Weekly Recap

Here is the recap of last week. On Wednesday I had T-ball, and Mommy was off work so she got to come see and take some pictures. T-ball is definitely the class this summer that I don't enjoy as much as the others. There is just a lot of waiting involved.

Here I am manning 3rd base. Kind of like tennis, I am a little (or a lot) too rigid on staying on the dots that they lay on the field. It takes a lot of coaxing for me to move from said dots!

This inning I played 1st base!

Getting ready to hit the ball.

Saturday, we went to Olbrich Gardens for Blooming Butterflies with Sophie and Natalie. We had a great time!

I think I liked the outdoor gardens even more. There was so much to explore (and less people too).

This was a really neat spot. Sam, however, was not impressed.

I had to play the piano the other night. I asked Mommy to get me "those notes" and then I played a scary sound since there were so many notes on the page :)

Sunday night, Mommy mowed the front lawn with Sam in the backpack (wish we had pictures of that). He was pretty much in heaven! I cleaned out the back of Daddy's truck with my broom. Then we all had to get in the back. Sam insisted that Daddy get up there and sit.

 Allie and Matthew are becoming like siblings to me and Sam. We have so much fun together!

Gymnastics, Dane County Fair and Sick!

Here are some pictures from my gymnastics class. The parents (and siblings) have to sit in the hallway, but they can peek through the doorway (taking turns) so Mommy got a couple pictures. Here I am before doing a  backward somersault!

Sam, ever so "patiently" waiting. It can be a LONG 45 minutes for someone who wants to be out on the  gymnastics floor with his brother!

Walking the balance beam "by myself"!

Last Sunday we went to the Dane County Fair. I had a great time (we all did), until it started raining...no, make that POURING! I told Mommy and G&G Hyland that next time before we go to the fair someone needs to check the weather!

This was one of my favorite things. They had this obstacle course/slide set up in the exhibition hall and I went through it at least 5 times...and would have kept going!

Sam looks like he is sitting still, but he was just back in the stroller from running around and trying to find an opening to get into the inflatable with Joey. Despite having an ear infection, he was in a pretty good mood (until the rain!).

I really enjoyed getting up close to some baby animals. Here I am talking to the goats.

I got to hold a baby duck? all by myself. I tried not to squeeze it too much!

Sam got to pet a baby chick.

Here I am with some piglets...

This was the last thing I got to do before the rain came. I had a blast on this! I was  a little tentative at first since you could go pretty high, but I started to get into it.

Look how high I am now!!

The fair was definitely the highlight of our weekend. Daddy was sick from Tuesday through Thursday, Mommy got it Friday and Saturday, Sam had the ear infection which we had to go to Urgent Care for on Sunday morning and then I got sick Sunday night and had to miss gymnastics on Monday :(  I think we are all recovered now so hopefully we had our fill of sickness for a few months!

In a quick Sam update, he now says ball really clearly and baby. Mommy has to get a video of him saying baby because he makes his voice a little higher and says it. :)

Mount Olympus and Grandma's Birthday!

This past weekend we got to go to Mt Olympus in the Dells! Mommy got the free tickets from the radio station like she did last year so we were off! Uncle Jay and Aunt Amanda came with us and Sam stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Hyland (we thought Sam would get tired too quickly, and when he is tired and wants to leave, he lets you know).

I started out a little leery (and it was a tad chilly even though it was 80 degrees outside), but I quickly got over it.

I liked the indoor waterpark a lot.

Waiting my turn...

At the bottom with a smile on my face!

This was Mommy's favorite part. The lazy river. Daddy, Mommy and I all rode together on a raft.

I had a lot of fun with Aunt Amanda in the wave pool. She pushed me around on an intertube and held on to me in the intertube when the waves came. What a great Aunt!

Relaxing...waiting for the wave to come.

The only bummer was that Aunt Amanda sprained her ankle right before we left. If we had left 5 minutes earlier, she wouldn't have! We hope Aunt Amanda and Uncle Jay will still come with us again next year! I am already talking about it.

Back home, Sam was happy to see us. Uncle Jay had his shoe talking to Sam and he was enthralled.

This was after blowing out the candles. Sam and I helped. Grandma is laughing because Sam's way of helping was almost drooling on the cake!

Present time...Sam trying to claim one.

Checking everything out...

And...Sam lost interest already. I, however, helped Grandma open everything and then would ask, who brought this present and the person would need to raise their hand.

Grandpa got that one! ...and I guess Sam did too. You can see his hand at the bottom of the picture :)

Sam says he got that one!

Mommy missed the best photo opportunity. Sam was sitting next to Grandpa and had his arms (just like Grandpa) and legs crossed. This was after he refused to cooperate and put them back for a picture.

Beautiful 4th of July Weekend!

We had such a great 4th of July weekend! We didn't really do anything related to typical 4th of July activities, but did lots of stuff outside. I have decided that I am ready for fireworks (since I didn't do so well 2 years ago) so we may try them next year! 

Daddy has been letting me pick some of his toys from when he was little. It is a BIG deal, and I get to go downstairs with him and I say that we're going to the beach so that Mommy doesn't know.

Here is one of the favorites so far!

Friday morning Mommy took us to the splash park. That water is still so COLD! Sam and I had fun, but we were only in the water for about 15 minutes. We had a picnic and played on the other park toys. This was really Sam's first time in the water there so he was pretty much just taking it all in.

I really liked this toy at the park. Sam did too!

On to another park and the swings!

 While we were at the park with Mommy, Daddy was home with the guys who came to replace our skylights. Sam and I were very impressed with the guys on the roof and the banging that ensued. Sam got as close to the tarp as he could to look up and see what he could see!

Friday night we went to a Mallard's game. This was the first one for both of us! I really enjoyed the inflatable on the way in.

Sam found this and was in heaven!

 Sam really liked climbing in and out of his chair. Otherwise, he wasn't so interested in staying in the seats. This was a very RARE sight.

I enjoyed the stuff they did between innings. I sat in my seat a lot more than Sam did!

This is what Sam wanted to do during the game...Play! We went to a doubleheader and made it through the first game but left before the second one.

Saturday we did some stuff around the house and had a BBQ with G&G Rikli. I got to go swimming with Matthew and Allie for a little while too.

Sunday, we went to the zoo before it got too hot!

One of our first stops was the carousel. I now am brave enough to ride on the horse and not just the bench. Hooray! However....

Now Sam is afraid of the horses and he wasn't even a big fan of the bench. This was as calm as he was the whole ride. Not a super fun one for Sam (or for Mommy).

Next stop was the train, and we both really liked that one. I think Sam would have stayed on there for hours. He was a little mad when Mommy made him get off at the end.

 Saying hi to Daddy!

 This was one of Sam's favorite parts of the zoo. He wasn't too interested in the animals, but anything that goes VROOM, VROOM is good in his book!

We got back from the zoo and ate lunch and saw that Matthew and Allie were in their pool. I couldn't get my suit on fast enough to get over there. We were in the pool for 5 hours!!!

 Taking a break since we've been playing so hard. All of us were yelling "Popsicle"!

 Sam was napping for most of this and then came out and went in his little pool which Mommy put next to this big one. Us big kids are so good at playing with Sam and trying to include him. He tried the big pool but the water was above his waist so he wasn't a big fan of trying to move around in that one.

Sam's vocabulary is exploding over the last couple of weeks. Some of his new words are Allie, money, bye, and busy. He also has a word for lawn mower, which is "doe doe".

Have a great week everyone!