Spider-girl

My Spidey-senses tell me that Emma likes to climb!

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Balloon festival

This weekend PapaGrammyCuz came to town and we planned to go to the Balloon Festival a time or two (your ticket is good for all 3 days). Friday night we were going to watch the hot air balloon night glow after dinner, except it was raining, and raining, and... didn't stop. So Saturday morning when the sun peeked through, we quickly headed over to get in some fun hopefully before the next shower rolled in!

Well, we were pretty much the only people in the ride area! Emma was often the only person on each ride. When she and Papa went on the roller coaster, it seems he let them go around the track many extra times!


Emma was tall enough to ride The Scrambler with someone, so she and Miranda hopped on. I thought she might find it too wild, but when she got off she said "That's my new ride!" She really loved it and they went again later.


Albertson's was there giving out (free!) cupcakes. Cute! They had a cake walk but even though we took up nearly 50% of the numbers, none of us won a cake :)


While in line for the cake walk, the clown came over and helped Emma perform a little trick! I love her expression.


Home Depot had a kids workshop where you could choose to build one of four things. Emma chose a sailboat and Miranda helped her get the nails started, and then she hammered away!

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Garden girl

Emma tends to her strawberry garden with her dollar store squirt gun. Each pump gives the right amount of water for each plant! It's a lot of fun.

Next up are the tomatoes! She could do this all day long :) Of course, she's always loved playing with water outside!

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Father's Day camping

This weekend we went camping in Castle Rock, WA, as we wanted to visit the Mount St. Helens area. The Johnston Ridge Observatory area is a National Monument, and so dogs are highly restricted. Zoe could only get out in the parking lot, but she and Emma played in the snow for a bit! Emma made some snowballs and stomped around.


The top of the mountain was obscured by clouds. Bummer! It was still pretty to see.


We went to three visitor/learning centers while driving there and back. This one had a cool playground with a volcano slide!

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Weyerhaeuser and the DOT have a Forest Learning Center that includes exhibits about the rebuilding of the forest in the area. Also a cool little helicopter to "fly"!

Finally, on the way out Emma got a souvenir penny of the mountain and Spirit Lake. She recently started a collection of them thanks to Papa John!

Camping was fun and we had a new experience - rain! It was the first time in three years that we have gotten rained on while camping! We huddled under the awning to eat dinner, and unfortunately we couldn't enjoy the campfire that night.

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On Father's Day, as we were getting ready to head out!

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As I was walking back to the truck while we were stopped at a rest stop, I had to laugh at the size compared to the big semi parked next to us! Also there was a cute little snacker hanging out the window...

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Last swim class

Emma's swim class ended today. It was an abbreviated session, but she learned some great stuff in that short time! Today they worked on swimming forward, doing the "alligator" swim. She put both her arms out front and placed her hands on top of the teacher's hands, and then kicked her legs while blowing bubbles in the water. Whaddya know, it kind of looked like real swimming!

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Waiting and peeking on the stairs!

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Miscellaneous weekend

Yesterday Emma and Ed went to Bullwinkle's, where they have a climbing wall. Emma tried her hand at climbing, but she didn't keep going because the hand holds were slippery! (It had been raining earlier.) It was still fun to try though, as this is something she has been wanting to attempt! So after that they played some video games inside :)

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Today we visited Papa John. How cool is it to go out on your front porch and be greeted by the mama and baby cows?! Zoe was keeping a very watchful eye on them. Emma would moo at the cows and sometimes they would answer her back!

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Junior Parade

Today we went to the Junior Parade, which is part of the Rose Festival. We staked out a nice little spot between the mailbox and tree, and we actually had some shade when the sun came out!


Emma learned the quickest way to make new friends is with... bubbles!!


Tow Mater led off the parade. This was so exciting! I didn't get a picture of it, but Nemo was hanging off his tow hook! Emma kept waiting for Lightning McQueen to come through the parade too, but he was a no-show.

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This parade lasted longer than they have in the past. Emma made herself quite comfortable!

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It's not everyday that you see a dog riding a bike! There were a lot of dogs in the parade, real and otherwise. The real ones often were wearing tutus!

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Swim lessons

Emma had her first swim lesson today. We've been going to another pool for open swim to get used to certain things, like floating on her back, using a kickboard, and just splashing around in general. She doesn't like getting her ears or eyes wet (well who does!) but with goggles that helps a bit.

She had been uneasy about going to swim class and not wanting to go. I told her she might actually have fun, and after today she did have fun! She was with two other kids, and when her teacher asked if any of them had been to the ocean she went on and on about camping, the beach, and her dog swimming in the ocean!

Today they practiced blowing bubbles, getting their ears wet, and floating on your back while kicking your legs.

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Putt, putt!

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At the very end, she got to jump in the pool. That splash of water is Emma!

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Fun with Cuz

Some fun stuff that we've done this week with Miranda (aka Cuz), include Wednesday night at the park.  We walked some and played some before it started raining.  Then we headed for some ice cream!  Seemed to make sense to us :)

Where do kids learn this stuff from?  Oh yeah, bigger kids!

Thursday we took Cuz to her orthodontist for a retainer.  (No more braces!!)  Since we were in Poulsbo we just had to visit Sluy's Bakery and get these delicious gingerbread boy maple bars!!

After our doughnuts, we walked the waterfront for a little bit.  Emma saw things to climb on!!











That night we returned to school for a band concert, but first Emma and I got some wiggles out on the playground.

Friday night we returned to school again to see Cuz and the drama club in Voices from the Titanic.  She played four characters and had many costume changes!  Looking beautiful after the show :)














This morning we visited Chetzemoka Park in Port Townsend.  I was hoping to get a picture of Emma on the same jungle gym that we have pictures of me on as a kid, but they have different structures now.  She created her own pose and called it the Swinging Frog!

Sliding with kitty!

Bike racer

Today we went to a park that has a nice little BMX race track!  Emma saw this the other day, but we had to come back to do it when it wasn't raining.

She tipped over the first couple of times as she would try to stop while going up a hill.  Once she figured out to keep going, she did fine zooming around the track!

Go, go, go go speed racer!

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