Samantha continues to grow, both physically and in her capabilities. Two weekends ago we had the challenge of putting Samantha in our car and driving down to Leamington. This was her first true long trip. We have to say that she really surprised us - she played for a while, then slept, then played a bit more when she woke up. The trip was about 10 minutes too long, and it was almost as if she could tell we were almost there and she was running out of time to give us a hard time. Considering how she could have behaved, 10 minutes of whining in a 3.5 hour drive is nothing to complain about.

The trip to Leamington was for our niece Lisa-Marie's wedding, but was also the first time that the Penner clan had the opportunity to meet Samantha. The wedding was fabulous, and Lisa-Marie looked absolutely stunning. Her now husband Herm took a lot of shots for his black on black tuxedo, and the name Johnny Cash came up more than once over the course of the day, but Johnny would never have been caught dead driving a T-Cup. Not your typical limousine, but somehow it was fitting.

Aunt Jean took a bit of abuse from Samantha, but all was forgotten once the Cheerios came out. That is until Samantha started to choke a bit on one of them and proceeded to demonstrate how Cheerios can become projectiles. Thanks Uncle Vic for taking one in the chest to make sure none of the other wedding guests were injured.

Since our normal accommodations were fairly busy, with the wedding reception taking place in the back yard, we elected to stay with our nephew Tim and his family. This gave us a couple more new experiences for Samantha. For one, she met her first dog - Hershey. Hershey is a full-sized Golden Retriever, and we weren't sure how Samantha was going to take to an animal that was considerably larger than her. On their first meeting Hershey came up to Samantha and gave her a big wet lick on the face. Samantha just laughed and waved her arms, not in the least afraid of this beast.

The second thing she was exposed to was a big swimming pool, which she absolutely loved. She's done well in the bathtub and the small plastic one on our deck, and showed no fear here. The splashing and laughs just kept coming, even after daddy backed away a couple of feet and Samantha decided to find out if everything looked the same from under the surface as it did from above. Daddy swooped in and pulled her back up to where there was air, and the smile was still on her face. We're starting to think that she's going to love the water as much as her mother does, so we've enroled her in the swimming program at our rec. complex. The chaufering has already begun, and this ones for daddy. Mommy's turn starts soon as well when she starts taking Samantha to "Tumbling Tots". Daddy may have to go and watch that one to see who's going to be doing the tumbling.

This last week she has started doing a lot of new things, the most impressive accomplishment, for her at least, has been her ability to get to a sitting position from lying down. Samantha has also become comfortable standing while hanging on to things, and we know this is going to totally change our lives. She is also pulling herself up, which means a whole new world has just come into her reach, and one more level of the entertainment unit that needs to be cleared.

We know the next step is just a couple of steps away - the gates. Won't be long before we're going to have to limit where she can get to in the house.

This weekend we're back to Leamington again for another wedding, our other niece Kristin. Hopefully Samantha will be good on this trip as well, and the first time wasn't just luck.