Easter Egg Hunt!

We went to our neighborhood Easter egg hunt this afternoon. Such fun! Tess took her pink beach pail with her to carry her eggs, so during the whole wagon ride down to the park, Tess kept saying, "Goin' to beach!"

Tess got the hang of it pretty quickly! We were only allowed to take 10 eggs, so I had to keep sneaking eggs out of her basket when she wasn't looking as she was in serious violation of the rule. Luckily, she only caught me (and yelled at me) once.

Maybe next year, we'll be able to get a picture of Tess with the Easter Bunny that made a special appearance. We had to be careful to keep our distance from him this year.

Going to the beach park for the hunt!

Tess and Mom getting ready to talk strategy
Having fun at the park while waiting for the hunt to begin

And we're off! (But BEWARE of the scary rabbit lurking in the background)




Here is a video of Tess doing her thing:

Here is another video of Tess doing her thing at swimming earlier this morning:

Happy Birthday to Tess!

Can you believe that Tess is two?! We had a little birthday party with some cake and ice cream and LOTS of presents. Tess got a fun kitchen set (from Mom and Dad) and about 1,000 pieces of food, cookwear and utencils to go with it (from everyone else)! Such a lucky girl!

Remember Birthday Bear?

Here is a birthday video I made for Tess. It's kind of long since I added some video clips at the end of it. (Hint: To hear it, be sure to pause the song on the main page before you watch it.)

A star is born...

We went to a get together at a friend's house the other night and Tess found a little microphone stand to play with. Holy cow! I am not really sure how she knew exactly what to do with it, but you can see for yourself that she does. Can you say American Idol 2023?!

A few fun pics from last week...

Getting ready to go to the parenting group birthday party. Doesn't she look like a kindergartener or something?!

Enjoying her birthday cupcake

First blooms of the year. Yippppeeee!


Out for a walk


A little daredevil


Helping Dad paint...


Posing for the camera

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Getting ready for St. Patrick's Day!

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Now she's got it!

Tess got a cute pink tricycle for Christmas and is working on learning to ride it. Up until now, we pushed her along and she has studied how the pedals go around and round. Now she has figured out how to pedal on her own! Next on the agenda is figuring out the steering part...

When you wish upon a star...

** Warning: You may want to go grab a beverage and a snack as this may be the longest post in Tess blog history! Lots of pictures and videos await you!

We just got back from our Disney Cruise with Grandpa and Grandma Tillman, Uncle Mark and Uncle Mark's friend, Tami. We had a great time and Tess really enjoyed herself... that is if there were no characters within a two mile radius.

When we first entered the Disney terminal before we boarded the ship, Tess was pretty darn excited to see all of the Mickey hoopla and decorations. However, all of that came to a screeching halt when she saw the big man, er, mouse himself. Talk about terrified. She was trembling and her heart was palpitating. It was the most heartbreaking, pathetic thing ever. Anyway, just to make things worse, we took her closer to get a picture with him, thinking maybe she would be happier and more excited if she got closer... yeah, not so much. She pretty much jumped out of her skin when he blew her a kiss as she thought he was trying to reach out and touch her. The nerve of that darn mouse.

Here is a pic of their memorable meeting

Once we got on the boat, Tess was able to unwind a little bit and celebrate at the sail away party, but not until after the safety drill, of course!

Tess and Grandpa had fun playing with bubbles on the balcony
Here is not-so-happy Tess near the Southernmost Point in Key West (that we never actually made it to since somebody had a meltdown one block away, forcing us to spontaneously hire this bike taxi in a desperate attempt to make the madness STOP! She finally got over it about 5 very looooong blocks later.)

A happier Tess at Mallory Square (in other words, the bike taxi trick worked!)

Blast from the past moment... this is Tess in the almost exact same location from December 2007 (8 months old) in Key West. Can you believe it?!

Tess and Dad in front of our phat ride

The famous Key West sunset from the top deck of the ship

Tess cooling off in the Mickey splash pool

Little Minnie dancing with the band in the atrium (note that she's grooving to the oh-so-appropriate song, "Cruisin' Together")

Tess getting a special wake up call from Mickey himself

Tess, Dad and Grandpa at Stingray City in Grand Cayman

Tess and Uncle Mark

The whole gang on the Stingray City excursion

Our little trio on Grand Cayman

All set for a fun day in Cozumel, Mexico

Tess and a real dude that she did not like! She is saying, "stop!" Tess and Mom

Tess and Dad in Cozumel

Beach fun in Cozumel

Tess and Mom

Pirate Night

Dancing at the deck party on Pirate Night

Video of the dancing little pirate at the dance party

Dad and Tess on Castaway Cay (Disney's private Bahamian island)

Tess and Mom
The Flying Dutchman from Pirates of the Caribbean

Chip and Dale! And a skeptical Tess!

Tess is much happier to say bye to Chip and Dale

Playing peek-a-boo on the verandah

The worst part! Time to get off the boat. Yuck.
With Uncle Mike at the Tiger game in Lakeland


Swimming in the pool at the hotel in Orlando

Are you still awake?! Don't say that I didn't warn you! Thanks for looking!