A Fun Summer Day

A friend of mine told me recently about a really nice park in Lewisburg so on Tuesday I decided to take Anna.  I also have been wanting to go to the new Barnes and Noble so I figured that this would be a good oppurtunity to get there as well.  It was a great day and this park was awesome!!!!  They have a toddler area (although Annalise wandered everywhere) and just about every piece of playground equipment you can think of!  They also have a nice pool in the park and we will definatley be going back (with swimsuits, too). It was worth the 1/2 hour drive, although it took me about 45 minutes this time because I didn't really know exactly where the park was and had to find it.  I had somewhat of an idea where it might be so that helped.  After we played on the playground, we went to Barnes and Noble and got some books and then lastly stopped for pizza and ice cream on the way home.  I had such a great day with my sweet little girl!

This picture does not do justice to the size and amount of playground equipment at this park.

Anna kept going up and down these stairs.  I think she was thrilled because we always have the stairs gated at home so it was something out of the ordinary for her to be able to do!

Spinning the beads

This girl loves these tunnels!

Riding in a Firetruck

Checking out the back

Here comes firewoman, Annalise!

Making the bells sound in the back of the truck

This little girl was named Violet and she was soooooo stinkin' cute!  She came right up to Anna and started talking to her (and me) about anything and everything.  Violet was very helpful with showing Anna the playground equipment and how the stuff worked in the toddler section.  Annalise seemed to enjoy the attention from her and held hands with her and walked around for quite awhile.  Eventually I figured out which person was Violet's mother and told her how sweet and friendly her daughter was.  Her mom agreed and said that at the age of 4, Violet seemed to have the mothering thing down pat!

Still learning the ropes from Violet

Anna really liked these Teeter Totters.  Violet was on the other end and was very gentle and slow.  At one point I called Anna, Annalise while she was riding.  Violet looked at me and said "You just called her Annalise (I had told Violet that her name was Anna)".  I told her that was her name and we just call her Anna as a nickname and she looked at me and with a little bit of sass said, "Well, YOU can call her Annalise, I'M going to call her Anna".  Too cute!!!

Getting help on the slide

Once Anna discovered the ducks she ran over to them.  Suprisingly she did not chase them though at all.  She was just really inquisitive about them and stood/sat pretty still going "Cak (Anna's version of quack), Cak, Duckies!".

There were lots of ducks!

This duck kept walking up to us looking for food --- too bad for him we didn't have any!

Baby ducks in the water.

Anna kept saying she wanted to go  "swimmin' wif da duckies in da pool".

I had to convince her it wasn't a pool.  She is pretty easily convinced though if you tell her something is yucky she generally won't push the issue.  Guess she doesn't like yucky things =).

This girl was interesting.  At first she was talking to Anna a little bit.  Then, she asked me if I would catch her a duck so she could pet it.  When I said I wouldn't that we should leave the ducks do their own thing, she jumped up and started running and screaming "Kill, Kill!" at the top of her lungs.  It was actually kinda freaky.

Playing the drums in the music area.

More drum playing

Making more music

Like I said, I highly recommend this park.  You could easily spend a couple of hours there and let your toddler burn off a lot of steam!

Riley is 4!

Our dog Riley turned 4 on July 20th!  I can't believe that we have had her for 4 years already....4 looooooong years.  Oh how this dog tries my patience every single day of her existance! But I admit, she could be worse (but not much).  Last month I read the book Marley and Me and I honestly have to say that Marley didn't have much over Riley.  Other than the fact that Riley does not have the saliva issue that was depicted of Marley in the book, they pretty much have equally horrid behavior.  Anyway, Happy 4th Birthday to America's 2nd Worst Dog (since the jacket cover of Marley and Me claims Marley to be America's Worst Dog)! 

"Kanga-doo"

I dug this toy out of the closet the other day and so far it has been a hit.  Annalise got it as a present for her birthday but wasn't coordinated enough to use it yet (she started walking at 11 months) so I packed it away.  It is a kangaroo (she calls it the kanga-doo) that she has to jump on or step in a rhythm.  When she does it lights flash, balls bounce in the hat and music plays.  It also counts the steps for her and the numbers go across a little screen.  The only drawback to it so far is that she insists that she needs to carry it and it is a little heavy since it is made for jumping on!  She cracks me up though when she gets going really fast!  (Excuse the lack of pants in the pictures.  We had come in from playing outside and the rear end of her shorts was filthy from playing on her swingset and slide!).

Notice the look on her face above.  She INSISTS on moving it around though!  She grunts the whole time, which is also funny!

Action shot!  The reason why she is so blurry is because she was going really fast.  Her new thing is to try to do everything really fast and then annouces either "Mommy, I fast!" or "Mommy, Anna fast!".

Bubbles!

Last night after we got home from the Lightstreet Carnival and a few quick errands, Annalise wanted to chase bubbles, so bubbles she got!  Both  Anna and Riley like to chase after them.  The only problem is, is that neither of them pay any attention to where they are going so there were a few minor collisions along the way, but each of them had fun. 

After awhile she wanted to play and her sandbox and we did.  Even though it was really getting dark.  Even though it was after 9:00 and after her bedtime.  We had a good time scooping the stand, making towers and looking at fireflies in the dark.  That's what summer is for anyway, right?

"Widin' a Biiiiiiiiicycle!

This evening (before the storm!), we took Anna on her first bicycle ride.  We only went for a short while because we knew it was going to rain and also because we were not sure what Anna would think of it.  Well, she LOVED it and we are so pleased because like kayaking, biking is something that we really enjoy!  The whole time she kept saying proudly "Anna widin' Daddy's biiiiiiiicycle" (she says it with a really drawn out i).  This was the first of many hours we will spend biking as a family!

"Ready, Daddy?"

A quick smile for the camera

"Let's go!"

Reading With Daddy

Annalise and her Daddy shared some good books tonight before bead.  Here they are enjoying one of her favorites, her "Sheep Book", as she calls it.  This girl loves her books and still does not watch TV for more than 30 seconds but will look at books with you for 1/2 hour or an hour at a time!  Hopefully she will continue to love books like I do (even though I have only read 2 this summer so far =(!  There are many more I want to read though!).

Pierogies, Ice Cream and a Few Rides...

What could be better?  Last night we took Anna to the Millville Carnival.  As you can tell by the title of this post she ate "Rogies" and "I-ceem" and then rode on a few of the rides they had.  We also took her to the playground area of the park because they had a really nice toddler-friendly tiny jungle gym but at that point all she wanted to do was sit and chew on her hand (I am pretty sure her back molars are starting to bother her since she chews on her hands constantly lately) so we took one last walk around and picked up some delicious caramel corn for me and headed home.  Even though it was hot, it was a great summer evening!

The carousel right after it started.  Anna didn't care for it after the first 30 seconds or so.  I don't know if it was the loud music or the horse moving up and down, but she kept saying "OFF! OFF!" so I held her the rest of the time.

She did like these little cars though and rode them a few times.

"Watch out!  Here I come!"

"Look at Daddy, Anna!" 

Oh well, at least she was smiling at someone!