Sunday, August 22, 2010

Concert at the Botanical Garden

A couple of weeks ago, Natalie and I went to a concert at the Botanical Garden. The music was kinda folksy, just a three person band. The weather was beautiful, warm but not too warm, just a perfect summer evening. And the surroundings were, of course, beautiful too.

The band

We brought a picnic dinner and sat on a blanket in front of the stage. I had expected Natalie to hang in there for maybe two or three songs, and I was prepared to call it good after that. But to my surprise, she was really into it!

"I'll just put my foot up in the air while I eat this banana and listen to the music!"

At intermission, we went exploring. Natalie really liked the fountain behind the musicians: "Look how big it is!"

"I'm up to trouble..."

We actually stayed for the whole concert - one and a half hour. And afterwards, we went exploring on the curvy paths in the garden. Natalie loved finding out what was around the next corner. If the garden hadn't been closing, I'm sure we would have stayed for another hour or two!

"Look, Mommy, he's playing music for her."

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Rainbow(s)

What is missing from this picture: One pretty rainbow

A pretty girl with a rainbow on her shirt:

Another pretty rainbow

This is much better:

Two pretty rainbows!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Another day at the zoo

My company invited employees and their families to "a night at the zoo". It was a beautiful evening. Natalie thoroughly enjoyed the view:

I can see from miles up here!

Of course, the icecream was also a hit:

Yummi!

And she even waited patiently for the trainride:

This is a nice bench!

I got lots of pictures from the night, but these three really show off what a nice evening it was. We enjoyed seing the animals and just spending time together. I'm sure we'll be back soon!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Vroom, vroom

Sometimes, a weekend day is best spent at home. In our jammies. Playing silly games, and making things out of big cardboard boxes.

Here's Natalie's new "wheels":

"Vroom, vroom. Honk!"

Monday, August 16, 2010

Summer-time is water-time

Lately, we've had lots of warm days around here. And what better way to spend them than in the "pool"!

"Hi!"

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Relaxing...

Here's Natalie's new way of using the rocker...

So relaxing!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Smile

Here are a few additional pictures from breakfast on our mini-vacation: Let's make silly faces!

Let's show Daddy our silly faces!

Or we could just smile...

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

At the hotel

On our mini-vacation, we stayed at a hotel/waterpark. The room was very nice. Natalie had her own section with a pull out sleeper. And she loved laying in her own bed, watching tv and eating a snack: This is very relaxing!

And the hotel had story time on their "grand staircase" for all the kids at bedtime:

Listening to the stories... This is pretty exciting!

After bedtime, while Natalie was pretending to sleep in her pull out bed, Karsten and I had a little time to just sit on the balcony with a glass of wine and relax. Nice to have a little quiet time for us, too.

The next morning we had breakfast at the breakfast buffet, and Natalie got to choose anything she would like to eat:

Yummi!

Yep, we really enjoyed it.

We didn't bring the camera to the waterpark, only a single use waterproof camera. I haven't had those pictures developed yet - I'll post some when I do - if they are any good that is. Remember back in the days, when you always had to wait to get the film developed before you found out how your pictures turned out...? That's so hard to imagine - we get so spoiled with the digital cameras nowadays!

Anyway, the vacation was a big succes. It was great to have a little get-away. We had so much fun, both at the Zoo, at the waterpark, and just hanging out and enjoying "having a sleepover" at the hotel.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

At the Big Zoo

The first stop on our mini-vacation was at the Big Zoo. Not the one we usually go to, but the one in the nearest bigger city. It still had the fun seats, though:
Hi!

Natalie saw the horsies, and she asked to get to ride one:
Lookit, I'm riding on a real horse!

We had time to just hang out:

Smile for the camera!

And Natalie wanted Daddy to feed the goats, though she didn't really want to try it herself:

Silly goat, there's some food on the ground right over there!

One of the last things we did before we left the Zoo was to ride the train. Natalie was really tired by this time, but she still really liked it:

Let's go for a ride!

And we finished our stay at the Zoo with another snack of the frozen dairy kind:

Yummi!

We had such a great time, I hope we'll go back again sometime!

Monday, August 2, 2010

A healthy breakfast

On our vacation, we had about a two hour drive. On the way, we stopped to pick up some breakfast to eat in the car:
A frozen dairy product - that's gotta be healthy, right?!?

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Packing up for vacation

A few weeks ago, we went on a short family vacation. Natalie was a great help while we were packing:

Thick wintersocks, mittens, hat, jacket... And we weren't even going anywhere cold...!