A Fair To Remember

I confess, I stole the title from my friend, Kristin! This is the first year that we made it to the fair with the family. The girls had a wonderful time. Will was not very pleased since it felt like it was about 100 degrees while we were there. I think the actual temperature was around 94 or so, but with all the concrete, it felt like we were on fire! So, it was a quick, but fun-filled trip.

The girls loved saying hello to the California State bear.



And Natalie even gave it a kiss!



We saw lots of animals. While they enjoyed seeing them, I think for now they prefer watching them on TV as they were a bit scared by the BIG cow (see below) and the sheep who startled them with their load bleating.

They did enjoy checking out the Jungle and Reptile Experience. Here they are standing with dad, looking at the alligator.

And they had fun inside this little hut posing for a picture (especially Amanda!).

But MOST of all, they loved the rides! They only went on 2, but they had FUN, FUN, FUN! The first was a little boat ride where they got to ding their bells.

And the second was a train ride, where we were lucky enough to ride in the engine. Too bad it didn't have air conditioning!

All in all, it was a great day!

Will is Eleven Months Old

Will turned eleven months old this past Monday. I can't believe he is almost one already. He had a growth spurt during the last week or so and he is SO tall now and is starting to lose some of his baby fat. Our little buddy is growing up!



He is still incredibly happy most of the time and he is a busy boy on the go. He is not walking yet but he is very close to doing so. He has stood up alone a few times and has even taken a step here and there.

Will is full of chitter chatter and says "da da" and "ma ma" all the time, although it's hard to tell if it is purposeful or not. And he laughs and giggles constantly, often without any prompting by us. When he's pushing his walking toys around the house, for example, he is full of laughter and excitement, even if it is the 100th time he has done it! He understands a lot more. For example, he sometimes says "hi" but will always vigorously pump his little arm up and down to say hello or goodbye.

He still loves and idolizes his sisters, wanting to do everything they do. And they love him. They call him "my baby" and they give him love all the time. (Except when he wants to play with their toys, of course!) He is not so happy when they retrieve one of the toys he has taken from them ....he yells at them at the top of his lungs....his version of "MINE" for now! And, he has some of his own toys and knows which ones they are and is equally insistent with his sisters when they try to "borrow" his toys!

He is a little guy who is so full of life.....

and of love....

and we love him for it!

Happy eleven-month birthday, little munchkin!

Whew.....

It was an exhausting weekend! We were busy, busy, busy. While we did not capture all of our fun activities, we did manage to get a lot of them.

Here we are at Fairytale Town. It was fun, but HOT! Here is Will trying to stay cool.







Natalie and Amanda had fun playing Wizard of Oz characters. First Dorothy and the Scarecrow.

Dorothy and the Tin Man.

And, finally, our little lion.

Natalie and Amanda had fun running the Crooked Mile and they did it about 3 times. Natalie posed nicely inside a little house at the end of the mile.

She ran hard to finish up the mile.

Natalie and Amanda rode in Cinderella's pumpkin.

And they drove Thomas the Train.

Here they are taking a break from all of those activities while waiting for some lunch.

But, before our adventure ended, they watered some plants in the garden.

And hung out in Sherwood Forest.

Sherwood Forest, in particular, brought back memories of our first trip to Fairytale Town, which is documented here. Wow, they change fast!

Yesterday, we had fun playing at home. We got the sidewalk chalk out.

Went for some wagon rides.

And, of course, did a lot of bike riding.

And at one point, it got FAR too quiet in the house. When we checked to see what Natalie and Amanda were up to, this is what we found them doing. I guess they were getting ready for some heavy duty wagon riding!

Bike Mania

The girls have started to really enjoy riding their bikes! Here is a video from Saturday of the girls riding on the front side walk having a great time. Being fast learners, they were able to pedal themselves around by Sunday.



Natalie became a little bored with the bike riding, so she decided that she wanted to run a little marathon. Listen at the end as Natalie takes off down the walk chasing a neighbor down to say Hi!




Oh, and Will cannot be left out. Here is a video of Will enjoying a spin on a bike.

Happy 4th of July!

Natalie and Amanda learned about Independence Day at "school" and they made these great flags to celebrate. Here is Amanda's flag. She is a pretty precise little artist.


And here is Natalie's -- a little abstract.



We had a great holiday and had fun watching some the neighbors' fireworks from our front porch at night. Natalie and Amanda stayed up very late in order to watch and after about a 15 minutes of watching they asked to go to bed!!!

Here are some pictures of our little firecrackers. Will first:

Natalie making a funny face!

Giving each other hugs!!

Amanda giving kisses to the "dog" on our front porch.

And three more photos of our little runway models!