"Addison if you stand here, smile and say cheese, we will go to the park" And that's the smile I got. ha! I am not above bribery to get photos this stinkin' cute.
We found this awesome little park in Ankeny with a little splash pad. It's just four little sprayers in the ground, not usually crowded, and best of all, it's free. There is a little pole where you just tap it and it starts the water. Addison was timid at first and only put in one finger, but soon she was running through it squealing.
We went to this park a few different times, one of those times Grandma & Grandpa met us there. Addison absolutely loves watching this video on the phone of her and Grandma running through the water. I had to take a video to show my siblings that our mom was actually running through water - ha! The things they will do for grandkids.......
As we were walking out we found a fountain. Addison thought it was fun getting splashed, but I think Ryan might have had more fun.
Ryan, Addison & Evonne outside the zoo. I didn't realize until we were gone that we didn't get any family pictures. I need to be better that.
We stopped by the baseball stadium in the parking lot on the way to the car. I was trying to teach her how to lead off. She somehow still had lots of energy to run the bases.
It was a small field that I don't believe they actually play anything on. I think it's just for site-seeing. She ran the bases a few times.
She zonked out in the car with her Paw Patrol guys about 30 minutes into the drive home. She had so much energy we weren't sure she would even fall asleep!
We went inside to see the elephants close up, Addison liked this. We taught her how to make an elephant noise and raise her arm like a trunk, it's pretty cute.
Well we can't see the elephants, but here is Ryan, Evonne, and Addison at the elephants.
She started riding on our shoulders more this summer, she grips onto Ryan's face pretty tight. It's hard because when she wants down, she means right this second. So it makes me nervous to have her on my shoulders!
This was so long ago that I don't remember what was in the display on the right.....
The lions were probably the best display there. They were right up close to the glass. Of course, it felt like everyone at the whole zoo was at the lions, but we still got to see them.
When Addison roars, she puts her hands out like in the photo above. We think it's pretty funny. The lions apparently got fed while we were there, and two of them starting fighting. They slammed into the glass. It was pretty cool but also pretty scary when your two year old is nearby. Thankfully Addison didn't see them fighting, it probably would have traumatized her.
The animals weren't entertaining enough apparently, so we played peek-a-boo behind a pole.
We could climb up in a safari jeep and pretend to drive. There were lots of sound effects with it as well. She thought it was pretty fun. And she even let Grandma Evonne get in and ride with them.
We chased each other around the elephant trailer. I think this was the trailer they used to weigh the elephants with.
She LOVED the aquarium. And good thing there was a lot to see because she didn't slow down long. She just kept moving. We went through one area twice. And it was nice because it was air conditioned and it was a pretty warm day.
I apparently didn't get any photos but she really liked the rainforest and the cases with the frogs. There were some bright blue frogs that she thought were super cool. It was a good day. It was long and a little warm, but she was a trooper!
We decided to head to the Omaha Zoo for the day the first weekend in July. I was pretty excited, I love zoos. We got up early, packed the car, and picked up Ryan's mom on the way. We stopped for donuts along the way, Addison called me out that I picked one out for her with no frosting - ha!
The very first thing we saw at the zoo was a big pile of dirt. This was in the dessert dome. I hadn't been to the zoo in many years, so the dessert dome was new to me. It was quite disappointing.
Addison liked the gorillas. But she didn't like to stand still at the windows very long, so it was great that the zoo had lots of gorillas and monkeys. We could keep walking but always saw more animals.
They had a nice little bench for the little ones to stand on. There were lots of monkeys in this display, she loved it.
You can actually get pretty close to the animals, I feel like the giraffes are always so far away! We couldn't get Addison to look and smile, but oh well. It was pretty hot that day but Addison was a trooper. It was fun to see her find each animal in the displays, she would squeal and then yell the animal name (if she knew it).
So I knew it had been a long time since I updated the blog, I had no idea it's been over a month and my posts are at the 4th of July!! In the middle of August, we had the ISUAA Board of Directors Meeting which takes up a ton of my time and then Ryan and I went on vacation. Then we come back and it's football season, start of a new school year, and lots of craziness. Work has been stressful and I've been working a lot and the last thing I want to do when I get home is start up my computer! But I want to keep up with the blog and I need to get after it :)
We decided to go to the 4th of July parade in Ames. My parents had gone the year before with Parker and said it was a pretty good parade. So we all met downtown Ames, they got there early and saved us a good spot under a shade tree (one of very few). It was HOT. And I like hot weather, but it was HOT. The parade was supposed to start at 10am and the first float got to us about 10:25. While other parents were chasing their toddlers up and down the street during this time, Ours sat perfectly still in her chair. I don't know that she got up at all. ha! I pointed out the other parents to make sure Ryan knew what a normal toddler acts like!
