Ahhh...warmth...

We've all been enjoying our time in AZ--we've swam at least once a day (more often twice), Annie is getting very good at splashing, kicking, and especially enjoys blowing bubbles. We've got to play with cousins Elliott and Kate, and a number of other family members, and had a visit from Cathy and Julie from California. We've ate a lot of homemade ice cream, Annie's expressed her distinct love of blueberries and for climbing. She's played with Cody (my parents' dog) a lot, and is delighted to be kissed by her. Annie's enjoyed playing with new doll-Gabby-feeding her her bottle, pointing out her bellybutton, cuddling and reading to her. We mostly are enjoying time to relax, and to experience summer as it ought to be experienced!

Discoveries...

Annie has made a number of exciting discoveries this week. A few of them are:

1. Your bellybutton is easy to find, and so are other people's if they are okay with you lifting up their shirt.
2. Spinning until you're dizzy and then watching the world spin around you is great fun.
3. Floors have a variety of different feels--the best way to experience them is to lie down, on your back or belly.
4. Talking on the phone can be fun for hours. (She very clearly says "hi" when beginning a conversation--with imaginary friends of course).
5. Brushing your penguin's teeth can be as much fun as brushing your own.

It seems like there are numerous things more that we should add, but the gist of it is that we love watching her explore her world, almost as much as she enjoys it.

We enjoyed a lovely weekend, starting of our Father's Day celebrations with a trip to Sonic (yes, they've finally come to MN). We had a picnic with Eric's dad and stepmom yesterday, complete with playing catch--Annie included. Today, after church Eric did some yard clean-up from impressive winds last night, then we all went on a bike ride, played in the backyard, and Annie did lots of dancing while Eric played the piano.

We are happy it seems like spring has finally arrived in MN, just in time for summer!

Fun with Cousins

We've been enjoying life with our fourteen month old very much. She has added a number of new signs--all revolving around bedtime routine--that she uses with great accuracy. Toothbrush, bath, moon, book, sleepy(ing)...Tonight at dinner she continually pointed at her sleeping cousin Kate and signed "sleepy." Needless to say, we were quite impressed. She been enjoying being social with her family these past couple of weeks. This week, my sister and her children (Elliott and Kate) have been staying with us, and over the last couple of weekends we've seen a bit more of Eric's family than usual.



She's enjoyed playing with Eric's parents, with his brother and his family (especially with cousin Emily), and with great-aunts, great-uncles, etc. We were all very happy to get to celebrate Eric's grandmother's 90th birthday with her! Annie got to use finger paints for the first time to make her a birthday card (she wasn't quite sure what to think of the paints, but enjoyed demonstrating afterwards how she made a hand print whenever the phrase "finger paint" came up).




Over the last few days, we've enjoyed time with our house guests--Sara, Elliott and Kate. We've enjoyed reading together, playing at the park together, traveling together, playing at home together, bathing together, eating together, playing together, playing together, braving thunder storms together, playing together. Elliott (three and a half years old), Annie (fourteen months) and Kate (almost 6 months) are at quite different stages, but they do very well together and keep each other entertained and hugged!







We will be sad to see them head home on Monday, but it's been a fun way to start-off the summer...