Goodbye

One of my very best friends here is moving to Japan on Sunday!  She loves parties so we are sending her out with a bang by partying everyday!

This past weekend we had a cookout at her house. We all just hung out and talked.  The kids even got to open a photobook of all their friends to take with them.  They had this awesome blow-up water slide for the kids to play on.  Adelyn was too small, but she loved watching the kids go down!

 Out exploring and looking for rocks! My plump strawberry!!

 Adelyn is one of the youngest out of her friends, but the bigger girls do a good job watching out for her as she tries to keep up! 

We left waaaay after bedtime, but I really wanted Adelyn to see a sparkler!  She was mesmerized!  Travis even helped her hold one!  She loves being a big kid!

 

This was from last night at the cheesecake factory.  This was officially the last girls night out with her!  You can tell how loved she is by how many people were there!  

  

I am not going to get all sappy because I don't want to cry, but we will miss you Leisy!!  It won't be the same without your loud mouth (for better or worse)!!  You are one of the kindest, most outgoing, friendly people that I know.  Thank you for your great example!  I will try to keep the party going after you leave!  Good luck in Japan!!

Rocks

We love summer around here!  Adelyn begs to go outside pretty much all day long.  Some days she will even bring my flip flops over to me to help me get the message.  We go on walks, play on the porch and play with her ride-on car.

Her favorite thing to do is play with rocks.  One day while we were on a walk, she found a few rocks.  She is a hoarder so she picked them up and stowed them in her wagon until we got home.  She proceeded to play with these rocks for an hour!  She would move them from her wagon to her car to the step and all over again.  She just loves being outside and seeing and hearing all the sights and sounds.

I realize that you can't see her face in most of these, but I love that it captures her playing and being a child! 

 Adelyn can often be found with her hands full of small objects.  Her favorite things to collect are rocks, pens, receipts, socks, etc. 

 Looking for a hiding spot for her rocks!

 Carefully placing her rocks on her car before lining them back on the steps.  I sure do love this little munchkin!

Car Wash

The weather here in Ohio has been gorgeous the past few weeks!  I love summer and the sun, but I don't love temperatures in the 90s unless I am at the beach or by a pool.  These temperatures in the upper 70s have been perfect!  I have been able to hang out with Adelyn outside without worrying about her getting to hot or sunburned.  Not to mention that I can go on nightly runs without dying of heat stroke!

Saturday got up into the 80s so Travis took advantage and washed his car.  Adelyn loves being outside and begged to go out with him while I was inside cleaning.  I stuck her in her bathing suit and let her join the fun.  It was really one of the cutest things ever!  Adelyn adores Travis and loves to do whatever with him.  And of course I had to take pictures to document her first time washing a car!  My neighbors probably think I am crazy. 

Travis was getting everything ready and Adelyn just watched cautiously.  Seriously, kids in swimsuits are adorable!  I just want to eat her chunky legs! (I am learning how to use my camera in a different mode, so these pictures aren't the clearest.  Practice makes perfect!)

 This picture is my favorite.  She was unsure of the water hose at first.  I love how tenderly she is holding on to Travis' arm for security! 

  Thinking about joining in on the fun!  I know I am biased, but is this not adorable?!  Love them!

She finally decided to help!

The first of many cars she will wash!

Troy Strawberry Festival

Something that I love about Ohio is that in the summer there are lots of fun street fairs and festivals.  This past weekend we drove up the road just a little to the Troy Strawberry Festival.  Travis was hoping for something compared to Lehi's Strawberry Days.  It was far from it, but fun nonetheless.

Adelyn LOVED it when we let her get out of the stroller and walk around.  She felt like celebrity and smiled and waved at everyone! 

Most Street fairs here consist of a Main Street area being marked off and vendors lining the street.  I find that each time there are different sorts of vendors.  At this one, there were tons of food vendors!  They had everything from strawberry yogurt to chocolate covered strawberries to fried strawberries to strawberry flavored peanut butter.  We didn't try everything but we had to try a famous Strawberry donut!

Eating lunch.  Adelyn stole Travis' french fries.  I haven't found anything that she won't eat yet! 

 I always love all the homemade crafts at the street fairs!  I was a little sad they didn't have many bows and accessories this time.  We bought a wooden American flag to go with our 4th of July mantel though.

