Oakland Zoo

This past Saturday was member's night at the zoo and it's always a fun night. Abigail was most impressed with being able to touch a tenric and even got up the nerve to ride the roller coaster with Daddy. She has been talking about this for months but always decides not to at the last minute. This time we kind of made her go and she was nervous while waiting in line, but loved it after she was done. The look on her face, see photo below, was priceless. I should note that Jeremy doesn't normally look this crazy!

Olivia Laughing

Took this one while at the zoo. The screaming in the background is of the roller coaster, which Abigail rode! I will post pictures later.

Funny Sayings and the Water Park

We went to the Antioch Water Park last week. Abigail had a blast, Olivia was an angel and spent most of the day sleeping, and the fudge bar at the end of the day was a huge hit (and mess). It was Sports Day there and the website said that if you wore a team jersey that you could get $2 off admission. I am always a sucker for a deal, but didn't have any jerseys. So, Abigail and I sported a Bangladesh cricket shirt and Route 66/Winston shirt that Aunt Gail got us from overseas. We got our discount! It was a beautiful day to be at the pool. I had some other friends there that helped watch Abigail while I fed Olivia, which was a huge help. We were in the car about two minutes heading home when Abigail asked to go back to the water park the next day. I included a video of her going down one of the slides at the end of this posting.

Last Thursday evening I had dinner with some of the ladies from our church. Everyone brought a dish and it was so delicious. I left Olivia with Jeremy since it was only going to be a few hours and it was such a quiet, peaceful meal. Jeremy had graciously invited many of the daddies and their kids over to our house to grill out, so when I came home the house looked like an explosion had gone off and there were kids running everywhere screaming. It was a stark contrast to the relaxed mommies that I had just left :) Needless to say, I am very thankful for a husband that lets me get out once in a while!

The next morning Abigail was telling me about some of the kids who were throwing rocks the evening before, and I quote, "Zoe, Preston, and Bobby were having troubles, but I was really great, I didn't do anything bad". Really great...now I doubt that but it was really funny the way she phrased her view of the events.

We have good friends from church that live 10 houses down from us. Last night they invited us over to watch a movie outside on their homemade big screen. We decided to try it with both kids. Olivia slept the whole time on my chest. Mike had set up a tent in the backyard and the idea was that Vincent and Abigail could play in there while we watched the movie 17 Again. Abigail ended up watching more of the movie than I would have thought, so I don't know that we are going to be doing that again. However, she was most impressed with the evening and announced, after reminding me that Daddy got her popcorn three times!, that she liked camping. Well I don't know if it was camping but they did have fun giggling in the tent together.

Last Wednesday I watched Vincent and Abigail for a little bit while his mom had a doctor's appointment. It was warm so I let the kids play in the sprinkler for an hour or so. Vincent has decided he prefers Speedos and had on the smallest Spiderman Speedo that I have ever seen. It was adorable and hilarious. At one point I went in to check on Olivia and came back out to Abigail laughing loudly at a totally naked Vincent throwing his tiny Speedo around the yard. What must our neighbors think! It only came back on after I threatened that he would have to come inside.

August

Here are some photos from the beginning of this month. The below is of Olivia in her cute dress that I made. I was inspired by this website. http://madebyrae.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-itty-bitty-baby-dress-pattern.html The dress is actually fairly easy to make and makes a great gift.

This past Thursday was Olivia's first outing to the zoo. She did great, as usual, and Abigail and her buddies had a blast. The last time I was there I was eight months pregnant, so it felt good to walk around without feeling winded all of the time. We all ended up on the train at the end, another first for Olivia.

The girls were so tired from the zoo that they both feel asleep in the stroller during our run that evening.

Here's a great shot of Olivia's double chin!

More Happenings

Jeremy had a birthday last Monday and we celebrated with dinner at home and ice cream pie, which was inspired by the amazing occurrence of peanut butter oreos (a most yummy invention). Abigail and I bought him some new shirts and it was a nice evening at home.

This is a funny photo of the girls. Abigail often asks to hold baby without my assistance and I prop them up in the corner of the couch and stay very close by. Abigail is sporting pj's from Aunt Ruth. She sent us a huge box of clothes from Carters and they are all adorable. Olivia will be well decked out this fall and next summer, and Abigail is so excited about wearing her new jeans and pj's.

This week was the first time that I got both girls in my double jogging stroller. The thing is huge and takes up most of the sidewalk and it's a workout just pushing it to the corner but I did manage to slowly get through about two miles, which felt great.

Vacation

We just got back from a lovely two weeks at Jeremy's folks lake house on Bass Lake in Michigan. There was lots of tubing, skiing, kayaking, cornholing (a lawn game involving throwing bean bags at a target), and family fellowship action and it was a blast. Here are some photos from the trip.


Lake Michigan


Flower Girl Dress for Vanessa's Wedding

Doctor's Visit

Just wanted to give the grandmas an update about the visit.....Today, Olivia weighed in at 11 pounds 8 ounces and in the 96% percentile for height. She is actually considered a little underweight given her height, but the doctor says it's fine. She got three shots and another oral vaccine. The doctor says she has blocked tear ducts and one of her eyes is quite goopy, but otherwise was given a clean bill of health. Abigail did great at the appointment and was most impressed with the toddler sized potty (we had to go twice since it was so cool).