Harper Jean

One of the things I love best about this sweet little girl is the way she looks at her momma...who is still my sweet little girl.

 

Fall and families!

A small sampling of some of the little families I got to play with this Fall!

 

We had a nice Fall this year, though it does seem like it went from 80 degrees to snow awfully quickly (yep, it's snowing right now!)!  I do love those brief days of Autumn; the colors are bright and there is lots of sunshine, the air smells of damp soil and crisp leaves, and the temperature is jeans and t-shirts until the sun goes down and then you reach for that cozy sweatshirt and contemplate the sitting-by-the-fire-weather that is right around the corner! 

 

Fall is too brief, but it was fun to spend pieces of it with these little families and others!



the Hunt family!



Okay, so I admit to my bias...but this is one beautiful family!  My daughter, Ashley, my son-in-law, Byron, and of course, well-known to my blog, my sweet grand-daughter, Harper Jean!  We headed out the door in the evening and the light was beautiful, so...pictures!!!  Harper just turned 6 months old...and time will continue to fly by as we enjoy her little personality developing...she's starting to babble, a lot, she loves to smile and giggle and cuddle...ahhh, she's just so cute! 

I am headed on vacation soon and it is beginning to occur to me that I am gonna miss her sweet little face!  Next year, I might have to take her with me!

 



 

The secret to being Nana...

...okay, so maybe I don't really have a secret...because maybe there AREN'T any real secrets, to being a Nana, or to being a Mom (or a parent), for that matter.  Maybe the real secret is that we all just do the best we can...with our kids, and then, when we are particularly blessed, with our grand kids...and really, in life.  We all just do the best we can!  

Harper, my granddaughter, is growing fast, though she is still so tiny!  She explores her little world eagerly, paying so much attention now to expressions and faces and sounds and kitties!  She is almost ready to sit all by herself; she loves to stand up, with help; and still loves to be cuddled into her blanket too!  She laughs the cutest little belly laugh, especially when her momma is playing with her!  She is so fun to watch because everything is new to her...so watching her explore is a little like seeing the world for the first time, again!  I mean, I had totally forgotten how much fun it was to put my toes in my mouth!  Ahhh, she's so adorable and I love her so much!

A sweet friend of mine, a young mom, posted a picture on Facebook today of her son heading off to Kindergarten...and it doesn't seem that long ago when I took those same pictures; of new backpacks, clean shoes, fresh crayons...time really does fly by!  I was remembering a letter I had written to the girls' elementary school parents and faculty upon quitting my job there and moving here...  I wrote to them about some of lessons I had learned while working among incredible educators and alongside amazing parents...and honestly, I probably learned the most important lessons from the children themselves...lessons about being a kid, and about being an adult...lessons about the human experience.  The last line in the letter was this -

"I have learned that we all really want the same things for these children - for them to feel success and pride, belonging and security, for them to feel encouraged, nurtured and appreciated, and a sense of 'being a part of" something...and really, we all want the same things for ourselves..."  

The secret to being a Nana...well, I don't have any secrets, but I am ready with lots of love and kisses, and boxes of fresh crayons (when she's ready!)...and, I am just doing the best I can!

Oh, but here is a pretty new secret...I'm going to be a Nana again in February!!!  Congratulations to Allison & Stephen!!!  I am so excited for you!



Baby Harper's first time on the Oregon Coast!

Okay, so she might actually be the cutest baby on the planet!  Well, yes, I am just a little bit biased but...she is pretty darned sweet!  And at such a fun age, nearly 4 months; discovering her world, learning to laugh and starting to babble!  Oh, I love her!

Ashley and Harper came to the coast for a whole week...and...we played in the pool, walked on the beach, climbed the dunes, sat in the sand, saw some bunnies, found heart shaped rocks and sand dollars...and gave lots of kisses!  It was fun to spend that much time with BOTH of them; just hanging out, no schedules or commitments, just fun.  I love my girls, all 3 of them (Ashley & Harper & Allison!)!

IPhone/Instagram captures! 

Harper's first walk on the beach was a chilly one!

First time her toes were in the Pacific Ocean!!!

Trying to figure out the feeling of sand in her toes!  I hope she loves it as much as I!

