Rattlesnake!!

Here is a picture of a Western Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis). You must be wondering why we posted a picture of some snake, well, because it was right outside our backdoor!

It all started with Mulan running outside barking up a storm, much more urgently than we've heard before. Normally Mickey will nonchalantly walk downstairs to join her but this time he ran at break-neck speed downstairs. I got up to check out what was going on and noted that I heard Mickey touch the rubber doggy door flap but he didn't go out all the way. As I got into the kitchen Mickey was sticking his head in and out of the doggy door. Without really looking I opened the backdoor and saw Mulan barking toward me wildly.

That's when I heard a funny sound, you might call it a rattling sound. Sure enough I see the snake three feet away from me. I was able to get Mulan inside. Fortunately, the snake didn't strike at me and neither of the dogs were bitten.

Missi came downstairs and called the fire department. They responded very quickly. Three firemen went out and took care of the snake.

Many thanks to the firemen of Fire Station One, and of course our hero Mulan and sidekick Mickey! Look at how vigilant she is!

Here's a short video of the snake:

P.S. Ginny slept through the whole thing.

Standing Queen

Ginny had a great session of standing this evening. She stood for 4 to 30 seconds once and then stood again for 5-37 seconds. The time discrepancies are the result of the application of the theory of relativity, as put into practice by the two time-keepers on hand (me and Missi). Without disclosing who guessed what time I can let you know that the following exchange took place...

Parent A - "How long did she stand?"
Parent B - "4 seconds about!"
Parent A - "What! That was more like 30!"
Parent B - "..."

The slightly longer second standing attempt, which is memorialized pictorially below, yielded the following exchange...

Parent A - "How long was that!?"
Parent B - "I don't know, about 5 seconds?"
Parent A - "That seemed longer than before."
Parent B - "37 seconds!!!"

When I Say "Mama," You Say "Mama"!

Yesterday, Ginny began saying Mama clearly and distinctly over and over again. Yay! This morning she continued repeating her new favorite word. We managed to catch one of her soliloquies on camera.

Ginny's Gal Pal Bed-Bye Story Time!

Favorite Auntie Em came down to visit Ginny! Auntie Em read Ginny The Little Mermaid pillow-story book edition. It was very exciting.
One last gaze for bonding purposes and then Ginny went night-night!

GE, no longer just about lightbulbs.

Ginny visited cousin Elliott ("GE", get it? Ha-Ha-Haaa!) at his new house! She had tons of fun and Elliott was a great host. They shared snacks with each other and Ginny got to play with a bunch of his toys. While they were playing I beat my brother at Super-Bomberman on the Wii. Excellent victory!



Also that day we got to spend time with Unkies Robert and Brian B. and Auntie Melissa at Balboa Park. Uncle Kuya, Auntie Jess and Elliott were there too. While we were eating a picnic lunch Ginny got to see Elliott test his boundaries as Elliott tried to sneak off a couple times. Oh man, you could see the wheels turning in Ginny's head as she watched her cousin take off. Ginny fell asleep as we walked through the park, but Elliott had a great time checking out the koi fish and getting wheeled around by Robert.

Mickey asked me to close off this post with a picture of him and Ginny, so here it is! Kinda random I know, but it is a great shot of smiling Mickey.

Daddy-Ginny Day: To The Extreme.

Today was our first Daddy-Ginny Day! We had a hard time deciding where to go: Disneyland, Seaworld, the Zoo, Wild Animal Park, Pink's hot dog stand in L.A., the choices were endless!

I tried to convince Missi that we were going to Disneyland. She didn't fall for it though. After I got my free iced Mocha drink from McDonalds we were on our way to ........ the Zoo!

Before I go on, some of you may notice that Ginny is lacking pants in many of the photos. Despite what you may hear from Missi, the reason why Ginny does not have pants on is because a goat ate them while we were at the Children's Zoo. Prove me wrong. You can't!

OK, so while we were at the Zoo we rode Skyfari and Ginny loved it! She enjoyed looking down at all the people and the animals down below. After the ride she got to meet two baby Kiwi birds and a baby parrot at an animal encounter presentation. Ginny is so great to have around, if I tried to get up close to those birds by myself, the exhibitors would have pushed me aside in favor of some kid. Good job Ginny, way to be cute!

After the Zoo, Ginny and I cruised on over to Balboa Park. The first place we went was the gem and rock association exhibit. Ginny fell asleep looking at the rocks. (I forgot to upload this pic when I first made the slide-show below, so that's why it's all by its lonesome.)

We ate lunch at the Organ Pavilion and were serenaded with some organ music. It was a lot of walking! Well, the rest of the pix pretty much speak for themselves, so here you go!



Ginny enjoyed Skyfari more than this video shows-


We can't wait for another Ginny-Daddy Day. Mom can come too if she wants. ;-)

Still Catching Up On Our Blogging...

With this post we'll have caught ourselves up on the major events that we've experienced since we got back from our Northern California/Reno trip. In June we celebrated Auntie Sarah's birthday. Here she is with her most favorite birthday gift ... a photo-op with me! Just kidding, we got her the necklace she's wearing in the picture.
Ginny experienced her first Fourth of July too! Our little Toothy girl wishes everyone a belated Happy Independence Day! I picked out our little smiler's outfit, wonderfully Americana don't you think? Speaking of Americana, Ginny said the word "apple" twice very distinctly. She said "Apple" without any other babbling. Missi and I asked "Apple?", and she replied "Apple." It was a thrilling conversation about an apple. None of us used any adjectives or verbs but we understood what the subject matter was.
Check out her two pearly whites! So far we only see the two. But you can also see that she can flip her tongue over, alright!
She loves to smile!
She loved waiving her little flag on the 4th, U-S-A! U-S-A! But, she fell asleep watching the fireworks. While me, mama, Ginny and Mulan were outside watching fireworks and eating some kettle corn, poor Mickey was heard running around in the house trying to find a safe place from the loud explosions. Poor Mickey!
The next day Missi and Ginny got to meet my Auntie Mildred from the Philippines. She's spending the summer over here. We got together at Seaworld and had a fun time, but I don't have any pictures to share. :-(

You can probably tell from our prior posts but I feel compelled to highlight how Ginny and Mulan have become quite the pair. Mulan has been a good Ate (big sister), and Ginny is a generous little sister/food sharer. Here they are sharing a moment and a rope toy.

This last part of this post is of Pappy entertaining Ginny on a car ride. First, he used hand puppets, which was pretty successful as you can see. But then...
... he took an ill advised foray into some stand-up about horses. I don't think Ginny got it. I enjoyed it though. Good times.