18 months and coming out of her shell!

On June 15th Sydney turned the big 1.5 years old.  There is a lot of experience gained in that extra half-year, and she really has come a long way with her vocal speaking abilities, physical coordination, and general outgoing attitude.  So, she really does seem to be coming out of her shell!  This first picture was taken at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia (please note: no animals were hurt in the taking of this picture...actually, I'm sure it had already been dead for quite some time).  While at the zoo, she also decided that she was going to be the navigator.  She was more than happy to tell us which direction to go, and which animals to see.  Among all of the different species, she liked the koalas.

Regardless of where we went, people would comment on how cute she was.  She loved the attention, and she's even developed this one face, which we refer to  as 'cheesy face,' where she tilts her head back and comes up with the biggest and cheesiest smile you could picture.  She really is a ham.  So where did she get that, among her other odd  behaviors?  Well, I guess it's not that hard to understand where Sydney gets some of her unique behaviors...please see next picture...need I say more???  Actually, it was all in good fun and we had a great time at the zoo!

Sydney did pick up some new words while we were over the big blue.  She has learned 'apple, up, shoes,' and a few others that escape me right now.

There is sooo much to share about our recent trip to Australia (including pictures), but I thought I'd pick up the blog with just a couple of experiences from the trip.  But, before concluding this post I just have to mention that Karen did a great job on the trip.  She donated bone marrow for her Uncle Dennis.  She was a trooper during the procedure, as well as prep visits to the hospital.  We are wishing Dennis the best of luck, and hope the graft works.  We also wanted to wish the best to Rebecca and Kris, who are both being such wonderful support to Dennis.  We enjoyed getting to spend time with each of them.  Well, that's it for now, but expect more Australia pictures over the next few posts.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!