Momma and daughter chat!  That indented spot on the back of her neck, that's my favorite spot to kiss!

Figuring it out!

Sitting her rear in the sand.  Gonna make a water baby out of her, teach her to paddleboard with Nana!

Vogue!  LOVE those lips!!!

Last full day on the Serengeti.

In the morning, we slept in, which was kind of heavenly!  We had an 8:30 wake-up call and met Gene for breakfast in the dining hall as the others had gone on their balloon ride!  It looked like a perfect morning for a ride, calm and crisp, and I was excited (only a little bit envious) to hear about it, but nonetheless we enjoyed our relaxing morning immensely.  We had a great time getting to know Gene a little better; he has led an amazing life and has traveled all over the world, to include a climb on Everest which Mike couldn't hear enough of!  It sounds like he is truly living "the good life", and we were all feeling pretty grateful to be where we were, in life...and in Africa!
The group returned from ballooning and they'd had a great time seeing the Serengeti from above!  We all hung out in the lobby area, open-air, decorated in old English antiques and beautiful tapestries, and downloaded some of our memory cards and tried to catch up on emails when the internet cooperated.  I got a quick message from Allison saying everything was fine at home...it seemed to me that her abrupt attempt at changing the subject was odd, but I was trying not to worry about Ashley and her pregnancy as her due date was still a couple of weeks away.
We had a yummy lunch, really yummy food at this place, and headed out on our last game drive, Mike and I with Lyle and Sue and Godfrey, followed by the rest of the gang!  We first went to a river crossing where there was a group of hippos hanging out.  This group seemed to have a much better life than at the hippo pools, clearer waters for sure!  And then we asked Godfrey to move on...we told him we wanted to see, on our last day, big cats, or little kitties!  So we went on a cat hunt!
First we saw a few dik-diks, very shy, little fawn-like animals.  Then Lyle pointed out some jackals (small, pretty coyotes) and Godfrey followed them down a dirt road, saying that jackals like to hang around lions!  About the time he said that we came around a curve to see a momma lion and 3 beautiful cubs!  I almost peed my pants!  The day I had stayed at Dunia the group had seen lion cubs and I was sorry to have missed them...and now here they were, on our last outing!  Mom was sitting up, regally, and didn't seem to care that we were there, as soon after we arrived, squealing and cameras clicking, she flopped down for a nap!
The babies were so cute!  Fuzzy and healthy looking, all laying together...one boy and two girls Godfrey told us, probably about 5 months old.  We moved up as close as we felt comfortable so as not to disturb or upset them and just watched them...while they didn't really do anything other than watch us in return!  The two girls laid next to each other and Sue & I called them Makenzie and Harper (our grand-daughters!)!  I took way too many pictures of those lion cubs, but I couldn't help myself, I was so happy to have seen lion babies!
We made our way back to Kirawira, got ready for another amazing dinner, (four courses including delicious desserts!) and talked about our favorite places (Dunia was everyone's favorite overall, I think) and favorite sightings (lions on the hunt, black rhinos, baby cubs, cheetahs, leopards...impossible to choose!) and then we retired to pack our bags for our journeys home...and, in our case, our journey to Zanzibar!


Hippos!

Dik dik.

Momma!

Imagine how I squealed when we came around this corner!

Girls!

Beautiful momma.

Seriously, this is about as much "action" as we saw, but I loved them!

Sweet faces.

Makenzie and Harper!

Look at her paw! 

So funny!

Watching us, watch them.

Found a bug to play with.

Now I know that when you see pictures of those ferocious looking teeth in this pose, it's oftentimes a yawn!!!

So pretty.

Gazelle.

Impala.

The sunset view from our deck at Kirawira.

Pictures!

Okay, so this post is just pictures...kind of catching up, at last, and found these stragglers from the last post!

Love their patterns!

Family!

Yep, baby zebra!

Grants gazelles

Cheetah on a mound.

Cheetah surveying the land.

Those eyes...!

Looking for dinner...

Watching the migration...

This little guy was making me crazy!  He was wandering in this field all by himself within striking distance of that cheetah!  It would have been amazing to witness a kill, but NOT this little zebra!!!

Found him napping...

Look into those branches...!

Look closely...see the leopard and his dinner...a Thomson's gazelle.