Happy Birthday, Elara

We recently celebrated my niece's fourth birthday by going to Como Town, a small amusement park geared for children ages 2-12. Gracie had so much fun, she really loves playing with Elara.

This video is Bee's first ride, the teacups, with Uncle Tony.




Gracie rode the Frog Hopper, which is a lot like the Wonder Pets ride at MOA.



Gracie loved the cars.




We took a break from the rides to have some cake and sing for Elara.





Then we headed to the splashpad.





Finally, Gracie had to check out the zipline, because "the gang" uses a zipline in the Scooby-Doo movie we have on Netflix.

2 Months

My baby boy is two months old. It's hard to believe he's so big already! We had his two month check up today and it's official, he's huge. He now weighs in at 12 pounds, 15 ounces and is 23 1/4" long; both of which are a little over the 50th percentile. His head circumference is 41 cm, which is the 90th percentile! He got three shots, which I selfishly made Daddy hold him during. However, that backfired on me when both girls started screaming because their baby brother was getting hurt. They both ended up in my lap crying with him for the shots!

Announcement

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.
I'm a little slow, but I finally ordered Jerry's birth announcements!

Hudson

I love Hudson. It's such a beautiful town.

Princess Dance Camp

Gracie spent the mornings this week Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at Princess Dance Camp. I don't know all of the activities they did, but a sampling of them are: makeup, nail polish, sidewalk chalk, princess stickers, played "frog, frog, princess", and made a door hanger. Today they invited all the parents to come earlier than normal to pick the kids up and stay for a performance by the children. Gracie was very excited when I told her not only would I be there, but also Daddy, Bee, Jerry, Grandma and Evan!

The dance.

Gracie is officially a princess! She even has a certificate to prove it.

One of the assistant teachers. Gracie seems to have liked her best, as she ran to her often, and was usually with her when I came to pick her up at the end of class.

Karate

Gracie has improved in Karate so much. We are very proud of her! Last week she earned her first belt, a white belt. She was glowing, she was so proud! Each class, they get a "stripe" on their belt if they did a good job participating. The stripe is a thin piece of electrical tape that they put on the bottom of the belt. She is so happy to be able to earn her stripes like the other kids now. Here are a couple of videos from tonight's class. We have decided to keep her in class as long as she continues to enjoy it.

Beginning of class and stretching.

Working on a move.

Obstacle course.

Bubbles!

Bee's favorite thing in the whole world is bubbles. So much so that her birthday party theme is going to be bubbles. With this in mind, I simply could not pass by the clearanced "Infinity Bubbles" bubble maker. I think it blew her little mind. Lucky for her, Gracie was out with Grandma when we tried it out, so she got all of those bubbles to herself.

She didn't quite know what to do with all those bubbles at first.

But she got the hang of it!

Thirsty

Should I be concerned that she's drinking pool water from a severed doll head?
How about that she intentionally pulled the head off in order to drink from it?

Wheels

Gracie has been asking for rollerskates since early spring when we had a nice day and two neighbor girls (who are much older) were rollerblading around the parking lot. We've been somewhat looking for them, to appease her, but not really looking, since the only place to skate is our minimal sidewalk or the parking lot-right, a three-year-old learning to rollerskate in a busy parking lot. No thanks. Nana was able to find a pair at our church garage sale, so Gracie has been very excited to try them out.

First attempt.

Victory!

Bee nabbed her own set of wheels out of the storage unit when we got the skates out, and diligently followed her big sis around.

And then stole her helmet.

Teddy Bear Park

Through the grapevine, we have discovered a new park. It's called Teddy Bear Park (for obvious reasons), and it is awesome. Both kids love it. There is only one entrance/exit, and equipment for children of all ages, so both girls were very happy to have something at their level to play on. I find that Bee sometimes gets bored at other playgrounds because she's too little for so many of the features. That doesn't happen here. Most of the park is a soft astroturf or the rubbery material that many parks use these days, but there is also a sand area off to one side so the kids don't have to get all sandy if they don't want to (or if their mommy doesn't want them to).

Gracie loves the Teddy Bear sculptures, and goes back to them often while we are there.

JR had fun too!

Gracie was so proud that she can go all the way up the rocks all by herself!
Bee didn't get any farther than she is in the picture.

At the top!

Stuck in a spiderweb!

B's slide, lol!

Gracie insists on kissing each teddy bear good-bye before we can leave (ew). When we came back for our second visit, she ran in and exclaimed "Teddy bears, I'm back! I missed you!"

Wonder Pets Ride

Gracie decided to try a new ride at MOA the other day. I was a little weary, but she was big enough, and it's a preschool ride. Boy did she love it! Some of the photos are pretty funny!

JR

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