It took a while but she finally got up to get some candy. We got some squishy footballs that she liked as well. She did get pretty into the candy pick-up. But I took candy out of our bag and tossed them in front of the kids next to us.... we didn't need to take it home! Another thing we are appreciating right now, she doesn't know/think you can eat it. So she doesn't ask for it. If you noticed above, she was eating carrots at the parade. A few parents commented on her choice of a healthy snack. Kid loves carrots, cooked, raw, shredded, doesn't matter!
We made it through the whole 1.5 hour parade in the heat. We wouldn't have made it without that little shade tree! We went back to the Ames house and grilled for lunch. Then we watched the Cubs. It was a good day. Addison then stayed with Grandma & Grandpa and went to the farm. We didn't have daycare the next day so she played at the farm.
We did get to show her fireworks on July 3rd here in Bondurant. A bunch of people were shooting them off here and she was having a blast running from room to room to watch them. Ryan was on one side of the house and I was on the other and we would call for her when we saw some. Of course, half of the time the fireworks were gone by the time she got there, but she didn't care. By the time I thought to take a video (we thought she was hilarious), she wasn't even looking for the fireworks. Just ran from room to room yelling "go go go!".
We decided Addison deserved some ice cream at lunch. Typically we always eat ice cream with a spoon, but she saw Ryan lick it so she wanted to try too. This is her first "lick" from an ice cream cone!
We figured that we were already a little crazy being out and about on a super hot day....why not be completely crazy? So we went to a park. With a black rubber surface. It was a cool park and we were the only ones there. Because no one else is that crazy. ha! We all had sweat just dripping off us, but Addison was happy as a clam.
Her cheeks are red she's so hot but by golly she wasn't going to slow down! We did find some chairs in the shade but she didn't sit long.
We were "peeking" in these photos. I was trying to find a way to get her to actually smile and let me take photos. This actually worked. haha! She called the little shelter a "house" so she was "peeking, house".
She was having a good time...she kept going back to the "house" to "peek". Oh and she says "PEEK!!" each time she pops her head out. haha!
I feel like this is another pose we should re-create at senior pictures.....
And our last photo in Pella. We were still at the park, but they had this little window that she loved running to. I didn't take photos, but we did go to a bakery. We bought ourselves a couple pastries. We probably should have bought a Dutch Letter (I've never had one), but there were so many things that looked amazing. Plus the way the bakery was set up, you weren't allowed to browse very easily. You stood in a long line (probably 25 people), then when it was your turn, and an employee was "assigned" to you and stared at you until you made a decision. If you walked around the cases, they followed you. There were a bunch of people working and they all worked quickly. Trying to juggle an antsy toddler, jogging stroller and decide on pastries was more stress than I anticipated walking in the door. haha! But it was a good trip to Pella and I'm sure we will go back sometime.
Another weekend adventure - this time we went to Pella! We had never been there and it hasn't worked the past couple years for us to go to Tulip Festival. It's always a busy weekend at work for me. So we went in July. It was forecasted to be about 98 degrees that day. We left the house about 9am and I think it was already 90 degrees when we got there. Addison insisted on having a blanket on. We teased her that she has hung out with Grandma Rita too much. She also put her own sunglasses on....which is why they look a little goofy :)
Addison was terrified of the giant shoes, so Mom had to get in first.
She has her head down, almost in tears. She didn't want to be in the shoes. Little does she know, if she would just look it me and smile so I could scrapbook, then it would all be over quickly. haha!
Clearly, I wasn't going to give up. We were in Pella, we needed a picture in the shoes!!
And we needed a picture with the windmills too. We saw 4 or 5 windmills. We could have gone on a tour of a bigger one, and there was some little town or something we could tour, but it was an hour long and we would have been the youngest guests by about 30 years. So I'm guessing the others would have liked to listen to the tour guide and not our rambunctious toddler. ha! So we passed this time.
