Family and Fun…a recurring theme for our weekends

Maliana ~

Yahoo! Soccer season is pretty much upon us! Not only are you registered for soccer on Sundays, but this week you “tried out” for a soccer program that comes to your school once a week. You were so excited for these “try outs”, shooting out of bed in the morning, and trying to run out the door without even getting ready first. You are going to have soccer coming out of your ears by the end of the year, and you are thrilled! Prior to the big try-out day, I surprised you with a soccer ball and shorts after school, and then took you to Soccer Plus to get fitted for cleats (they are so tiny!) and also let you pick out the color of your soccer socks (you chose bright royal blue). You were so sweet and appreciative of it all (saying ‘Thank you Mommy!’ repeatedly), and insisted on wearing your socks and shoes home from the store.

so stinkin' cute!

these shorts are more like pants!

Evidently, you are a natural so far. When you showed up with all of your soccer gear on, the people with Soccer Shots took one look at you and said, “Wow! You are ready to go, aren’t you?” They loved it. And at the “try outs”, Ms. Phyllis luckily snapped this shot of you with her cell phone…you are scoring a goal and if you look closely, both you and the coach have your arms up in a victory cheer. So cute!

Mali! Mali! Mali! GOAL!

I also took you to get a haircut since you will be starting pre-school next week! Wow ~ my own little pre-schooler! Officially, you will have two years of pre-school since your birthday is in March and they won’t allow you to start Kindergarten before age 5, but that’s ok. It’ll give you plenty of time to get your speech nice and polished (which is already getting better and better every day – many people make comments on how well you’re doing which is really encouraging). Anyway, so about the haircut. We were both excited about it, then you got the jitters just before. You did great though; however, I was a bit in shock once the woman started cutting. We decided to try to do some layering to make it look a little fuller in the back, with me saying I would like to keep as much length as possible. Well, with the first snip, my heart dropped. She took so much off! However, we were already committed by then, so I just let her do her thing. I think I was just having all of MY “bad haircut flashbacks”, so I got a little nervous. Let me tell you, there are PLENTY in my lifetime (I will have to show you some old photos sometime – yikes!). So, your ‘do is pretty short now, not what I expected, but over the past week, it’s definitely grown on me, and of course looks adorable on you (any haircut probably would because it’s on your beautiful little head). And you LOVE that it is now, “short like Daddy’s” in the back…ha ha ha. Jen next door said that ‘surprising’ haircuts are a rite of passage…we all get them for our kids at least once. That made me feel a bit better, whenever I would start missing how long it was. And she said it looks like an official pre-school haircut, so that also made me feel better since, well, you ARE a pre-schooler now. So, there you go.

a little pre-haircut anxiety

cute! and yes, you DO look more like a pre-schooler with that hair!

We had a nice mid-week break from the heat and the daily grind with an invitation to the pool from the Sheltons. It was SO much fun ~ I loved watching you laughing, splashing, swimming (yes, swimming…using your arms and legs to move around in the water – with a floatie of course), eating snacks on the lounge chairs during break, and just generally reveling in the fun of childhood in the summertime with good friends. You, Carter, and Cassidy are quite the trio, getting funnier and funnier to watch with each play date we have. At one point, Carter grabbed your head, shook it back and forth a little bit, and said, “I love you!” Then during a rest period, you and Cass were sharing a lounge chair and she got you laughing so hard, you couldn’t stop…literally, you really could not stop. I have no idea what was so funny, but it was hysterical to watch you guys. So, anyway…a big shout out to the Sheltons ~ thank you so much for treating us to an amazing time at the pool!

oh boy!

using arms and legs!

silly kids

It must have been a nice time, because when you got home from the pool we decided to have dinner out on the deck. After I had set you up in your little chair with your food, you stretched your arms out, took in your surroundings, sighed, and proclaimed, “What a nice day!” I turned off the air conditioner so it was quiet enough to hear the critters waking up to begin all of the nighttime sounds of summer and you really enjoyed it. You are one of the few kids I know that would rather sit outside and hang out with Mom than watch TV. I continue to be impressed with you more and more every day. You are such a neat kid.

