Summertime

I love, love, love summertime. There are always so many fun activities going on for kids and I love getting out and doing fun things. Tessa is the same way. If we stay home for too long she'll get stir-crazy and ask if we can go out anywhere.

This Summer has been especially busy. We started off the summer with camping just in the mountains near our home, which was really fun. It was the first time we had been camping as a family on our own. Now that the girls are about 2 and 4, they seem like they are old enough now to handle camping so it's been really nice to be able to do that.

We wanted to go camping at least one night to prepare ourselves for the 3-night camping trip we had coming up - camping at Yellowstone National Park. We had a really nice trip and we were impressed with how well the kids did camping for that long. It was a pretty fast trip for all there is to see at Yellowstone so we kept up a pretty break neck pace to see everything so mom and dad were pretty tired by the end but it was really fun.

We had to see Old Faithful of course.

Upper and lower falls were really neat. It was cool to hike down and be right on the edge of the lower falls. It was totally mesmerizing watching the water fall down the falls.

We got to see some buffalo up close which was neat and also a bit scary. One was crossing the road right in front of where we were driving. We saw loads of them on the sides of the road too and some near one of the picnic areas we stopped for lunch.

We saw mammoth hot springs.

One of my favorite things we saw was grand prismatic spring. We did the hike to see it from up above which lets you see the colors better as up close there is so much steam, you can't see it as well.

I liked the the small paint pots. They were a lot like grand prismatic spring but just on a smaller scale making them easier to see the colors better. I loved the bright oranges and beautiful blues, teals, and greens.

We saw the mud volcano area too. It was so so stinky. We had to bribe Tessa with unlimited cookies to get her out of the car. It really was bad though. By they time we had walked through the length of it, I was feeling nauseous - it was that stinky. David is in front of dragon's mouth in this picture. Every so often the dragon would "belch" and you'd get an extra strong wave of sulfurous stench blow right at you.

The grand canyon of yellowstone was really, really beautiful. We did the hike near the viewpoint and it was nice to get away from the crowds temporarily.

Then on the way home, we went the long way so we could see Grand Tetons National Park and that was really beautiful.

This picture reminds me of the sound of music.

The wildflowers near the lake were so beautiful.

Then at home we've kept busy enjoying the nice weather spending a lot time outdoors. Here we are at the zoo.

I love it when it is warm enough for splash pads and just stripping down to the diaper when your clothes get too wet or if you forgot to bring a swimsuit.

The girls love the fairytale festival and princess party that are put on in Lehi every summer too. It's been nice to just be able to take them to these events instead of having to do a much more expensive Disneyland trip.

Jenny especially loved the mascots that were at the princess party.

Then I love all the little summer city carnivals like American Fork's Strawberry Days.

Then we've been out and about a lot close to home too. Here we are visiting the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. We enjoyed a nice tour and a vegetarian lunch and all the people there were so friendly and welcoming.

Then I also took the kids to Topaz Museum and Topaz internment camp historic site a few hours south over a 2 day trip with a stopover at grandma and grandpa's house. The museum was really good. It was about Japanese and Japanese American interment in Utah at Camp Topaz during WWII. The museum included a lot of artifacts from people who lived at the camp. For it not being a children's museum there was really a lot there that kept the kid's engaged. Tessa was especially interested in the children's toys on display there; we talked about how when the families were forced to leave their homes, they were only able to bring what they could carry and talked about what one toy she would choose to bring with her if she could only bring one like those children likely only could.

She was also really liked the Valentine's Day cards on display. She had just had a Valentine's Day party in her classroom so it was neat to be able to see her relate to the kids at the schools at the camp. It was nice to be able to talk to her about how the people there were not really any different from her and it wasn't right to force them from their homes in California and force them to come to camp Topaz.

They also had this diary replica that a class kept which even included pictures the children drew. There was also a replica outside of what the recreation areas were like at Camp Topaz.

The kids also enjoyed looking at this little map and we learned about how to read legends, which was neat.

Then getting to spend time with grandma and grandpa was fun. Jenny especially loves seeing extended family. Here she is with her grandma's help, riding the original scooter her dad rode at 3 years old.

