Welcome to our Yurt!

We went "camping" in Virginia last week. We had a great time in our Yurt!!

This the "grilling deck".

Here is the "reading deck". Which didn't get to enjoy with Allison running around, and testing the all safety aspects of the deck! 

Let's head inside! Here is Allison testing out the couch.

Our kitchen!! I explained to Allison that all 'tents' should be equipped with matching stainless steel appliances.  

The "out house". Another of my favorite features, showers with hot water!

Jim and I practiced "roughing it" by not turning on the the flat screen in the evenings. It was strictly back to nature for us!

Allison's room- the fake tree really brought the outdoors in for her!

That was our yurt for the week. When weren't enjoying hanging out on the deck. We were walking all around the "camp ground".

Allison and Daddy on the one of the play grounds. This was Allison's favorite slide at the resort. She asked for the "side" every morning.

Allison sized rocking chairs were a big hit.

Headed to the lake to "honk-honk" at the geese. It was really windy, as you can see. I pushed my glassed up on my head. So, Allison had to do the same. 

Allison's first pony ride!! Mommy was very excited! Allison was an old pro! She didn't mind the helmet, and wasn't afraid of the horse!

I hope this is only the first of many horse adventures we'll have together! 

They had so many animals around the barn-chickens, roosters, ducks, peacocks, goats, cats, and several breeds of horses! We started each morning with a walk to the barn. I really miss being around animals (and grass)! This was such a great experience for our city girl. 

Lastly, the awesome pool deck! I thought it looked much better in person. For some reason the pictures don't do it justice!! They had 3 pools, and 2 huge spa tubs. Plus, a great splash fountain for the little kids! We never made it to the pool, maybe next time! 

So, that was our week of "camping" in VA! 

Cousins.....

Allison was able to spend time with all of her cousins this summer. This post is LONG over due. But I figure better late than never. Also, I'd like to share some photos before the Holidays are here!!

Aunt Leah brought Camille and Eddison to visit us all the way from Florida! Uncle Joe was deployed to Iraq for seven months. Leah was brave enough to load the minivan and kids onto the autotrain to travel to the North East for a world wind visit with friends, family and all the grandparents!!

Allison got to meet Cousin Eddie for the first time! He is a Very happy little guy. I think the only time he was upset was when Allison or big sister Camille bumped into him. He was really fun to have around!
Allison and Camille played with the bubble machine in the front yard. They had fun until a cloud of mosquitoes almost carried them away (the kids, not the bubbles).
The girls heading to Lincoln Park for some fun in the sun! They had a great time climbing, rocking, sliding and jumping around!

Connor hits a homer!! We spent time with cousin Connor on the 4th of July. He impressed us with his baseball hitting skills!

Here he is taking a rest brake to pose for some pictures...
Then back to baseball. Watch out-looks Allison is next to bat!

It was so great to spend time with everyone this summer!! Hopefully, we will all be together again soon.

Allison and the "at"

Allison LOVES animals!! She loves big animals and small animals alike. We visited my friend Lori in PA. She has a very pretty cat named Shookey. But Allison just calls him "at". In fact she yelled "at" every time he walked in the room!She liked to get very close to his face and say: "at, at, at, yeah at, at, see a at, see a at........" He was a good sport about all the stalking and tail grabbing that he endured during our visit. Allison took to grabbing his tail and holding on with a death grip!! Like it was a rodeo event, and she had to hold on for 8 seconds or get disqualified. So, that meant I was the acting rodeo clown in the house. Each time Allison grabbed his tail. I had to run over. Try to remove her hand from his tail and sacrifice my hand/arm for the cat to attack as he tried to break free!!
Shookey taught Allison to feed him his food one piece at a time. He is a very smart cat!

Harnessing the power of iPhone!

Okay, I finally took some time to figure out how to get pictures off the phone and on to the lap top!! So, I'll get back to blogging now! My old phone couldn't take pictures. I love being able to snap shots of Allison while we're running around town. These pics are of Allison at our park-aka backyard.

Here is the climbing wall. It'll be a while before Allison can tackle it solo but she's working on it!!
Making beautiful music or at least really loud sounds. Which always sounds good to Allison's ears.
Climbing the stairs without Mommy's help. It's been hard for me to stay off the equipment and let Allison learn how to maneuver around without holding my hand. She's doing pretty well and it's fun to watch her problem solve.
This was on the way to the park. She had to walk and take her bucket with her favorite ball in it!
I have several other outings to post! I'll add them soon!!

Pink Crocs

It has been raining for days here! This morning it was cloudy but no rain. We headed for "The Race for a Cure" on the National Mall. Allison loved the big crowds and the pink stuff. But most of all, she loved the mud puddles.... It was the perfect occasion to brake in her new pink Crocs! They were made for splashing in puddles. And that's just what she did!

Most people walking by thought it was cute she was playing in the puddles. I personally thought it was long over due! Growing up in Arkansas we were always outside. After (or during) a good rain we would make mud pies and splash in puddles. However, good mud puddles are hard to find in the city!! But the gravel path on the mall has the perfect ratio of water, rocks and sand/dirt for a good time!

I was pretty happy that I put the brown pants on her today! It would have been challenging to get this much "fun" out of pink pants!

Here are some videos of her in action!

Here is Allison telling Aunt Tomi about more doggies. Allison really likes to talk on the phone. Girls will be girls!

Doggy, Doggy Doggy......

We took Allison to the National Zoo http://nationalzoo.si.edu/default.cfm last Tuesday evening. The zoo stays open until 8pm in the summer. So, we loaded up the stroller and hopped on the metro to the Zoo. The weather was wonderful. We barely broke a sweat, even though we walked a couple of miles round trip. We managed to keep Allison in her stroller until we were inside the zoo. We had to release her immediately upon entry!! She loves to walk and now run, as well. Here she is pointing out birds to her Dad. She can say/sign bird. So, we hear a lot about birds from Allison!! More birds.....