checking out the backyard at dinner

getting ready to tell me off after realizing I was taking pictures of you through the window

We kicked off the weekend with an impromptu bonfire at home with some neighbors, Uncle Lu Lu, and Aunt Lindsey. You had so much fun playing with the kids, and it’s nice that you have some new friends right here in the neighborhood. You did really well playing together, disappearing into your room and playroom. It’s nice to see you all doing your “kid thang”, and to hear your laughter in the house. Plus, it gives all of us adults some time to socialize too…so I decided to give Mamarazzi the night off (it had been a tough week and I needed to relax for once). There is only one picture that I regret not snapping all night. You were snuggled next to your Aunt Lindsey, watching the Browns pre-season game with her and it was so adorable…you clearly love her and she clearly loves you, more than you know.

Saturday began with a birthday party at the World of Bounce for one of your classmates at school. This is your first schoolmate birthday party and you had a blast! Initially we showed up an hour early for the party, since the invitation had the wrong time on it. So, since you would be bouncing it off anyway, I decided to take you down the road to Giant Eagle to let you pick out a few pieces of bulk candy. When I said we were going to Giant Eagle to get candy, you asked, “Up in the sky?” I was puzzled but then realized that, yes, Giant Eagle is a strange name for a grocery store…I forget how literal 3 year olds are. Then I told you about the old Big Bear groceries that were around when I was a kid, which you thought were equally hilarious. "That's silly Mama!"

bulk candy aisle ~ can it get any better?

When we finally made it back to World of Bounce, the party was a huge hit! The kids (and parents) were all very nice and you kept tabs on the birthday boy all day, wanting to play with him, insisting on sitting next to him, and even grabbing and holding onto his hand at one point. It was adorable!

this place is awesome!

cheering for Amare as he races down the slide

run!

awww...holding hands

group shot ~ you all are so cute!

Since Daddy was working all day at home, you and I kept our own party moving and headed out to a town picnic for Harlem Township, where Lao Lao lives. We hung out with Uncle Forge and the Boy Scouts, where you loved checking out their geo-dome they built, helping them make dinner, then making your rounds and trying to ask them questions about what they were doing. They were all very sweet to you, and you were so cute as you would recognize some of them around the park, and walk over and yell, “Hi guys!” like you were old pals. We walked around and shopped the tents, got your face painted, watched a really good juggling act, and checked out the tractors and race cars on display. At some point, both you and I decided it would be a good idea to take off our shoes and go barefoot the rest of the day. Towards the end of the evening, we wound up under a tent lit up with lights around the perimeter, circle dancing and line dancing with a bunch of the locals. It was good old hometown Americana fun, almost surreal. The soft, cool green grass under our feet; the scent of a summer evening mixed with the lingering smell of carnival food and a bonfire in the air; the peppy innocent country square dance music and hokey pokey intermixed with a little cha cha slide and electric slide; a distant sound of crickets when you stepped away from the tent into the darkness; the light from the Scout’s fire across the field; and of course the smiles and laughter ~ yours, mine, Lao Lao’s, and all of these strangers that somehow felt like friends that night. Before leaving, we watched a flag retirement ceremony by the Scouts, and then washed our feet in the bathroom sink before climbing into the car. If the amount of grass and dirt on a child’s feet at the end of the day is any indication of how much fun he or she has had, then I would say you had an absolutely fantastic night! (If only I would have gotten a picture of those feet - wowee!!)

face paint

race car!

helping with dinner



eating your Scout burrito - yumm!

Uncle Forge's tent

ahhh...barefoot in the grass

some kind of game you made up...touch home plate, give high five, then get a bunch of points

your turn!

trying to keep up but...

we had completely lost the rhythm by now...however we were laughing hysterically

skipping along to the music

having an absolute blast!

On the way home, I made sure to tell you how lucky I am to be your mom ~ SO LUCKY.