Adelyn got to go fishing too!  I thought this was the cutest idea!  There was a person standing on the other side of the sheet with a table full of stuffed animals.  She won a pink hippo and was so happy! 

She just kept hugging her hippo!  I love her little snaggle tooth smile!

 This last picture is my favorite!  These two adore each other! 

Uh-Oh

At Adelyn's year appointment I asked our doctor about her speech development because I thought she was a little behind.  While we were there she happened to say a few words so he said there was no need to worry.  Since then, I don't feel like her speech has progressed much.

She "talks" all the time, but she isn't really forming words.  If she does, it is accidental like when she says "dada."  This week she has mastered her first word, "uh-oh."  It is the cutest thing!  She says it deliberately and in the right circumstances. 

We talked to our pediatrician friend and he said he wouldn't worry because she understands and obeys things we say.  He said to make sure and work with her some each day and let her watch our mouth as we say things.  It will come when she is ready.  I am so excited to hear her little voice talking!  She makes lots of sounds that mimic words or phrases that we say but to hear real words will be so fun!

I can't do a post without a picture!  This is from the other day when I had to wake Adelyn up to get ready! She is like me and loves to sleep!

Beauty and the Beast

For Valentine's Day, Travis got me tickets to see Beauty and the Beast.  I have been anticipating this date for a long time!

For the most part, we drag Adelyn out on all our dates and other adventures.  She is already with a babysitter so much that sometimes I feel guilty leaving her all day AND in the evening.  Dates like this require us to leave her and I am so glad we did.  I forgot what it is like to be out with just Travis.  I got to hold HIS hand instead of holding her or pushing a stroller.  I felt like we were newlyweds again and it was so fun!

This is the second play that I have seen at the Schuster Center.  The first one we saw was Wicked.  I loved it, but didn't love our seats.  This time we chose to get better seats and it was totally worth the extra $10!!

It is hard to compare the two plays because they are so different!  Wicked has a more serious plot line and Beauty and the Beast is just fun.  I felt like a little kid again while watching it.  I laughed at all the silly jokes and actions!  Gaston's sidekick, Lefou, was so funny!  He may have been my favorite character!  Travis loved Gaston because it reminded him of our friend Nate.

I just read through my post from when we watched Wicked and I had some of the same thoughts.  At the end of every play I get teary eyed.  I just think of all the hard work that goes into a production like this and how proud they must feel!  I love being part of a group and feeling that pride of completing a task!  Travis even got all teared up, but he said it was because how happy everyone was at the end.

I loved the production even more than Wicked!  I would recommend going to see Beauty and the Beast!  I can't wait until Adelyn is old enough to go!  I loved seeing all the little girls dressed up in the Belle costumes and thought that would be her one day!

Gatlinburg

The last day we were in Tennessee was spent in Gatlinburg.  We got an early start, thanks to Adelyn waking up waaaay too early.  We strolled up and down the strip looking in little shops, stopping at bakeries and taking photo ops!  I loved being there when there were very few people walking the streets.  Gatlinburg is definitely a night town!  When we got in at midnight the first night, everything was more alive than when we strolled the streets at 10 in the morning the last day.

 There is something I just love about candy stores!

Since Adelyn was asleep, we decided to go to Ripley's Believe it or not instead of the aquarium.  I was not super impressed even though there were some cool things.  Next time we will choose the aquarium instead.  She woke up in time to see some fun things!

I think this picture is so funny.  It is almost like she is saying, "Mom, I know those are not real!"

This is the World's Biggest Tire and it happened to be made in Ohio!

Another Light Brite!  She knew exactly what to do!

Before leaving, we stopped and got some ice cream.  It was probably the best ice cream that I have ever had!  So yummy!

I loved every minute of our trip and hope we can get back down at some point.  I am pretty sure that you could stay a whole week and not even see half the things there!  My mom has already said she would meet us there sometime so that we can do more things while she hangs out with Adelyn.  There are a few things on my list that I would love to do that I don't think Adelyn would be able to go to.

I just had to share this last picture!  When she is trying to fall asleep, she rubs her blanket on her nose!  She slept 4 hours on the ride home!  Such a great little traveler!