Hayley and Kate Minter

Hayley The Athlete made an appearance today - she lined up her stuffed animals in the kitchen floor, was jumping over them, monster-truck-style. She was getting good distance, too, and sticking the landing to boot. Pretty impressive.

Speaking of her stuffed animals, she’s developing more of an affection for them. At the beach, and since we’ve been home, she wants to sleep with a group of about five of them (they are: dalmation, grey cat, Pooh, small elephant, and new sweater-wearing frog). She hunts them down before bed and naps, and lines them up on her pillow. She then buries her head in the middle of them to go to sleep.

You gotta have friends.

We’re back from our week in Virginia Beach, tan and tired, but with some good memories for the scrapbook.

We arrived on Saturday, July 16th just in time to put Hayley down for a nap. When she woke up, we all went over to the beach for a while (it wasn’t too far to walk–maybe two blocks). We went back to the beach Sunday morning, then we all napped Sunday afternoon, and then went to dinner at Gus’ Mariner restaurant in the Ramada on 57th Street, which was right across the street from the condo where we stayed. After dinner, Hayley and Mommy drove Daddy to the airport in Norfolk. He had a little trouble with his flights (for the full story, refer to his web page).

It was back to the beach Monday morning. Bill had to leave Monday to return to work on Tuesday, so it was just Hayley and Mommy, Grandma Queen, Beth, Ashley, Blake, and one of the Franklins’ cousins, Jessica, who lives in the Virginia Beach area and spent a few days with us. We went to the pool Monday night. We had fun playing there, but Mommy slipped on the ladder and got a huge bruise on her right leg. Ouch.

Tuesday morning, we went to Ocean Breeze Waterpark. Hayley had fun playing in the little kiddie section, but she didn’t want to stay much more than an hour. We had driven separately, so we left when Hayley said she wanted to go. Tuesday night, Hayley and Mommy went to dinner with Uncles Randy and Buddy and cousin Tessa. We had a nice dinner/visit with them.

Wednesday we spent some more time at the beach. We were expecting Daddy back Wednesday night, but he was delayed, so Grandma Queen, Hayley and Mommy spent some time walking and shopping along the Boardwalk. Hayley rode on a few of the rides on 15th Street–the carousel, the train and the giant slide (twice).

Thursday morning, Grandma Queen went with Hayley and Mommy to the Virginia Zoo in Norfolk. We had a nice time seeing all the different animals, despite the hot temperatures. Hayley’s favorites were a pig, monkeys and elephants. Thursday afternoon, we picked up Daddy from the airport. He was very glad to be back with his family. We went out for sushi dinner together. Thursday night we spent a little time fishing on the pier at 15th Street, but Daddy was tired from his trip, so we came back before midnight and got some sleep.

Friday, we all went to the beach again in the morning. Friday night, Daddy, Aunt Beth, Ashley and Blake attended a Norfolk Tides game while Bill, Grandma, Hayley and Mommy went out to dinner at the Raven restaurant.

Saturday morning was a whirlwind of packing and cleaning and loading the cars. We left around 9:30 so we could get home in time for Hayley’s (and our) afternoon nap. Our trip was mostly uneventful, except for our hour+ stop for “fast” food in Roanoke Rapids. We’ll be sure to avoid that Hardee’s next time.

Overall, we had a nice week in Virginia Beach. We wish we could have spent more time with Daddy, but we just made the most of the time we did have together. Thanks to Grandma Queen and Bill for arranging everything for us!

Hayley got out of bed crying five times in the span of an hour. It was insane.

On the positive side, all of her two-year molars have come in, so she’s got her full set of baby teeth. Huzzah!

Busy week for the baby girl coming up, as we head to Virginia Beach for a week of vacation with the family.

Watch them grow!

2003

(Left to right: Jacob Warren, Lily Walsh, Hayley Minter, Kevin Walsh, Brenden Walsh)

2004

(Left to right: Brenden Walsh, Kevin Walsh, Hayley Minter, Lily Walsh, Jacob Warren)

2005

(Left to right: Brenden Walsh, Kevin Walsh, Hayley Minter, Jacob Warren, Lily Walsh)

I’ve managed to teach Hayley her full name. She’s gone from “Hayley” to “Hayley Anne-Marie” to “Hayley Anne-Marie Minter!”

So now when I ask her who Daddy’s sweet girl is, she can respond to the proper level of precision.

Hayley’s means of entertainment are becoming more complex. Several months ago, I got her a “Reader Rabbit Toddler” game for the Mac. She didn’t really seem that interested in it, so it went on the shelf. A few weeks ago, however, I pulled it back out for her. This time, she really took to it.

The games are very simple, mainly requiring mouse movement and nothing more. She’s slowly but surely getting the hang of the mouse - moving from slinging the mouse wildly across the screen and eventually hitting her target to actual precise movements. And, even though I think she’s exhausted the limited repertoire of the game, she’s still all about playing. Several times a day she’ll go upstairs and hang around my desk, saying “I want to play on the computer.” Her favorite games are ones where you move a crayon around to color a scene, a train-based letter-matching game, and a shape game.

My only complaint is that, while the name of the software is “Reader Rabbit Toddler,” the star of the game is a mouse. The titular hare only appears in one game.

Aside from that, though, she’s well on her way to being a computer geek like Daddy.