Sunday brought more family fun with another picnic (gotta love summer) at the local campgrounds where your great grandparents, Bob and Marilyn (Memaw Lisa’s mom and dad) are staying while up from Florida. Their camper is parked nearly a stone’s throw away from Alum Creek lake, so we hung out by the water for quite a while, with you begging to take your shoes off and get in (you just love to get good and dirty, even picking up a tiny little dead fish at one point ~ yuck!) You really took well to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa McAfee too. It was awesome to watch! You have only met them maybe once in the past (probably over a year ago) since they live so far away, but you warmed up enough by the end of the night to begin teasing Great Gpa Bob and go for a walk with Great Gma Marilyn. We were excited to spend time with Ggma and Uncle Johnny, as well as Uncle Brent and Aunt Denise, too! We ate dinner and visited, staying until well after dark, so hard to say our goodbyes after having such a fun night with everyone.

with the Great Grandparents

Daddy and Uncle Johnny

Uncle Brent and Aunt Denise



with the McAfee/Harts



taking a walk to the lake

Ggma watching you and Wai Gong begin to explore the shore

Ggma and I having a chat

throwing rocks with Wai Gong and Uncle Blaize

watching you guys throw those rocks

Daddy getting a lollipop kiss

I love this girl!

writing your name in the sand

now your turn to practice

teasing Ggpa McAfee

talking to Ggma McAfee



Daddy and I



being teased by Wai Gong

paying him back with the help of Blaize

I have no idea...but you thought it was fun

snuggling with Memaw Lisa once it got dark

So, as summer is beginning to dwindle down, I have noticed that family has been quite the theme for our weekends. And let me just say, I LOVE this. I think it has special significance for me, touches me in a way that it may not affect someone else, because I did not have quite so much family as I was growing up. For whatever reasons, relationships between my extended family members were strained at various points of my childhood. I never had many of these regular or intimate types of interactions with family, at least not with the variety of family members that you have. While I never realized I was missing anything…now that I see how much you enjoy all of these loving relationships in your life, it does complete a part of me that I did not fully realize was empty. I wouldn’t say I necessarily regret any part of my own childhood (after all, it made me into the person I am today), but it does mean so much more to see you growing up with so much love, support, and encouragement surrounding you. It is truly spectacular in a way that I can’t quite describe yet. Perhaps I will have the words for it someday. For now, I’ll just enjoy the ride with you.

Love,
Mama

You may just be the only kid who can love on a cicada...dead or alive

Maliana ~

Congratulations on completing your swimming lessons this past week! I do have to say that this year they were a bit tougher than last year, what with your increased awareness of yourself and ability to actually realize what was going on a heck of a lot more (e.g. being scared to death when the instructors would even mention dunking you under the water, no matter how well they tried to slip it past you kids). I couldn’t help but be reminded of myself at your age, when you refused to do anything for which you weren’t absolutely 110% ready. You vehemently disliked going underwater during class, but actually have done okay when it was just you and I in the pool playing, and taking our time going under. The final class, where we had to help you “jump” (aka throw you kicking and screaming) off the diving board, was a bit tough. You were NOT a fan like you were last year. However, you did it. You tried it once, which is the only thing we will ask of you at this point. We agreed that some more swimming lessons this winter are going to be a good idea for you, to help you get over this momentary hump. In spite of any trepidation about going under water, overall you loved swimming lessons and have fun splashing and kicking around, using your arms and legs so much more coordinated than ever in the past. We love your instructors (same ones we had last year) and will request them again for the winter sessions. 

the amazing, Mrs. Jill

Another big milestone this week is your uncanny ability to put puzzles together, FAST! We went to the local library and checked out 3 puzzles one day, and within about 2 hours you were whizzing through these at lightning speed. So the next day we went back and got about 5 more puzzles, with which you proceeded to do the same thing. These aren’t the easier block puzzles either. Most of these are real puzzles with pieces that you have to fit together, looking for the edges, etc. It is amazing to watch your mind work. You really are a very smart kid. As I watched you put the last few pieces in these puzzles, you did your famous ‘open-mouth, eyes twinkling, smiling from ear to ear, face of pride’. I just LOVE that face! It’s awesome to watch you master something and then feel so good about yourself! You even turned the tables at one point, telling me you were my mommy and coaching me on how to put them together, then clapping and cheering when I would get the pieces in the right way (just like I had been doing to you)…it was so sweet.

