Mommy is back in Phoenix with Grandma Bunny

Mommy's Mommy, Grandma Bunny, had to go in to the hospital over the weekend to have some pretty major surgery.  Due to several other health issues complicating things, Mommy headed out to Phoenix today to be with her and the rest of her family. 

The surgery went well and Grandma is recovering.  Mommy is staying there for about 10 days to help take care of things for the future.

I will miss Mommy, but I am glad that she is able to be with her Mommy.  I know that if Mommy was super sick, I'd want to be right there with her too!

Open House at Rainbow Child Care

I'm about to start my last week at the Wright Field North Child Development Center ("Day care") where I have been since we arrived in Ohio.  I'm pretty sad about leaving my teachers and my friends (at least the ones that haven't already moved on), but they do not offer school-age care so I'll need to go to a different, off-base, after-school care facility - the "Rainbow"!  I am very excited about going to a new place, and today they were having an open house so I got to check out all the fun stuff they have (like an indoor gym)! 

Daddy got the camera, and any more when I see him with the camera, I have to get him to take a picture.  I love to pose and show off my missing teeth!

We had gone to the Rainbow Child Care Center when it was brand-new several months ago - the playground was still just dirt!  But now it's open and looks like there will be a lot of fun things to learn and do.  I discovered this astronaut's uniform in the "school-age" room right away and put it right on. 

I also got to meet my teacher, Miss Alicia, and some of the other people that work there.  They all seemed very nice, I'm sure I'll love it once I get there.  I will be splitting my time between Kindergarten and the Rainbow, so I will have lots of new friends! 

Playing Stratego with Daddy

Daddy and I played a new game today called "Stratego".  He and Uncle Randy used to play this growing up (Daddy admits that Uncle Randy almost always beat him).  He borrowed it from Uncle Randy and I really wanted to give it a try, so Daddy taught me how to play.  He didn't think I'd make it through a whole game, but I sure did!  It took about 45 minutes and I never lost interest.  In fact, I wanted to play it again right away, but it was time for bed by then.  I was really starting to get the hang of it!  I impressed Daddy by coming up with my own strategy for placing my bombs and flag - most of the bombs around the flag in the corner of the board, but then a few bombs elsewhere to make him THINK the flag was there.  Pretty good!  Daddy did win this time, but I know I'll get him back soon. 

When he looked back at the box, he noticed it's for ages 10 and up.  He was really proud of me then! 

Uncle Randy's here!

Daddy's brother, Uncle Randy, just moved from California to Cincinatti!  He drove in last night, and Daddy helped him move into his apartment this morning.  I didn't get to go, but I can't wait to see Uncle Randy again.  I've been telling Daddy how much fun it will be now that his brother is close by.  He tells me this is the first time in 20 years that they've been close enough for day trips to see each other, so he is very excited too!  He's less than an hour away!

Home Depot Kid's Workshop

Today Daddy and I went back to the Home Depot Kid's Workshop!  I had missed the last two monthly workshops, but we could make it this time and I was very excited to build something else and get another pin for my apron.  This project this time was a bulletin board.

Last time Daddy ended up doing most of the hammering, because I wasn't very good at it.  But this time I did it all myself!  He did help me hold the nails at first, and I didn't hit his fingers too much.  We decided to hammer on the floor where I could get a better angle.

I did so great at hammering, and Daddy was super proud of me!

They didn't have any paint there today, but we have lots at home, so I plan to paint the frame pink and purple.  It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to go back next time!

Off to buy school supplies!

I am so excited to be starting Kindergarten in just a few weeks!  Tonight Mommy and I went out to get some school supplies.  It was fun getting all the pencils, paper, and crayons, but the best part was picking out a backpack!  I went for the Tinker Bell and fairies one, which was acctually a pretty big surprise to Mommy or Daddy.  Usually I go for the Princess things, but not this time! 

I can't wait for Kindergarten, but I'm also thinking long-term already.  I told Mommy earlier, "Mommy, I'm so sad.  I don't want to leave you when I go to college!"

Leaving Owasso

Mommy and Daddy came back to Owasso yesterday to come get me so we could go home tomorrow!  I hadn't seen Mommy in almost two weeks, so I was super excited to give her a big hug, and couldn't even wait for her to get out of the car.  I missed her a lot!

Mommy and Daddy discovered that I'd been having lots of fun playing games with Grandma and Papa.  One of those was this "Run Yourself Ragged" obstacle course game.  I was getting pretty good at it!  You can also see "Uncle Wiggly" on the floor.

I wanted to show Mommy how to play "Run Yourself Ragged" too, since I knew all about it now.

This morning we had to leave pretty early because we planned on driving all the way back to Ohio in one long day.  But I had time for some last-minute tickles from Papa!  What is it about Daddy and Papa that they like to give me so many tickles? 

We hit the road and made it all the way back, arriving just after midnight.  Of course, I fell asleep about 15 minutes from home.  Daddy was able to wake me enough to get me out of the car, and he told me to go on in and go upstairs while he unloaded the car.  When he got done, he came inside and asked Mommy where I was.  She didn't know either, and then they found me asleep on the couch.  I had headed for the closest comfortable thing I could find and fell right back asleep.  I was tired!  But I was so glad I got to see Grandma and Papa again!

