Our Girls

Here in MO the weather can't decide which season it is in. On Saturday our baby was wearing a sweater and jeans (no jacket) and was almost too warm. A day later??? It is close to zero. She went walking on the trail with her baby and Minnie. She walked for almost 1/2 mile! That is a long way for little legs:) Every now and then she would stop and check on her babies. Give them a kiss and then keep pushing. I guess the baby and Minnie got a little fussy so she got them out to carry them for awhile. Note to all mothers: this is how NOT to carry your babies:) On the way back, she rode on daddy's shoulders and mommy carried the stroller:) What a wonderful way to spend a beautiful day!

Our baby's hair is getting long enough that Jessica is able to start playing with it on a daily basis:) Here she is pictured with piggy tails. (Daddy calls them horns.) Here are her first French Braid pig tails:) It actually stayed in all day!

And what would a trip to the House of Mouse be like without the Rides. We were a little unsure if our girl would be in for the thrills and magic of Disney rides. We had nothing to fear. We started her out with tame stuff. To the left you can see her piloting the Indy Cars. Jessica let our girl take the wheel. Andrew was the navigator. Later she took on Peter Pan's Flight and the Pooh ride - all of which she enjoyed, but wasn't wild over. Then we took it up a notch. Here's Andrew and our girl riding Aladdin's flying carpets in Adventureland. Every time the ride could go higher she would say "High?" And then laugh and smile when the ride gained altitude. And it's possible we rode Dumbo 146 times. Maybe not that many, but she loved it. Who wouldn't? It's an elephant that flies! Anyway she was a huge fan of Dumbo and on one of the last times we went we were waiting in line and she couldn't take the wait. "Ride!" she kept saying. We patien...

One of the reasons that the whole clan descended on Disney World was for the Men to run in the Disney Half Marathon. After one military deployment and two broken toes (one broken toe on two different brothers) Papa Bach was the last man standing. He acquitted himself nicely, but the main event was naturally the Diaper Dash. Below you see the Champ stretching and getting mentally prepared for the challenge that lay before her. Our girl ran (or mostly ran) for 100 meters. Andrew was her wingman. She stunned the onlookers and naturally took home a medal (I won't tell you how many other participants took home a medal too).

What are little girls supposed to like? Princesses. Jessica wanted our little girl to like Princesses. Or Minnie. Or Daisy. Or Pooh. Heck even Bambi. But no. We have no ordinary girl. At some point in the middle of the trip it became clear who her favorite was: "Donald Duck!" when we saw him on our hotel tv "Donald Duck!" when we passed a poster he was in "Donald DUCK!" when he passed in a parade. And when he passed by in the parade let me tell you we had to do some serious restraint. She had her arms held out. She was screaming the Duck's name. Picture teenage girls when the Beatles landed in America. That's right Our Girl is crazy for an anthropomorphic duck who insists on wearing sailor garb and eschews the convention of wearing pants. And also talks like he's been gargling with Cascade. That's our girl. She loves the Duck. When we met him, she hugged him, high-fived him, kissed his bill and generally just adored him. It was about the...

Our Girl made her first trip to the Kingdom of Magic, the Happiest Place on Earth, a whole World of Disney. We went to Florida with Andrew's Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-law and the two cousins. Our girl could not have been better on the trip. She was as good as can be on the plane, she slept in her stroller while we were in the World of the Mouse, and she was not afraid of anything. We spent a week and a half and absorbed about as much magic as a family can take. The pictures below are of our girl playing peek a boo with Mick - EEEE (as she says), showing off her new Mouse ears and demonstrating that while Mick -EEEE is a riot, she's not quite as sure about Minnie.

Score update: Mediacom = 0 Jessica and Andrew = 1 We won our battle:) And now have unlimited access to the Internet once again. Thank-goodness. I know that you all have been waiting patiently for pictures. So here they come! (But it will take me awhile to catch up...continue to have patience please!) At the beginning of January, Jessica's grandma came to visit from Florida. She knew that the family was going to get together to celebrate her 80th birthday, but she didn't know that there was a BIG party planned with lots of other people too. Here is Great-Grandma Bert and our baby. Our baby played outside for most of the party day. It was a surprisingly beautiful winter day...about 75 degrees! No jacket needed:) Our baby sang happy birthday to grandma. Here is the song according to her: Happy, happy, to you. Happy, happy to you. Happy, happy, to you. Happy, happy, to ME!

Our Internet provider decided they would continue charging us, but for no reason stop providing us with the Internet. It's a clever scheme really. Anyway, while we exchange nasty phone calls with the Internet people, the blog is on a brief hiatus. Once we're back online there will be a flood of incredible pictures from Christmas and the new year (how's that for a tease?). But until then, I'm posting this picture from the archives. She was 13 months old here. She's so much bigger now! It's amazing how fast she grows. Happy New Year everyone! More new pictures soon.