Splash Park Success

I know 2 people who LOVE the Splash Park inside the Zoo...Dev and Me!

Here's why Devin had fun:

(Sorry for the crappy video, I'm learning how to use my new phone)



I had fun because she could play everything without my help!

The key (for us) was to get to the park early, as in we were the first stroller through the gates. She had about 15-20 minutes to check everything out and get a feel how this splash park thing works.

After that, it got crowded.

-She did have to learn about waiting in a longish line for the slides.

-Apparently it's impossible for her not to run...but there's no running allowed, so I reminded her about that rule 50+ times.

-She still managed to get water up her nose, which was our only crying of the morning.

-She got pushed down (by accident) but recovered on her own.

When it started getting really crowded, she came up and said:

"Let's have our snack and go on the Merry-Go-Round."

Perfect. We made a graceful exit back through the Zoo...it's about a 1/2 mile back to the main gate, but uphill at about 45 degrees. Devin actually asked me if I was ok...huffing and puffing her and the BIG stroller uphill!

Splash Park

We're going to a Splash Park tomorrow, which should be fun. We've been going to the Tom Sawyer State Park pool several times a week lately.

Turns out, going swimming with a non-swimming 3 year old is a lot of work. She wants to jump in over and over again.

The worst part is, we just can't get her to understand blowing air OUT of her nose. No matter how many times (and ways) we try to explain to blow out, she inevitably sucks air and water up her nose. That part really sucks... But, she loves the water and that's a good start.

It's hard to remember her swimming lessons...she wasn't even a year old.

My little chubster.

Happy and Rainy 4th of July

First: I have to say Happy Birthday to my blog! I've kept it up for one year. Here's last year's 4th of July post...it rained last year too:( This was my second post ever....

http://devin4fun.blogspot.com/2008/07/4th-of-july-2008.html

We made our annual trip across the river for fireworks.



These, "...shoot flaming balls."






Since we were already there, we visited the Bass Pro Shop. Dev enjoyed the fish and I tried to explain all the dead, stuffed animals.

As we were leaving, the rain started.


Ga-Ga made a 4th of July cake. We had an amazing dinner of Grandpa's brisket, green beans and slaw from our garden, mashed potatoes and cake!


The rain turned into a light drizzle and eventually stopped, just in time for a few fireworks.






Even with the rain, we had a great time watching Devin have a great time.

Yet Another "Never"

Yep. I said "never" to one of these:


OK. So, technically I said I would never buy one. Which I didn't. But, when someone is just giving one away....(Thanks to Mike & Dawn)

-It's HUGE. Impossible to store.
-It runs on a big battery, so she gets no exercise while riding in it.

BUT,


-She LOVES it! At least, this model has less pink....







Oh, and for some reason I decided to put a sheet down in the kitchen and let her paint her feet for footprint art.

Not one of my better choices.

3.5 State Champions Team Osborn!!

My old 3.5 team had an amazing 2009 USTA season!

-They were in 7th place mid-season and had to win EVERY match to even make it to the 3.5 playoffs and THEY DID!

-During playoffs, they won the right to go to State by ONE court!

-During the State Championship, they came in 2nd place in their flight and entered the semi-finals with a best of record...by ONE COURT!

Here's my slideshow:

Harvest Beginnings

The community garden is getting fun. These are my cherry tomatoes & green beans. One of my garden neighbors gave me the squash squash and zucchini.



I'm so glad I devoted 1/4 of the garden to flowers. The giant Zinnia are thriving.

DIY-Shower door update

I'm proud to say we're on our way to DIY success, regarding the shower door.

I unpacked the kit last week & carefully studied the directions. Let's just say, the directions assume you already know quite a bit about shower door installation.

But, I figured it out and when Matt got home, we got started.

In about an hour, we were ready to hang the door. However, during the test run we discovered the door had about an inch gap. We were so careful during the installation, we assumed something was cut wrong.

And we were right!

The shower door guy came this morning and confirmed the small pane of glass was 1" too short. They're re-cutting the piece tonight and we'll pick it up tomorrow. Otherwise, he said we did a good job on the installation.

Yay us.

Matt's Birthday dinner is tonight & of course, he's golfing today.