20 months

Can you believe she is almost 2!

Sophie has so much personality. She lets you know when she is not happy

She loves animals and playing in the dirt

and is finally starting to talk more

Blueberries

Yesterday, after a nice thunderstorm we went out to a local farm to pick some blueberries. The weather was great, it had cooled down about 10 degrees and it was a little overcast. Brie had a wonderful time filling her bucket with the ripe blueberries.

Sophie picked a few that actually made it into the basket. She ate quite a few that were not quite ripe yet and may have had a few stems still attached.

Busy in pictures

As I said in the last post we have been busy.

At the river . . .

Playing in the yard . . .

and at the playground . . .

riding ponies . . .

watching the circus . . .

and eating popcorn while watching . . .

playing some more at a different playground . . .

Wearing tutus on the 4th of July . . .

We have been busy

The past few weeks have been busy. We have gone on bike rides, played in the creek and the river, and played in the pool. The kids have been having a great time. Bed times have been sporadic and naps missed, but we are enjoying our summer. This past weekend we went to a picnic at the creek and played outside till almost 10 o'clock. The kids caught their first fireflies and we enjoyed smores down by the creek. The trim in our bedroom is now newly painted and we have new blinds and curtains. Overall this summer has been very busy. Soon we will be going on vacation to a farm for a few days and possibly the beach. When things slow down I will upload some pictures so you can see for yourself all the fun we have been having.

Exhausted

Today we went to the bike path for a short ride. We decided we would ride for a while and then stop for lunch. Then Marcus though we should go just a few miles further to get some ice cream. A few miles turned into 30. That's 15 miles one way and then 15 back. When we stopped for ice cream we were already exhausted and it was getting hot, but we had a long way back. Sophie took 2 naps on the trip. Along the way we did make some stops to throw rocks in the creek and admire the wildlife. We saw a deer, salamander, crawfish, tadpoles, and a rattle snake. I was unimpressed with the snake and was glad that we were almost back at the car when we saw it.

Stitches again!

Today was another rough day for Brie. While playing upstairs with a balloon in the hall she fell and opened up her knee. She had a pretty bad scar there from a fall 2 years ago. The skin must have been thin and it did not take much to open it up. So it was off to the hospital instead of swimming lessions for Brie.

This time was more difficult because she knew what was coming. She was a trooper again and got 3 stitches in her knee. She wouldn't let the doctor do it and cried when he came in the room, so mommy had to do it. I cried with her as I was putting those stitches in. I have both hundreds, maybe thousands of stitches in, but these were definitly the hardest. She did well and held still, but this time she cried. She has been babying her knee all day so I am sure it is sore. Hopefully tomorrow she will be feeling better.

Nature park

Today Shelley and I took the girls on a trip to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park. http://www.laketobias.com/ I was concerned it would be like a little rinky dink park like some others we have been to, but was suprised at how nice it was. It is in the middle of nowhere about and hour and a half from our house and it was one of the better zoos we have been to. You can actually get up close to the animals. There petting zoo was one of the better ones we have been to and they had an awesome safari ride.

You were able to get very close to the animals. In fact you could pet this Zebra.

Here are the girls feeding the goats.

and the llamas

Sophie was not a fan of the donkey. As you can see she was trying to get away.

On the safari, the animals came right up to the bus. In fact a few buffalo and elk actually climbed up the steps of the bus.

The girls had a great time. I am sure we will go back for a second visit this summer.