Summertime Fun

We have had a really fun, but busy summer. It is so much fun discovering all the new things Madison enjoys doing now that she is older this summer. We decided that we would try Madison in swim lessons this summer since she really enjoyed the pool last summer. She had a great time, most of the time anyway. It was difficult as the class was held in the evening so we had to rush supper for Madison and bring her pajamas with us as she goes to bed pretty early. We made it all work though and hope to maybe do it again this winter.

This is from our trip to the Nevada at the Little Tikes swim. I took Madison down the water slide. I think she liked it, but would have definitely like it more if I hadn't put her life jacket it on! She was pouting the whole time!

Another fun thing we discovered this summer was gymnastics. I took Madison to Triad in Ankeny for an open play time to see if she would enjoy it. She loved it! She had an absolute blast! She actually like the trampoline the best. I think we spent most of the hour playing on the trampoline. She was giggling and smiling the whole time! It was so much fun watching her have so much fun! I even put her up to the uneven bars and she hung on for a few seconds. She also really enjoyed just running around on the big open mats. They also had a little play thing with a slide on it and she was able to climb up on it and slide down. I think we will be making a few more trips back there.

We've also had many fun times at the park with friends. These are some pictures from a picnic play date with our friends Adeline, Lilly and Carter. Madison got a hold of my cell phone and ran around the park "talking" on it. Her newest thing is to hold it straight up to her mouth and say "hello" in it. She also holds it up to her neck and leans her head over. I guess she has seen Mommy multi-task a few too many times while talking on the phone!

We have also discovered how much fun it is to ride in the bike trailer. We received this as a hand me down gift and have really enjoyed using it. I'll admit it was really difficult on me to begin with. Man, I'm really out of shape! Pulling a trailer with a 22 lb child in the back didn't exactly help! Madison enjoys reading books in there and just relaxing. Ben left the instruction manuel in there and for some reason Madison thinks that is the best book to read! On one of our outings she was so sleepy she fell asleep in there. Of course when Ben went to get the camera she started peeking a little, but still wasn't quite ready to get up!

Madison has also recently discovered the sprinkler. She never acted liked she liked the sprinkler or any cold water for that matter. She likes to be in the pool, but really wanted nothing to do with the wading pool or anything. One day she started pulling on the sprinkler Ben had left out so I thought ok we'll give it a try. I brought her in the house and changed her into a suit and gave it a try. I was so surprised that she actually really enjoyed it. She liked putting her hand in and touching the water and putting a bucket over it and especially liked taking the hose and washing off her slide and trying to drink the water from the hose.

Another fun thing Madison has discovered is the joy of popsicles! I have made her some yogurt popsicles and she loves them! It makes a huge mess, but I don't mind. It's something good for her and she enjoys them.

We took Madison to the State Fair this year for the first time. She was still trying to get over a cold so wasn't feeling the greatest, but I think she still enjoyed it. She had fun looking at all the animals and really enjoyed doing the Little Hands on the Farm activity. She got to carry a basket around (her favorite thing!) and gather different things from the farm, ride a pedal tractor and then buy something at the store after she had completed her task. She didn't want to give her basket back at the end. That was clearly her favorite part! She also really enjoyed running over the bridge outside the agriculture building. She did that multiple times. We also gave her, her first corn dog. She seemed to really like it and probably would have eaten more if she was feeling a little bit better. We've had so many fun experiences this summer and can't wait for more fun things to come this fall!

4th of July

We spent the 4th of July at the river this year with my parents. Even though the 4th was a cooler, rainy day we still had a great time boating on the 5th! Madison absolutely loved playing on the beach in the sand!

Madison all dressed up in her 4th of July outfit having fun with Grandpa eating her favorite thing, a stick of cheese! She thought it was the greatest thing ever to sit in the chair and have Grandpa tip her backwards. This girl is definitely going to be a huge roller coaster fan!

Madison with her monkey purse. She was recently become obsessed with purses!

We went to a parade late morning. It was raining on us a little bit, but it didn't seem to bother Madison. She enjoyed watching. Actually she missed her morning nap because my mom and I were in the backseat of the car with her, which means she will not fall asleep for fear of missing something! So she was pretty tired at the parade and just enjoyed laying back in someone's arms and watching the parade the whole time.

Madison thought it was fun to drive the boat. She would sit on my lap while we were driving the boat down the road to go back the motel and even sat on Grandpa's lap out in the river. You can tell she is very observant. Without being told anything she just grabs the wheel and starts turning it back and forth and then reaches over to grab the gearshift. She knows what she is doing!

