Sweet cherries

We went up to the Farmer's Market yesterday. The local fruit is coming into season; a few vendors had apricots, cherries, and a few of the early apples. They also had sweet corn, but that is not really a fruit. Most of the vendors had samples out, so Elsie and I tasted the cherries as we walked around.

I don't really like cherries. I like the flavor and the texture, but I hate having to eat around a pit. I'm concentrating so much on trying to not bite/swallow the pit that I miss out on most of the flavor.

Sampling the sweet cherries at the Farmer's Market made me wish I liked cherries. They were that good.

I hope I can remember these days. Hot and sweaty, walking around the capitol with throngs of people all around us, seeing and sampling the local produce, Elsie talking about everything she is seeing and munching on pretzels on Alan's back, while Alice is on my back pulling my hair every few steps and jabbering in my ear. The girls are getting older every day and I just want to soak up the now and try to remember the little details.

Six Months

Six months old already! Alice surprised us this week by getting her first tooth, and I'm pretty sure another one is coming in right beside it. She has been a little cranky, but it hasn't thrown her off her groove too much. She still loves her big sister, even when she is beating up on her. I'll hear Alice laughing only to look and see Elsie laying on top of her or rolling up with her in a blanket. I have to scold Elsie for what ever she did and tell Alice to stop encouraging her. Her new favorite thing to do is to jump. In our arms, in her walk-about, in the jumper, on the floor... her legs are always moving. She loves to eat solid food and we have yet to find a food she doesn't like. She has had applesauce, blueberries, sweet potatoes, and carrots mixed in with her rice cereal and seems to love it all. Maybe we'll have to try the dreaded green stuff next.

New Trick

Elsie figured out how to do a full somersault. We had the local missionaries over the day she figured it out and thoroughly entertained them by rolling over and over again. She seems to be quite pleased with herself for mastering this skill.

When Mommy is away...

I was able to slip away for a few hours by myself on Saturday. I packed a lunch, a few books, a cookie or two, and found a nice, quiet, comfortable spot to relax... It was wonderful. I came home recharged and refreshed, and I found all these pictures waiting for me. I guess Alan and the girls had a pretty fun time too.

I think Alice missed me a little bit. She was just fine when I was gone, but as soon as I got back she started acting very whiny and clingy. It was like she suddenly realized that I had been missing. What a cute kid.

Playmate

It is amazing how having one more two year old in the house can relieve a lot a stress and tension. Elsie is entertaining a friend while her parents go out to a movie. So far it has been a calm evening with the girls moving from coloring to puzzles to toys and back. All they need is a calm/stern word from me every once in a while to keep the peace, but they generally play together nicely. It is nice that they can keep each other occupied. The evening is young and rumor has it that neither girl had a nap today so things could get a little hairy very suddenly, but so far the only problem is that Alice is too little to join in the fun.

Epicnic

This post is kind of a major photo dump... We went to Alan's company picnic last Saturday and had a wonderful time. We had steak, lobster tail, corn on the cob, corn bread, root beer floats, watermelon, salad, chips and hot dogs for the kids, and devil's food cake. And that was just the food...

There was also a petting zoo. Elsie was a little wary of the big goats, but she liked the baby ones just fine.

Once she saw another little girl on the pony, she said she needed a turn. It didn't go anywhere, but she thought it was pretty cool anyway.

Pig.

Baby cow. She is wearing her "doggie" in some of these pictures. We had talked about kid control and how we would handle the two girls with all the people around. We decided on putting Alice in the backpack and keeping Elsie on her doggie to keep her close so she wouldn't get lost. I am pleased to say that even though she wore it part of the time, we never actually had to use it. She was very good and stayed close and listened to instructions from Alan and I. My little runner is growing up...

She thought the geese were kind of scary. Maybe she was feeding off my anxiety from years of being chased by the big geese down by the river while we were trying to feed the ducks when I was a small child. Either way, geese are creepy.

I think Elsie's favorite part was the inflatable bounce house.

They had a fire truck and construction vehicles parked around for the kids to look and explore.

They had stairs built up to the driver's seat on most of the vehicles. Elsie patiently waited her turn to sit in the seat, and if anyone cut in front of her she would inform them that it was Elsie's turn and they needed to wait.

Concentrating very hard on driving...

The picnic was on the "Back 40" behind Voyager Hall (not to be confused with the Pelennor Fields on the other side of campus... Epic is so cool). I hadn't seen any of Voyager Hall, so when we needed a break from the heat we explored inside.

Elsie thought Darth Vader looked grumpy and he needed a kiss to make him feel better.

Up on the upper balcony in Voyager Hall overlooking part of the picnic area. There were a lot of people there, but with how much space there was and how many things there were to do, it didn't feel that crowded.

Every year they have an annual Tug-o-War contest. A bunch of guys from the ward got a team together. They were called the "Sesame Street Fighters". I guess they got that from the fact that they have so many young adoring fans.

The guys put up a valiant fight against the reigning champions. They were literally inches away from victory when the opposing team rallied and pulled the win away from them.

It was a good effort. Probably the best match-up we watched.

Poor kid was exhausted by the end of the day.

One picture of me just to prove that I was there too.

Not sure where she got it from, but as we were walking along Elsie decided she needed to stop and do a somersault every few feet. Not that she would actually roll over, she would just stop and do this...

...Then stand up and clap for herself. Maybe she'll get the second half of it someday.

All of our bracelets. It was a fun day. It was mostly cloudy and overcast, so the kept the temperature down a little bit. There was so much more we could have done... There were bungee trampolines, rock walls, potato sack races, a wagon ride, a gps scavenger hunt... So many things and not enough time. Maybe we'll get around to them next year...

First meal

Alice tried out solid foods for the first time on the Fourth of July. She had been acting like she was ready and loved the little tastes we had been giving her. We finally bought some rice cereal and gave it a go.

 She downed the whole bowl and wanted more. Glad eating doesn't seem to be a problem with this one.

 So far she has had applesauce, sweet potatoes, and an apple/blueberry medley mixed into her rice cereal and  has loved them all. We have yet to find a food she doesn't like. It's still early in the game and there is lot she hasn't tried, but it is looking good so far.

Fourth of July Fireworks

We had our own personal show in an empty parking lot across the street from our apartment building. Turns out the big firework shows were on the previous Saturday and not on the actually 4th. We were still not entirely convinced that we wanted to bring and 2 year old and baby to a big firework show that wouldn't start until 9:30pm anyway.

 The girls didn't seem to mind that our show was put on by amateurs. Both were mesmerised by the lights and sounds.

 Our faithful pyro-technician at work.

Sidewalk Chalk