Fun in Owasso

I have had a great week spending time with Grandma and Papa.  I went to Vacation Bible School in the morning, and had a lot of fun with the other kids there.  All afternoon I got to play with Grandma and Papa, read books, and do lots of other fun stuff.  I even got a second (or third) birthday party!  Grandma made a birthday cake because she wanted to get to celebrate with me too, which means that this birthday has stretched over more than a month!  (Mommy and Daddy assure me that it won't be like this every year...)

I liked wearing my pretty Grandma-made dress!

And I really liked this special cup.  Grandma calls it the "Magical Swirly Princess Glass" and I got to use it all week!

Grandma was being silly while reading me a book!

Mommy wonders why Daddy and I like to do things that scare her so much.  We think it's genetic!  But Grandma and I sure had fun swinging!

Driving to see Grandma and Papa Roslewski!

Daddy had a training course to go to out in Oklahoma City, and I went with him as far as Owasso, OK!  He dropped me off with Grandma and Papa Roslewski and I'm going to get to spend the whole week with them all by myself!  It'll be the first time I've done that in almost 2 years when we still lived in Oklahoma, so I'm very excited and so are they!

Mommy is still in Phoenix but is going to join up with Daddy in Ok City on Monday and then I'll see her when they drive back up to Owasso on Friday!

We had planned to fly out there, but the weather didn't look too good so unfortunately we had to drive.  Which meant a long drive, and we got started Saturday afternoon.  We got rained on a lot between Ohio and Illinois!  But we did see a pretty rainbow in Indiana.

We stayed overnight at a hotel, and that meant I got a super big bed all to myself!  And Teddy, of course, and Trumpet and Flo.  It had been a super long day, but I still told Daddy I was going to stay up later than him, because I wasn't tired at all!  He quietly laughed to himself when I fell asleep within a few minutes of laying down.  Guess I was tired after all!

We got up in the morning on Sunday and had breakfast, then got back on the road.  I couldn't wait to get to Grandma and Papa's house!  I was a great girl in the car and mostly either watched movies (some more than once), or talked with Daddy.  It was a long drive, but we tried to have a fun time anyway.

When we finally arrived, I was so excited to see Grandma and Papa that I almost couldn't wait to get out of the car!

After giving Grandma and Papa lots of big hugs, almost right away I told Papa that I had brought a special book for him to read to me - Fox in Sox!  Daddy told me that Papa "loved" reading Dr. Suess books to him, so he was sure Papa would love reading to me too.  It's a tough book, and Papa's tongue sure got crazy!

I was happy to see Shadow too.  She's getting pretty old, but is still a super friendly dog. 

Last night, Grandma and I found a wounded bird on their back porch.  We were able to pick it up, and made a little shoebox bed for it with some birdseed and water.  This morning, he had become stronger and had flown away!

Daddy left to drive down to Ok City for his class this morning, so now it's just Grandma, Papa and me all week.  Fun!

Columbus Zoo with Daddy

After dropping Mommy off at the airport, Daddy and I headed right for the Columbus Zoo, which was having a free day for military families.  Sounded like a great afternoon to us!  So while Mommy was sitting on planes all day, we had a great time.

Daddy recently installed some upgraded noise-cancelling electronics in my flying headset, and I wanted to test them out on the drive up.  So he plugged them into my DVD player and I thought it was great!  They worked really well too, and the new ear seals were more comfortable also.  I wore it all the way up and all the way back, a great test for longer flights!

This elephant was taking a nice bath, and got really close!

Of course I had to ride the carousel.  We did it three times!

Daddy realized he was only going to have pictures of me, so made sure to take one of both of us.

They have an aquarium too, and a big sea turtle swam by right in front of me!

I got to touch a sea star, a horseshoe crab, and a super big hermit crab!  The hermit crab's shell must have been almost 6 inches across.  Auntie Charlie would have loved it!  Here I am with the sea star.  We were told to touch it in the "armpit"!

I even got to touch a snake!  I was very brave, and Daddy was proud of me - I didn't shy away at all.

This zoo has a lot of rides too, and after looking at the animals we headed over to that part.  There was hardly anybody there, so I was sometimes the only one on the rides, like this swing. 

The roller coaster had no line either.  Daddy and I went on it twice...

... and then I went on it five more times without him!  That's my first time on a roller coaster without Mommy or Daddy next to me, and I loved it!  Since there was no line, the ride operator even let us stay on and just kept the ride going for three of those times.  It was great, unlimited roller coaster rides, like a dream come true!

As we were walking toward the exit, we saw a strange sight - two zoo workers taking a desert tortoise for a walk!  His name was "Grouchy" and he is 9 years old and about 60 pounds.  They were training him to follow a fake apple so that as he gets bigger (up to 3 times his current weight), they won't have to try to lift him if they need to move him somewhere.  It was a pretty neat thing to see, and ended a really fun day!

