First Week of Summer

Dear Kate,

Summer has begun!  And I am predicting it will the best summer yet.  You are at such a fun age this year, eager to do anything your sister does and always on the look out for fun.  You love being outdoors and on the playground and animals and can even sit still (for the most part) for short period of times.  With all that in mind, I have planned lots of activities for the three of us (Sister, Mommy and you!) for this summer.  We returned from vacation on Saturday and by Sunday, we were officially starting our summer.  Mommy and Sister went to see the Lion King at the TPAC (you definitely could not sit THAT still!) and you stayed home with Daddy.  You two went to Whole Foods to pick up some yummy food to grill and stopped by Blue Coast for lunch.  Daddy text me all excited because you ate a whole taco all by yourself, like a big girl - meaning you ate the taco the correct way.  It's the little things that make him smile.  

Daddy grilled for us Sunday night and we played outside and enjoyed our first night of summer.  On Monday Mimi headed home and you cried.  Seriously.  It was pretty sad.  But, you cheered up and Sarah stuck around (she was visiting and watched the show with us, too) and played with you in the playroom to make you feel better about Mimi's absence.  How dare Mimi leave after 12 straight days together :)  We took Sarah to lunch at Blue Coast.  You recommended it and it was yummy.  Actually, we wanted to sit outside because it was such a beautiful day and, well, who doesn't love Blue Coast, even if it is 2 days in a row.  You weren't as thrilled about eating your whole taco all by yourself this go round, but we still enjoyed the weather and the chips and dip.  We wrapped up Monday with a big grocery shopping spree, since we were bare minimum on food in the Clark household!

On Tuesday, we woke up early and geared up to head to the pool.  Our pool less than a mile away was closed due to a swim meet, so we ventured to the Maryland Farms Y and what a grand decision. It was fantastic!  So perfect for little kiddos like you and Sister.  There are fountains galore and sprayers and a big bucket that fills up and a zero entry pool that gets no deeper than 3 feet AND slides!! Now, you were so brave and wanted to go down the slide all by yourself, so I let you.  You had a little trouble with holding your head up while you slid, so you may have gotten a small bump on the back of your head and you may have gone under even though you preferred not to, BUT, I was so proud of you for trying it.  Granted, you didn't try it again (that day) but there were minimal tears and you jumped right back in the water once we dried those up.  We  (Sister, Mommy and you!) enjoyed a fun day at the pool!

We headed home around 1, just in time for you to take a nap.  Mommy's trying to stick to your nap schedule for most days and it's working out pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  You were in the bed by 1:30 and you have been sleeping until 4:30 or sometimes I am having to wake you up so you will go back to sleep that night!  Summer wears you out!  

On Wednesday, I had an eye appointment and forgot to take the stroller with me.  You, however, did great thanks to your sister helping out, sharing the phone, and just keeping you still in the chair.  Crisis averted.  I totally thought I was going to have to reschedule when I walked in with you in my arms.  Afterwards, we headed over to Miss Kay's pool (our next door neighbor).  Sister begged that we swim with you, instead of waiting until you take a nap, and since I thought that was so sweet, I agreed.  Sadly, your sister was in a foul mood and we had to march right back to our house within 20 minutes.  Don't worry, we will be back to their pool.  They are always insisting we come over and use it, so, I mean, it's our neighborly duty to do what they want :)

You went down for your nap and woke up in time to play outside for a bit then help mom cook dinner. You are getting to be such a big girl, thanks in part to your sister.  You saw her setting the table and unloading the dishwasher and insisted on helping.  You are very good about putting your silverware away :)

On Thursday, Mommy made a spur of the moment decision to head to the zoo, despite the weather forecast (a chance of rain, with lots of clouds).  It turned out PERFECT.  No rain at all, and no sunshine, which is nice for a change.  Not to mention, it was not crowded at all and we got to see a lot of animals roaming around! Even this stinky wart hog, who we have never seen moving.  He's always sleeping!  And, we, including you, sang Hakuna Matata to him.  Yes, you totally sing it.  It is the cutest thing I have ever heard.  

Sister also decided to take you on the back roads on the way to see the giraffes and, well, you somehow managed to fall face first, and really only your face, into a pile of mud.  Your hands got covered, too, but somehow your pants and white shirt remained clean (for the most part).  I had the camera out and caught you falling, but it was too awful (and you were crying) to get an after picture, but I was panicking a little, after all, you did have a white shirt on :)

We finally made it to the giraffes after a package of wipes and what a treat.  The daddy giraffe was being super friendly, just hanging out, chatting it up with us.  And the zoo keeper was right there to answer any questions, which Sister was filled with!