Here she is looking at one of the MANY doggies in the zoo. Allison can say/sign doggy, bird and squirrel (she says/signs other words but these are her animal words). So, most animals fall into one of these categories. The National Zoo is mostly filled with doggies and birds. Allison shouted doggy at most of the animals we saw-elephants, hippo, horses, gorilla, wild pigs, etc! It was pretty amusing.

On the look out for more doggies and birds.

She found the prairie dogs and their lair!

Allison had tons for fun crawling around in the kid size "hamster tubes". She has no fear! She crawled in and made her way through the tunnels! She finally came out and we were off to see more of the zoo!

We stopped for some posing and rest on a large rock. But not for long!

Next, we stopped at the huge foam pizza! This thing is really cool! I had to go in the pizza and rescue some little boy's trucks from Allison. She just walked over to him and gently took his toys away. He didn't seem to upset but Allison wasn't going to give them back on her own.

The kids can play on the pizza, jump around, fall down and no one gets hurt. Allison took a few good tumbles but didn't miss a beat!

Finally, we were all tired and hungry. We loaded up and headed back to the metro for home. I know it looks a little crazy to wear her and push the stroller. But when we head out into the city for a few hours. It's the only way to take everything we need and keep her happy for an extended outing. When she is tired and doesn't want to get back in the stroller. The ergo carrier works great. Also, when we stop to talk to people. She is at eye level with them and I think she likes that, too! (plus, it's great for the calf muscles-i.e. burning off ice cream/brownie calories!!)

I'm sure we'll have lots of post about zoo visits this summer. We didn't get to see all the "doggies" on this trip. We'll have to come back soon. Maybe during the morning, when they are all out and about!

Silly Girl!!

Here are some pictures of Allison, being Allison!! Like most toddlers, she is busy, busy ,busy!! She keeps me laughing each and every day! I never know what funny thing she will be doing or wearing when I turn around.... First we have "lobster hands" She often does funny things while I'm washing dishes and my back is turned. She ransacked the oven mitt drawer and was prepared to remove hot dishes from the oven. Unfortunately, we weren't baking anything at the time. Sailing camp at Washington Marina http://www.washingtonsailingmarina.com/index.html I think it will be another year or two before Allison is ready to set sail. But she enjoyed seeing the boats, birds and airplanes. The airport is just across the water, on the other side of the marina. Many families come to watch the boats and planes come in and out. The kids seem to really like all the activity going on in the area.

Allison off on an adventure to where ever she can travel by the U.S. postal service. I don't think they give out drinks or snacks on their flights! I should throw some munchies in with her.

Sad looking, no hair Mohawk. We'll get there someday. Her hair is getting thicker but not much longer.

Please notice the rings around her ankles. They are the stacking rings that go on the post. You know, the stacking toy that every child has in their toy box. Well, Allison wore them as bracelets for several weeks. Then one morning, she decided they should be worn as ankle bracelets. They slide on very easily when she is wearing the footie PJ's.

Sorry for all the side view pictures but she moves to quickly for me to get many pictures of her looking at the camera. Hope you find a few of these as funny as I did!!

Happy Easter

Last night the Easter Bunny (me) and Jim colored and filled eggs for the egg hunt today. Of course, I asked Jim if he wanted to help and of course he didn't want to help. So, I began coloring pretty eggs for the egg hunt. Then Jim remember. He could mix the colors and make ugly colors to taunt me with. He was able to control himself and only make one "ugly egg". Which wasn't actually ugly. It just was just rather dark. He was happy with his creation. Here is Allison in garden at church "hunting eggs". I put one in her basket and she got the idea. It was pretty crazy with all the 0-4 years and parents in the side garden. The big kids were in the large garden in the back. It was quite chilly this morning. So, we got a few eggs and headed for the car.

Since it was Easter. The church was packed, and so were the streets. We had to walk several blocks to get to the car. Allison discovered one of her eggs made noise when she shook it. So, we walked at a snails pace as she shook her egg.

Sorry, these are out of order...here is Allison in the nursery. She holds court at the snack table. She usually gets upset when I leave to go upstairs. But not today! She made her way around the table to a seat and began to gorge herself on cheerios and goldfish. It is embarrassing!! The caretakers must think I don't feed her before I bring her to the nursery. Each week, when I sneak down to check on her. She is hovering at the table eating snacks like it's only chance to fill up for the week!! She doesn't get goldfish at home for this very reason. She would live on crackers and cheese, if I let her!! If she knows we have crackers in cupboards. That is all she wants to eat and mealtime is a power struggle. I'm sure you all know how that turns out!

Back at home with no major dirt disasters!! Her dress is still pink and tights are still white. Truely, an Easter miracle ;)!!

Happy Easter! Love Jim, Toga & Allison

Maundy Thursday

Our Church celebrates Maundy Thursday with a potluck dinner and evening service. Jim was away and the dinner/service was to late for Allison. But Allison and I took a dessert for our friends to enjoy after the supper. The weather was wonderful. So, I took some pictures of Allison in the front garden when we got home. She gave some big smiles for the people walking by when we were outside.

As you can see above. I did manage to get a few good pictures of Allison. However, I have hundreds of her looking at the ground!! Whenever I put her down and try to take pictures. There is always something on the ground that catches her eye!! On this occasion it was the dirt/mulch in the front yard. I had to take several pictures and move her around the yard to distract her from the dirt. She loves to entertain in person but she hasn't caught onto the camera thing yet. She smiles, flirts and talks to everyone when we're out. But you can't tell that from our photo collection.