Memorial Day

We celebrated Memorial Day this year by attending the Monona parade. I've gone to this parade since I was about E's age (or younger), so its a tradition for my family. We went with Ama, Grandpa Ada and some other friends, we sat near the McDonalds (like we always do) and watched.

E was a little intimidated by the parade, I think it was a little too loud and too close to her. She refused to go into the street after candy like the other kids. Her dada and I got her a few pieces, which she just clutched and didn't even try to eat. After awhile, she and Dada left the parade for a nice walk instead.

Later, we had a picnic in the "forest" which E loved, she got to have her Happy Meal while under a few trees.

clean up

The pool clean up committee met last week, and I brought E to help. She was so interested in going swimming, that I figured she'd get a kick out of helping. So we took a quick walk with A, who also planned to help clean, and stopped at home for our equipment. Somehow, on the walk, the girls decided that the needed their super capes to clean. So, here's E getting ready to clean, cape, spray bottle, and rag. E and A were great helps at the cleanup, they got three chairs cleaned by themselves, pretty good for two year olds!

Here is E showing off her new purple crocs, we shopped everywhere for them and she loves them! She's getting ready to go to the "running mall" with dada, and of course she needed her baby to go too. She loves backpack baby, because she gets to bring her along, but doesn't have to use her hands to carry her.

Our last cleanup of the weekend, was the bird feeder. Or as E calls it, her 'bird seeder." We'd run out of seed, and E was pretty panicked about it, we filled it up this morning, and she spent most of the morning watching to see who came.

Like momma, like daughter

E saw me drinking "hot coffee" and decided that she needed some too. So, here she is with her first cup of "hot coffee." In her case, a tablespoon of coffee, and enough milk to make it cold.

I love you

I got my first unsolicited I love you from E tonight (actually I got two of them). Both times she gave me a hug around the leg and said "I love you momma." I was melting!

The second one was pretty funny. She said "hi momma, how are you today?" after I answered, she said "I love you."

I'm guessing they were working on it at daycare, because she also told me "happy mother's day." But, even if they practiced all day, I don't care one bit. It was wonderful!

Circus World!

We headed to Circus World Museum today. Dada had promised E a trip to the circus earlier this week which didn't work out, so we decided to make Saturday the day. E had a wonderful time. We started off the with the kiddy interactive circus, she didn't participate, but it was a nice warm up to get her in the spirit of the day. Then we looked at some of the exhibits and checked out the carousal. The carousal was a little faster then the one at the zoo, and E was scared and didn't want to ride. So, we looked at the magic show and some of the old train cars. Then the main event, the big top!

E had a blast at the main circus, she got to eat popcorn, which makes any situation better, and loved watching the dog act, the clowns, and the acrobats.

After the show, she saw a zebra, which was actually her favorite part of the day, she called it "Mr. Zebra" and loved watching it run and play near the fence. She thought she wanted to ride a camel, but by the time we got to the top of the ride, she changed her mind. She also wanted momma to feed the llamas and goats, which I did.

After Circus Word, we had a very nice picnic across the street.

E and momma in an animal carrying car!

Dada, E and Mr. Zebra

Mother's Day

We had a lovely Mother's Day weekend this year, we celebrated both Saturday and Sunday.

We started out the day with a family breakfast, E insisted on eating her's in her booster, on the floor. She also insisted on a "big girl" plate which proved too heavy to hold on her lap. She solved the problem by sticking her leg out and balancing the plate on it.

On Saturday E and I had our last swimming lesson of the summer, and she is already asking to go swimming in "Jim's pool" which is the pool in our association. E cooperated for a relaxing weekend by taking a nice long nap, until we woke her up to head to the zoo with Ama and Grandpa Ada. We got to the zoo late in the day and weren't able to ride the carousal, but we did see  the orangutan and chimpanzee's at a particularly active time of day. E also played on the structure in the kid area of the zoo, she loved the slides.

To make up for the carousal we had some popcorn

After the zoo, we went to Ama and Grandpa Ada's house for some dinner. Then, we headed over to E's friend A's house for A's dada's birthday. Their was ice cream and an M&M cookie, E was ecstatic. She also got a juice box.

Sunday morning was family time. I got to sleep in a little bit, and E and dada went to the "coffee maker store" and brought me a fancy coffee to start the day. E insisted on carrying the hot coffee up the stairs, which made everyone nervous, but she made it! Then, we headed to brunch, where we got to eat outside, which E loves. She did a great job at brunch, even waiting in the line patiently. Her favorite part was being allowed to have chocolate chips for dessert.

After brunch we headed to the arboretum to take a walk and look at the lilacs. The nature was a little bit lost on E, but she liked being spun by her parents, and running through the grass.

 We then headed to Culvers for our free ice cream! We were standing at the counter when all of a sudden E said "Lady, I want an ice cream cone please," although we had not planned on getting her a cone, we had to after that! She ate the whole thing!

After nap we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner, some sidewalk chalk, and some bubble time. E had a great time visiting with her grandparents, and really enjoyed seeing so much family in one weekend. E and I split one last ice cream sundae and headed home for the day.

Track meet guys

On May 8 we headed to the last track meet of the season. Asking to go to a track meet and see the track meet guys is a daily occurrence for E, she don't like that their isn't a meet every single day. The weather didn't start out too nice, but the rain cleared up (and E didn't seem to mind getting a little wet) We made the last meet of the year an event. Dada made a picnic which we ate in the bleachers while watching the runners, and later we got to see the coach, who E calls "my Mark" and a few of her favorite "big kids." We spent the entire evening at the meet and got home just in time for a bed.

She even took time to set her piggies free while we were watching.