video?

I have tried to post a few different videos but blogger won't upload them. I'll keep trying. I have one of Zoe painting on the AMAZING easel that Uncle Doug built & sent. There's also a good one of Zoe bouncing on her trampoline and singing the entire theme song to The Wonder Pets.

I can't get some photos to upload either. I don't know why. Maybe the google servers are particularly busy right now.

Mountlake Terrace Carnival

This morning we went to the "Tour de Terrace" - a small town fair in Mountlake Terrace. I wanted to go before it got sunny and crowded and we could still park really close on the street. There were just a few families there with other 2 year olds, so it worked out great.
Zoe saw the ferris wheel from where we parked and kept saying "ferris wheel! look, it's a wheel!" so we definitely went for a ride on that. There was a huge bouncy thing that she played on. Pete went down the giant slide with her and she cried because we only had enough tickets to do it once. The BBQ people weren't cooking yet and the curly fries didn't look $6 worth of tastiness, so we came home and I put a few hot dogs on the grill. They are going to blow up some fireworks tonight so maybe we'll drive back over (it's a mile away) and check those out.

The Dad Life [from You Tube]

noisy

I started to vacuum at the same time that The Fresh Beat Band came on tv - 4 kids who sing & dance. Zoe ran in and stood in front of the vacuum, turned it off and then looked at me with a big smile and said "That's better! There you go, mom."

we were out of cupcakes!

Not a really big mystery of what happened to this one....

I made these from scratch using a simple & delicious recipe in my kitchenaid cookbook. They are dark chocolate cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting [and pink sugar]. The kitchenaid cookbook was one of those impulse buys from the custom cabinetry section at Lowes. You know how they have a weird display of cutting boards or spatulas just sitting there by the marble samples? Well, they had these cookbooks there, too. It turns out to be one of the best cookbooks I have ever owned. Every recipe is delicious and they all involve putting some stuff in your mixing bowl and turning it to medium speed for a few minutes. Even the wheat bread - put some stuff in the bowl and turn it on = the very best whole wheat bread recipe ever! I really love to cook & bake. But I also really love to just put some stuff in a bowl.
I sort of tried to make these look pretty, but seriously, someone is just going to poke them all with her tiny, little fingers anyway.

mad libs, tv, butterfly

market & swim

On Saturday Zoe & I went to the Edmonds Farmer's Market. It was super busy! I found a nice woman who brought a bunch of her vegetables from her Whidbey Island farm. We bought these beets, cauliflower, and some mixed salad greens that have edible flowers too. After the market we went to the park and went down the slides for an hour. When we got home Zoe put on her swimsuit and played in the pool for awhile. She likes to jump from the middle where the slide is to the seat at the end.

washable paint!

Odell Lake

We were at Odell Lake, Oregon over the weekend. We drove all day on Thursday and then stayed for a few days and drove home yesterday [Monday]. This is the lake where Pete's grandparents spent their summers for the last 40 years. Pete's grandma passed away last January and she wanted her memorial service to be there, so it was held on Saturday.

Instead of camping we stayed in a lodge on the opposite side of the lake. It was beautiful! This resort had a swingset for Zoe and a restaurant for me. They had a new outdoor patio area with a fire pit that burned all night and tables and chairs for dining or just relaxing. We rented a canoe on Saturday morning and paddled around the lake for a couple of hours. Zoe liked the first half of the trip and then cried when the sun got in her eyes. I have some canoe pictures on the other camera.

Pete's mom, Jo, and his sister & her boyfriend, Annie & Jon, stayed in the lodge, too. On Sunday we all drove out to Crater Lake. It was about an hour away. We looked at the scenery and had lunch and built a tiny snowman.

Odell Lake is about 5000' up in the mountains. I guess it's actually Crescent Lake, Oregon. The lake is crystal clear and about 40 degrees. There are little kokanee salmon in it that people fish for early in the morning. We saw an otter family on our canoe ride and there were a couple of bald eagles that lived in the trees next to the lodge.

A lot of the pictures in the slideshow are from the drive down there. We drove east on the oregon side of the Columbia River and then went South through Mt. Hood. So I got to see Mt. Hood, Mt. Bachelor, and Sisters [2 mountains together].

Odell Lake 2010 Slideshow

ice cream cone

I thought it would be fun to have real ice cream cones at home, but Zoe won't eat the cone or lick the ice cream. She gets a spoon out of the drawer and eats little tiny bites.

Thanks for the orange shorts Aunt Tammy! We really need them this week - it's finally summer and will be hot for a few days.

Yesterday Zoe took her hour-long bath/swim and then put her swimsuit on and got in the pool. After snacktime and painting-time she put her swimsuit back on and played in the pool for another hour. I dumped it out this morning and filled it with fresh water. Today is supposed to be our warmest day so far... 85?

painting

This is one of my favorite paintings that Zoe has done so far. I just love the colors and the crazy brushstrokes. Sometimes she just uses a tiny dot of paint and most of the paper is blank, but this one really took some time to finish. When she is done with a painting she carries it by the corners to the kitchen and hangs it on the fridge with magnets and then she says something like "good painting!" or "beautiful!" and I always totally agree with her.
The black, drawn lines beneath the paint are mine. I have a number of coloring book pages that I have drawn & copied for her to paint on. I just keep a drawer full of them and she chooses which one to use.

jumping climbing sliding

swim & paint

We have a Zoe pool in the backyard this summer. She really loves to play in the water. She loves it so much that on the days where it is too cold/cloudy/rainy to get in the pool I offer to let her swim in the bathtub and she takes an hour-long bath.

This pool is divided in the middle where the slide is so I don't have to fill the entire thing up, just a little in the front and a little in the back to splash around in.

When she was done swimming she climbed out of the pool and ran into the house to work on a painting. I guess being outside was really inspiring! Have I mentioned how much she loves to paint? The only paint that I will put out for her to use is Crayola Washable paint. It absolutely comes out of everything: clothes, the carpet, dried brushes. I have tried some other "washable" paints and while they are washable, they are also "stain-able".