was "Not Cool".  Now, though she'll entertain herself anywhere else, she doesn't even consider the possibility of doing the same thing in the EVIL playpen.

Portable cribs look just like the EVIL playpen.

So, getting Kayleigh to sleep in one involved lots of subterfuge.  Even then, Francine and I didn't get what you'd call huge amounts of sleep.

The only thing we took pictures of while we were on our trip was the big 1st-year birthday party for Jacob, Kayleigh's cousin (my Brother's youngest).  While he's only a big eleven days older than her, he's probably twice as big!  When you put them next to one another, they look like they're different species.  :-)  Anywise, not being in documentary mode, I took pictures of things, only when I thought to.  So, even the Big Party only serves as setting for the real focus of the universe--me.  Well, my daughter anyways.

Before we left, Kayleigh was talking to the cats about the best way to make sure that Mommy and Daddy don't leave her behind.  They said, "stick to the suitcase."  Those cats know everything!

Kayleigh thinks the dog's pretty smart too, but sometimes Missy gets her into trouble.

Here, she's just told Kayleigh that all the best stuff is on the ground.   Moments later, Kayleigh fell off the bed and landed on her head.  Ouch!!
 

Enough lollygaggin'!  It's time to saddle up the hosses and ride out o' here!  Kayleigh's decided she likes to ride horsey style, and she's not all that particular who her steed is (though Daddy's probably her favorite, just 'cause he's the easiest to talk into it).  Missy's hips are bothering her, and the cats are just a bit too small, and Mommy, well, it's hard to talk Mommy into things like that.  It does happen sometimes though. 

Here's a rare photo of Francine playing the horsey game.  Who won this particular battle of wills?!  Actually, Francine wins the ol' contest of wills about three quarters of the time.  Kayleigh has the rest of us pretty much wrapped around her little fingers!

Once we got to Santa Maria, we hung out at my brother's.  Actually his parents-in-law, Fran and Anne put the three of us up at their place.  They're great folks, and gave us the red carpet treatment despite being worried sick about Norren (their daughter and my brother's wife).  She's got Primary Amliadoses (forgive me Noreen, if I've spelled that wrong), and at the time we had no idea how bad it was going to be.  Worse case, if it was systemic, was a life expectancy measured in months.  Had it been me, I would have gone to pieces.  Noreen's a lot stronger than I am, though, and seemed to turn the whole mess all over to God and move on.  She's an example to us all, I think!  :-)  We found out around Christmas time, after a lot of prayers, that it's not systemic after all.  So I'd say it looks like her approach towards terminal illness seems to work!  :-)

Jacob's big party took place at a railroad amusement park. The rides and stuff were a little much for Kayleigh, though Zach, Jacob's older brother had a blast!  He got to ride a train and fly a plane, and a hore on a merry go round!

Kayleigh did get to hang out with her Grandpa, my dad.  I'm not exactly sure what they were doing together.  My Dad's a great businessman, but all his kids ended up going into science or engineering fields.  Fortunately, there's another chance with the next generation.

I think he was giving Kayleigh some tips on how to hold a business meeting.  "Maintain eye contact", "look serious", "chin down like this", "don't let the balloons distract you--stay focused", "always keep good records", "treat the staff well".  Ah oh--looks like cousin Hayley got distracted by the balloons. . . well, you can't win them all Grandpa!
 
 

Kayleigh also got to hang out with her Granny Goose!  One of the cool things about Grandma is that she's always ready with a  hug!  It's nice to know there's someone out there with a low snuggle threshold.  :-)

And now, that moment you've all been waiting for.  I present to you the Birthday Boy!

The Merry Go Round!

Merry-go-'rounds are cool!  First we get strapped into our seat by Grandpa.  Hey, why's Grandma grinning like that?   Anyways, then we get going.  We're a little nervous because it might be scary.  We've never done this before, you know.

Anyways, merry-go-rounds are fun!  Even the big kids, like Zachary,and Grandpa, like the merry-go-round.
 
 
  Even guys with really cool shades, like Kayleigh's Uncle Chris, can be talked into riding a merry-go-round!
 
 
 
Turns out, once all's said and done, riding a merry-go-round isn't all that scary after all.  In fact, truth be told, we had to stifle a yawn or two.  Don't tell Grandma, though--I think she was a little scared.
 
 
 
 
 
 

So, that was our trip!  We had a good time. 
As our cousin Hayley might say--we got to go, and YOU DIDN'T!

So THERE!!!