Lions, horses, and ducks, oh my!

Happy November/day after Halloween! There was a bit of a disagreement over the best way to open this post as you can see. At this point Callie is so active that we can barely keep up with her. October was filled with many events here in Lexington. We will start with Callie's first official Halloween. As you can see, she was an adorable little lion.




Although we worked on it for several weeks, she never really perfected the roar. She did manage a sort of angry cat sound, but we still need some time to make her a proper queen of the jungle. We had a wonderful Halloween night. We trick or treated at the houses of some neighbors we know and had dinner at Buddy's, where all the waitresses oohed and aahed over Callie.


Now Halloween was not the first time Callie showed off her costume. The previous weekend while John was on his way back from Salt Lake City, Sarah and Callie went to a local park for a harvest festival. It was a really cool event where we got to play games and trick or treat along a trail through the woods.






You can see from the last two pictures that Sarah took every opportunity to photograph Callie in her costume. Unfortunately we did not capture Callie as a lion at her daycare Halloween party where she and four of her tiny classmates sat around a table and celebrated the day by eating fruit and whipped cream. It was so cute to see a little Scooby Doo, two princesses, a devil, and our little lion enjoying their time together. In fact, Callie was having such a good time she was sweating too much and Miss Donna had to take the hood off her head for a bit.


October isn't complete without a trip to the local pumpkin patch. We visited the same orchard we went to last year when Callie was only three weeks old. We must admit that it was a totally different experience this year. Callie was so into riding in the wagon, playing with the pumpkins, and just looking at all the people. Here we see John and Callie heading to select our pumpkins.


Of course Callie is walking all over the place these days, so she was also happy to get out of the wagon and stroll through the pumpkins. Unfortunately she had an attraction to the pumpkins that had either started to rot or were damaged in one way or another. Fortunately she is still young enough that we could easily lead her to the ones we liked.


Callie is developing an independent streak and wanted to help out. Some of the pumpkins proved a little too big for her. But that didn't stop her from doing her best to put her arms around each one she saw. We finally found a little one that she could carry all by herself.





Once she had her own little pumpkin it was time to try and get the ultimate picture that would combine cute child with classic autumn setting. At the very least we wanted something different from last year where the pumpkin sat next to a screaming three week old baby.



We are pretty happy with the results. Callie was much happier this time around and was willing to sit on the hay bales and hold her pumpkin. Mission accomplished.


Although Callie had already made the requisite trip to Keeneland's fall meet on her birthday, the family still needed to go for breakfast with the works. Nothing is better than heading to Keeneland at 7am on a Saturday morning for some eggs, biscuits, gravy, and sausage. Oh, and you also get to watch the horses training.






John loves the breakfast, Sarah loves the biscuits and gravy, and Callie absolutely adores the horses. It was so fun to watch Callie's excitement when she would see a horse run by. And a horse ran by about every five seconds, so she was excited most of the time. Pictured here is one of the rare quiet moments of the morning, most likely because her back was to the horses.





Now that we have been in Lexington for over two years, we are definitely getting into a seasonal pattern of sorts. And we also have some favorite spots. Below you see the whole family at a spot where we have often taken pictures of Callie. It's the Bowes clan and the jockeys of Keeneland.



One other thing to point out. The adorable hat that Callie is wearing was a gift from her Great Aunt and Uncle Teri and Ronnie from their trip to Australia. Nothing says love like lugging a gift home from halfway across the world.


We have reached a point at which Callie gets excited when she hears the water running for bathtime. In fact, she does the sign language sign for bath and starts walking toward the bathroom. The downstairs bathroom also has a mirror, and Callie is able to combine two of her great loves. Bath time and looking at herself in the mirror. Here's a perfect example of her love affair with her own image.






Now it's time for yet another video from the vault. It's almost silly for us to remind you that Callie likes ducks. But in case you forgot, she likes ducks alot. In this video you will not only see her playing with her numerous ducks, but you will also see perhaps the coolest duck of them all. Take a peek.




Seriously, have you ever seen a duck that lights up, quacks, and spits water like a fountain? Callie owes her Auntie Lauren big time for this thoughtful and generous gift.

How many duck pictures and duck references could be considered overkill? No one knows for sure, but we are positive we passed that threshold a long time ago. However, we conclude this post with duckie overload, otherwise known as Callie's heaven. Enjoy.




And now we enter the holiday season, which will mean cross country flights in both directions, catching up with friends and relatives, and lots of good food. We can't wait to see you and Callie can't wait to show you all how much she has grown.