Jeff City Trip

We spent the weekend in Jeff City to visit Steve's sister's family and his parents came for lunch, too.  Hannah is noticeably taller than Ainslyn now, even though Ainslyn is 1.5 years older.  Main activities of the weekend were swimming, jumping on the trampoline, and swinging on the highest swing in the world.  The Guinness Book of World Records hasn't made it official (yet), but trust me.  Fearless Hannah didn't think twice about swinging a few feet above her Mama's head.  She was also game for trying some new fruits: lychee and horned melon.  I'm missing my Hannah girl right now because she and Ainslyn are spending a few days at Granny's house.  It's too quiet around here without her.  It is the first time she and Olive have been separated, too.  Olive is handling it pretty well.  She misses Hannah most right after nap because she likes to wake her up.  Now she just walks into her room and looks confused when the bed is empty.  I can't wait to see her face light up when she sees her big sis tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olive Stats- 15 months

Olive is now 22 pounds 9 ounces (45th percentile) and 31 inches (60th percentile).  Poor O.  I think she is going to end up the short one in the family.  This month her two upper molars have broken through the skin.  She still doesn't have many words, but it seems like she understands everything I say.  I can tell her language explosion is right around the corner since she points to things wanting us to name them.  She has learned how to say "No, no, no!" and shake her finger.  This is always in response to one of us telling her no (or her remembering that she isn't supposed to do something).  I hope I can get it on video sometime.  She uses sign language for "more" and "all done."  One of her favorite things is putting on shoes (hers or other people's).  She likes her crocs best because she can put them on all by herself.  And finally, last night she WALKED down the stairs by herself.  Oy!

Antioch Park

We finally got a playdate with Ollie and Penny!  We went to Antioch Park on a way-too-hot day to check out the new playground equipment.  Hannah fed the geese and then we were surrounded by them.
 

 

 

 

John Anderson Sprayground

We tried out a new sprayground in Grandview, MO (less than 20 min away).  It is pirate themed and also has a playground right next to it.  Unfortunately it is not fenced in, which makes it a little difficult to watch two girls when they want to be in different places.  I spent most of my time with my hands on Olive so she wouldn't fall of the playground equipment and my eyes on Hannah so I wouldn't lose track of her.  Fearless Hannah eventually joined us to climb to the top everything in sight.  One boy asked her how old she was and then said, "My brother is four and he won't even climb to the top of that!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinosaurs

Hannah chose dinosaurs for her next unit of study.  Problem:  when we did our book sort we came up with just five dinosaur books at our house and none of them were non-fiction.  Library to the rescue!  Our library has learning kits that contain books, CDs, DVDs, and action rhymes.  We checked out two dinosaur kits plus some other books.  Hannah liked "Tyrannosaurs Rex up Close" and Olive liked "Dinosaur Roar!" the best.  They both enjoyed Sesame Street dinosaurs and Dinosaur Train DVDs.  Hannah didn't really like the action rhymes, although I thought they were cute.  We spent most of our learning times reading books and looking at pictures.  Hannah was really good at noticing small differences between the dinosaurs.  She saw Brachiosaurus and Apatosaurus  were different because of the bumps on their heads.  I never noticed that before.

Playing with dinosaurs at the library.  Did I mention our library is awesome?

 

We tried making dinosaur tracks by cutting out cardboard feet, but it was more fun to make Hannah tracks.  Then we made prints from leaves and other things in the yard.
 

Hannah's favorite activity: digging dinosaurs out of play-dough and making imprint fossils.
 

 

I bought these little dinosaurs for our unit and Hannah loves playing pretend with them.  We also sorted them into groups of herbivore/carnivores and number of legs.  Here she made a pattern with them.
 

 Another purchase was a kid's tape measure so we could plot the length of dinosaurs in our backyard.  It's never too young to get kids started measuring things.  They love it and it's a real world skill.  

I think could have studied dinosaurs forever, but when our library books were due I told her it was time to choose something else.  Next unit:  bugs!

Arboretum

The last time we went to the Overland Park Arboretum Marissa called us and said she was engaged.  She wanted Hannah to be her flower girl and I couldn't imagine Hannah ever walking (she was about 6 months at the time).  Time flies.  Now I have two walkers.  The arboretum has added lots of new gardens in the last few years, including a train garden.  Hannah loved racing the train and exploring all the different nature trails and paths.  Olive was really into smelling the flowers after she saw Hannah do it. We had a great time, and while we were up on a hill we saw a stealth bomber go by for the All Star game!

 

 

 

 

 

At the Playground

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Union Station

The girls were super excited to have Aunt Marissa and Uncle Casey stay with for a few days.  Hannah wanted to show them some of her favorite places in KC.  It was too hot to be outside, so she chose some indoor places.  We went swimming at Matt Ross and saw the train display at Union Station.  It was our first time walking the link between Union Station and Crown Center.  Hannah pushed the stroller the whole way back.  What a helper!

 

 

 

 

4th of July

We got back from our vacation on July 2nd.  Although Hannah hated to leave Grandma and Grandpa's, she was very happy to be with Uncle Casey and Aunt Marissa who were staying at our house for the week.  We were glad we decided to stay in KC for the 4th since Chillicothe canceled their fireworks show because of the drought.  Hannah remembered the neighborhood parade from last year and we spent the night before decorating the stroller and tricycle.  She did most of it herself.  Casey had to work, but Marissa walked in the parade with us.

 

 

Don't ask me why my arms are awkwardly in front of my body.
 

Olive missed her morning nap to be in the parade, but treats at the end made it worthwhile.
 

Then we headed over to Village Fest.  It was our first time and we had lots of fun.  The girls really liked the petting zoo where you could feed the animals.  They had the usual animals plus a kangaroo and spider monkey!
 

Olive solemnly waves to the goats.
 

Of course Hannah had to do a horse ride, although she didn't like it as much as Deanna Rose where someone led the horse on a trail.

Olive (and Steve and Marissa) watch Hannah ride.
 

We also did the bouncy house and a puppet show.  There were lots more activities that looked fun, but it was lunchtime and we didn't want to push our luck with Olive anymore.  I can't wait for next year when the girls are older!  I tried for a sister picture, but Olive wouldn't sit still.

 

We talked over our fireworks options and finally settled on just watching the golf course show from our house.  That way Olive could go to bed at her normal time in her crib.  Just like last year, Hannah was in love with fireworks.