Mommy headed to Phoenix today

We got bad news this week that Grandpa Mitch had a stroke and was in pretty bad shape.  Mommy told me that he was very sick and probably wasn't going to get better.  So today Mommy flew out to Phoenix to be with him and her family.  Mommy told me that just like I'll always be her little girl no matter how big I get, she's always her Daddy's little girl too, and wanted to be with him.

I made a card for Mommy to take with her.

Unfortunately, Grandpa Mitch passed away this afternoon, before Mommy could get to see him.

She is going to spend the rest of the week helping Grandma Bunny out with everything that needs to be done.

We will miss Mommy but know that she is exactly where she needs to be.

Kettering "Adventure Reef" Water Park

It has been so hot out recently, over 100 degrees and high humidity, that we haven't really wanted to do anything outside.  But Mommy and Daddy were told about a small water park only a few minutes away, and we thought that would be a perfect way to spend a hot day!

Unfortunately I wasn't quite tall enough to go on most of the slides they had, but I did get to play in the kids area a lot, and even went in the indoor pool. 

I had a lot of fun going down this little slide.  So did lots of other kids.  It was pretty crowded!

On one side of that slide they had some ropes you could pull that would turn on a faucet above you.  I like pulling on these ropes.  Well, up on top of the whole thing was a big bucket that gradually filled with water.  When it got full, it turned over and dumped out!  Every time I'd get wet, I'd run away squealing, but went right back in for me.  It was fun!  And it looked like me pulling the ropes made the bucket dump over!

It was a great way to cool off for the day.

Can't wait to see Grandma and Papa Roslewski

Next weekend we are going to Oklahoma and I am going to get to spend the week with Grandma and Papa while Mommy and Daddy are in Oklahoma City.  Daddy will be at a training course for work and Mommy will be looking around trying to figure out where to live when we move back there.

I'm so excited about the trip that today I let Mommy and Daddy know just how excited I was, with a big smile on my face: "Pool every day, park every day, spoiled every day!"

Papa won't even have to sneak treats to me, since Mommy and Daddy won't be there to see it.  It will be the first time I've been to see them, without Mommy and Daddy around, in almost two years, so I am really excited about it!

Fourth of July at Young's Dairy!

It has been a long time since we went to Young's Dairy, and today we went back because they were having another of their unlimited wristband specials.  Which means we got to do everything, and I sure tried!

We had a great time at mini golf, and played two 18-hole rounds during the day.  I was really doing well, and even managed a few actual "3"s!

My favorite part, though, was keeping score.  After the first few holes, I asked Daddy to show me where to write the scores down, and after that I kept score the rest of the round!

We also went to the driving range, where I got to refine my skills with a driver.

Of course my favorite slide was nearby, and I wanted to go on it again and again and again.  Daddy and Mommy went along for a few rides, but then it was all me!  I easily went down the slide over 20 times.

Of course, it wouldn't be a visit to Young's Dairy without getting some ice cream, which tasted extra good on a hot day like today.  Yum!

With all this fun today, I was pretty tired when we got home.  I fell asleep before the fireworks, and even slept right through them!

Helping Daddy with electronics

We had a really close lightning strike in a storm a couple of weeks ago that actually damaged a few pieces of electronics in our house.  One of them was Mommy's clock radio - it turned on even in the off position!  Daddy wanted to take it apart to see if it was something simple to fix, and of course I wanted to be right there helping.  Well, we quickly determined it was unfixable, and then saw no reason not to completely take it apart!

Mommy's back, super late!

Mommy drove back from Washington, DC tonight after she finished teaching her class.  I had a special deal with Daddy that I could stay up until she got home, which was only going to be 8:30 or 9:00, so no real big deal.  Well, there was a lot of construction, and a big storm came through, and Mommy didn't get home until around 10:30!  But I stayed awake the whole time - Daddy and I watched a movie (Ice Age), played games, and read books.  Then once she got home, I gave her some loveys and promptly fell asleep on the couch!

I love old planes

Daddy and I were at our local small airport today, and we came upon the row of abandoned, derelict small planes that most airports seem to have.  I asked Daddy why they were so old and worn out, and he told me that sometimes people don't take care of their things once they get old, and then they just keep getting worse and worse.

I said back to him that "I love these old planes, Daddy, because nobody takes care of them!"

He sure gave me big hugs after saying that!

Mommy is out of town this week

Mommy went out of town this morning.  She is teaching a course near Washington, DC and will be back on Friday night.  So Daddy and I are going to have a lot of fun, just the two of us!  I already miss her though.

Big hair!

I wanted Mommy to give me "big hair" this morning, and she sure did!

Ready for yard work and writing thank you notes!

I'm all ready for some yard work with my new gloves and my own shovel!  I wanted to try to plant a canteloupe seed in our garden, so Daddy helped me out.  We'll see how it grows!

Later I was sure to write thank you cards for my friends who came to my birthday party.  Mommy said this was very important, and I thought it was a lot of fun too!  Mommy helped me with the spelling of the words, but I wrote all the letters myself.