The Rest of the Long Weekend

Sunday we took Meamaw and Grandpa to a playground... because every grandparent loves a playground! I think any grandparent probably did a victory dance when their children reached the age that they no longer needed parental supervision on a playground. Not that pushing a child on a swing or holding them up so they can do the monkey bars or "watch this! watch this! watch this!" isn't terribly amusing for a grown up.  But Meamaw and Grandpa were good sports about it. 

 After a naptime for everyone we headed downtown for a carousel ride and the usual duck viewing

Monday morning we all woke up early to get to the track to see the horses warm up.

We did the walking tour of the back stretch which we hadn't done since MiniM.E. was LittleL.G.'s age.  It was cute- especially getting to pet Mojito- but it was a little long winded for a tired three-year-old.

In the afternoon we did some pool and some playing...

And said goodbye to Meamaw and Grandpa when they left for the airport Tuesday morning.  Thanks for coming!

Adirondack Animal Land

Yesterday we went to Adirondack Animal Land for the second time this summer.  MiniM.E. loves to see all the animals and is infatuated with the deer and LittleL.G. is happy to observe everything over my shoulder.

We were lucky to get there at the perfect time and the kangaroos were hungry and friendly! The kangaroos are my favorite animal and I was so excited to be able to get close.  I was so jealous of MiniM.E.'s tiny arms that could fit through the fence for kangaroo cuddles!

MiniM.E. likes the statues almost as well as the real animals

and the playground is a big hit too

"can we take these home?"

Meamaw feeding the giraffe

We had a great day with all the animals... except the capybaras.  If you remember this visit to Animal Land, MiniM.E. was most excited to feed the giant rodents with humongous teeth.  This time the capybaras were lazy and full and wanted nothing to do with MiniM.E.  In typical 3-year-old fashion, she was disappointed to the point of almost letting it ruin our whole trip.  She was still teary about it on the way home, but finally got over it and was happy that she at least got some kangaroo cuddles!

Meamaw and Grandpa's Visit

After a series of canceled and delayed flights, Meamaw and Grandpa finally arrived at 3am.  Poor MiniM.E. was so excited to stay up and wait for them and go to the airport to pick them up... and then we told her they weren't coming until the next day so she would go to sleep... and they came while she was sleeping.  Fortunately she didn't seem too upset about not seeing them when they got here, but she asked to wake them up about thirty times between 6am and 10.

All was forgiven when she saw the presents they brought.  A doll for LittleL.G., books for both of them, and most exciting: matching outfits for MiniM.E. and Bitty Baby. 

I tried... this WAS the best photo of them dressed up.

 After some play time, a tricycle/balance bike walk and a nap we went to the beach:

LittleL.G. played in the sand

Meamaw and MiniM.E. made a castle

And we all went swimming.  After some burgers on the grill Daddy, Meamaw and Grandpa went to a concert and the girls all went to bed.

Breakfast at the Track and Congress Park

Yesterday did some unpacking and played in the yard.

Today we went to the track to see the horses warm up.  The past few years we have gone multiple times to see the horses because MiniM.E. really seemed to love it and we were always up early anyway, but this year we haven't been at all.  I guess it takes longer to get two kids out of the house in the morning and we've been busy!

testing out the onbuhimo carrier Gram made us!

We stood and watched the horses for a while, but MiniM.E. was less excited about the horses than in the past.  I guess we have seen our fair share of horses and since she was hungry and we met our friends, breakfast and climbing stairs with a buddy were more exciting than horses warming up.

LittleL.G. was so excited to see the horses running and was really into standing at the fence watching them until....

She decided she wanted to ride one.  We are doing baby sign language with her like we did with MiniM.E. and she has a few solid (though hard to distinguish at times) signs: read, all done, more, and swing/ride/go on/do that.  The last one is used for lots of things.  She basically swings her arm back and forth, which originally, I took as "swing".  However, it quickly became the sign for "ride", "go on that", "go there" and "do that" (usually what MiniM.E. is doing).  Occasionally she also uses it for "milk".  So after the horses went around a few times LittleL.G. started swinging her arm around.  When it became clear to her that I wasn't putting her on a horse, she started fussing and when I obviously wasn't getting the picture she went rigid and refused to be held/stood on the ground/sat down.  So I had to wrap her up again to keep her calm.

After the track we went downtown for coffee and to meet up with our friend, her daughter and her new baby.  And I got the cutest tree photos ever!

The Last NH Day for the Summer

washing the van

testing out a ride on around the neighborhood

trampolining

Liquid Planet

About half an hour away from my parents is a small water park with a big splash pad, a few slides and some other big kid activities like mini golf and a zip line.  It was going to be a beautiful day so we thought we'd try it out.  It was pretty awesome for little kids and I can't wait to go next year when LittleL.G. is a little braver.

The highlight for LittleL.G. was the water swings:

but MiniM.E. really liked them too:

They had cute little slides, and I was surprised MiniM.E. wasn't more excited about them

We started out at the splash pad and after a while tried to convince MiniM.E. to try the big waterslide.  The park only has four, and two were closed.  MiniM.E. is only tall enough that she could ride the big green one with an adult.  She was adamant that she DID NOT want to try it, but Gram and I knew she would love it... so we bribed her with some shaved ice.

Sure enough, she loved it and went down three more times!  The line was a bit long so it took 20 minutes or so to wait each time.  She probably would have kept going on it until the park closed, but she was getting tired and LittleL.G. needed a nap, so we packed up to go back home.  We will definitely have to go again next year!

After naps (the waterpark even tired out MiniM.E. and she slept on the way home!) we played outside.