West coast ruckus

Last weekend daddy's friends fromVancouver came to visit us. I gave them my best midwest hospitality, but I'm afraid there was a bit of "volume" that they weren't quite used to. I learned the art of morning brew from Chris....


















I'm not sure if I can keep it all straight at this point, but I just liked being in on the action... my newest frustration (among a few) is not being able to see what's on the counter as mommy works in the kitchen.




















I also worked on mastering a few more animal sounds while they were hear... a sheep, an elephant and a fishy! I may not have many words, but who needs words when you have puzzles

and books

that can be "read" by using "animal language"....

At the car wash.....

Today I got to do something very special... I got to help my daddy wash the cars! Nothing better than buckets of soapy water and my daddy to spend time with. There is a definite art to it...

First I studied carefully ....

Then daddy walked me through it....

Then I got my hands wet....

And gave it my best shot....

Then the real fun began.... Daddy gave me the hose!

There's only one better thing than having this much fun with my daddy....

Getting a good late morning lap-snooze in - daddy thought it was the best too.

Noni's birthday

This week we celebrated Noni's birthday.... and my great, great Aunt Ruth's!

I got to play with my cousin, Christian, that I haven't gotten to play with very often... he is silly and makes me laugh, but also very sweet too and gave me hugs. Hugs are my newest discovery and I LOVE to give them and am REALLY good at it. Mommy keeps saying - "those are sweet moments".

Mommy's belly - watch it grow

Mommy and daddy have been teaching me where things are, like my nose, my ears, my toes... and my belly! But what I really like to do is point to mommy and daddy's belly's. Especially mommy's because hers sticks out the most... See!

(28 weeks and counting....)


I even tried to put on her belly swimsuit, all by myself...

door county 2007

We just got back from a beautiful weekend up north in Door County. I spent lots of times outdoors (because the sun was actually shining), and have discovered my love for nature. There's nothing better than getting dirty, finding sticks and rocks, and getting out on Lake Michigan.














The great outdoors put me to sleep on this little boat ride - one of mommy's favorite "mommy moments" from the weekend!
I think I'd have to say my favorite part of the weekend was our "dock-time" too! I didn't even mind wearing my life jacket (to mommy/daddy's relief).


Even Super-G made it down to the dock... it was super special to have everybody there together... this was at a camp that mommy and auntie's grew up going to church camp... we rented the place out with about 25 other relatives and friends!


Cousin Drew was there too - he was chasing me around the cabin (but not in this picture... I had the advantage here :-) It's not going to be long and he's going to be walking and keeping step with me - watch out mommy and auntie!
















I hope we can do this again, and again, and again... maybe I'll even be able to take my MT cousins there sometime too!

August in Wisconsin

Sweet corn in Wisconsin is something special! This summer I learned how to shuck corn with Noni...
But don't always understand that we have to put it in the water first to cook it, sometimes I want to eat it right out of the husks. I'm getting better at the concept though.




I have also learned to color as of recently ... with a little cueing from mommy to keep the crayons out of my mouth (still haven't quite gotten that concept mastered either...)



And the most recent thing I have been able to learn is the art of grass-mowing from my daddy. He works really hard at keeping up with our lawn since it's rained quite a bit the last couple of weeks. This week I got out my very own lawn mower and learnedright alongside him - it was the bestest!

Stay tuned... there is still the second half to August to come!

Safari patrol

This weekend we headed for yet another adventure.... (I think mommy and daddy are looking forward to no big adventures after this one for a while - lots of driving). This weekend we headed up north for a mommy's birthday weekend. But, before we left we got a fun package in the mail from Grandma and Papa, all the way from MT!

Check it out - don't I look like a real ranger?

Even those "on duty" can still take a break and have a little playground fun :-)

Now we're back home, and I am sleeping soundly in my bed - AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

beach day with friends

Today is one of mommy's first full days off from work to spend with me in way too long (couple weeks)... so we decided to do something fun. We headed out for our first local beach day. One thing that mommy discovered is that I am NOT afraid to get down and get dirty....





and how much fun it is to play with friends....




The water was a perfect temperature...





















Even for mommy to get in and get wet...















If only mommy would have been able to bring her camera in the water to capture some of the other memories of the day.... Sophie had my giggling, and mommy was swimming after beach balls... (I sat on Sue's lap and cheered/clapped!)

And of course - on any day that you play hard in the sun -

a good treat to top off the morning.

Saturday at the playground

This past weekend was super! We actually spent it around Fort Atkinson. First, we had Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and mommy was the team captain so we were there a lot on Friday and Saturday. Part of the activities included an all-you-can eat pancake breakfast....did I take advantage of that! They also had yummy treats too (this is a lemonade smoothie that Teresa's sharing with me...


Our tent was nice and shaded so we spent a lot of time in there when we weren't walking around the track...
















and we even remembered to pack my monkey share - it's getting put to good use! I mastered getting in and out this weekend (maybe not the best posture when all said and done)....


















Then.... later on Saturday mommy and daddy took me to a park. A little climber's dream!
I got to go in/out of tunnels ...

And I LOVE the thrill of the slide! I could have done it again, and again, and again...




We finished out the day with a good bouncing on daddy and a good story-book (one of my FAVORITE pasttimes right now)

Thanks mommy and daddy!