Addison & Aunt Renee joined us for a trip to the local apple orchard. The Iowa Orchard is literally in the middle of town - which makes it super convenient to visit. We took a fun tractor ride through the orchard to get to the Family Fun Zone with a corn box, tire obstacle course, slides and more! The girls enjoyed playing in the giant corn box - Addison buried her legs and would jump into the corn like it was a swimming pool. Harper enjoyed filling the buckets. They also had some awesome slides - they were fast and all of us went down at least one. After we finished hanging out by the play area, we rode back to the store where we picked up a freshly baked apple pie - DELICIOUS! It was a great day and I'm sure we will be back at least once more this year.

1-2-3

Harper counted to three this week! She has been able to understand the concept of having two of something for a while ....like when we give her two crackers, she happily exclaims, "TWO!" Well, this week while we ready our animal counting book, she counted to three. It was a pretty exciting thing for us and she was very happy to repeat it the rest of the night.

Now onto four....

Barbie Girl

Our little Barbie Girl finally has a Barbie Jeep to help complete her look. Harper immediately knew the car was for her and climbed in to check it out. During the first week, she enjoyed climbing in and out of the car, playing with the radio and eating her afternoon snack in it. Soon she became more brave and began pushing on the gas. She isn't a great driver yet, but she enjoys her new toy - and she looks great it in, too!

The Public Library

We finally took Harper to the Johnston Library to check out a few books. Harper loves to read - she spends a lot of time playing with books at school and at home. We typically read 3 or 4 books every night before bed and she will sit down with a book and read to herself during the day. Since it's been so hot lately, we figured the library was a good idea. We prepped Harper before going in - you have to be quiet at the library and you have to listen to mom and dad. She did very well for her first visit. She walked around and admired all the board books and checked out the puppets and stuffed animals. We looked at a few books while we were there, but mainly Harper was entertained by the surroundings. She kept telling us, "Shhhh. Quiet." We brought home three books which she very much enjoyed reading over the next week. Since our original trip, we've been to the library again. If you mention the word, she immediately says, "Quiet." and puts her finger up to her lips to "shhhhhush" you. It's cute.

I'm not giving up...

You might notice that I have posted anything in a month. I haven't given up on the blog, but I am very motivated by photos...and our camera has been sent back for repairs. You might have noticed a black blob on the photos in the last few posts. We got a spec of dust (or something) in between the lenses and couldn't get it out! FRUSTRATING. So, we sent it in for repair...and we've waited and waited...and are STILL WAITING for our camera back. Sigh. In the meantime, we do have our phones so I will do a few late posts on recent activity.

My Little Helper

Harper LOVES to help Ross and me around the house. It's not always functional to have her help - she's obviously young and not very coordinated. But what she lacks in strength, she makes up in willingness! She likes to help us "scrub" anything - floor, end tables, furniture. She has been responsible for feeding Riley dinner for months - we scoop the food, she takes it and walks to the bowl, dumps it, returns the cup into the bag and shuts the door!  She is also very good at returning things to their original place when asked and is a big helper when running things to mom or dad. This week she added another skill - watering the garden! Harper insisted that she could do it by herself and she did a pretty great job of watering all the plants with minimal direction! She's a smart cookie!

Wisconsin Vacation 2013

We made our annual trek to Wisconsin last week. This was our first year traveling with an active toddler, so we decided to leave at 4 am in the hopes that Harper would sleep most of the trip. The plan worked like a charm and we had an easy drive. A bonus is that we arrived in Holcombe by 11:30 in the morning....just in time to meet my parents, Charlie & Char, and Annie for Bloody Marys! The weekend was very cold - in fact, the temperatures were record lows in the state - so we stayed indoors and visited a handful of resorts. Dave's family arrived on Monday....and I have to admit the rest of the week was kind of a blur of activity! A few of the highlights include....

• Kayaking. It was Stephanie's (and maybe Daves??) first time in a kayak. They did great. Abby, who is an experienced paddler, did awesome and did a 5 mile trip the next day with Dave, Ross and me. We didn't see much wildlife - a few fish, bald eagles and a deer. The river was shallow (Abby and I both got stuck on sandbars) and we faced a strong headwind so our arms were tired by the time we reached our house!
• ATVs! This was another first for Stephanie. We rented one and used mom & dad's (a big thank you!) for a full day of riding the trails. I think the only complaint anyone had was that we wish we could have ridden longer. The trails in that area are so much fun - winding paths through the woods, up and down and around, etc. I can't wait to do it again.
• Chippewa and Stanley visit. We made an afternoon visit to Irvine Park to see the animals. The kids enjoyed the petting zoo. They made friends with a hungry donkey who tried to take a bite out of Harper as we were walking away. If you ask Harper about a donkey, she will now says  "heehaw" and then quickly follow up with, "BITE!" Luckily the other animals were much less hungry and the kids enjoyed petting the barn yard animals and watching the lions and bears. After the park, we headed straight to Grandma's house. We joined her at the Stanley pool for a quick dip in the water. Afterwards she served a feast - I'm full just thinking about all the food we ate. Grandma always puts on a huge spread and this visit was no exception.
• Schneiders Camp Flambaeu. We stayed Mon - Fri at a local cabin and it was amazing. Very clean, very spacious and had amazing views. Although we saw fish jumping in the water in front of the cabin, we were unable to catch any. We have already reserved our week for 2014!
• Spending time with family. Really, spending time with our parents is the highlight of the trip every year. They do so much for us and really work to make it a great trip. Even if we did nothing but sit around the campfire it would be an awesome time chatting with one another and watching the kids play. This year we got to see Charlie & Charlie, Tom and Linda, Annie and Em's kids, too. The kids meshed really well together and had a blast playing on the sandbar, riding the atv (with Dave or Ross) and just running around the Connell Compound.

I have to admit I'm sad the trip is over...but I'm already excited for next year!