Horses and Turkeys in California

Last year, the timing of Reese's arrival meant that we didn't have to travel anywhere for Thanksgiving or Christmas. And although it was nice not to have to buy plane tickets, it was tough not to see our extended families. So it was good to be able to hit the road for Thanksgiving this year as we prepared for a fun time in Sacramento. Of course, it would have been more enjoyable if our trip didn't start with Reese waking up at 3:30am puking in her crib. Unfortunately the sickness only gained momentum on the drive to the Louisville airport and on the first flight to Dallas. Trust us, you didn't want to be sitting within five rows of us on that one. And we must admit that a dry heaving 11 month old is not a pretty sight.

But like the trooper she is, Reese shook it off and we got ready to enjoy our time in Sactown. This time around on our Thanksgiving day trip to Golden Gate Fields in Oakland we chose to live the good life by paying for the all you can eat buffet and skybox seats. Just look at the view we had from our tables. Tough to beat, and the food was very tasty.



You can see most of the main players from the day in the above picture. A special thanks goes out to the high school friend of Sarah and Zac, who give us a hot tip on a horse in the fifth race. General Dan paid off well for us. However, Sarah's Uncle Tommy was the big winner with an exacta bet that paid well. It was great to spend time with Tommy and Brian, and as we Kentucky folk know, you can't beat a good day at the track.


The day after Thanksgiving we headed out to Rancho Murietta to spend the day at GA and GU's house. This meant a day full of cousins, fun, and food. It's crazy to think that in the last four years we have gone from one great-grandchild to six. In this picture we see the two youngest, Reese and Chase, showing that the family bonds will definitely extend into the next generation.

We did our best to capture all six of the great-grandchildren in one picture. However, it did not take us long to realize that this was not going to happen. The picture below shows the closest we ever got. Amazingly enough, it wasn't the youngest who were the biggest problems here.



But you can trust us when we say that the kids had a great time hanging out, playing with all of the toys in the house, and just generally making a lot of noise. Holidays are going to be a wonderful combination of joy and craziness for the next several years.

This day wasn't just about Thanksgiving, though. We also took the opportunity to celebrate the birthdays of those who were marking that big event in the near future. More specifically, we had a tasty birthday cake for Reese and GU. It seemed like both of them were happy to share the spotlight, or at least the cake.


Although Grammy Gayle doesn't like big shopping crowds, we were able to talk her into a brief excursion into the post-Thanksgiving shopping crowds. Here we see Grammy Gayle taking advantage of some of the holiday deals by buying her and Callie pairs of Merrells.



Callie has loved wearing what she simply calls her "slip-on shoes" to school almost every day. They are comfortable and her parents like the fact that she can take care of it on her own and there aren't any debates over what shoes to wear. Thanks Grammy Gayle!


Our final stop on this whirlwind tour of family, friends, and Sacramento was the new children's museum. It was a whole lot of fun. This picture shows how you can set the tone right when you walk in the door. Reese had a great time playing the section they have dedicated to kids three and under. Although Reese had been walking for about a month by this point, we certainly enjoyed watching her navigate the uneven terrain throughout the place. And Callie went from station to station with a smile on her face. It was fun to watch. Of course, the station she enjoyed the most was the pretend grocery store, where she quickly muscled her way behind the cash register and took over the business.


Both Reese and Callie didn't mind getting a little wet in the museum's splash zone area either. If there is one thing we have learned in our brief experience with children's museums, a good splash zone area can't be beat. Hopefully one day we will catch on by always bringing an extra pair of clothes. And that's not just for the kids, either.

As always, the trip was both fun and far too short. But we are looking forward to heading back to Sacramento in April for Great Grandma Lucas's 90th birthday celebration.

Reese's Baptism

So before we do anything else, we need to apologize to our loyal fanbase (Gayle and Taffy - at least they are the ones who drop subtle hints/questions wondering about the next post with pictures of their granddaughters) for the two month break in posting. Trust us when we say the blog is not the only thing that has suffered from the chaos of our so-called life. Plans are still in the works to send out the last Christmas gifts to friends and family throughout the country. Realistically, it will probably won't happen to February, so if you are reading this and don't have a gift from us yet, don't get your hopes up.

But on to our task of documenting the recent, or not so recent, past. We pick up with November 20, 2011, when Reese was baptized at First Presbyterian Church. She was very well behaved during the entire process and waved to members of the congregation when the Minister carried her up and down the aisles. And to top it all off, when the service was over, the mayor of Lexington, Jim Gray, came up specifically to shake her hand. None of the legal voters in the Bowes family received a handshake or even a hello. Chris Chrisman, as he did with Callie, presented Reese to the congregation, and it means a lot to us.



