Cute Babies Are Cute

Hello from sunny Florida! It's so great to be out of the freezing weather, I can't even tell you. On Friday I drove to Virginia to spend a couple days with my parents (and my dogs and Rocket, duh), and then on Monday I flew to Florida for a few days at home. On Sunday night, we got 10" of snow in Virginia. On March 16. That really happened. The drive to the airport was gorgeous but scary Monday morning.

Anyway, when I was in Virginia, I was able to celebrate Rocket's 11-month birthday! This time last year I was so excited about seeing her for the first time that I could hardly breathe or think (and on this date last year, I was also angsting about whether to rescue a certain little bay mare, but more on that in a couple days).

Mom and I brushed Rocket, which she really enjoyed. She ties very nicely to the tie-block thing, and stands better than a lot of school horses I know for brushing and hoof picking. Then my mom did a little photo shoot. I'm always glad to have more pictures of my girls.

Oh god, yearling awkwardness and bad camera angles combined.

She looks snuggly but I think she was just trying to bite the rope.

She's got a wall eye but I love her anyway.

Who wouldn't love that face?! Find me the person.

On Saturday, I also got to hang out with my #1 favorite human of all time: my nephew. He is 17 months old and is me in tiny baby form. The kid is obsessed with horses. He makes this glorious "clip-clop" sound when asked, "what does a horse say?" He loves to look at pictures of horses and see actual horses. I think I may have shared these photos from back in December:

Anyway, when I saw Nephew this week, his parents had cut out pictures of horses from the Dover catalog and taped them to pieces of paper for him. He was thrilled and carried them around the way I clutched stuffed animals at his age.

Don't worry, we were just sitting in the car waiting
for my dad, not actually driving anywhere.

Also, isn't that flat cap just the best? It was killing me dead. He also had on a bow tie. Microfashion!

When we went to dinner, I sat next to Nephew because I want to be as close to him as possible at all times. It worked out well, because he had me drawing pictures of horses on his place mat to the point that the server kept having to bring him new ones.

We are getting very close to "I want a pony," I think, which means Auntie Jess has to start saving money. I made a promise to keep him in horses as long as he wants. Maybe in another 10 years, he can have Rocket. They already approve of each other.

I'll be back in Virginia on Friday evening and then driving to Ohio on Saturday. Today, I'll be off to see the Girlfriend's horse, and tomorrow I get to visit Duchess, who is apparently getting fat and happy in her semi-retirement. I can't wait to see her!

Oh, and in professional news: I will likely be defending my dissertation in about three months, at which point I will insist that everyone call me Dr. Claw for at least a week.

I already have the cat and the wine glass at the ready.