Then near the end of the summer we visited my Grandma Hein, the girl's great grandma in California. It was great to spend some time with my grandma. It had been more than a decade since I had been to her home in California, but I had fond memories of visiting her home many times over the summers throughout my childhood so it was great to revisit those happy memories and introduce my girls to them. 

I was wanting to visit the Redwoods while we were in California so we visited Big Basin Redwoods State Park.

The trees have burn proof bark to help them survive forest fires so we saw a few there that were totally burned and hollowed out with only their bark still remaining.

We also visited San Francisco. Our first stop in San Francisco was seeing the seals at Pier 39.

We also visited Grace Cathedral. The girls loved stopping at the playground directly across the street from it as well as running the labyrinth inside. The stain glass windows and other architectural features were just beautiful.

We enjoyed checking out Chinatown. The food was yummy and inexpensive and we got to try some fun, unique fruit.

Then we also stopped at the cable car museum in San Francisco and that was interesting.

We had quite the busy Summer but it was great! We had so much fun! And with living in Utah, you learn to really take advantage of Summer weather getting out as much as possible as soon as the weather gets warm enough and before it gets cold again.

Four Year Old Tessa

On Tessa's birthday, I woke up and said to David, "Can you believe it, we have a four year old!" The words sounded so weird to me coming out of my mouth. At four, Tessa is increasingly strong willed and independent. She loves to stretch her growing independence with simple things like wanting to wait on her own outside the children's museum while I go back to the car on my own to retrieve our lunch or wait outside the bathroom stall instead of come in with me.

As Tessa has gotten older over the years I have thought it was fun to think about if she still had the personality she has now as an adult what would she pick for her profession. When she was younger I thought of silly things like streaker because she loved to run away during diaper changes. Or skydiver/stuntman because she liked jumping off the couch. Or artist since she liked coloring. They were all just kind of kids things though not really unique to her personality. But at four, her little personality has grown and individualized enough to make the little game more interesting. At four, she loves flower arranging so if she were to pick her profession based on her current interests, I think she'd pick, florist. At the children's museum, she got the flowers from the grocery store section and brought them to the house section and carefully arranged the them in a teapot and carefully selected where in the house to display them. She was so proud of her work; it was so sweet. 

Then with her Walmart gift card her great grandma Hein gave her, she picked out a flower stand toy.

Tessa loves playing with friends still. She is particularly close to her cousin Tait. The other day, she asked if we could watch him for a lot of days and if he could sleep with her in her bed. I've been trying to prep the kids with the idea of mom and dad going on a few day long date night where they'll be watched by a babysitter for a few days as David and I may go on a trip for our 10 year anniversary next year so that is where she got the idea. I thought it was sweet though.

At four, her favorite colors are still pink and purple. Her favorite activity is probably playing pretend. She loves dressing up in one of her many princess outfits and pretending to be a princess. She is obsessed with princesses, mermaids, and fairies. She loves going to the fairytale festival at Thanksgiving Point and the princess party put on by the city. The both happen over the Summer. The last few months after attending them, she keeps asking when they'll happen again.

We always have to make sure to get some mermaid, princess, or fairy books whenever we go to the library. When you ask Tessa what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll tell you princess. She has been saying that for about a year now. She wants to be grown up. When we ask her why, she says it's because she wants to be able to do adult things like us. The other reason she'll give is because she wants to "push a lot of lot of babies out of my bum". She was curious about where babies come from maybe 6 months ago and we answered all her questions as she asked them and she became quite fascinated with the whole thing. Silly girl!

She loves preschool and has been really missing it over the summer break. She keeps asking me if Summer is almost over and asking why Summer break is so long. She loves doing art projects and science experiments.

She likes going to the swimming pool and splash pad. And she likes going to playgrounds still. She just recently mastered climbing high on the tall webs all on her own and she was really proud of herself.

She likes riding on the bus and on airplanes and likes going to new places. She absolutely loves to go to the children's museums. We have memberships for the one in Lehi and the one in Salt Lake City.