We had a big spread of food and invited the Chrismans and the Johnsons over to celebrate Reese's big day. The irony of it all is that she didn't eat any of the food and slept through the entire party. However, Callie had a wonderful time playing with Vivie Ann and eating the quiche and French toast casserole. Overall, it was a good day.

We know it's November, but Happy Halloween!!

Once we managed to get through the celebrations of birthdays in early October we could spend the rest of the month focusing on pumpkins and costumes. Fortunately we had more than enough opportunities to do so. Our great pumpkin journey starts at Happy Jack's, a family run farm in Frankfort. It was our first visit to the place and we really enjoyed it.



The occasion was a costume party hosted by our friends the Johnsons. Callie was excited to wear her cupcake costume and Reese looked dashing as a strawberry. Apparently Sarah was hungry when she picked out this year's costumes. The food items were accompanied by Jesse from Toy Story and your friendly neighborhood chicken.


We had a variety of activities during the course of the afternoon, including a wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch. Callie spent a while looking for a good pumpkin and was ready to carry it wherever it needed to go. I bet you have never seen a cupcake struggling to carry a pumpkin before, have you? That day and on Halloween this cupcake was up to all sorts of tricks.




Other activities that filled the day included face painting, walking through a haunted forest, eating lunch, and horsing around. As you can imagine, the horsing around took up most of the time. One of the kids' favorite activities involved taking turns pulling around the little red wagon loaded with children and pumpkins. It was easier for some. Poor Mason had a bit of a tough time trying to make some headway with three girls and two pumpkins. But he certainly tried.


As might be expected, Happy Jack's also had a wide variety of animals on the premises. Both Callie and Reese were entranced by the sheep, pigs, and goats. Here we see the two girls and John standing by the fence after feeding one of the goats. They could have stayed there all day. It's also important to mention that as we were leaving the farm in our car, we were followed by an ostrich. They certainly are big birds.

We could not pass up an opportunity to get a good picture of Reese surrounded by pumpkins. So here it is. She is looking mighty cute here, isn't she? Truth be told, the cuteness lasted only moments and then she let us know she was done posing for pictures for the day.



All in all, it was great to find another family owned farm in the area that we can enjoy and visit throughout the year. You can just never have enough family owned farms in your life, that's our motto.

It has taken us a while to make it happen, but we finally managed to get back to Keeneland for breakfast with the works. It's funny. We always seem to pick the coldest mornings to visit the track. But this was a special day because it was the Saturday before Halloween. We not only got the treat of watching the horses go through their training runs, but we also got to witness a visit from the Headless Horseman as he made his way through the paddock. Very cool.

Callie and Reese were all bundled up so they were prepared for the attempt to capture them from all different angles. Reese definitely loved this visit to Keeneland. Her first visit, this past April, involved rain and a lost set of car keys. So this time around it may have been cold, but that was the worst of it. She got excited every time a horse came by. And Callie has never lost her enthusiasm for the ponies.


Now just because we went to Happy Jack's earlier in the month it did not mean we could bypass some of our other favorite spots. So off we headed to Evan's Orchard to get a few more pumpkins, a few more pictures, and a whole afternoon at their playground.



Callie and Reese found a smile or two to share with their parents as more opportunities arose for our posing with pumpkins segment of the blog.

Although we had already gotten our hands on a couple of pumpkins from Happy Jack's, we needed a good carving pumpkin. At Evan's, however, the wagons are all manual. And now that Reese is a part of Team Bowes, Dad needs to pull a little harder while also making sure he doesn't catapult Reese out of the wagon. And you thought this was just a picture of a serene trip out to a pumpkin patch.

This year John was not going to let another pumpkin carving season go by without joining in the fun and showing Callie how it all works. As a sign of the times, John first had to go next door to see if the Chrismans had any newspaper to spread on the floor. This is one of the effects of getting your news via the internet I guess. And for the record, John had to deny Sarah's recommendation of the pumpkin carving kit at Target. Do people not use their kitchen knives for this stuff anymore?!? What is the world coming to?

Callie was an eager assistant in the whole process. She was all set to dig out the insides of the pumpkin and she certainly wanted to use the big kitchen knife. That, however, will have to wait. Not pictured here is Reese, who spent most of the time trying to get into everything and anything. It was a fun experience to say the least.


Here are the carvers with the product of their labors. It is not the most dramatic pumpkin, but I'm sure the carving will get more sophisticated as the years pass.



And of course all of the above was simply a lead up to the main event - Halloween. When the night finally arrived we were ready and raring to go.

