Looking like a sun-kissed Thanksgiving

If there was ever a year to host Thanksgiving outside, this would be it. The temperature is forecasted to be a high of 79 with a low of 40 degrees. Too bad we don’t have a picnic table! The view isn’t nearly as pretty as it is back home since the leaves don’t change colors, they simply die and fall off, so I guess we’re not missing much by keeping the turkey indoors.

The past couple weeks have once again sped by. Two weekends ago, John and a couple friends went camping and had their site visited by a raccoon and wild pig. The guys survived, however the banana nut muffins were not as lucky.

Mikayla and I have attempted to become more adventurous with our daily walks, even venturing off base a bit more. Though when we tried to find hiking trails around the lake and instead found desolate dirt roads with vultures flying overhead, deer as thin as sticks and bushes with spikes all over them, we decided to keep going. Fortunately, we were at least able to find a campground with a fishing dock to walk around for a little while.

Mikayla continues to do better at entertaining herself. She’s found blankets to be great toys – that or she’s practicing to be a nun. And today, she reached out and grabbed a rattle for the first time, which she immediately tried to eat.

This past weekend we headed to San Antonio. No matter where the road takes us, we’re never short of things to chuckle about, and this time, one such thing was a home for sale via a handwritten yard sale sign. Best of luck to them I suppose.

Most of the weekend was spent shopping anywhere other than Walmart and I can’t say how thrilled I was to visit a real grocery store! I felt like a kid in a candy store when we walked into Whole Foods and could have spent the entire day shopping. Fortunately for John and Mikayla’s sake, I pretty much stuck to the list of Thanksgiving ingredients and then we hit the road.

Mikayla continues to love road trips! She spends a fair share of the drive sleeping, but also enjoys looking out the window and telling us stories. We have a mirror hooked up for her in John’s car that has a monkey overhead – I’m not sure what she was saying, but she had all sorts of things to tell Mr. Monkey this weekend.

It’s been fun to listen to Mikayla's pigeon talk evolve. In addition to having specific cries, she has very specific conversations to tell us what she wants. Perhaps the easiest to decipher is her food request, which almost always serves as a prelude to the great breakdown demanding food.

It’s hard to believe that Mikayla will be three months old on Thursday. She’s growing fast, becoming more playful every day and definitely has some spunk in her. The other day as John picked her up during a crying fit that was spurred by nothing more than wanting to be held, I caught her sneak out a smile as if to say, ‘hah! I got my way,’ watch our world, here comes Mikayla Jo!