We went to a museum when on vacation in San Jose, CA and Tessa loved that museum too. We even went to The Tech - a science/technology museum; it has a lot of kid friendly exhibits. We spent 8 hours there and the kids could have kept enjoying it for longer even if we had the time. Since returning home, she's asked me many times if we can go back to The Tech.

At four, Tessa gets along well with Jenny. They love to play together. They'll occasionally fight, but for the most part, they really enjoy each other's company.

For Tessa's fourth birthday, she requested her first themed birthday cake - a pizza cake, which was fun. She's already told me that next year, when she turns 5, she wants a Little Mermaid cake. This is the cake image she saw when we were just killing time at a cake store that inspired her.

Yikes!!! I only have a year to vastly improve my cake decorating skills! Either that or start praying that ordering a Little Mermaid cake from that cake shop doesn't cost an arm and a leg - fat chance of that though!

Tessa is super fun at 4. She is my little buddy for sure. We are so lucky to have her.

JJ is Two

You may have noticed from the title, Jennifer, who we've been calling Jenny for her first two years of her life and who has adamentally called herself 'baby' since she could talk, has started calling herself JJ. She has started asking David and I to call her JJ too and she's even corrected us a few times. So introducing two-year old JJ:

She seemed to have a lot of fun on her birthday - doing cake and presents at home.

JJ is still such an easy going and happy girl. She loves to play outside and go to the park. She's started going down slides a little bit on her own but she still likes to go down them on my lap especially if they're bigger slides.

She has enjoyed our camping trips we've taken this Summer. She is great at entertaining herself outside with just some dirt and sticks.

She gets along great with Tessa most of the time. They are quite close and play together all the time. And now that JJ is two, she seems to be able to completely keep up with Tessa. JJ will often say "Tessa good sister" or "Tessa nice sister."

In case it wasn't obvious from the picture above, those are sandwiches on the girls' heads. They were pretending their sandwiches were hats and having fun being super silly together.

She is talking incredibly well. For her age, she should be able to speak in 2 word sentences. She generally speaks in 5 to 8 word sentences though. She seems to be able to communicate anything she would like to and we can generally understand pretty much everything she says. It's so fun to be able to talk to her and be able to understand what she's thinking and feeling. She is a really social girl. She talks pretty much all the time to herself or with Tessa or David or I. She loves to play with cousins and her aunts and uncles and grandparents and gets so excited when we tell here were going to go see family.

JJ lined up all the dolls she could find on her Uncle Zach's lap and on her lap. I love how kids make up the most random games. 

She is such a smart little girl. She understands pretend and enjoys playing it and can keep up with pretend play with Tessa. And she enjoys dressing up. 

She has an active imagination. When we visited Yellowstone, we talked about how we might see a bear and she told us that she saw a bear outside the car window. She even described them a bit saying that she saw a dada bear and mama bear and baby bear. She also plays that she has an imaginary friend sort of. The other day she said that her Uncle Josiah was in the car with us she even told us what seat he was sitting in. So silly.

She still loves animals. Here she is loving riding a statue of a horse at the children's museum in Salt Lake.

And she still loves feeding the ducks.

We've been working on potty training more lately and she has been doing really well with it. She really likes wearing underwear. I think it helps that she sees all the fun underwear with all the cute characters that Tessa gets to wear and she wants to too. So I think it won't be too hard to potty train her since she is already doing so well and is only 2. 

She is such an easy, sweet girl - always so happy. We're lucky to have her.

Kids Say the Darnedest Things VI

(Tessa and I having a conversation about what she'd like to eat.)

Me: How about carrot sticks?

Tessa: No, I only like carrot sticks on Mondays....What day is it today?

Me: Wednesday.

Tessa: Okay then I don't like them today.

Obnoxious 3-Year-Old Antic Turned Sweet

Every now and again Tessa will pick up an obnoxious 3-year-old antic that we'll have to work on. The other day she picked up spitting. She spit on me and I told her not to because it is gross since it spreads germs and also usually when you spit on someone it means you don't like them. Immediately, Tessa got really sincere and serious and sad and she said "but I love you". "Aww, I love you too," I replied. Cue Full House style hug. So that was really sweet of Tessa and she hasn't spit since.