The End of Vacation

I hate to say that the last few days of vacation continued to be smoke filled, forcing us to stay inside when she was in fact, begging to be outside.  It was becoming difficult to keep her entertained, until I remembered this idea  - painting by rolling marbles across paint on paper.

She made masterpiece after masterpiece, and it held her interest for quite awhile, and in fact was absolutely no mess.  That is until she decided she needed to paint her hands and make handprints.  And then wanted me to paint my hands and make them with her.  The paint didn't stay out long after that.

Today it was back to school for me... and should I mention we had beautiful blue skies?  Go figure.

Weekend Getaway

Friday, August 17th was our five year wedding anniversary.  And, like 5 years ago when the Castlerock fire started to fill this valley up with smoke, we once again found ourselves in a smoky environment, where ashes fell like the first snow.

So, we left town.  We all went to Salt Lake City for the weekend, and had a really fabulous time in a non-smoky town!

We arrived Saturday afternoon, and after settling into the hotel, made our way to the outdoor shopping mall.  There was a fun toy store, ice cream, and lots of riding up and down of escalators!  At the end of the evening, we let Emily play in the fountain.

Before Emily's first experience at In N Out Burgers.  Yum!

Sunday was our big day.  After breakfast, we drove out to Antelope Island, which is in the Great Salt Lake.  Yes, we saw some antelope, and a fox, millions of birds, and a whole lot of American Bison.

See the bison laying in the dirt above Emily's head?

But first we made a little stop off at a sandy beach.

After a lunch break, we headed toward Lagoon, an amusement and water park north of Salt Lake.  We only did the amusement park in the hours we were there that afternoon.  We rode the carousel twice, a Wild Kingdom train that circles a lake and had wild animals on exhibit.

And also had her first ride on the classic log ride and a roller coaster.  Which she loved.  

Although it was a hot day, the park was crowded, and some of the lines long, we had a great time at Lagoon.  Emily waited so patiently in line.  It helped that her Dad won her three stuffed dogs playing the shooting game, of course.  She was disappointed that she couldn't go on the waterslides, but the hotel pool after dinner was a great compromise.  

And if you're ever with Emily and she's talking about alligators, chances are, she's trying to tell you about riding in and elevator.  

Grandpa and Grandma

Between all the fun outings, the days were spent just hanging out at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  Emily took her assigned chores very seriously while we were there!  She really liked filling the bird feeders with seed in the mornings.  She was pretty good at putting the seed in, but by the end of two weeks, you really started to notice piles of bird seed all over the property!

And, like last year, Emily adored the farm cats.  In the beginning, only one wanted to cooperate and allowed itself to be caught, but by the end she had a few kitties that she could catch and carry around.  And she wouldn't let you catch one and hand it to her, she wanted to do it all by herself.  Feeding the cats twice a day was another job Emily was given while in Iowa.

We also celebrated Becca's 14th birthday.  When I told Emily the birthday was on the 13th, she automatically wanted to know where the cupcakes were, so her and Grandma set about making some chocolate cupcakes.  Emily put 14 candles in Becca's cupcake.

We also made a trip to visit the other great grandma in Radcliffe, and a great aunt and uncle in Atlantic (where she happily petted Bert the burro).  

And another trip to ride the Story City Antique Carousel.

It was a great trip to Iowa, but after a week this little Daddy's girl sure missed her Dad and was excited to be home.  The trip back went well, sleeping the first leg of the trip and playing for the second one.  The next day was back to routine, including starting at a new daycare, which will be her new preschool on September 4th. 

Minneasota, the land of 10,000 lakes

On August 9th, we gave Grandpa and Grandma a little break and headed north to Northfield, Minnesota to spend a day on the lake with some high school friends of mine.  It was such a great day!  Emily rode on a ski boat, took a nap on the floating pontoon, swam around in a lake, watched bald eagles hunt for lunch, and even went down the slide on the dock that plopped her right into the lake.

Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa

Another day was spent at a butterfly house and lego display going on at the Reiman Gardens.  The butterflies were a big hit, so we went through it twice.

The legos were a little frustrating because she wasn't allowed to touch them, but they were a cool display.

And a few more photos we stopped to take along the paths inside the garden. 

The Bridges of Madison County

One of Emily's great grandmas lives in Winterset, an area made famous by the Bridges of Madison County.  After a pizza lunch at great grandma's apartment, along with a great uncle and Grandpa and Grandma, we went to the City Park where there is a bridge on display.

And we drove to Clark's Tower, which is also inside the park.

And walked though a maze in the center of the park -

Great Grandma, Grandma, & Emi

Family

The first weekend in Iowa was spent with family.  We went to the Clayton County Fair to watch cousin  Becca show her two cows.  Emily got to pet a lot of animals, and although it was a hot and humid day, went strong for 9 hours.  We made several trips through the barn so she could sneak in some petting on rabbits, goats, cows, pigs, sheep, a donkey...

Sunday was a more leisurely day hanging out with Cousins Sam and Becca, Uncle Pat, and Aunt Cheri.  We got to see their house (and more animals!) and have lunch together.  

2012 NICU picnic

Once again, Emily and I attended the summer NICU picnic on August 1st.

It was the first time I let Emily into a bounce house, and she LOVED it.  She spent most of the evening in it.  In fact, Emily happily bounced while I had some adult conversations, and she took advantage of the fact I was distracted and snuck into the bouncy house for the big kids, and loved it even more.

 She came out of the bounce house long enough to do some of the art activities.  And take this picture -

with our most favorite nurse Molly!

And this one -

with Kean's mom and sisters, who were taking a break from the hospital to join in on the fun.  A few days after this photo, Kean was released from the hospital and is now officially in remission.

Emily and I spent that night in a hotel, enjoyed the pool in the morning before flying to Iowa to spend the next two weeks.

She has been asking for months to fly in an airplane, and was absolutely thrilled to go on this trip.  She slept the entire flight from Boise to Minneapolis, and played quietly on the flight from there to Des Moines.  During the layover, she kept talking about all the pirates.  Took me awhile to figure out that she was really talking about the pilots!  And flying really became not such a big deal compared to the tram she got to ride on and the moving sidewalks that kept her entertained while we waited for the flight to Iowa.