Time with Miss Elena

Upon leaving Billings, I took Miss Elena back home with me.  Rhiana and Kyle were taking a much-needed vacation together down to Las Vegas and I was happy to have this little sweetheart all to myself.  Well, I guess not really all to  myself as I had to share with Mister.

She was such a champ with me on the plane and settled down on my chest and went sound asleep.  When she awakened, the gentleman next to us had a puppy in a carrier under the seat in front of us and showed it to Elena.  She got to peek for a few minutes and then was content to let the puppy sleep.  Arriving in Dallas, she was all smiles for Grandpa and very happy to get to the house and settle in.  The next morning -- she and Grandpa were happily having breakfast and letting me sleep in.

We asked ourselves: so now we have this little person -- what shall we do with her?  We have heard about the new Giants of the Savannah exhibit at the Dallas Zoo and figured that was a great place to start.  We decided ahead of time to only go a few places:  the Savannah and the Children's Zoo.  Just outside the Savannah is the Gorilla habitat so we stop and check it out first.  Elena just stood and stared for a long time at the gorilla. She was mesmerized.

Next, onto the Savannah --- one of the displays is a giraffe exhibit where you can interact with and actually feed the animals.  Elena called them "raffes" and was fascinated with them.  There was a baby one that she really liked but couldn't reach.

Grandpa bought her some lettuce to feed and she laughed and giggled as the big black tongue snaked out to grab the food.

She REALLY liked the giraffes and did not want to leave.

Moving over to the Children's Zoo, we stopped in with the birds and let her interact with them for awhile before allowing her to just climb on the playground equipment.  It has been a great day and we have had oh so much fun with this little princess.

The sunshine greets us the next day helping us to make plans.  We decide to try a photo shoot over at the Dallas Arboretum.  I purchased the cutest Easter dress while I was in Billings and brought it back to Texas with me.

She was such a little charm and oh so fascinated with all the gardens.  She was also the perfect model and did whatever we asked.  Several people stopped us and commented as to how wonderful she was being for us.  It really is best to just let the pictures speak for themselves.

She finally got tired of it all --- don't you agree?

Jen and family decided to come up and spend a day while Elena was here so that she could have time with her cousins as well.  Of course, first things first -- She and Grandpa had to make pancake "faces".



Once the cousins arrived, it was definitely play time.  It was so cute to watch her with all her "boys" playing.  She was so funny and loved being with them.

We brainstormed for ideas of something to do and decided on the Children's Aquarium at Fair Park.

The kids all had such a good time seeing and learning about the water creatures there.  It was a great day spent with family.  Good memories for all.

Park day!  We started out after breakfast for a morning filled with swings and climbing.

When we got back to the house, we noticed how big our little peach tree had gotten and decided to take a picture of it to compare with the one we took when it was planted.  Check out the little person in the background.  She thought the hill between our house and the neighbors was just the perfect running hill and went up and down so many times.

Bath time and then bed.  I couldn't believe our time together was over already, but mom had called and wanted her back.  Drat.

It was such a great time with Elena and will be remembered forever.

In this picture, we were booking our flight back.  I had lots of help and was conflicted between enjoying this with her and hating what I was doing.  I did not want to give her back.

Treasured time.