puzzle wiz

This week at work, I was basically living for the weekend. By the time Friday rolled around, I was ready to scoop you up, kick up our heels and go crazy. So when I picked you up on Friday, we decided to take an impromptu trip to the zoo, since the weather was AMAZING! We bought snacks on the way there, with the clerk at the convenience store getting the biggest kick out of you placing our purchases on the counter and then insisting on handing over the money (no matter that you could barely even reach the counter). As we pulled into the zoo and the sign came into sight, you got excited, clapping and yelling, “Yay! The zoo!” over and over again. Once in, we perhaps saw more than we have ever seen in one trip. You even got to ride a pony and the choo-choo train (which you have been asking about for a while now). Once on the train, you did that ‘open mouth proud face’ again…and again, I LOVED it.

look! a boy lion!

lining up with all the goats for chow time!

come on out and I'll comb you

holding Mama's hand while on a pony ride

choo choo!!

We even got to stop and see Uncle Flint as he worked the photo booth at the log ride.

"Hey Mali, watch this guy's face!"

On the way out, I had to laugh. Here’s why. I had bought you a blue Icee just before leaving, which you proceeded to use to dye your lips a lovely shade of indigo, as well as make your chest and belly thoroughly sticky (after insisting on removing your shirt an hour earlier after leaving the petting zoo –not sure why). Your little shorts were drooping down off your butt, since well, basically you have no butt (that’s the only part of you that hasn’t grown much since you’ve been home), and you had long since taken off your shoes as well (again, still not sure why). But anyway, the reason I had to laugh was that the Jazzoo folks were coming in to the zoo, just as we were leaving. Now, this bunch of people are what I would call “hoity-toity”. Evidently it is an event that some patrons like to come just to “be seen”, while others obviously come because they actually like jazz. Anyway, there were a ton of older men and women, all decked out in their designer clothes, with their designer purses, hair coiffed and nails manicured to perfection. And here we were, me looking hot and bedraggled (all be it, extremely happy), pushing my sticky, half-dressed, crazy-haired, and blue-lipped (all be it, adorable), little girl, past them in a stroller on our way out to the parking lot. The juxtaposition of it made me laugh out loud. Once again, I love having you as my kid…there is never a dull moment with you. The goofier and crazier and messier the better if you ask me!

no shirt, no shoes, no problem!

On the way home from the zoo, I put on “Never Grow Up” by Taylor Swift, one of the songs we put on your Family Day DVD this year. To my surprise you began singing along with me, then asked me “Mom, are you gonna cry?” (Um, yeah…Mom’s a crier, remember?) Anyway, it was so sweet to look in the rearview mirror to watch you sincerely crooning along, eyes closed, really belting it out. You even wanted to hear it a few more times. I had no idea you would take such a liking to this song. Maybe it’s how much the lyrics touch me, and my reaction to it that makes it more appealing to you. Whatever it is, it’s a good song for you to enjoy, that’s for sure.

Daddy took you to breakfast one morning this weekend, of course to Gena’s, you guys’ favorite. You sat at the bar, and he snapped this picture of you chatting it up, hanging out with the old men regulars, like a regular yourself. Evidently, every time you come in, everyone takes a liking to you, talking to you and bringing you crayons and coloring books. You are like a people magnet.

so fellas, how's it going this morning?

After getting home from this breakfast, you and Daddy found a dead cicada outside. Not just the shell, but the entire dead bug, green creepy body, bulging eyes, wings and all. You were excited and brought it in to show me, and then…decided to keep it as a pet! Uggh. For the rest of the day, you were carrying it around with you, talking to it, placing it on a pillow in your room and admiring it, eating lunch with it, putting it on your stool in the bathroom so it could watch you poop, and even bringing it to nap with you, (thankfully setting it next to, rather than in, the bed with you). I turned to Daddy at one point and said, “We really need to get her a kitten…REALLY.” Ha ha.

oh, good grief!

