Midwestern Vacation - Part 2

Hi everyone, our vacation is almost at an end and we have so many pictures.  Sadie had a wonderful time in St. Louis.  She had so many visitors!

Mindy came to visit and brought over a frog that Sadie wanted to take with her everywhere the rest of the week.

Sadie also got to show Esther and Aunt Ava all of her charm when they visited!

Grandma and Aunt Renee also took Sadie to visit Elana (they were born on the exact same day) and they had fun playing with each other's toys.

In the meantime, Mom and Dad had a blast in Chicago.  On Wednesday we rented bicycles and cycled 9 miles north of the city center along the lake.  Here we are at a popular photo spot, a couple miles into our ride.

Here is just a pretty spot along the route.

And here is the lake at the very end of the trail.  The water was cold but not so cold that mom didn't regret having her bathing suit (next time!).  It was a truly beautiful day!

Once we were done enjoying the scenery we cycled the 9 miles back.  In the city we got some well earned deep dish Chicago pizza (thank you to Rebecca for the restaurant recommendation - it was delicious!).  Then we returned our bikes, got a lemonade and people watched in Millennium Park.  Here is an attempted photo of us in front of the Bean statue - sweaty, tired, and happy.

Many more pictures left, but that's for another blog post.

Midwestern Vacation - Part 1

The family is on vacation this week.  Mom and Dad took Sadie to St. Louis to visit Grandma and Grandpa David.  Sadie did great in transit, even though we had to wake up an hour earlier than usual.  Here she is looking at the planes with Dad.

We had a lovely weekend with everyone.  Aunt Renee brought over bubbles to blow in the back yard...

And Grandma brought out a doll stroller for Sadie to play with

And in the mean time Dad and Grandpa David went to a Cardinals game

Then on Sunday morning we all went to Grant's Farm (a local animal reserve and petting zoo).  Sadie was very interested in the guinea pigs

 

She also had fun running around (at one point she grabbed a map and looked like she was going somewhere specific!).  

Then we saw some llamas and it was time to go (family photo on the tram out of the park).

Back at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Sadie had lots of fun with all the toys and books that were there for her to play with.  Later in the evening we even had some cousin visitors.

Then on Monday, Mom and Dad said good bye to Sadie for a couple of days and went to Chicago.  Sadie is going to have lots of fun with family and friends in St. Louis though (she has quite the social calendar already!).  Those photos to come...

Learning to brush our teeth

She's both delighted and confused that the toothbrush looks like a banana...

Babel Babel Babel

Well, not quite up to heaven, but...

While waiting for Mom to get home, Sadie figured out why we keep all these blocks around. <video below>

How did I forget to post this one?

A couple Tuesdays back, we were playing around the front stoop and Dad grabbed this photo.

Sadie masters the slide

Sunday evening we decided to partake in the Brookline tradition of going to JP Licks and eating our ice cream while our child runs around on the elementary school playground next door.  We've done this many times this summer.  However, this time was the first time Sadie showed any interest at all in our ice cream.  She "asked" for a taste, so we shrugged and gave her a spoonful from each of Mom and Dad's cups.  We were a bit worried that we'd create an ice cream monster, but Sadie just ran off to play after she tried it (score!).  

She had a great time on the playground, however.  In particular she wanted to go on the slide over and over and over and over again, and was very brave doing so (see video)!

Our first trip to the Boston Children's Museum

Yesterday we took Sadie to the Boston Children's Museum.  It was our first time there and it was fantastic!  There is a special area just for children who are between 0-3.   Sadie had so much fun exploring all the things!

There was a climbing structure!

A water play area (complete with smocks to keep the kids dry)...

A little house to explore...

And so many toys (trucks, and a train table, and dress up clothes...)

Sadie especially loved popping the bubbles dad was blowing for her!

 

But alas, eventually it was time for lunch and nap and we had to go, but not before we braved looking out the giant windows.

We loved the museum so much we bought a yearly membership so we can go an hour before general admission.  We hope to come in the winter, when playing on the playground may be less pleasant.

Field Trip!

The daycare took Sadie's class to the rooftop garden in Kendall and sent us this photo of Sadie.  Looks like they had fun!

Cape Weekend Roundup

This weekend was very eventful (and not just because of the new words!).  On Friday the family went to Mom's company picnic.  It was held at Fenway Park.  We weren't there for very long because it was quite overwhelming for a little girl like Sadie.  But we did have lunch, talked to some folks, and tried to take a picture for posterity (this was the best we could do with the lighting).

Then Mom and Sadie dropped dad off at the airport so he could go to St. Louis for Great-Grandma Flossie's funeral.  Originally the whole family was supposed to go to the cape to visit Babulya and Deda but sadly Mom and Sadie went on themselves.  We missed Dad, but had a good time anyway.

Sadie explored the flowers in Babulya and Deda's garden.

We had lots of tasty food.

Everyone walked on the boardwalk.

We also went to a lake (we figured the beach there would be less overwhelming than the ocean).  Sadie was still a bit scared to go in the water, but she played in the sand and got pretty close!

Sadly, it was time to go.

We'll be back soon!

Sadie's first words!

Hi folks,

you may have noticed the absence of such a post and that is because until last week Sadie didn't speak.  She understood us surprisingly well but didn't really have anything to say herself.  We were starting to worry. And then, a week ago out of the blue we had a language explosion!  It all started when we went out to dinner last Saturday.  Sadie dropped her toy and Mom said "oh oh" and Sadie repeated it!  Then every time something fell during dinner Sadie said "oh oh".  We were so excited but didn't want to jinx it.

Then, just to add to our joy, Sadie added another word on our way back.  Dad and Sadie were walking down the street holding hands (mom was pushing the stroller).  It was quite an adorable sight to see and everyone who was walking past us in the other direction commented along the lines of "Hi cutie!" or "Hi there little girl!"  So Sadie started saying "hi" back!  And every time someone said it and she answered it got reinforced.  Since then we've also added "dees" for "this" and "boo" for "book".

There's not really a picture that goes with this post, but here are just some cute pictures of Sadie on the play ground.