We'll start with our little strawberry. Obviously she was pretty bewildered by the whole experience. But she just kept her eyes on Callie to get an understanding of what the heck was going on. The high point of the evening was that Reese pulled in some additional candy for her parents. And the low point was that people kept mistaking her for an apple. Oh well.

Callie certainly looked the part as we embarked on the evening. However, she still struggled with the basic trick or treat etiquette. There were more than a few awkward moments where she stood silent, her parents tried to encourage her to say trick-or-treat, and the poor soul handing out candy just wanted us off of their porch. But we insisted on taking advantage of the educational opportunity such moments presented. We're still not sure if anything stuck. But we tried.


The final picture of this long post captures the two little girls soaking in the Halloween spirit. They are quite a pair, and with every day they bring more joy to our lives. A few challenges here and there - but joy is the biggest thing, that's for sure.



Now that we have successfully updated our blog, we are off to California to enjoy our Thanksgiving festivities with the Sacramento crew. It will mark our fifth flight to California this year. And boy are our arms tired! John thinks he's so funny. Have a great Turkey Day!

Fall Birthdays

This fall has presented the opportunity for a large number of birthday celebrations. In fact the same day that Zoey Berkeley Hannen was born, Callie's good friend Murphy turned four. And by the time Murphy's birthday extravaganza came to an end it had lasted all weekend long. We started off at the Green Tree Tea Room for a five course luncheon. Yes, this was for four-year-olds. You can see the birthday girl in the picture below with Callie and Vivie Ann.



It is evident from the looks on the faces of the three girls that they were having a fine time at the tea room. It was quite funny to watch Callie drink tea and eat mini-sandwiches and muffins. She certainly loved the idea that she was doing something big girls do.

To understand the fanciness of the Green Tree Tea Room, you can start by looking at one of the tables set up for the occasion. Each of our five courses were delivered by waiters who were incredibly attentive. This was particularly displayed by the way in which they constantly picked up the girls' napkins that spent more time on the ground than they should have. Needless to say this was an exercise in manners. More important, it was a lot of fun.

Although our pictures of Murphy's birthday events stop here, the fun did not. Ann-Phillips, Murphy's mom, picked up both Vivie Ann and Callie later that afternoon so they could all go out to dinner and then spend the night at Murphy's house. The evening included bubble baths, princess dress-up, and movies. Callie made her parents the proudest when it was reported that she asked Ann-Phillips if they could turn off the movie and go to bed because she was tired. We wish that she could show such self-control at our house. But we aren't holding our breath on that one.

Our second birthday subject arrived the first week of September and her name is Lucy Gipe. She is a wonderful addition to the lives of her parents, Alex and Sarah, and her big sister Libby. Lucy also happens to be the granddaughter of our good friends and neighbors, Sharon and Chris. We got to meet her pretty early on when she came to Lexington for her first visit.


It is amazing what the addition of two more little girls can do for a household. You can see that Sarah Gipe and Sarah Bowes are handling the additional chaos well, albeit with a glass of wine in hand.



It has been great over the past year or so to see Callie and Libby play together every time Libby comes to visit and stay with Sharon and Chris. They run all over the place with big smiles on their faces. So we can only imagine what it is going to be like in a few more years when Reese and Lucy join the fun.

But now we must move on to the main event. On October 3, Callie Alexis Bowes turned four years old. It is very hard to believe. She was so excited and it was wonderful to see how much she embraced the idea of turning a year older. Because her birthday was on a Monday she got to go to school and spend the day as the special birthday girl. This included getting to wear a sticker all day long that pointed out her new status as a four-year-old.



It also meant that we got to bring in cupcakes that she could share with her friends. Here is Callie sharing a cupcake with Maddie, who has been her best pal since she started going to daycare almost four years ago. They have an incredibly special relationship and Callie thinks the world of Maddie. Ironically enough, Callie got to celebrate Maddie's special day only a few weeks later. October is truly a great month!


Callie's birthday celebrations continued with an intimate dinner party with the Chrismans. When we asked Callie what she wanted for dinner, she requested shrimp fajitas without hesitation. It just so happens that this is only a slight variation on the tacos we prepared for her third birthday. As far as the cake goes, after perusing the options and with perhaps a little guidance from her mother, Callie chose the pink and purple castle cake. This was much better than the head of Tinker Bell or any of the other fairy princess options.



So we are now the proud parents of a four-year-old girl. Next year, however, we may have to bring in the fives by expanding the party to include a few more people her own age. We are not saying that we have made a reservation at the Green Tree, but next year may see a more traditional kids party. We shall see.

