This Past Week

Sat: Work function for Nate.
His work has a 'family' event every summer at Wild Mountain. It is really geared for the kids, as we all received free wrist bands for the water park. By the time we arrived, the clouds were rolling in. Rhya's teeth were chattering away as she tried to play in the toddler area! We ended up in the lazy river until we got evacuated because of the downpour!
The rain eventually stopped and allowed us to have a potluck before heading off to the Taylor's Falls paddle boat ride. Rhya got a bunch of candy (which her Mommy and Daddy have been eating!) and an adorable stuffed bunny. It was refreshing to witness the 'big shots' trying hard to make it fun for the kids. :-) Now I can picture everyone that Nate talks about from work.

Sun: Huge union mtg at Gpa and Gma's (George and Elva)
Picnic lunch at Mom and Dad's camping area with all of the family including grandparents and Heidi.
Supper at our place. We had a lot of people over and a lot of fun! Gary, Amber, Bill, Shanda, Kylie, Karena, Travis, Heidi, Mike and Kristina all joined us. We ate out on the deck and played 'Last Word'.

Mon: Took all three kids to 'The Farm'. We stopped at a sweetcorn stand on the way, which the kids thought was awesome. After lunch we checked out the adorable fat, fluffy, grey kittens and the chicks that aren't so tiny anymore! They wanted me to catch some chicks so they could hold them like last time. The only problem was they always went to the other side of the pen in a flapping frenzy. I did manage to catch a few, though. :-) The kittens were given special treatment in the play baby cradle.

Tues: Gma Mo joined us for the day and overnight! She graciously took me up on my desire to take the kids to the zoo. It was crazy busy, and I was super glad for her help! Rhya was enthralled by EVERYTHING. She kept taking in sharp breaths of air and pointing and jabbering at every single thing. The baby orangutang was the highlight.

Thurs: Pierce County Fair day! I don't know what I would do without the double stroller that all three kids can smash into. It helps in the exercise department also. We loaded everything into the car and headed off to the fair. We started out at the petting zoo which had SO MANY amazingly cute and friendly animals. The bunnies and fainting goats were for sale (ahem, Mom and Dad!). It rekindled my constant desire to move to the country and have every animal imaginable, INCLUDING a pot bellied pig. The thing was just adorable. I am so glad that the kids love animals. We had tons of fun wandering through every single animal building.
The milk and cookie stand is still there (I remember it from our childhood fair days). We sat on a bench and indulged ourselves. All went well except for the constant dribbling down Kenna's shirt and the two times that Rhya fell off the bench. She was so intent on her food that she hardly noticed, besides a quick 'oops!'
We watched a kid show which blasted off my eardrums. Rhya was dancing away to the music. Kendra won a watch from volunteering to hula hoop (all the kids won 'first place in the 'contest'). Wendy had her Norwex booth in that building. I almost went and found some earplugs for her!
The dc kids got to go on one ride, and after many mind changes, they settled a jungle gym contraption. After that we stepped over a random pile of barf and ordered a couple of cherry snowcones.
The day ended with us watching some horses and climbing on some bleachers. The kids did not want to leave, and even thanked me for letting them come to the fair. 

Tonight Rhya and I played hide and seek for a LONG time. Every time she found me she would nod her head as fast as it would go and jabber up a storm, trying to tell me to go hide again. I'd tell her to sit down and wait, so she'd plop her butt down and wait for a bout 1 second before hopping back up and running after me. I seriously had to RUN to hide in time. :-)

This munchkin takes after me in many ways, I believe. I remember Mom saying that when Kristina was doing something naughty all she'd have to do is look at her with a disapproving eye and Kristina would almost start crying. I've heard that Kayla and I weren't so much like that....neither is Rhya. Lately when I've told her 'no', she'll look at me and laugh, like I'm supposed to think that it was supposed to be funny. She keeps trying until she realizes that I'm not laughing. Then, if I'm lucky, she'll just pretend like she didn't get in trouble and go do something else. She does NOT like to show any remorse! This shall be interesting. :-)

Her vocabulary is shooting through the roof lately. She's been saying all sorts of words without being prompted. She points to herself and says 'Rahrah'. She points to me and Nate and says our names. So many times I don't even realize that she's saying actual words unless I really tune myself in and realize that, WOW! She's not just jabbering nonsense. There are actual words forming!