Staycation

We had family in town last week from North Carolina so we made a staycation out of it!  Uncle Brian, Aunt Rachel, Anna, and Abbie visited us for the first time since we've lived in Michigan.  There were a lot of things we were saving up to do when we had guests, so we managed to stay very busy the entire time they were here (also it was planned on purpose so that we didn't hear "I'm bored" from the girls!).

We had dinner at the Union Woodshop - a fabulous BBQ restaurant that has been featured on the Food Network.

We spent the day at the zoo.  It was our first time going to the Detroit Zoo and while we got rained on a little bit, we had a great time.  You felt like such a big girl riding the train in your own seat with Abbie and of course we had to ride the carousel.

Family "selfie" on the train

We went to a summer festival in the town next to us.  They had lots of inflatable things - bounce house, obstacles courses, games.  You did awesome on the obstacle courses and it was so cute to see you crawling up ladders and flipping over walls - you did better than some of the bigger kids going through!  Anna and Abbie climbed the rock wall and did great - both making it all the way to the top.  I'm sure if you could have, you would have tried to climb the wall too.

All girls got flower balloons before we left and you would not let yours out of your sight for the rest of the day.  The picture on the right is what you looked like when I opened the car door when we got home; you had that balloon, your sippie cup and the 2 prizes you won clenched tightly in your little fists - keeping them safe.

We had planned to go to our favorite park one day, but it unexpectadely decided to rain, so we quickly tried to find something else to do outside of the house (you and Abbie were starting to fight like sisters over toys so we needed to find a distraction - the fighting was kind of cute to watch...for a few minutes).  We ended up going to Jeepers, an indoor arcade/amusement park nearby (I use the term amusement park loosely - it had 4 rides).  We got there soon after they opened and there really was not anyone else there, which was great because you had a chance to take everything in and get comfortable with it at your own pace (this was especially nice for the play structure since Daddy and I were not allowed to navigate through it with you).   You rode all the rides (except the bumper cars, but only because you were too little).  You LOVED the roller coaster, which completely surprised me.  I was worried it was going to be too loud and jerky for you and there were a few seconds where it went through a tunnel, so I thought the dark might scare you too.  But at the end of the ride, the ride attendant said "raise your hand if you want to ride again" and I kid you not, you had that little hand of yours in the air as fast as you could.  So, we rode it again - and then you rode it at least 2 more times with Daddy.  Daddy said the last time you and he rode it, you wanted to keep your hands in the air the whole time - I have a feeling you're going to be a dare devil/adrenaline junkie like your daddy!

Anna and Abbie were playing a lot of the arcade games and winning tickets, so Daddy and I figured we'd better earn some tickets so that you could go home with a little prize too.  Daddy wasn't doing too well - winning only 2 or 3 tickets at a time, so I took 8 tokens and headed to the "Wheel of Fortune" game to try my luck.  I guess it was my lucky day, because I won 1,242 tickets (yes, that's one thousand, two hundred, forty-two tickets)!  I think I sat there for at least 15 minutes waiting for all of the tickets to come out.  It was ridiculous!  You can see Daddy's tickets compared to Mama's tickets in the bottom left picture below (no, I'm not competitive or anything).  So, I've learned that whether you have 50 tickets or 1,370 tickets (the final count), it is still hard to decide what to "buy" with your tickets.  There was a pillow pet that Daddy really wanted to get for you, but it required 2,000 tickets (you never have enough tickets for what you really want).  Daddy wanted to try to win the rest of the tickets, but I talked him down and we settled on a Tinkerbell doodle desk, bracelet, slinky, pinwheel, tootsie roll, and 3 tattoos.

The girls were eager to do a sewing project while they were here and I told them they couldn't do it while you were awake (I knew keeping you away from needles and sharp scissors would be difficult), so the second you went down for nap, they got started.  Both girls sat there for 2 hours hand sewing their projects with some guidance from me and they did a great job!  Abbie made hers to give to you to store your crayons in and Anna decided to take her project home to store her things in.

You had so much fun with your cousins and I know they so enjoyed spending time with you.  The day they left, both girls wanted to wear their hair in pigtails to be just like you.  We can't wait until they come back again for another visit!

Happy Father's Day

We had a beautiful day for Father's Day.  We had donuts for breakfast.  You gave him the coffee mug you made at daycare (you ate all of the chocolate covered pretzels that came in the mug).  You helped him open his presents - a new golf hitting mat and a special card you made with Mama's help.  The weather was gorgeous, so we spent most of the morning before nap outside.

Daddy using his new coffee mug.

Helping Daddy open his cards.

The special card you made Daddy.
It was a little hard getting answers out of you for the questions, but the responses you did give were pretty funny (i.e., Daddy's job is to go get chicken)!

Summertime Fun

We're having a fun summer so far.  

We have so much wildlife in our back yard that we keep a pair of binoculars on our kitchen counter to always have them ready.  You always want to see what we're seeing, so I decided to make you your own binoculars out of toilet paper tubes.  You love your 'noculars and use them constantly.

We had a rainy day recently, so you finally got to use the umbrella the Easter bunny brought you.  You thought it was so neat and even though it wasn't raining anymore, had to have it with you.  I tried to get you to jump in the puddles, but you would have nothing of it - you would rather walk around them then get your boots wet!

Since there's only so much you can do outside on a rainy day, we decided to come inside and play with "moon dough" (flour and vegetable oil), which you thought was pretty neat.

The rainy day turned into sunshine just in time to have burgers and sweet corn outside on the deck.  You love to help me shuck corn and have actually gotten pretty good at it.  It's nice to have such a big helper!

You helped Daddy clean up sticks in the yard.

 And let Mama test out my 'motion' photography.

Looking forward to what the rest of the summer has in store for us!

North Carolina Vacation

We spent Memorial weekend in North Carolina with Eric's family.  We had a great time.

Like usual, you were a great traveler.  I got you a new suitcase with wheels and you thought it was so neat.  You pulled it all around the house in the week leading up to our trip and wanted to pull it all through the airport.  You did pretty well considering how heavy it was.

We picked honeysuckle from Nana and Granddaddy's back yard.

We visited Uncle Brian at his fire station.  You were a little nervous around the fire truck, but Daddy finally got you to sit inside of it.

We ate ice cream - you had your first ice cream cone and loved it!

We all went to Duke Gardens so Mama could take family photos.  It is so hard to take family photos when the photographer is in the picture as well!  Lots of retakes and editing to get a photo where everyone's eyes are open!

You played so hard every day and crashed during naps.

You blew lots of bubbles.

We went to the NC Museum of Life and Science where you saw farm animals, went through the butterfly pavilion, played on a dinosaur, played music, and drove sailboats.

You got to hold a butterfly on your finger!  You were a little nervous at first, but then loved it.

It was pretty warm outside towards the end of our visit, so we found an indoor playground that you absolutely loved!  This inflatable slide and bounce house were your favorites.  I went down the slide with you the first two times and then you were ready to tackle it on your own.  You had a blast!