A girl and her dog

Rayne loves Molly. And I mean LOVES Molly. She climbs on her, and kisses and hugs on her. And Molly is such a great dog, she just takes it. When she gets tired of being ridden, she just stands up and walks away.

Painting, part Deux

I shall let these photos speak for themselves...

Painting

At Bubba's school, arts and crafts are a very important part of the day. Yesterday was a painting day, which Rayne participated in with enthusiasm!

Lexie

After a week of searching Petfinder.com, Jason and I and Rayne went out on Saturday to find our new forever friend. We stopped at a couple of places that advertised adoption clinics, but did not see any dogs, so we drove out to Heavenly Treasures Animal Shelter.

We had seen Lexie online, and wnated to meet her in person. Jason was a bit iffy, but I knew I wanted her the first time I saw her picture. When we saw her in person, Jason knew he wanted her, too.

She is small, about 30-35 pounds. Black with white markings, although all the dust from the kennel made her look brown. She is 2 1/2 years old, and very sweet. We are so happy to have her, and hope she is happy she found us, too.

1,2,3,2,1...

Rayne is starting to learn her numbers, and enjoys counting things. She counts to three then goes backwards...one, teo, tree, teo, one...
If we recite the numbers with her she can repeat 4-8 with you, but knows 9 and 10 on her own.

She is also doing great with her letters, and can do a,b,c by herself, and will interject letters occasionally when we recite the alphabet to her.

And, with prodding, she will even say I Juz You...but usually just to Molly (who seems to get the most kisses, too) :)

Newport

The first week of September, Jason and I took Rayne for a mini vacation to Newport on the coast for a few days. We stayed at a fantastic hotel called the Elizabeth Street Inn. Our room was awesome, and the view was amazing.

We had been to the aquarium in Seaside before, and Rayne loved it. So, we thought she would equally love the larger aquarium at Newport. And we were right. She had so much fun looking at all of the beautiful fish. The aquarium also has some stunning glass work on display in the tanks.

The aquarium has some otters and sea lions and seals, as well as a tank with a walkway under it, so the fish swim over your head. Rayne really liked the sharks.

Rayne also got to play on the playground, which had lots of fun animals to climb on.

And finally, Rayne got to choose a souvenir from the gift shop. Of course, she chose a soft seal, which she promptly named Amy!

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing, playing on the beach, exploring Newport, and of course enjoying the perfect sunsets.

The Zoo

Bubba Rayne's first trip to the zoo. August 30, my birthday. It was a gorgeous day. Mid 70's, sunny.
When we go to the zoo, rayne was very excited to see all of the people. She loves to people watch.
But, then, we went into Stellar Cove. She saw the sea lions swimming past the glass, and she looked up at me, "Mo? Mo?", touching her fingers together in the sign for MORE. She couldn't get enough of the huge creatures swimming past her.




Next, we went to the primate exhibit. A chimp was barely visible from outside and Rayne was intrigued. But on the inside, that big chimp came in and she couldn't get out of there fast enough! Maybe it was the human like features, or the way he moved, but she wanted nothing to do with him.
We went outside to the orangutans enclosure, but one look at the big male and she was outta there!




We got some ice cream, then headed for the elephants. Thinking she might be nervous, I tried to explain to Rayne that these guys are HUGE. Bigger than daddy huge.
When she first saw Packy and another elephant outside, she was interested. But when we got inside, she was HOOKED. Inside was where Rose Tu and Samudra, the baby, were having lunch. Rayne saw him and started shouting, "Baby? Baby?" And pointing to Rose Tu and Saying "Mamma? Mamma?".

After a bit we headed outside to see what the other guys were up to. The handlers were out with Packy and the other elephant, and as a crowd gathered, started having them do some tricks.

Rayne LOVED it, and didn't want to leave.

Finally, we got her to go with the promise of more cool animals to come. We headed for the Africa exhibit and checked out some plains animals. We even got to see a giraffe from the top!

The final exhibit is a frontier homestead exhibit. Here, Rayne got to pet goats and cows and even drive a tractor.

After a long and fun-filled day, my tired little girl slept all the way home.