Playing in the leaves...while mommy tries to rake them up.

Monty kept Caitlyn entertained for most of the time it took me to rake the leaves this day.
Monty would hide until Caitlyn would find him then he would run to a new hiding spot and the cycle continued.
Occasionally he got tricky and would run under the fence.

Pumpkin Patch (October 27, 2007)

This year while the men were gone elk hunting Grandma Shadduck spent the afternoon with us that included a trip to the pumpkin patch. The day was sunny but very blustery thanks to those powerful east winds we get out here in east county. Caitlyn hitched a ride in the wagon with Grandma.
Once we made our way into the thick of the patch Caitlyn got lost in her own world of pumpkin picking. She was also mesmerized by the hay stack as if it had a magnetic force pulling her to it.

She was able to fight the trance to finally pick out the perfect pumpkin. She would not let Grandma or I help her carry the pumpkin. As strong as she is she had no trouble picking up and carrying her choice to the wagon. And I knew she had picked some good sturdy pumpkins because they managed to survive the trip they took from being thrown into the wagon.
It was another fun time with new memories of the pumpkin patch.

2007 Race for the Cure (September 23rd)

The day started out way to early when three of the gals showed up at the front door so we could all head to the downtown waterfront where the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure takes place. This was our second year to participate. We established a corporate team last year and cannot wait until the next to come. It was still dark after finding a parking place and getting all our gear on.

We actually managed to find almost everyone before the race for a group photo.

Once we headed to the starting line area we ran into Sherri and Makayla who was walking with Jeff's company group. Sherri had just ran into cousin Patty too so we took advantage of getting a photo of the three of us.

The walk was over and we found our way back to the car to head home but not before we got one last picture of the two of us.

Official Deviled Egg Tester

Mike is the master of making the best deviled eggs. As a result anytime there is a family gathering that includes deviled eggs in the menu he is put to task of whipping up a batch.
Caitlyn assigned herself as dad's official egg tester/helper. The batch was given her seal of approval only after putting it through a number of tests. The first was to lick from the bowl before moving on to the spatula followed by the whole egg sample.
Another great batch of eggs...Gr-egg Job!

September 3, 2007

The family gathered at Sherri & Jeff's to celebrate Mom's, Jim's & Sherri's birthdays. It was a nice summer day so Caitlyn gave their new hot tub the splash test.
But it didn't take long before she was down to her diaper and taking a full plunge into the bubbly water. Once it was time for some cake fun time was over and Caitlyn was headed to the kitchen.

Well, everyone I have not been doing a good job of keeping up with things have I?
Shortly after my last posting in September we had our carpet replaced (again-long story) and since then the computer hook up has not been the same. Our computers used to be on the same network so I could get to our photo's which are kept on Mike's computer. Trying to get our computers to cooperate with one another again has been more challenging then it should be. And now I find myself nearly 4 months behind in Caitlyn updates. I will be posting some brief highlights to catch you all up on how much Miss Caitlyn has grown in that time. Then I will do my best to keep more current with several postings a month. And of course there will be birthday photo's because Caitlyn will be turning 2 on Saturday. Where has the time gone???? So stay close to your Kiwi Cait blog address, more to come very soon!

Police Cadets at "Law Enforcement Challenge"

Once again this year Caitlyn got to travel with us to the coast with Mike's police cadets for a competition at Camp Rilea in near Astoria. We traveled to the Army Base on Friday and checked in before the kids spend all day Saturday at different scenarios they have trained in. On Sunday we finish up with lunch and an award ceremony. A tradition for Mike's post is to take the kids camping afterwords for a couple days as a "reward" for all the hard work they put in all year long. Caitlyn was trying to get a jump start on her driving career. Unfortunately for her she is not approved to drive a city car yet.

Here Caitlyn is getting maced (with training mace - not the real stuff) when she came at one of the advisers with a bat during a break in between scenarios.
Trying to be like daddy and all the big kids, Caitlyn playing with one of the police radios.