Ada has started to enjoy playing with Legos. Todd has a box full of them from his childhood that has been great entertainment for her this summer. She loves the people, especially changing their helmets and having them ride horses. She also has little conversations as she is building or stacking multiple blocks together, such as all their heads.
The first picture is of her baby in a cradle with a blanket on 🙂
We had lots of fun at the Logos picnic this year. Ada spent most of the time running around, seeing the animals, climbing the playground, and playing on the giant inflatable slide.
I put the picture of the round hay bales in because I asked Ada if she could tell me what shape they were and she yelled “toilet paper!”
Every summer Bellingham has an All Comers Track Meet that runs every Monday evening for the season. The little kids get to run two races, a 50 meter hurdles and a 50 meter dash. Ada participated last summer and had fun, so we tried it again (we only made it to one this year). Todd had to run along side her to keep her going, especially with the hurdles since she would stop at each one and gingerly step over them. She didn’t win any prizes other than a green participant ribbon. It’s all for fun!
I forgot to post these before our California trip so they are a couple months old.
My Dad has a beautiful ‘65 Mustang that he purchased last year. After months of hearing about it, Todd & I finally got to take a spin in this classic car 🙂
We picked Todd up from the airport midweek and stopped at a couple tourist attractions to & from Palm Springs. I love roadside attractions and will stop for pictures any day. The Marilyn Monroe statue stood 26 feet tall on a corner in downtown Palm Springs. Heading back through Cabazon we stopped to see the dinosaurs. I have seen them many many many times but this was the first for Ada 🙂
A neighbor gave us this old tricycle for free and I thought it could be a fun project to repaint. It was a little fun, but mostly tedious with removing decals, sanding, priming and waiting for paint to cure 🙂 I still may add embellishments, like streamers or some body detail, but for now this is how it turned out. I also debated painting the wheel rims, but they were not going to come off easily, so they remain white.
I completely forgot to take a before picture before Todd disassembled it so I had to improvise a little and piece it back together without the nuts and bolts. You get the idea 🙂
A couple weeks ago my friend Jessica and I, along with our two little ones, spent an afternoon at Bellewood Acres apple orchard. Apple picking tends to be an annual tradition for us and a fun one! Though sans husbands & Jimmy this year, we still had a great time picking Jonagolds and ending with a yummy lunch at the bistro.
Ada & Owen loved riding in the golf cart to go get the apples but had a hard time deciding who should drive (parked of course!) 🙂
Over the summer I tried a few outdoor activities with Ada that involved flour, flavored gelatin, and finger paint. I found the ideas online which were considered safe for little ones to do (especially for my taste testing toddler).
She had fun playing in the flour and then eventually dumping it into the grass and wiping it on herself and on me. She enjoyed the gelatin too, squishing it between her fingers and then eating most of it. I found a recipe for corn starch finger paint, since I knew it would go in her mouth. It was a good idea except for the food coloring which stained her hands for a couple days.
Now I need to find activities for indoor play this winter so we (I) don’t go nuts 🙂
A few weekends ago we attended the Logos company picnic on a Saturday and our church’s picnic the following day.
Ada enjoyed the goats at Hovander and they loved her back. She accidentally fed one of the goats part of her pretzel and it instantly became best friends with her. The goats let her grab their faces and kiss them, they were very sweet and gentle with Ada. They also came running to the fence upon seeing us after we had left for some time to see the other animals.
Ada was the star of the church picnic we had the following day. She and Todd played a water squirting game in which she wore a cup attached to a string around her neck and Todd had a squirt bottle. The goal was to fill up the cup of your teammate while you stand across from each other and each take a step back every so often. Well, Ada decided to run from Todd (in sheer delight) while he squirted water towards her and the audience. When she finally had enough water in her cup, she drank it! Needless to say, they did not win but it was very entertaining!
This is what I found the little monkey doing when I turned my back (and left the bathroom door open) for a minute. Of course I let her continue for a little bit longer while I grabbed the camera.
La Casa Blanca 