The Rothnie Family Chronicles: May 2007

Gratuitous Cute Baby Photos - May Edition

The warm days of summer have arrived, with the blazing hot days of summer soon to follow. We broke out the inflatable pool and gave Gwennan her first taste of summer.

Outfit by Wee Waves, courtesy of Catri.

She had an unexpected face-plant in the water, which scared her a bit:

Here's Dad showing her the ins and outs of pool toys:

Mark left his CamelBak hydration pack hanging on the banister post. Gwennan found it, and like she does with all new discoveries, put it in her mouth. She chewed on it, and discovered WHOA! There's WATER in this thing! Now we have to keep her away from the CamelBak, along with a long list of other things.

Here she is with Granny, trying to fit square pegs in round holes:

And here's Mark in the shower:

"What the ...?"

"Hey!"

"HEY!!"

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

We went to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on Sunday with Charles, Dawn, and Charles' mom, Mari Ann. It was pretty much a photography day, which was bad news for Catri, who was in town for the weekend. Fortunately Mark was able to spend some quality time with her during our day, though, since the battery was dead on our N80 and I was hogging the other camera. Mark did get a few shots in, though, and I'll post those a little later. Following are the ones I took:

Babies & Critters

A few weeks ago Dawn, Bevin, Shauna, and I gathered up the chirn* and went to the Yellow River Game Ranch in Stone Mountain. I had heard about this place from my mom, who had taken my niece there a few times. At the YRGR they take in animals that are sick, injured, or abandoned and would otherwise not make it on their own. They nurse them back to health, stick 'em in a cage or let 'em roam free and then charge people $8 apiece to come feed them. They had deer, goats, sheep, bison, donkeys, various fowl, a cougar, several black bears, 3 kinds of foxes, lots of noisy peacocks, owls, raccoons, and on and on ... The appeal of the place is that you can pet deer and rabbits and chipmunks and such very easily - although we quickly saw when we got there that you wouldn't actually want to touch some of these critters. Mangey is the word I believe I would use here.
Nevertheless, I figured Gwennan and Ian would get a kick out of it. They did.
Herewith, the photo essay:

Gwennan at the beginning of our day:

Dawn took most of the photos you see here. I was too busy with Gwennan to bother with the camera.

So you see, the deer would come right up to you. Mainly because they assumed you had food. Which we did.

The squirrels were the boldest. They would run right up to you and sniff around your feet, looking for a handout.

I thought, "Cool, Gwennan will love this!" So I put her on the ground to get a close encounter with the squirrels. As you can see, however, she was more fascinated with the GROUND! Oh boy, DIRT! and ROCKS! and STICKS!

This here is what we call in the South a mess o' raccoons. You got your gaggle of geese, your herd of cattle, and your mess o' raccoons. I have no idea how many raccoons are here. They were all crammed in together and fast asleep.

If you don't know this about Dawn, she has a rabbit. A rabbit named Gordy. He's pretty much her baby until she and Charles produce an offspring of their own. So when we got to the "Bunnies Gone Wild" section of the park, she was pretty happy.

And here's beautiful, serious, sensitive Ian:

And here's Shauna and Ian with a goat:

Gwennan with a donkey:

And finally, the picture that pretty much sums up the YRGR:

*Chirn [churn] - n. Children. (In the South South South Georgia dialect.)
ex: "You chirn quit messin' around and git in this house!"

Gratuitous Cute Baby Photos - April Edition

Gee, time sure does fly by.

Several weeks ago Gwennan and I went walking up Kennesaw Mountain with Charles, Dawn, Bevin, Shauna, and Ian. Of course, Gwennan and Ian didn't so much walk as relax and enjoy the ride. Note Ian's kicked-back pose here:

Yep, babies have got it rough, I tell ya.
Ian and Gwennan are becoming good buds, despite the vast 6 month difference between them. We strolled them next to each other for a while and went "aww" when they did this:

Of course, this photo will probably cause heaps of humiliation and embarrassment for them when they get older.
I can't wait. ;o)

Also several weeks ago, our niece Lindsey came through Atlanta on her way back to Seattle from her missions trip to Mississippi/Louisiana. We met her at the airport and had dinner, and she got to meet her newest cousin:

Gwennan's personality is changing. It's like she turned 1 year and suddenly, she's got a 'tude. It's not horribly bad, but I'm beginning to see a bit of impishness growing in her. Most of the time it cracks me up. Sometimes it gives me pause as I realize she may yet turn into a challenging child. What happened to my laid-back, easy-going baby? Suddenly she wants things HER way! I don't know where she gets that from.
No, really, I don't.
No, I mean, it couldn't come from me or Mark.
NO it couldn't!!

Anyway, witness this expression:

She may not be walking just yet, but already I see plans for world domination in her eyes.

Here she is in the church nursery. Lately she's taken to climbing into anything that she thinks she can get into. Even a shoebox sized plastic container. She's a nut.

Thanks to Bevin by the way for the oh-so-cute dress and sweater for Gwennan's birthday. Makes her look like a little doll.

Again, plans for world domination as she tortures her dolls by hanging them by their toes:

And finally, a shot of Gwennan and Granny. Note the matching hair clips. Granny's looking over at Grandpa, but Gwennan's a little more interested in my cellphone. She's a pretty busy baby, really. People think it's a breeze being a baby, but it actually takes a lot of work trying to figure out the world. Especially when you have plans to dominate it.

Gwennan's Birthday Party

Three weeks after the fact, I am finally posting about Gwennan's 1st Birthday Party. She got a ton of presents - toys and clothes - from her adoring fans.
Enjoy the pics ...

Sister Catri decorated the cake. No, Catri hasn't gone Goth. She's just gone ever so slightly skater punk. Note the Volcom hat and the black nails with pink pinkie.