Madison's favorite part of the trip was definitely sitting on the beach and playing in the sand. She would sit there forever and just play. Next time I need to buy and bring a big beach umbrella so she can at least be shaded. She was such a huge mess when she was done though! With the sunscreen, water, and sweat, she was covered in sand head to toe! I kept putting more sunscreen on her because I didn't want her to burn, but it was impossible to get all the sand off so it all got mixed in. The even more fun part was the fact that she refused to wear her hat so I eventually gave up trying and put sunscreen on her head and in her hair. That was a huge mess!!

The funniest part of the trip was when we were getting ready to go home. I had Madison in the basement of our motel in one of their little showers (we had already checked out, but they have two showers outside of rooms that we get to go back in and shower) because I needed to at least attempt to hose some of the sand off her before we took her on the long car ride home. Once I got her out of the shower I wanted to get myself dressed first because I thought I might need to go out in the hall and have help with her because the bathroom had tile flooring and was pretty small to try and lay Madison down to put her diaper on. While I was taking a whole 30 seconds to get dressed she grabbed her diaper off the toilet, shoved it in my face and kept yelling at me. I couldn't figure out what she was doing until she then peed on the floor. Earlier that week she had also went and gotten me a diaper right before she peed. I guess she is telling me that she is ready to be potty trained! This should be an interesting task, especially since she really doesn't talk yet!

Last Day of Vacation

We got home from vacation about 4:15 yesterday.  It was so nice being home.  I couldn't wait to sleep in my own bed.  Neither could Madison.  Ben said when he laid her down last night she actually smiled at him!  I already bought an inflatable kids bed for her to try this weekend when we go to the river.  I'm sure there will be many times of going back and forth to put her back to bed, but at least once she's asleep she'll be more comfortable and have more room!

Yesterday ended up being the nicest day of our vacation, of course.  It was only about 80 degrees and felt great outside!  We went to the zoo again before heading home.  We walked around and saw some more animals, visited the aquarium and rode on the train.  Madison seemed to enjoy it much more yesterday because it was not as warm out.  She even got out of her stroller and walked a little bit!

We saw them feed the bears again.  Once again I was surprised by the fact they were fed fruits and vegetables.  We saw them eat a watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, apples, carrots and oranges.  Bears apparently peal the orange and just eat the inside, I thought that was interesting.  I guess you never know what you are going to learn!

There seemed to be a lot of peacocks roaming around yesterday.   We kept watching one that was eating popcorn off the ground.  Madison really liked watching it so we threw him one of her goldfish.  He thought that was great and came right up to Madison wanting more.  He was so close to her I actually thought he was going to peck at her toes!  We fed him another one and then he wandered off.  It was fun to watch.  

We thought the aquarium was neat, but it was a bit too crowded for Madison and indoors so we had to rush through it.  She did enjoy it for a little while and liked watching the fish, but then it was time to go.  It was getting late and we hadn't had lunch yet, so I didn't blame her.  We left then and drove no more than 10 minutes away to get food and she was so passed out we had a hard time getting her out of the car!  If we weren't so hungry ourselves we might have driven the rest of the way home.  We did think she would get pretty hungry before we got home though.  Once we got back in the car she slept the whole way home!  Now it's time to deal with a cranky girl who is trying (not very successfully) to catch up on some sleep.  Oh well, it was worth it!

Day 2 &3 of Vacation

The water park was a huge bust yesterday.  Madison hated it.  Last summer she loved the pool and we haven't been there yet this year, but we assumed she would like it this year too.  On the website it sounded like it would be fun for her, but they had nothing for her.  There was a bunch of buckets everywhere that constantly dumped water on you and there wasn't any little kid areas.  Ben tried to take Madison down a kids waterslide and got in trouble for it.  We spent most of the hour we were there sitting and watching Madison eat goldfish.

We spent most of the rest of the day trying to find something fun to do.  Ben for some reason did not want to go back to the Children's museum and our pool was an outdoor one.  Since it was about 95 degrees and the pool was in the sun that was out of the question!  We eventually found a little pizza place that had a bunch of games and things in it.  They had a nice play area for little kids.  Madison really enjoyed crawling through the tunnel, climbing up on the play area and running around.  Her favorite thing to do (we did it 3 times and she still wanted more!) was riding on the little train.  They had a little one person train that you could put a token in and ride around the track.  She could sit on it all by herself and she thought it was great!

