summer fun - part 2

OK, so our summer fun continues. I am going to start all the way back to 4th of July weekend. We did not really have any plans for the holiday and it turned out to be sort of a crappy day weather wise, so at the last minute we decided to invite my Mom and some family friends over to our house for a cookout. Unfortunately we could not really cook out because it was raining but after dinner we were able to sneak outside and do some sparklers for Olivia. Now Olivia is not a fan of fireworks. In fact she dislikes all loud noises, so I knew that she would not be interested in anything that made noise. I thought that sparklers would be a safe bet because they are fun to look at and are pretty harmless. I figured she would not want to be any where near them but would love to watch them from a distance. Boy, was I wrong. Our brave girl decided she would hold a sparkler all on her own. It took me a minute to be comfortable with the idea, but she was very careful and they were very safe sparklers. Check her out in her red, white and blue dress. So patriotic!

Bad weather aside, it turned out to be a fun night. As soon as the loud neighborhood fireworks started Olivia decided she had enough and walked herself upstairs to bed. I am not a fan of fireworks myself. It is not the fireworks as much as it is the noise they make, so I cannot blame her for being afraid. In case you forgot here is Olivia first reaction to fireworks during her first 4th of July.The next day we drove up to Michigan to spend the day at the lake of our close family friends, The Fortes. We have taken Olivia there a few times before but this the first year I knew she would really enjoy everything. She spent most of her day playing in the sand. The Fortes have lots of grand kids so there were tons of sand toys for her to play with. She would get covered in sand and then just walk to the edge of the lake to rinse off. She loves playing in the sand but she is not a big fan of having sand all over her body. Yet another trait she picked up from her mother.

Olivia's favorite part of the day was when Papa Fred took her out for a boat ride. She has never been on a boat before so she wasn't sure what to think at first. Once the boat started picking up speed she would just squeal with delight. She especially liked all of the bumps the boat would make when we would hit the wake of other boats. We sat together at the front of the boat and snuggled as we whipped around the lake. She had a great time!

After a full day of playing it was time for a snack. She was treated to a nice big bowl of ice cream. I don't think I have to tell you how much she enjoyed that. It was a fun filled day at the lake and she crashed hard once we got home.

Another new adventure for Olivia this summer has been her newest, favorite toy. After seeing this toy at a friend's house my Mom decided that Olivia must own one. So the next day Todd and I rushed out and got Olivia her very own sink table. The first time Olivia played with the sink table her dress was removed so that we could avoid it getting soaked with water. Because we did that one time she now refuses to play with it unless we remove her shirt first. After Nana bought the sink table for Olivia, Olivia thanked her and asked if she would like to come over sometime and play with her. My Mom said of course and Olivia replied by saying, "Great...but you have to take off your shirt!". Oh, the mind of a two year old.

One day Olivia was really into her make believe while playing with the sink table. I rushed outside and took a little video of her. She likes to pretend she is making tea and soup and then serve it to people. I asked her what she was doing and this was her reply...

In case you had trouble hearing what she was saying, she told me that she was making tea, milk...wine and beer! When I asked her where she learned about that she said, "Nana taught me." I was shocked that she knew anything about wine and beer and it is obvious that my Mom is not spending time teaching my daughter about various alcoholic beverages. She does know that we like to drink wine and that Daddy sometimes has a beer, but we have made it clear to her that those drinks are for adults and not for children. Although I laugh hysterically each time I watch that video, I am nervous that one day at school, when asked what she is doing she will tell the teacher, "I am making wine and beer." That would be an interesting conversation with the teacher. What I have learned is that there is nothing that Olivia does not absorb. Her mind is like a sponge and once you tell her something, she never forgets!

A few other things that we have done this summer include attending a Tin Caps baseball game for my company picnic. This was our first time seeing a game at the new stadium and it was great until the rain came and ruined our fun. Luckily we had already eaten our food and been able to enjoy a few innings before making a mad dash to the car. The good news is that we got to turn in our tickets for another game and we will be taking Olivia back in a few weeks.

We have also been enjoying a ton of fresh vegetables from our garden this summer. We are growing tomatoes, peas, beans, cucumber, lettuce, peppers and basil. Olivia is a HUGE vegetable eater so she is enjoying the freshness of eating things straight from the garden. She loves nothing more than helping me pick things, immediately washing them with the hose and popping them right into her mouth. If it were up to her she would even eat the green tomatoes. It was hard to make her understand that only the red ones are good to eat. I am amazed by how big some of our veggies have gotten, especially the green beans. Check it out...

I love that I can feed Olivia fresh vegetables from our very own garden. I am hoping that in the next few years she will become more involved with the planting and maintenance of the garden.
She calls it her garden, but I have done all of the work.

It has been a crazy busy summer. I have even more to share but it will have to wait for future posts. Olivia is about to finish her summer camp program at her school. She has had such a great time. I have a ton of pictures to share from all of her adventures. We have also been busy helping my Mom get settled in her new place. She not only retired from teaching this year, but she also moved out of the home she lived in for 30+ years and into a very nice condo, just a hop-skip-and a jump from us. We have been celebrating her retirement while working to make her new place feel like home. She has a lot to look forward to in her retirement, including spending more time with Olivia! It is hard to believe that the summer is almost over, but so far it has been fantastic!