We saw the elephants and then headed straight to the carousel, which you rode for the first time with Mommy!!

We then headed to the other side of the zoo where watched our first animal show at the zoo.  It was pretty neat and you did really well with having to sit and watch all the animals.  We saw turtles and skunks and opossums, and even a hawk fly across the audience.  It was pretty neat and afterwards we got to see them close up. 

Next on the zoo agenda was the petting zoo, your fave!  And, the baby camels had finally arrived!!  We were all so excited to finally meet them and perfect timing because we got to see them get their morning bottle!  Such sweet little baby camels! 

You, of course, had to pet your share of goats, too!  

After the goats, we had our picnic lunch and played on the awesome playground for a bit.  You thoroughly enjoyed the swings and almost fell asleep.  At that point, I knew it was time to head on out! We found you sister and headed home and not too much after the car was cranked, you were out!  

Luckily, I was able to transfer you to your bed when we got home and you, again, slept until I was forced to wake you up!  Exhausted!!
Friday was a very exciting day for us.  The morning was pretty low key at the house.  I put you down for an early nap around 10:45ish because I had to wake you up at 1:00 to head to a goat farm!  That's right, we went to a local goat farm - Noble Springs Goat Farm, and had a tour set up, too.  Jacob and Anna met us at the farm and right from the start it was an adventure.  We weren't sure we had the right place because we drove down this long gravel driveway, but sure enough, it was and the farmer came out to greet us.  We started off by heading down a field to look at horses.  You insisted on walking yourself, like all the other kiddos, and I let you, which is why we are so far behind the rest of the crew!!

We looked and looked for those horses, but they were resting in the shade, so we headed back to look at the chickens.  You loved pointing out all the chickens and Sister even got to hold a blue egg, which amazed Mommy for some reason (the egg, not Sister holding it!)

This was our favorite chicken, with the fancy hair do!

And then there were the goats.  Ahhh, the goats.  You loved them, but were very hesitant to go straight up and touch them.  You kept your distance for the most part, but enjoyed watching them beg for attention from you!

We also got to pet baby chicks.  They were so sweet looking.  You again, kept your distance, but loved looking at them in the cage.  Next up was to see how the goats are milked and then how that milk is turned into delicious cheese!  We were all amazed at this part!  

We even got to try a little of the goat cheese.  You spit it out, sadly, but I bet one day you start loving it.  I mean, I love it, so you should too :)  We petted the goats one last time and headed off the farm.  We were so close to Leiper's Fork that I decided we'd just head to Puckett's for an afternoon treat.  Ice cream!!!  You had your own bowl of cookies and cream (and shared some with Mom) while Sister had her own chocolate ice cream cone.  

You were fine with the bowl until Sister offered a bite of hers, which was really nice, but... Well... 

Yeah, you didn't want to give it up, and you kind of got a little messy.  Kind of...

It was a fun Friday and we headed home.  Miss Lauren came over to watch you guys while Mommy and Daddy went on a date and she said you did perfect for her.  You are doing so good now with Miss Lauren, even running to give  her a hug!

On Saturday, Mommy ran some errands while you helped Daddy get set up for a party.  The gang was coming over for Daddy's birthday and Daddy made some delicious ribs!  We had tons of fun playing outside and you showed off your monkey bar tricks to Miss Leigh and Aunt Steph.  Although, they didn't care for Kipper or Jake to be watching, to get any crazy ideas :)

So much fun playing with everyone.  After we ate dinner, we got to sing Happy Birthday to Daddy and then eat yummy ice cream and chocolate cobbler.

It's so hard to believe you babies are such big kids now!!  But ever so cute!!
Sunday was Daddy's actual birthday and he decided that he wanted to go back to Puckett's in Leiper's Fork, since he didn't get to go with us the other day.  So, off we went for a delicious (but not so healthy) lunch which included corn dogs and french fries!  Oh, and live music, which we all loved!

Sister even got the band to sing Happy Birthday to Daddy and play Rocky Top!  I think Daddy was in a happy place for sure! It also didn't hurt that he got some ice cream, too!

And you had to take a bit or two of Sister's, again!

We walked around for just a minute or two, and then you decided you didn't want to hold Mommy's hand, so we decided that was a sign to get out of there!

We headed home and you took a nice long nap with Daddy while I ran a few errands then we had an easy peasy lemon squeezy dinner - leftovers!  A good birthday for Dad and a fun first week of summer, FOR SURE!!
Love you summer bug!