Picnic at Troll bridge

Friday the weather was perfect so we headed out for a picnic lunch. Near by is an old bridge that has been turned into a pedestrian bridge lined with flower boxes.  Ethan was excited when he saw the bridge, he thought it was the troll bridge from Dora the Explorer! He kept calling it troll bridge over and over.  We walked along the bridge admiring the beautiful flowers and then sat down for our lunch.  It was a fun little outing, I'll be sad when Ryan heads back to work next week and we can't head out on spontaneous trips every day!

Little Miss Independent wanted to be on her own exploring the bridge.

For once she did not want to be held!

Ethan barely stayed still the whole time.  Ryan got him to stop to look for fish in the water but even that only lasted a few minutes.

Instead he wanted to race up and down the bridge. Ryan and I took turns "racing" Ethan would shout "ready,set, go" take off and then look at us behind him and say "Ehan fast!" He was very pleased that he always won!

We all enjoyed our lunch that Ryan packed. Lillie was all over the food the second she saw it. She is quick too, she pulled a chip right out of my hand! 

Slip 'n slide

We found a  Cars slip 'n slide at Walmart the other day (on clearnace of course!) and decided it was perfect for Ethan. Today we set it up to try out. 

Lillie loved splashing in the little pool at the end of the slide.

Ethan first tried to walk down the slide but kept falling down.

Then he tried to do a frog hop on his knees down the slide.

Finally Ryan laid Ethan on his belly and pushed him down the slide.  Ethan loved it! He had Ryan push him down the slide over and over again.

Ryan even gave Lillie a little push down the slide on her belly!

He loves his new slip 'n slide!

Connecticut Science Center

Today we headed over to the science center. Teachers get in free this summer as do kids under 3 so we all got in free! We decided to start out by watching the 3D bug movie. This was Ethan's first movie experience. Its a good thing there was a loud camp group in there, because every other minute Ethan was yelling, "Look, look Mama a bug" or "I'm scared!" We weren't sure if he really was scared because that is his favorite word right now. He will tell us he is scared of the silliest things. Lillie was also a chatterbox during the movie. Ethan was not sure about the 3D glasses, he kept putting them on and off the entire time. Lillie on the other hand wanted a pair so badly to chew on.

We then headed up to the top and worked out way down to the lobby and water exhibit. Ethan liked the rooftop garden. Mostly because they had a stone frog and a compost bin that looked like a pig. We also got to see the a beautiful view of the Connecticut River.

Ethan really liked the River of Life Exhibit because there was a lot of fish to look at. He also got to touch a crab! He touched it very quickly with one finger and wasn't sure what to make of it. But he did like handling the sea snails.

He also liked the Forces in Motion exhibit. He had fun racing the cars down a ramp and running along side the magnetic trains.

We ended in the water room. Ethan had a blast playing in the water and was soaked despite wearing the smock. Lille also wanted to join in and we put her down for a bit to splash around.

  Lillie got tired so we headed out with Ethan kicking and screaming. Lille fell asleep right away and Ethan tried to do the same.  We wanted him to stay up so he would nap at home so we tried asking him questions about the museum to keep him awake. When that didn't work, we asked him what he wanted for lunch when we got home. He said, crackers, carrots, snack  (which means a peanut butter sandwich) He closed his eyes and kept repeating, crackers, carrots, snack like it was his mantra. Even though we are pretty sure he didn't actually fall asleep, it was enough to keep him from napping.  Good thing his room looks like this:

He finally did fall asleep almost 2 hours after we put him down.  And then slept until after 6pm! We had to put all three gates up because he was starting to climb over two of them. Those gates are wedged so tightly in the door frame, that I have trouble puuting them up and taking them down.  So I just leave the top two up and we crawl through the bottom space.  Ryan has to fix the door knob so we can just lock him in or Ethan has to learn to stay in his room, I wonder which will happen first?

Atlantic City

I'm trying to catch up and finally put up our pictures from New Jersey.  A couple of weeks ago we left on my birthday to spend a week at the beach (which reminds me someone still owes me a birthday cake!)  Ryan's family drove up and we spent the week with them. My parents also happened to be nearby and we got to spend a day at the beach with them too!  It was fun to spend time with Grandma, Grandpa, aunts and uncles and cousin Zachary.  I really got to get on Ryan to start taking pictures, I'm only in one picture for the whole trip!We also only got pictures at the beach, but we did go to the boardwalk a few times.  One day I went ahead to get in line for some ice cream on the boardwalk and Ryan went and parked the car.  He forgot the diaper bag in the car with the camera.  I thought it was common sense to bring the diaper bag when you have a baby, but apparently it isn't for men! We had lots of fun, hopefully we can make it an annual Fisher trip!

Lillie loved standing up.  We had a great view from our room and could see Brigantine bridge.

Ethan liked the view from Grandma and Grandpa's room better.  Here he could see boats going in and out.

He had a lot of fun with his digger

Family picture :)

Lillie got a lot of Grandma and Grandpa time!

We started her out on the blanket, but she quickly crawled right off it

Ryan tried to make a castle with Ethan only to have Ethan knock down anything Ryan made.

Having fun at the waters edge

She loved the water and unfortunately the sand.  She kept trying to eat it.

She also had fun crawling down the beach.

Ethan got buried by Grandma and Aunt Brittany.  He didn't really like it though.

Ethan had so much fun jumping over the waves.  He dragged everyone out there to help him jump.  He refused to get out of the water even when he was shivering and had blue lips.

Ryan and Uncle Nate with Lillie and cousin Zach

Getting in some technology time with Uncle Nate. Whenever Ethan sees this picture he starts yelling angry birds!

Ethan's new bed

We got Ethan a toddler bed off of freecycle so Lillie could have the crib and figured he would use it for a couple of years.  However less than a year later we packed it up and stored it away for Lillie.  Freecycle has once again provided us with furniture! We saw a twin captains bed and thought it would be perfect with the storage so we asked for it.  My dad (thanks Dad!) was nice enough to pick it up in his truck for us. The bed is nicer than we expected, this will last Ethan a long time!

Here he is before taking apart his bed, he wasn't so happy with us!

Ethan enjoying his new bed, Ryan had to teach him to climb up using the two shelves!

Here are some recent silly pictures:

 They love to play under the dining room table

 Ethan will go to the top of the stairs and slide down on his bum to make Lillie laugh.  She loves it!

 I couldn't catch her laughing, every time I went to take a picture she got interested in the camera. She is already climbing up the stairs, she wants to do everything that Ethan does!

Lillie is 9 months

 Lillie is now 9 months old! She went to her check up and is now 15lb 11oz and 28 inches tall. She is crawling everywhere! Her favorite place to go is into the bathroom where she tries to get in the bath tub. She has managed to climb up the first step of the stairs. She stands up and walks around furniture like the train table.  A couple of weeks ago I caught her pulling herself up on the toy chest and reaching down to pick up toys and throw them. She made quite a mess that Ethan did not want to clean up! She takes our hands to walk but then tries to let go. She has tried a couple of time to take steps on her own. She started clapping while we were on vacation and loves to show off her new skill.  

Ethan and Lillie crawl around the house chasing each other. They also love to play under the dining room table.  They don't always play so nicely well, Ethan continues to head butt Lillie and knock her off when she is standing up.  We had to move their seats apart in the minivan because he was bugging her.  He does sometimes entertain her in the car.  We were in the car one day and Ethan was making silly sounds and Lillie was laughing hysterically. He realized that he was causing her to laugh and just got sillier and sillier.  I love hearing the two of them laugh together!