We went to the Omaha zoo today.  I think Madison did enjoy parts of it, but it is just way too hot and sleeping in a motel just hasn't been the greatest thing for her.  Apparently it is world championship baseball tournaments this week and Olympic swim trials so the motel has been very crowded and incredibly noisy!  She hasn't really gotten to take a nap all week and I know that it is hard for her to sleep in the pack and play.  She is such a mover and all over in the crib, the pack and play just isn't big enough!  Plus the fact that it hasn't been under 90 degrees all week with really high humidity hasn't helped either!

We watched the polar bear being fed at the zoo.  We only stayed for a little while.  We watched him eat carrots and apples.  I hope they fed him more than that after we left!

We did spend a few hours walking around the zoo today though and are going to try for a few hours tomorrow before he head home.  Madison spent most of the time in the stroller, surprisingly!  When she did get out she thought I needed to hold her, way too hot for that!  You know it is hot if Madison refuses to run around outside!  She did enjoy looking around at some of the animals and really enjoyed playing on the train and riding the carousel.  She apparently really likes trains!

This picture was taken shortly before we left the zoo today.  I call it the "I'm tired, I'm hot and I'm not giving you your water back until you get me somewhere cool!" picture.

Omaha Children's Museum

On our first day of vacation we visited the Children's Museum.  We weren't sure if Madison would enjoy it or if it would be too old for her.  We were there when it first opened up this morning and it was so crowded!  There were so many kids there it was a little overwhelming for Madison.  I don't think she really enjoyed it that much because there was just too much noise and too many kids running around.  We left, had lunch, a nap, snack and then decided to go back and give it one more try.  We are so glad we went back!  Madison had so much fun when we went back and there weren't nearly as many kids there this time!  

I think Madison's favorite part was the grocery store.  They had little shopping carts and baskets and all kinds of food you could go around and put in your cart.  They even had places where someone could pretend to be the cashier and check out your food.  She had a blast pushing the cart around and finding things to throw in her cart.

They also had a fun place to play with water.  There were a couple fire trucks you could drive and dress up in a coat, boat and hat and stations to play with water to put out the fires.  She loved playing in the water of course and even had fun driving the fire truck!

We went up to the second floor to see the new Elmo exhibit.  She had fun playing a giant piano, running through an obstacle course and of course going "shopping" again!  Overall it was a great day and hope tomorrow goes well too when we go to the indoor waterpark.

Father's Day

Wow!  Time sure does fly!  I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted on here.  It's been a busy summer already.  Madison really enjoys being outside and we are out there pretty much every minute she is awake and not eating!  Madison has picked up a few new skills lately.  She has really taken to eating with a fork and a spoon.  She still likes to use her hands because they are faster, but she is getting better at using silverware.  Yogurt is really messy when your just learning to use a spoon!  

She is also getting very good at throwing the ball, usually liking to throw it in the street so we can chase after it as it rolls all the way down the block!  She has also learned to kick the ball while running.  I guess soccer is in our future!  I believe dance and gymnastics our also in our future.  Madison loves to stand and "dance", stomp her feet really fast while standing in place and looking at you with all smiles.  She is also always trying to stand on her head, one of these days she is actually going to flip over and do a somersault on her own!

Madison is now able to get on and off all her toys without any help.  She has even started rocking back and forth on some of them.  I hope pretty soon she'll be able to start going by herself  on her toys.  The other day I actually caught her using her Bounce and Go Zebra the right way.  She climbed on and started bouncing.  She's getting the hang of things!

Madison's newest play area is throwing all the towels out from under the bathroom sink and crawling in to see what things she can find to play with.  That usually keeps her occupied for quite some time.  Actually her favorite thing to play with under there is my box of tampons.  Go figure!

We enjoyed a nice trip to Lake Redrock on Father's Day.  Madison had a great time being in the boat and didn't even fuss too much about her life jacket being on.  I couldn't believe how much fun she had in the lake.  She hates it when I take her to the splash park because the water is too cold, but she had no problem walking in the very cold lake on Sunday!  She loved walking in the water, splashing around in it and even plunged her head in.  I think she took a drink of the nasty water too because she started coughing on it.  Yuck!  Madison and Daddy had fun getting out of the boat and building sandcastles too!  It was a great day to be on the lake!  Maybe in another year or two we can think about teaching her how to ski!