We also got to visit Shawn, Jennifer, Niubei, and meet her little brother Noah this weekend too. But before we did that...I took you to the Fu playgroup...it was so hot, and much smaller than normal, but we still had fun on the playground (not that you can really tell from our attempt at a group shot of you girls ~ poor Jaden was not happy)!

adorable, but you four girls look shell-shocked!

Now, back to Niubei and her new baby brother ~ We had dinner at their new house, and you girls played all evening. It was so sweet to watch you two laughing and running around together. You wanted to hold Noah at one point, but then changed your mind at the last minute. You were a bit interested in him, but more-so in running around with Niubei and checking out your friend’s cool toys. This is the first time that you and Niubei have really begun playing together, so it was great to see a new friendship budding. Shawn also had just gotten his hair buzzed, right before we arrived. So, at one point, you walked up to him and stroked his head, asking about his haircut. When he said he got it all cut off, you asked him, “You got more?” Too cute.

checking out baby Noah

goofing around under the table

having fun with Shawn

and no evening is complete without a major hug/wrestling fest as we said our goodbyes

Sunday morning Daddy went golfing, so you and I rolled out of bed and headed straight to Tim Horton’s for breakfast. We even took Abby, and then decided to head out to Lao Lao’s house to take them breakfast too and visit for a while. We spent some time walking around and checking out the menagerie of animals out there, then Uncle Forge made you a ton of origami creations. You were having fun and didn’t want to leave. By the time we finally packed up and arrived home, Daddy was just pulling in too. Good timing.

feeding the tame buck

counting up the points

feeding their rescued fox

inspecting a freshly caught toad

We capped off the weekend by seeing Joe and Tina, having them over for dinner (take-out Chinese). Aunt Tina helped you with your chopsticks, and you even got several bites in yourself! We even got out some of the blue and white porcelain chopsticks that we brought home from China, and Uncle Joe broke them in for us. I forgot how pretty they are. Those two are so good with you, and Daddy and I laugh so much when we are all together. At one point, you were goofing around under the table, rolling around on the floor and yelling up to them, “I love you guys, I love you guys”. You really have such a great response to them. I think I’ve said this before, but kids and animals are so intuitive, knowing good people when they see them.

Aunt Tina giving you a hand with your chopsticks

now you got it! you go girl!

Aunt Tina and Uncle "Happy" Joe with some of our porcelain chopsticks from China

After dinner we were looking up some information on my laptop, trying to plan a trip to the Smokey Mountains with them. You were getting more and more slap happy by the minute, and so had become slightly grabby, which was driving me a little coo-coo when it came to the laptop. Well, I told you to quit being so grabby at one point, and you immediately put your head down and sulked your way into the living room. I automatically felt bad and decided I’d better do some damage control to see why it had affected you so much. When I got there, I found you with your head down, doing a very dramatic whimper and fake cry…but I knelt down and asked you why it upset you so much. (Now, here’s where I think you could have won an Oscar). You looked up at me, pathetic little puppy dog eyes, and put your hand on your chest, telling me, “When you yelled stop, it made my heart broken”…and then looked down again and gave another little whimper. You looked up again, repeating similar versions to what you had just said, and it was all I could do to keep a straight face. I finally explained to you why I had said what I did, and then apologized to you for yelling and hurting your feelings. To which, (honest to God), you looked up at me, placing one hand on my shoulder, one hand on your chest again, cocking your head and looking me straight in my eyes, saying, “That…(pause)…makes my heart happy”. I really had to stifle a giggle right there…but I managed to hold it together. It was so sweet. Despite the Oscar-worthy performance, I was very happy you could communicate your feelings so well. With my training and background as a counselor, encouraging and nourishing your emotional intelligence has been an area that has been important to me since we brought you home. Tonight, despite the theatrics, was a nice confirmation that you are getting it, alive and well in that department, to say the least.

Love,
Mama

Fantastic Fair Fun!

