Baseball game

We finally made it to a Red Wings baseball game this summer.  The games start at 7:15, so we couldn't stay for the whole thing.  Parker wore her Cardinals shirt and did really great the whole time.  We arrived early and had Red Osier beef on weck (local delicacy) for dinner, Parker got to have Cracker Jack for the first time, and we had dippin' dots and a nutella crepe with vanilla ice cream before heading home.  Yummy night!

Girls (& Dog) Weekend

Greg was gone last weekend mountain biking in Vermont with his cousin Jason.  He had a great time. They rode 60 miles of trail and drank lots of good beer.

Meanwhile, Parker, Otis, and I hung out at home.  We took a few walks, went to the JCC pool, and played in the backyard.  Some videos and pictures of the weekend...

On a walk in Highland Park:

 

Messy lunch:

Sticker time:

Backyard fun:

snack of hummus & bell peppers

Parker loves to draw and has taken to getting her face very close to the paper.  I don't think she has an eyesight problem, I think she just saw another kid do it:

PGA & Seneca

This past week, Rochester hosted the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club.  My company, Newtex, decided to use the tournament as an excuse to host an event for many of our international agents & partners.  We had 12 guests arrive from Taiwan, Singapore, India, Japan, Chicago, L.A., and Mexico.  There was a training day onsite on Thursday, dinner out Thursday night, and then Friday we all attended the PGA.  It rained in the morning, so it was pretty muddy in spots, but such a fun experience.

Greg got to attend the PGA on Saturday, courtesy of one of his vendors, Graybar.  They had VIP passes though, so I think his experience exceeded mine.  While Greg was at the tournament, Parker and I went grocery shopping, then a walk with Otis and a visit to the playground.  Finally, we made some cookies in the afternoon.  (I use "made" loosely here.  It was premade oatmeal cookies dough that we added mini M&MS to)

On Sunday, we took a family drive down to the Finger Lakes to get a sneak peek at the lake house on Seneca Lake we will be renting there in September and visit some friends in Waterloo.  Otis was excited to swim and Parker was ready to take off in the kayak.

My This

Time for an update on Parker's speaking because we had a big milestone this week...she says her own name!!  I discovered it on Saturday and then managed to get a decent video of her counting and singing the Alphabet Song.    

She still says "my this" for anything she has or wants and doesn't know the name for, but every day she adds more new words.  One of my favorite books to read to Parker is called A Rumble in the Jungle and is basically a role call of different wild animals.  She has been able to point to all the animals for a long time, but last night she said her version of zebra when asked...it was "bezah".  The was able to say giraffe pretty well though.

She still says Dada and Mama and Opitis and even though those aren't quite correct, it will make me sad when she start to say them properly.

Here is another rendition of Wheels on the Bus.  She sings a lot of the words now...

Nice weekend

For the first time in weeks, we had a weekend where we weren't frantically painting, cleaning, packing, or doing other work on the house.  It was nice.  

On Saturday morning, we took Otis and Parker to Mendon Ponds for a hike.  Parker was so excited to get in the backpack and Otis was so excited to go swimming.  When we stopped at the swimming spot, I took Parker's pants off because I knew she would want to walk into the water.  Then she wanted to walk the rest of the way back to the car (it is a flat section), so we were that family walking around the woods with a kid in a diaper.  We grabbed lunch at Chipotle (my obsession) and then home for naptime.  Greg snuck out for a mountain bike ride with cousin/buddy Jason in the evening.  

On Sunday, we took a family trip out to run errands and then walked up the street to Harry G's in our neighborhood for lunch.  We took the lunch to a park right in the South Wedge and had a nice time hanging out.  During Parker's naptime, I also took a nap and Greg went for another bike ride.  In the evening, I spent some time cleaning my car (LONG overdue, as anyone with a toddler who eats in the car all the time knows) while Greg and Parker cleaned their bikes.  Parker did scrub her bike and the started scrubbing herself.  I thought I got this on video but turns out it is only 3 seconds long: