Labor Day 2011

For Labor Day, we loaded up the truck and headed to Missouri to visit Mamma, Papa and all of my aunts, uncles and cousins at the lake.  We drove in late Wednesday night and stayed until Monday.  We had a GREAT time.  The first few days were really hot, so we spent lots of time in the lake.  (which I loved)  We also did some shopping and I got to spend lots of quality time with Mamma, Papa, Gigi, Poppy, and my cousins and aunts and uncles.  We also celebrated Charlie's 2nd birthday and on the last night we had Wisconsin night.  For Wisconsin night, mommies brought different kinds of cheeses and brats for everyone to enjoy.  To top the night off, we roasted marshmallows and had s'mores for dessert.  What a fun ending to a terrific long weekend!

Having lunch with Mamma.

Jetskiing with Mommy.

Boat ride in Papa's fishing boat with Mamma and Papa.

Playing on the swim island.

Mommy helping me with a craft during Charlie's birthday party.

Jake helping me pin the nose on the giraffe during the party.  Jake's so sweet to me!!

Lunch with my cousins.

Giving cousin Reagan a hug.  :)

I love floating on my back!

Enjoying a cold beverage after a long afternoon swimming in the lake.

Jetskiing with Mamma.  I went on a lot of jetski rides.  Whenever the driver would try to stop, I'd give them the sign for "more"!

Enjoying some delicious Wisconsin cheese in Missouri.

Hanging out with Mamma, Reagan and Cale.

Mommy loves my face in this one.

Mama helping me roast my marshmallow.  Mama's the ultimate marshmallow roaster!

Me and Mamma.

Charlie and I sneaking off to enjoy our s'mores.

Enjoying my last few sweet bites of s'mores before heading to bed then heading home early the next morning!  See you over Thankgiving, lake!



My Baptism Anniversary

Monday, August 29th was the anniversary of my baptism.  To celebrate and remember my special day, mommies had frozen some of the cupcakes from my baptism party last year, so we enjoyed those after dinner.  Here are a few pictures of me and my cupcake.  Mommies found one of these pictures to be particularly cute/funny.  I have this new "funny" face that I make when mommies ask me to, and it cracks them up! 

Yummy!



My new "funny" face.  :)

The Great Minnesota Get-Together!

On Sunday morning, mommies woke up really early and were trying to decide what to do for the day.  Mommy threw out the idea of going to the fair, and like that, we were up and out of bed and rushing out of the house to get there early enough to try to beat the crowds.

Mommy had only been once and Mama hadn't been to the fair in a long time, so I think they were both REALLY excited.

The fair was HUGE.  Bigger than either of them remembered.  We started by walking around and just trying to figure out what all we wanted to see.  The first ride we went on was some boat that went through dark tunnels.  We're not really sure what that was all about.  :)  After that, we made our way to the giant slide.  Following the slide, we headed to the butterfly exhibit, then to the Rainbow playsets.  (one of my favorite "exhibits")  :)  We finished up the day looking at some animals and finally making our way to all of the games.  We won a few prizes in the game area, but the biggest of all was when Mommy threw a tiny ring around a soda bottle and won me a HUGE giraffe.  We named him Bobby.  He's almost as tall as Mommies! 

All in all, it was a very fun day and I can't wait to go back next year!  (hopefully some time during the week - it gets CROWDED!!)

Me and Mommy on the big slide.



Looking a little nervous in this one.  It was faster than Mommy expected!

Posing.

Me and Mama in the butterfly exhibit.  Look at the butterfly on her shoulder!

Checking out the rainbow exhibit.

I'll take this one!

Much more fun (and less scary) than the big slide.

Strolling along with my bucket of Sweet Martha's cookies.

Mommy posing with Bobby after her big win!  (I'm in the background trying to throw a few rings myself)  :)

Bobby was too big to carry, so I shared my stroller with him.  I'm offering him a cookie in this one.

Reading to Bobby at home.

Giving Bobby a kiss.

Showing Bobby how we kiss the mouse when reading Goodnight Moon.

Big hug for Bobby!!

Night at the Cabin with the Nelsons!

On Friday night, we headed up to the cabin and invited the Nelsons to come with us.  We had a great time while we were there.  We got there pretty late on Friday afternoon, so we didn't have time to swim or do much on Friday, but me and Aftin and Bailee spent the evening getting comfortable with the cabin and eating bratwursts on the deck.  We all went to bed really easily which made the grown-ups happy.

I'm not sure what the grown-ups did while we were all sleeping, but they looked awfully tired the next morning.  :)  On Saturday, we swam in the lake for a while, then took naps while the parents cleaned up the cabin.  After that, we headed to Cumberland for the Rutabaga Festival.  It was a fun time with lots of rides and good food!

Unfortunately, mommies were terrible about remembering to take pictures at the cabin, so all they have is one of me walking up to the cabin (more like "running" - I was REALLY excited!!) and one of me (and they think Bailee?  Can't see her face in the picture) playing in the cabin.

So happy to be here!

Me and Bailee roaming around the cabin.

August Birthday Celebration at the Cabin!

Last Saturday we headed to the cabin to swim, eat and, most importantly, to celebrate August birthdays!  (for Grace (7), Lucy (5) and Ella (2))  We had SUCH a fun day.  I only napped for about 30 minutes on the way to the cabin, but that didn't slow me down.  The second we got there, I was a swimming and playing machine!  We swam for a couple of hours, then headed up to the cabin to eat lunch.  (thanks for grilling, Aunt Kelly!)  After lunch, we swam some more, then headed up to dry off, eat some cake and open presents.  After presents, while the adults were cleaning up, us kids ran around the yard and had fun with cousin Wayne.  I also found this old fishing pole on the ground and would dig it in the dirt, lift it up and scream "gaaaaah!", then start to giggle when all of my cousins would laugh.  Mommy was watching it and found the whole scene to be strange and hilarious all at the same time.  :) 

We left late in the afternoon, and I fell asleep in the car at around 6PM and proceeded to sleep until 8AM the next morning!  I barely even woke up for mommies to put me in my pajamas and put me to bed.  I guess that's the sign of a GREAT day!

Saying "cheese" for the camera!  :)

Testing out the water wings.

Lounging.

Hamming it up for the camera.

Me and my girl cousins getting ready for cake.  (they couldn't get a picture of all of us, so Leyton, Cal and Luca are missing in this one ... sorry boys!)

Roller Coaster Fun at Grandma & Grandpa's!

I spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa McNamara's yesterday, and after feeding the chickens and playing with my cousins Leyton and Cal, they pulled out the roller coaster for us.  After watching Leyton do the roller coaster once, I jumped right on and LOVED it!  Here's a video Mama made of me enjoying the roller coaster.

Horseback Riding at Pat & Teri's!!

On Saturday afternoon we headed over to Pat & Teri's to go horseback riding.  I had only ever ridden a pony, so this was such a treat for me!  My cousins Lauren, Ella and Luca came too.  (and Aunt Jessie and Grandma)  While we were there, we got to feed the chickens, pick eggs out in the chicken coop, feed treats to the horses, ride the horses, and we even went on a "jeep" ride on their jeep power wheel.  All in all, it was a fun, action-packed afternoon!!

Feeding the chickens.

Getting a lift from Uncle Pat while Lauren took her turn on the horse.

Riding with Lauren.

Holding the horse's hair to make it look like my ponytail!  :)

Riding with Ella and Lauren.

Tickled pink by my solo ride.

Feeding the horse.

Once I figured out how to give the horse snacks, there was no turning back.  Mommy eventually had to take the bag of treats away from me.

Me and Lauren looking "cool" with our ring pops in the jeep!  :)