Maliana ~

Holy cow girl! What a pistol you’ve been this past week. Thankfully, it’s gotten better by the end of the week, but whew! You sure gave us a run for our money. Not only have you been acting up at home, but at school, and at speech too…refusing to do what you are told everywhere. After some good talks (and a couple of time outs), things clicked and by the end of the week, you were doing MUCH better. I began thinking about it, and it occurred to me that you have been stepping into some uncharted territory, not only this week but over the past several weeks. Combining speech therapy, taking swim lessons again this year, soon transitioning to a new classroom (officially preschool) at daycare, along with the normal developmental milestones you are reaching…you are going through a lot. All of your behaviors, ranging from fierce independence (bordering on defiance) to insisting on me doing EVERYthing for you (big Mama’s girl this week), makes sense in the context of you growing up and being proud of all the new things you can do while being a little unsure and afraid of it, all at the same time. It’s pretty normal to be a little jumbled during these phases of heavy growth. When I thought of it this way, it became much less exasperating, and much more interesting to watch you figure it all out.

Like I mentioned above, you were back in your Goldfish swimming lessons at our local pool this week. We have Joey and Mrs. Jill again this year and they are amazed at what a difference a year has made for you. You love the water, and are doing great with nearly all the tasks they ask you to do. While you are still not a big fan of going completely underwater, you really are a natural otherwise. Going underwater is a bit scary, especially when the teacher wants us to surprise you by dunking you in the middle of one of their songs (we won’t do that again!) But it’s not getting water up your nose or in your mouth that upsets you; it’s getting water in your eyes, saying “It’s too blurry!” I got you a pair of goggles later in the week, so hopefully they will help us next week in lessons. We’ll see. The only child size goggles I could find came in an entire ‘Cars’ snorkeling set, and you were very excited to try on the whole thing, saying “Thank you Mama! Thank you!”

someone's ready to snorkel!

You even wanted to wear your goggles when I took you on our date Saturday morning to feed the ducks!

Along with having a lot of fun with the pool this week, you have re-discovered your love of John Denver, playing your little acoustic guitar and singing ‘Country Roads’ for me. I got a video of it, and it is great! You actually sang all the words to the chorus, and strummed right along. It was awesome! I’d love to find some music lessons for you…perhaps this winter after soccer is done? You love the guitar and I’d love to see if you have a particular knack for it like I suspect. Also, you have discovered a new J.D. song…’Thank God I’m a Country Boy’. You sit in the back seat and clap right along with a silly little grin on your face…or with a very serious look (I can tell you’re trying to memorize the words). You have started requesting it now, and I think we listened to it between 4 or 5 times on the way to swim lessons the other night. When we pulled in the parking lot, our car was bluegrass jammin’!

After such a long and trying week (for both of us), I was relieved to see Friday roll around. Daddy took you to swim lessons on Friday night (Mama needed some ‘me-time’), and you both had a super time. You played for a long while afterwards in the pool (another couple kids stayed too and you all had a ball), and Daddy said you did terrific during lessons too!

Knowing Daddy was going to take you to lessons solo that night, I decided to take you for a mini-date after school. We headed into the ‘ Ville and went to the library to get you some new puzzles, then walked down the street and found a really great semi-new chocolatier/gelato shop, stopped at the candy store, and then swung back around to Schneider’s Bakery to get some donuts for Saturday morning. Not the healthiest of trips if you consider all that junk food, but we had fun just strolling along the sidewalk, talking about all sorts of things, and even stopping to smell the big flowers they have lining the main drag.

Lately, you’ve been asking me a lot, “Hey Mom, do you remember…?” and then you’ll fill it in with all sorts of stuff. It’s pretty cool that you are beginning to formulate memories now, that maybe you’ll have as you get older. Anyway, on our ‘date’ on Friday, you asked, “Hey Mom, do you remember Daddy’s birthday?” I was a little surprised since it was last October, but responded with, “Yes I do. Do you?” and then, with a slight pause, you wrinkled your nose and shrugged your shoulders and said, “Nah!” Ha ha! Kid, you crack me up!

