The Friendly Farm

For the past two years (here and here) the Friendly Farm has been a tradition during an early summer trip to Gram and Grumpy's house.  MiniM.E. remembers and has been so excited to feed the goats and baby cows.

Planning for the trip to Dublin (almost an hour and a half away) was a little tricky this year.  In past years we drove in the morning and planned to drive home for MiniM.E.'s afternoon nap.  With sleep training LittleL.G. we decided the best thing to do would be to drive down for her afternoon nap and plan to drive back around 6 when she would normally go to sleep for the night.

Our trip started out a little rocky.  The van was making a funny noise and we decided to have Grumpy bring us the other car in case it wasn't safe.  But LittleL.G. was sleeping in the van.  She didn't transfer successfully so she cried the rest of the way to the farm.  Also, in the transfer of all the stuff from van to car, we lost a shoe, so when we got the farm MiniM.E. didn't have shoes to wear. Auntie Jen leant us some socks so MiniM.E. would have a double layer and surprisingly, MiniM.E. took it in stride and didn't throw a fit.  The time we spent at the farm was great- going in the afternoon there were only a few other families there and MiniM.E. got to do everything she hoped.

cow kisses!

2-day old goat cuddles

Sunday, Cake, and a Drive to NH

Late Saturday night Gram and Grumpy came so they could help Sunday with some plumbing and also watch the girls so I could make this cake for a friend who dropped an envelope with a gender sticky note after her anatomy ultrasound Friday:

It was her birthday yesterday so this was a gender reveal/ birthday cake.  (It's a boy!)

We played and did some packing because Gram and Grumpy brought us back to their house last night (I need some travel help until LittleL.G. stops crying the ENTIRE TRIP).

A Girls' Weekend

Friday Bob left right after work to drive down to Long Island to visit his brother so all day Friday and Saturday were just Mommy-MiniM.E.-LittleL.G. time.

MiniM.E. wanted to go out on a puddle-hunting walk. It was mostly hunting because even though it rained in the morning, it wasn't a whole lot of rain... 

We played at a friend from school's house in the afternoon.  They have a fantastic outdoor playhouse complete with hair dressing station:

Saturday morning we had some inside time and MiniM.E. read to LittleL.G. in a tent (so cute)

The highlight of our day was going downtown to see the ducks and ride the carousel.  The park was crowded today so we couldn't even get close to the baby ducks.  Instead of picking up baby ducks MiniM.E. decided to climb a tree.  I took some cute "I'm in a tree" photos.

I tried to take some mom-selfies... but the girls didn't cooperate very well...

We took a few carousel rides.  MiniM.E. tested it out first to see how fast it was going today.

Then she wanted to help LittleL.G. ride.  I am so lucky I have such a responsible, caring, three and a half year old and I can trust her to help LittleL.G.   They were so cute!  LittleL.G. wasn't too sure while she was riding, but reached for the horses when we were leaving.

We had a great Mommy-Daughter Saturday! 

Welcome June!

Monday, the first day of "summer vacation" the weather really wasn't that nice at all. Certainly didn't feel like summer- cold and rainy.  We took a trip down to Colonie to go to Trader Joe's. 

Yesterday we went downtown with friends to see the baby ducks.  Since it wasn't nice in the morning, Congress Park was almost empty.  It was a fantastic day for seeing the ducks because we were the only ones there to feed them.

lots of babies

MiniM.E. was so excited for me to pick up a baby duck for her.  To both of our surprise, the babies weren't scared of us at all and MiniM.E. just reached down to pick one up.

so excited

"It's ok, A.- they aren't scary!"

LittleL.G. was VERY interested.

Yesterday we brought out some shaving cream for some messy play time.  MiniM.E. thought it was a good time.  LittleL.G. wasn't too sure and kept trying to eat it...

Today we went for a bike ride, went to the playground and had a bathtub washcloth tug of war.

Great start to our summer.  Looking forward to lots more summer fun!

Sprayground!

To celebrate the end of MiniM.E.'s year at preschool and kick off our "summer vacation" we went to the sprayground.  The girls had a great time!

Congratulations! You Made It Through The Whole Year!

Since the beginning of the month MiniM.E. has been looking forward to preschool graduation.  Possibly because she likes events and really enjoys the anticipation of something fun, but more likely because she made it through the whole year and after graduation there's just a playground party day.  No more school for the whole summer.  

I am so proud of her for making it through the whole year of school. Compared to the first couple weeks full of crying and tears, she has really come a long way.  She looks forward to school and loves her teacher, talks about her friends and always has a good time... even though she was still crying at drop off on Monday.  She is really proud of herself too.  In our anticipation of graduation where I pretend to be her teacher and she is graduating, I always have to say, "Congratulations! You made it through the whole year!"  It was so important to her that I said it that way every time I had to let Mrs. O'Shea know that's what she had to say too.  She knows MiniM.E. and was on board.

The kids had a regular day for the first half of preschool yesterday and then walked over to the room that graduation would be held in.  Most of the parents and some grandparents (like Gram) met the kids over there.

It started with a slideshow of photos from the whole year (bring on the tears moms!)

And then each student was called up to receive their graduation award and get a hug from Mrs. O'Shea:

As usual, MiniM.E. was contemplative and less than smiley for the whole event, but I know she'll be talking about it for days and how much fun it was.

Gram brought flowers

A congratulations hug

Miss you over the summer!

After a year together MiniM.E. loves Mrs. O'Shea.  We are fortunate that MiniM.E. will have Mrs. O'Shea as a teacher next year too.  Already she says she will miss school over the summer, though I know a big part of her is relieved that she has a few months free from school.

Congratulations MiniM.E.!!