First Sleepover

One week before her birthday, Callie got to experience something we didn't think would happen for several more years. That's right, a sleepover! To be completely truthful though, it was all about Callie's parents earning brownie points with some family friends, the Johnsons. Seth and Jessica went to a UK football game so we decided to take on both their kids for the night with the idea that they will be taking on our kids some night in the not too distant future.


We had a great time with all four kids. The afternoon included a trip to the park, where Callie, Vivie Ann, Mason, and Reese played on the swings and went down the slides. All four ate a great dinner and earned their dessert. And of course what comes after dinner but bathtime. Yes, we had all four kids in the bath at once. It was quite a show to say the least.



As soon as Reese left the tub the fun really began. But all good things must come to an end and we had to get all three of the older kids out of the bath. Then it was time for putting on pajamas, brushing teeth, and reading books. But there is always time for another picture or two. We had to document every step to show Seth and Jessica that their kids had fun every step of the way. And we must say that Vivie Ann and Mason were phenomenal. Everyone was in bed and asleep by 8:30. Pretty impressive, if we don't say so ourselves. We only hope Reese and Callie are the same way when they get the chance to spend the night at the Johnsons.


Our last picture is just a status update of Reese and what she has been up to. She turned nine months in September and we have already updated you on her numbers. But the cuteness continues to develop with every day that passes. She is definitely a big fan of the swings.



In fact, all signs point to her being a big fan of anything involving flight and high altitudes. In short, she's a risk-taker and a climber. It's only a matter of time before she starts looking for the easy way out of her crib.

Zoey Berkeley Hannen is here!

We are happy to share the wonderful news about the newest addition to the Bowes family. At 9:30pm Rocky Mountain Time on October 2, Suzy and Brian welcomed their cute daughter Zoey Berkeley into the world. She was a whopping 7 lbs 3 oz and was 20 inches long.



The only thing that could have gone better was if she had waited for just about two and a half hours to arrive, because then she could have joined her Uncle Chris and cousin Callie in the illustrious October 3rd birthday club. But I'm sure Suzy has no problem with the fact that her labor didn't last any longer than it had to. In any case, we are so happy for Suzy and Brian and can't wait to meet our niece Zoey in just a couple of months. It is safe to say that Christmas in Connecticut is going to be crazy this year.

September Developments

Clearly this post was supposed to go up last month, but hey, with the schedules we are currently keeping we are just happy it is going up this year. Following our trip to California over Labor Day weekend we spent the rest of the month in Kentucky. But that didn't mean we didn't keep busy.


Reese was particularly active this month, as you can see in this picture. She wants to spend as much time as possible standing up. In fact she pulls up and cruises around the coffee table every chance she gets. Although she has been crawling for about a month, she has become extremely efficient in her movements, even though her crawl is a bit unorthodox. Reese continues to be a very cheerful little soul, and this picture captures some of the spunk she brings to our family. It is also important to note that this month she has not only learned how to clap but has also begun to make the appropriate sign for milk with her hands. And as we speak her third and fourth teeth are making an appearance.

But of course we also need to talk about the most recent numbers from her 9 month doctor's appointment. Apparently, Reese is shrinking even as she is growing. Her length is 27 inches which puts her in the 30th percentile, down from the 75th percentile she was in at birth. Her weight is 15 lbs 3 oz, which is officially labeled <5th percentile. That is down from the 15th percentile at birth. But how about the head? Circumference is 44 1/2 cm, or the 55th percentile. Now that is an increase from her 48th percentile at birth.



In short, there is a lot of love, joy, and spunk packed into a petite body with a large noggin. We love her to pieces and so does her big sister. The intense love that Callie has shown from day one has not diminished an ounce. It stays strong in the 100th percentile.


Callie has had her own special developments in September. She has started attending a ballet and tap dance class once a week and it is clear that she really enjoys it. It helps that one of her classmates is her good friend Vivie Ann. In this picture you can see Callie with Vivie Ann and another classmate Maya as they get ready to head into their first lesson of the session. It has become a great part of the week. We are trying not to get overwhelmed by whole process, especially since Callie seems to enjoy it. While we are a long way from being cast on a reality show about gung ho dance moms, we were all practicing our leaps the other night in the living room while Callie gave us pointers. The things you do for your kids.

All of those developments aside, September was like most months over the past year. It was filled with some craziness, but overall a whole lot of fun with our two growing and wonderful girls.



Although we don't get to do it all that often because of our hectic schedules, some of our favorite times are when the four of us are just hanging out and playing. This particular night Callie and Reese provided some extra entertainment by becoming real-life jack-n-the-boxes. Seldom have diaper boxes lead to so many giggles.