summer fun - part 1

Oh, summertime! Such a great time of year. We have been so very busy this summer...I don't even know where to start. I think I will just start at the beginning. Olivia loves playgrounds. I think she goes at least once a week to visit one of her favorite playgrounds. Her Daddy usually takes her after he picks her up from the baby sitter so I am usually not with them. One Friday we both picked her up and headed to a huge park in our area. It was a beautiful evening and Olivia had a great time!

She even made a friend that day. There was an adorable little boy there with his Daddy (I can't remember his name, but he sure was cute). Olivia, being the social butterfly that she is, immediately started talking to him and seeing if he wanted to play with her. Before I knew it they were going down the slides together and picking flowers in the field. I just love watching little kids interact with one another. They ran around together for quite awhile before it was time to go.

So far our weather has not been too hot this summer. We have had a few steamy days, but overall it has been perfect. What better thing to do on a nice summer day than enjoy an ice cream cone? After visiting the park that night we grabbed some dinner and some ice cream before heading home. In the past Olivia has always shared things with us. Well not anymore. She is only interested in having "her own" of everything. There was no way she was going to share an ice cream cone with one of us. So we decided that she could probably handle her own little cone. Do I even need to tell you how much she enjoyed it? I think these pictures say it all!

When she finished the cone I asked her where it went. She said, "Mommy, it went in my belly...see?" I was surprised how little of a mess she made while eating her cone. I figured she would be covered in ice cream, but she ate it so fast there was no time for it to melt all over her. Big surprise there! But I just had to kiss her big ice cream covered face when she was done.

Another favorite activity of Olivia's this summer has been swimming. We have been spending a lot of time at Uncle VJ's pool. It is a great way to cool off and a great way for Olivia to burn energy. Not to mention that she absolute loves to swim! I know I have mentioned that because of her many swimming lessons she has become very confident in water. All she needs is her swim vest and she is good to go. No need for Mom and Dad to hang around trying to help. Nope...not interested!

Olivia had a swimming buddy that day too. Jack had come over for a swim as well. Jack is my sister in law's niece's boy (got that?) and he is very close in age to Olivia. He was not as confident in the water as Olivia but he was more than happy to sit on the step with her and splash around, and she was more than happy to take a break from swimming to play with him.

One of her favorite things to do is jump off the edge. She will do it over and over until she is out of breath! I am just amazed by how fearless she is in the pool. I think those swimming lessons really paid off. Although I get a little nervous by how confident she is I think I would rather her love the water than be deathly afraid of stepping into a pool. A big thanks to Uncle VJ and Aunt Chris for letting us come over anytime to cool off and take a dip!

Another one of Olivia's favorite summer activities is taking trips to the zoo. The African Journey is now open and I hear it is wonderful. Todd has taken Olivia a few times, but I have yet to see the newest addition to our great zoo. I hope to go soon though. I cannot even count how many times Olivia has been to the zoo this season so far. She even got to spend the day at the zoo with her Montessori teacher from this past year. She loves all of the animals but is even more fascinated with the rides. Aside from the carousel, her favorite thing to do is ride the horses. She has a favorite mini horse that she tries to ride each time. Her name is Gayle and she is great!

We are only half way through the summer and I know we have already gotten our money's worth out of our zoo pass. Such a great summer activity! Well those are some of the fun things we have been up to so far this summer. I have lots more to share but I am going to save the rest for my next post. I have some great pictures from The Forth of July, a recent trip to the lake and Olivia's new favorite toy. It is hard to believe that the summer is half way over already! I think it is safe to say that Olivia has enjoyed every second of it so far!