Botanical Gardens

Ok, so I have finally accepted that, although it is July, it's not hot and humid like I love it to be. I have given up my dreams of taking the kids to the pool every single day (although we still go often!). And I have decided to embrace the opportunity to do things that are usually not possible in the extreme heat, since I don't like to torture the kids. So today I packed a picnic lunch and headed to the Botanical Gardens. What a beautiful day! The flowers and gardens looked amazing, and it was 75 degrees and sunny. The kids and I had a great time out there. Julia is getting MUCH better at walking. This morning she walked from the TV to the kitchen. If you don't know our house, that is about 15 feet. I think she stopped because the floor changed from carpet to hardwood, because she was walking great. I think she chooses to still crawl because, well, she's so darn fast!
Walk this way, Julia...

I had to force Grant to sit here. He thought a bee was going to sting his bottom. I promised him if that happened, he could pull my hair (it didn't happen, but MAN he made a big deal about it!)

Grant climbing Mt. Fuji. I guess this is 1/500th actual size. Grant thinks it's cool that I've climbed the actual Mt. Fuji and wanted to see my Fuji stick when we got home.

Julia is crazy about Grant!

Big girl!

Grant liked to smell the red flowers, since red is his favorite color :)

There is an amazing model train display at the gardens. It is huge and has lots of trains running. We had a great time watching it all.

I have a picture of Grant at this gate when he was Julia's age. Can't believe how quickly 3 years have gone!

Future climber

Here is Julia scaling her walker. She got blueberries all over her shirt, but I did eventually get a clean shirt on her!

Sprayground

Amanda and I took the kids to the sprayground the other day. The weather was supposed to be 90 degrees and sunny. The actual weather? 75 degrees, cloudy and windy. Did we care? NOPE! Grant wasn't too excited about the cold water at first, but Ellee was running through so he did too. You'll notice he kept his socks on for a while, guess he thought that would help :) We aren't quite sure what Grant and Ellee were doing, but they were holding hands while running, would stop to talk, then would run some more. They get along so great! And Julia and Cole got some "alone time" too :)

Fair

Last weekend we went to White Trash Fair, I mean West Fair, in Council Bluffs. It was something to do but not something we will return to next year! Grant enjoyed it so I guess that's the main thing. On the way home, we stopped at a neighborhood park that has a spider web type rope to climb. Of course Blake and I had to test it out too!

Climber

Well Julia has learned to climb, and she now climbs on everything! In fact, yesterday I caught her climbing up the front of her walk-behind toy. She climbs onto the kitchen chairs, the couch, the train table. And she tries to climb other things but thankfully her legs are too short :) Here she is last weekend. If this continues, I'm going to have to move the train table because I'm scared that she will eventually fall into the stones around the fireplace and that would probably result in a trip to the ER.

Cousins at Lake

Amy and the kids were at the lake a few weeks ago so we went back for more water fun. Here are the kids getting ready to ride the tube (or raft?).Amy's friend, Kayren, and her two kids came down to visit too. Here are all the munchkins eating lunch. Uncle Jake gave Julia her first tatoo. The kids and I went home later that day and went to the grocery store. I wonder if anyone noticed that my baby had a tat? ha!

4th of July

Yes, I realize 4th of July was a while ago, but I finally have a few minutes to upload some pictures. We went to the lake and had a great time, despite the rather cold weather! We played in the water every day, but after about 20 mintues, Grant's lips would be purple and he would ask for a warm shower :) We had fun though!

Blake and Grant on the new tube. Grant loved it until the rope broke :) He ended up going under the tube but came up with a smile on his face! But after we got a new rope, he was afraid it was going to break again.

Grant claims the food on his face is a mustache and beard. Julia thought the nice, cold carrot felt good on the gums!

Grant found a headband and ponytail holder in the bathroom and insisted on wearing them.

Julia in the swing.

We went out on the boat to see the fireworks. Blake bought Grant some glow necklaces which Grant loved. While we were waiting for the show to start, Grant was yelling random stuff to all the other boats and was cracking us up. Our favorite was, "YO YO YO Everybody! You are Grandpa's neighbors! Yeah, yeah, I KNOW it!" Rocking Elmo

First steps

This isn't the greatest video of Julia walking, but it's a glimpse anyway. She can walk much better, but never for the camera! Hopefully I'll get some better footage soon. We are off to the pool now.

Starting to walk!

I don't have any video (yet) but Julia is officially starting to walk - finally! Not to compare our kids, but Grant was walking everywhere by this age. Oh well :) Julia started taking about 4 steps at a time last week, but tonight she walked half way across the living room (about 8 steps). It is so cute to watch - sometimes she does it with her arms sticking straight up in the air. And she's so proud of herself - she looks at us when she falls and starts clapping. Of course we are all clapping like crazy by then too, so she joins in. Other news with Julia - she is completely fearless. She figured out she could push her little boat toy to the couch and climb up on the couch. She climbs on everything! And she just smiles when I say "no". Again, not to compare the kids, but Grant NEVER did some of the stuff Julia does!! She falls all the time, but luckily is tough and doesn't seem to mind (even when she hits her head). Oh, and she ate a ponytail holder today. It was one of those tiny baby rubber bands. She's been pulling her hair bows out for a while so today I tried a whale spout, thinking she couldn't pull the band out. She left it alone most of the day, but this afternoon we were driving and I heard her choking on something. When I stopped the car, her hair band was missing, and she had a hair hanging out of her mouth. Guess that will show up in the diaper tomorrow!

The blues dancer

We went to an outdoor music festival for a little while yesterday. Grant was the entertainment :) Seriously, when we left we had a few complaints of people who were enjoying him! He showed us lots of moves we never knew he had...

Recipes from Grant

Grant loves beef jerky. Gross. Anyway, he loves to eat it with Blake and tell me all about it. This afternoon he told me I should make a beef jerky drink. Here is his suggested recipe:

a little flour
a little sugar
a cracked egg
some beef jerky
a little milk
a little lemonade
put it in the oven and the stove. then you just put it in a cup and taste it, if it's good or not. if it's not good, add a little more flour and lemonade and oil and then water. maybe a little coconut flavor. then me and daddy just drink it up! that's how it works!!! It's healthy and it kind of has a silly taste, mama. It may need some more lemonade because it's hard and you have to cut it. Isn't it a cool recipe?

I don't think I'll try this recipe any time soon!