Fireworks

Well, I guess I'm a little late with my Independence Day post... Oh, well, at least it is still July!

We had such a great day. We spent the day at some of our friends, and Natalie had a blast running around in the yard playing with new and interesting toys.

After we put Natalie to bed, we sat on our deck and watched the firework show that our almost-neighbor (across the field) put on: Oooh...

Ahhhh...


Wow!

Happy Independence day!

How old are you?

Lately, Natalie loves to hold up two fingers and tell us "I'm two!"

Here's a conversation we had the other night:

Natalie: (holding up two fingers) I'm two!
Me: That's right. Do you know how old Mommy is?
Natalie: I don't know. Tell me.
Me: I'm 35.
Natalie: Doubting look.
Me: Do you know how old that is?
Natalie: (Looking very concentrated at her hand, holding up two fingers) Two... (Holding up three fingers) Three... (Holding up four fingers, she looked up at me with a Eureka expression on her face) Is this 35?

Concert in the park

Recently, Natalie and I had a day off together. And it worked out so that there was a "Concert in the park" downtown. I asked if she wanted to go, and she said yes. At first, she was a little disappointed. I had told her we were going to the park, and yet there were no swings or slides! But soon, she saw the ice cream truck, and all was right with the world again: We had a great time with our picnic lunch, with the kids area artwork, and just listening to the music together.

At the beach, version two

Last weekend, we went to our "local" beach. The swimming facility is about 20 minutes drive from our house, but it was soo worth the short drive!
Natalie loved playing in the sand and water, and Karsten got some really cool pictures:

Jump!

Hanging in thin air!

Splash!

Such a big smile!

Karsten also got a little video of Natalie just exploring and having fun.

Enjoy!

At the beach

On our vacation, we were close to a little stretch of beach. Natalie really enjoyed it!

By the way, does anyone see parenting mistake #1 in this picture:

Yay - sand and water! This is great!

Of course, the mistake is that Natalie is still in her regular clothes. We quickly corrected that, because you really need to be in your swimsuit to be able to do this:

Washing hands!

And this: Building a sandcastle!

And this: Splash, splash!

And that evening, we had dinner at an outdoor restaurant right by the water. The weather was beautiful! Natalie even got her own "kiddie-cocktail":
Yummi!

At the farm

Our first stop on our vacation was at "the farm". Natalie liked looking at all the animals and feeding them corn, though she didn't really want to pet them.

There was sooo much to see. Like a fully functioning, old fashioned water pump:

Look, Daddy, I'm pumping water!

Of course, what would a farm be without a tractor:
Vroom, vroom!

We also had a family picnic at lunchtime:

Cheese!

But some of the best parts were just spending time together, exploring the beautiful area:

Natalie and Daddy, going for a walk.

Vacation

Last week, we went on vacation. A real family vacation, complete with a car drive and a hotelroom to sleep in. It may not sound like that big of a deal, but it was the first time we tried it, so...

I made a "survival bag" for the car ride, just in case. You know, lots of books, cd's, those marker thingies that only mark on certain paper, and of course, candy. After all, I was counting on having to keep Natalie happy in her carseat for at least an hour or two...

To keep it all organized, I used a computer bag. It was really quite perfect, with lots of little pockets to keep it all organized. But Karsten thought it was pretty funny, especially with the lollipops neatly lined up in the penholders:

Computer bag turned Mommy-bag!

Well, turns out we didn't really need all the entertaiment. Natalie had a great time just talking and looking out the window, and sleeping some of the way, too.

And yes, we had great vacation - but that's a story for another post...