Saturday morning brought another mini-date for you and I, taking you to feed the ducks at Minerva Park. You had fun, and once all the bread was gone, you still wanted to linger, saying you needed to sit and watch the ducks (and geese) swim. We talked about how their webbed feet are just like the flippers in your new snorkeling set, how to tell the difference between the boy and girl ducks, and we even took a walnut home (after watching the squirrels knock them out of the trees and collect them for winter). You had Daddy crack it open to see what was inside, being fascinated that the squirrels could get them open by just using their teeth and claws. We also noticed a duck with an injured foot (although it didn’t slow him down much), so we talked about how when we’re feeding the ducks, it’s always important to try to get as much bread as you can to the injured ones first. You took this lesson to heart, and really kept trying to track this little guy down to toss him extra pieces.

elevated you on a park bench so you wouldn't get mobbed

After nap on Saturday, we made our annual pilgrimage to the Ohio State Fair with Uncle Forge and Lao Lao. It was hot, but SO much fun!! I was a bit hesitant, but we rode the Skyride and you had a blast! I thought you’d be afraid of the height, but you did fabulous, and it was a great way to see the entire fairgrounds and enjoy the cool breeze all the way up there. We also found a HUGE mix and match candy display in one of the buildings, so while cooling off in the A/C, we let you pick out an assortment of goodies. Despite how hot or tired you might have been, that perked you right up! Another couple of firsts you had this year were playing some of the midway games and riding the rides. Thank goodness we decided to put you in your brown sandals with a slight heel because that made you just tall enough to ride many of the rides in Kiddieland. You especially loved the bumper boats and dump trucks ~ your expressions while on these rides, priceless!

flying high on the Skyride

loading up on your treats

1st ever big kids' ride

thank goodness you wore your heels to give you the extra height you needed!

i love this little wrinkled nose when you smile

completely happy kid

petting zoo; goats were eager for more carrot chips

you were so sweet, walking up to this cow and saying, "hiii" in the tiniest little soothing voice

sweetheart

We decided that instead of us playing games to try to win you something, we’d just let you play the games for kids that were guaranteed a prize. You loved it from beginning to end, from paying for your game to picking out your own prize. It was adorable! The carnies were very sweet to you, with one even giving you an extra dart to make sure you popped a balloon. (Yes, I said dart. They actually agreed to give a 3 year old a dart. Ha ha.) It not only saved us from spending a billion dollars on toys that cost a fraction of the money spent, but it gave you a sense of independence and accomplishment too. You were so proud of yourself!

1st ever prize won yourself, a sword and sheath (and the fishing game behind you)

paying for your own game

if you look closely, the dart is in mid-air!

walking proudly away with your prize, a stuffed lobster

We saw Memaw and Papaw later, who had come to the fair to see Melissa Etheridge in concert. You were so excited when we spotted them, exclaiming, “Hey, I have two grandmas here!” and pointing back and forth from Memaw to Lao Lao.

We finally got you home and in bed that night, all of us exhausted from a long day at the fair. But I have to say, it was one of the best times at the fair that I have had in a very long time.

Sunday was a more relaxed day. Daddy took you to the playground in the morning, where you decided that you wanted a visor, just like him. He definitely got some major ‘Daddy points’ as he drove you to three different stores, trying to find one small enough for your little noggin. Even though one was never found, definitely the effort counts. Later, we attended a reunion picnic with the Garrabrant side of the family (Papaw Rick’s side), enjoyed some yummy food and just played, enjoying the day.

with Lao Lao, Uncle Forge, and Papaw Rick

you and cousin Chloe, sizing each other up

We were going to head to the pool to meet Daddy later, but a storm rolled in as we were leaving so we had to scrap that idea. However, I had already changed you into your bathing suit, so you took the opportunity to create your own water park out of the drinking water jug.

Enay Wanda surprise splashing you ~ you took it like a champ.
Gotta watch that Wanda, she's a sneaky one!

After getting home, you, Daddy and I ate dinner and watched Madagascar for a nice quiet evening at home before the craziness of the week begins. A great, calm and cool finish to a crazy, hot and fun week.

Love,
Mama