I am exhausted - I wonder if Olivia is asleep?

Today was a full, fun-filled day! First, the not so great: we started with breakfast at a nearby church - seemed like a good idea at the time, but the food was significantly less than stellar and it was pricey. It got lots better from there.

At the Kiwanis auction, we won a photography shoot with a new photographer in town so we met her at a local park, Olivia played and we and the photographer shot pictures. I do not know if it is like this for other mom's, but every time we have had professional pictures taken of Olivia, it is an amazing amount of work for me! The first time, I held her on my shoulders, head or stomach, trying to stay out of the picture, while they were being shot. One of the funniest from that day about a year ago was Olivia happy as can be sitting on my shoulders with her dress covering my head - you wouldn't know it unless I pointed it out.

Today was no exception - I was climbing all over playground equipment coaxing out smiles, going down tube slides, lifting her up between tree limbs and running across muddy fields of grass. Not that I mind running through the mud or playing on the swings, but it does wear this 40 + mommy out.

Next was a trip to the shoe store for some new shoes for Daddy. Success! (And Mommy found a pair too!) Then home - the original plan was lunch, but someone fell asleep on the way home, so nap first then lunch.

The afternoon brought a round of geocaching with our new GPS. There were a couple in the state park that we wanted to find. We started by parking in the equestrian area which meant horses everywhere. Olivia NEEDED to "seeee" one, so we asked and walked over to touch one of them. Olivia got close, but didn't want to touch it. We found our cache after a nice walk and then went back to the horse. This time not only did she touch it, but she wanted to ride it as well. By then he had his saddle off, so that was not an option. Besides, Jasper didn't look all that thrilled, and for the record, Mommy is decidedly NOT a fan of horses.

After a bit of driving around, we decided to seek out a second cache on the other side of the park. We started down a muddy trail into the woods that lead us to a beautiful creek bed. The GPS was pointing up the very steep hill on the other side of the creek, so I scrambled up it to see what was on the other side. I continued on to find the cache. Daddy and Olivia played in the creek then climbed up the hill as well. Daddy started by carrying Olivia, but after a short distance realized that was too difficult so he just held her hand and up the hill they both went. He said it was absolutely amazing that she just went right up it without faltering. And this was more than just a nice grassy knoll - this was a rock and limb strewn hill cut over thousands of years of water flowing past it with about a 50 foot change in elevation.

We joined back up and began the hike out. I used the time to talk to Olivia about how to find her way out of the woods if she ever gets lost and to marvel at the joy of the moment. An unexpectedly warm winter day that allowed us the opportunity to learn, teach, seek, find, play, splash, climb and be awestruck.

Our day had no specific plans other than meeting the photographer. The rest just happened along. As did the end of the day - while debating supper plans, I called my sister. They were headed to our favorite pizza place so we turned the car in their direction and met up with them. I sat Olivia at the table with pizza and fruit cocktail. She ate for 30 minutes without stopping, fussing, heck, she was barely even looking up from her plate. I have often joked about the danger in offering free food to THIS child under 3 and today was no exception.

Today was a day of basking in the joy of parenting such a happy, curious, loving child.