Summer Happenings

Howdy Ya'll! I'm talking cowgirl these days after two weeks of western themed Vacation Bible Schools and a trip to Cowboy Jack's. After posting, Mommy realized I posted this last time..but oh well..here is the same picture of me again!

I've been a busy girl this summer. I am all done with T Ball for now.  I start another session at the end of July.  I became a pretty good hitter.  My fielding needs a little work. Mostly touching all the bases and my non throwing...

Here we are in our team picture.  If it was adults running the team, they probably would have done the team picture first before all the kids got super sweaty and were tired and cranky.  But alas, it's run by teenagers who don't have the luxury of life experience.  So it was a learning experience for them. 

The weekend before the 4th of July we headed to the cabin for the day to put the dock in.  It's been such a crazy summer that this was our first chance to do so.  I decided to help Grandma out by sweeping the deck.  I'm sure she really appreciated the nicely swept dock.

The next day we headed north of the cities to my mom's cousin's son's graduation.  It was a beautiful day.  They had some lawn games out so Daddy and I played bocce.  Can you believe how close my balls got?

More "amazing" shots by me.  I'll confess, I just set the balls down instead of throwing them.

They also had this life sized Jenga game that was pretty cool too!

Daddy took an afternoon off so we could go strawberry picking. Unfortunately that day they closed early due to "big crowds" of pickers so we went to Teddy Bear park instead.

I posed for pictures in all the required places.

I'm getting big!

I'm going to be bigger than this teddy bear soon!

 

We walked down the big hill to the river.  With all the rain we had this spring/summer the river is really high.  The walkway by the river is completely under water.  Behind me are some steps but you can't see them because the river is covering them.

I happened to see a trolley and wanted to go on it.  Daddy warned me that it was a 45 minute tour but I said I could do it!  The nice trolley lady let me ring the bell.

While we were waiting for our trolley ride we had some ice cream to cool off.

I'm kind of a slow eater so thankfully, they let me take my ice cream on the trolley!

The next day the strawberry fields were open so Daddy stayed with Andrew and Mommy and I got to have a fun trip to the strawberry fields.  I lost interest in picking strawberries after about 15 minutes.  I was most excited about getting to move the little red flag to show where we finished picking.  I was pretty thrilled when we were all done and I got to do it!

Here is me finding some nice, red, juicy strawberries!

Showing off my flag!

My full bucket of strawberries. Mommy had to help me finish filling it because, as I mentioned earlier, I lost interest after a short while. 

Here I am on the hay ride, ready to go back to the main building to pay for our strawberries.

On the 3rd of July we headed south for the parade.  The beginning of parades are always so noisy!

Proud to be an American.  Proud to wave "The United States of America flag"

There were a few stuffed characters to greet in the parade so that was fun.

The ear of corn character thought he got away from me, but I'm relentless in my pursuit of costumed characters.
 

I don't watch KAAL news because we don't get that where I live, but I did get to meet a newscaster from there

The 4th of July was a perfect day to be at the lake.  There was a great breeze that kept the mosquitoes away.  The sun was shining!  Perfection! 

Steve took me on a little nature photo shoot.  I was a bit uncooperative so he paid me a dollar to pose. 

I guess this makes my first paid modeling gig!

Just me and Great Uncle Dave shooting the breeze.

An exciting part of my holiday was getting to sail with Daddy.  I was a very good listener and a perfect first mate!  Daddy was super proud of me!

I had been asking for awhile to go kayaking with Steve.  I was so excited to finally go. 

The other thing on my "perfect cabin getaway checklist" was to go fishing.  I did get to go fishing, but unfortunately the fish were not biting..at all!  I didn't get one single bite.  I kept my original worm the entire time.  Mommy doesn't remember that ever happening before.  Usually you at least lose your worm! 

On Saturday I got to go to a bridal shower for a girl my Mommy used to babysit.  Yes that does make Mommy feel old.  I loved going to a bridal shower because I'm really into all things weddings.  I talk about getting married all the time.  For being four, I'm irrationally worried about who is going to marry me, when I'll get married, etc. The other day I got really upset when I found out that girls change their last name when they get married.  I was crying in the car about it and Mommy said it was silly to be that worried about it when this event is at least 20 years away.  Then I said, "Did Daddy change his last name?"  Mommy said no, boys don't change their last names.  I looked at Andrew and said, "You mean ANDREW doesn't have to change his last name?"  Mommy said yes.  That got me pretty mad.  Mommy got fed up with this conversation and told me that I didn't need to change my name if I didn't want to. 

Anyway, back to the bridal shower, the bride, Marie, was kind to let me help her open the presents.  I took my job very seriously, and I think I did a good job. 

On Monday I decided that I was going to put on a dance recital.  Daddy had to work late on Monday so Mommy suggested that Tuesday would be a better day.  I finally agreed to that.  Let me tell you, this was no ordinary recital.  All dances involved jumping on pillows.  Daddy asked what his costume was and I told him he needed to wear a suit. Mommy got off easy with a black dress.  I wore a princess costume and my new jean purse.

What else is new?

• I participated in a park and rec program this week that was really fun.  Mommy enjoyed the morning of just one kid.  Mommy signed me up for two more. 
• I am getting pretty good at reading. My parents are always amazed when I read signs and know things they didn't know I knew! This also accentuates my back seat driving i.e. "Mommy go NORTH!" 
• I ask a lot of questions and I talk constantly.  I'm extremely friendly to everyone. I am always making new friends at the park.  The other day there was a very shy girl that I wanted to play with.  Our mom said that our personalities evened us out. She was so shy and I am so outgoing.  Then I met another friend at the park.  Mommy overheard one of our conversations.  I told her about my baby Andrew.  She said she didn't have a brother or a sister but that her mommy said when she got older that they might buy a baby.   This sounded ridiculous to me and I said, "YOU CAN'T BUY A BABY!  Babies grow in Mommy's tummys!"  But the girl insisted saying that "you just go to the hospital and buy one."  Mommy is hoping we didn't witness some sort of illegal baby buying scandal.   

Whew! We spent all week trying to put this together!  Lots of things to tell you about and lots of interruptions while trying to tell you all about them :)