Summer fun

I thought I'd just post a few pics from some of our activities this summer. Clara loves the water. Ellie likes to play with it, but has been hesitant to get in. We have been enjoying all of the beautiful weather and fun outdoor time.

Enjoying some sorbet--when she finished this, she was covered in it and then went and held the cats, so by the time we brought her in, she had cat hair stuck all over the sticky sorbet--quite a sight!

Clara with her friend Rachel on an inflatable slide.
Taking the plunge

At the pool. The first time we went, Ellie kept dipping her feet in and then drying them off. She wouldn't actually get in. The second time we went, she got in up to her waist, so she is gaining courage. The pool belongs to some friends of ours.
Gaining the courage to put her face in the water.

A Little About Clara

I thought I'd write a little about our resident 4 year old. Clara turned 4 in May. Here is a little bit about her:

Favorite Foods: Lemonade, Zucchini muffins, Hinkelsteins (oat sticks), Broccoli, Any fruit, anything with sugar:)

Future Occupational interests: Doctor or Dancer (changes daily but always is one of those two things. She often asks me what I think Ellie will want to be--of those two things--because they will want to be together.)

Favorite activities: Gymnastics, Riding her bike, Swimming, Playing with friends, Playing dress up, Reading books

Favorite made-up word: "ippy stoopy" def. refers to some mythical being who alternates between being scary and being someone to play with. Ex: "Ellie and I are playing with the ippy stoopy on the slide."

Favorite Color: Purple (and pink, but mostly purple)

Clara has her own ideas about fashion and dresses up in different outfits several times a day. She's been lobbying hard to get me to recognize one of her nightgowns as a dress so she can wear it when we go places. We recently went to a park and I had her wear shorts and a tee shirt. When we arrived back home, she had her nightgown on over the top of her other clothes. "I just brought it along so I could put it on when we were done." She often layers things (like 3 night gowns or several dresses on top of each other). The more things that are layered on top of each other, the fancier the function. She went to a wedding this summer and came home very full of ideas about her own wedding some day ("I want a dress that drags on the floor"). She goes to gymnastics and has worked hard this summer on learning to do cartwheels and backward somersaults. She also participated in the summer reading program with the library and earned a backpack. She was very motivated by that backpack--we had to complete 18 hours of reading together and she made sure we did that quickly. She is (still) very mechanical and always trying to see how things work or are put together. She desperately wants long hair, so was very excited that I could get all of her hair back in one ponytail in these pictures.

Clara as a bride (just one of her ensembles:)

Firecracker Day!

We had a fun 4th. We actually went to see fireworks on the 3rd with our good friends, the Johansens (Clara and Ellie's friends, Luke and Hannah). Luke kept saying "You know what day it is? It's Firecracker Day" very loudly--he was trying to get everyone's attention in the ball field where we were sitting. He and Clara ran all over getting the word out:). Ellie snuggled with her blankie (we had to wake her up to go). Rog worked on the 4th, but the girls and I went to see the parade. Clara has become quite skilled in gathering candy and Ellie learned quickly (about 1/2 hour into the parade, she realized what that stuff was they were throwing). They came home with at least a year's supply. Ellie especially enjoyed waving her flag.

Gardening

Corn from the farmer's market

Well, it's July in the midwest and that means produce is coming on strong! Our garden is doing well this year--last year rabbits got most of what we planted. The girls love to help. Clara has become quite adept at picking green beans, but their favorite thing to help with is anything that requires the hose. Rog will think twice about standing in front of it next time (see pics below--he was having them spray out the wheelbarrow). We've canned a couple of batches of green beans so far--it's always gratifying to start filling the pantry shelves and freezer with our own produce.

good helpers

Oops--aim was a little off.

From the Garden

Gone Fishin'

Well, today was a big day for Clara. She has been asking for quite some time to go fishing, so this morning we went to the little pond that is just a couple miles from our house. Being very mechanically minded, she really enjoyed learning how everything worked. Nothing was caught today (for which I was thankful), but that was a very minor point for her. She learned quickly and was casting by herself--though we did make sure to give her plenty of clearance. Ellie and I walked around the pond and saw a couple of Canada geese with their goslings, looked for the frogs we could hear (never saw them) and found lots of sticks to throw in the water. Shortly after we got home, she talked about taking our fishing poles to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Learning to cast
Learning to reel it in
Ellie learning to reel it in
Proud moment after a successful cast
Getting the hang of it

Play Park

I've been working pretty regularly at the library. There's a play park near there where Rog tries to bring the girls while I'm working so we can eat together and I can see them (especially if I'm working past their bedtime). Now, whenever I have a work day the girls count on it being "park day". Here's a few pics from Monday. We had a short picnic followed by lots of play time and Ellie grabbing hands, saying "show me" to take one of us to each new piece of equipment. As you can see, Clara is quite a climber. What a good big sister!
Clara was very proud of herself being able to go across the bars--she's really been working at it.
Ellie peaking through the tunnel

A Day at the Aquarium

On Tuesday we went to the Newport Aquarium with Carters, Aunt Linda, Grandma and Mark and Kristen Klimek. Aunt Linda had checked out several books for the girls about fish and aquariums, so they were ready to go. Clara's favorite thing was seeing the teeth of a shark and she and Ellie both enjoyed pretending to be vets with a play shark in the children's area. In the pic below of Ellie, I loved it that I could see her mouth open expression in the reflection on the glass as she looked at the colorful fish.

Newport on the Levee overlooking the Ohio River