Silly Sydney things

I haven't posted in awhile! Must be because I forgot my camera for two of the things we did in the last week...and what's a post without pictures?! Not to mention that now each time I get the camera out Sydney points to it and says "Ninny!" (her version of her own name) over and over again until I finally cave and show her pictures of herself. Is it a phase or do we just have a really vain toddler? She loves to look at herself, everywhere. Anyhow, her newest infatuation with the camera makes it difficult to get good pictures of her!

This past week I gave her peanut butter, again, but more officially this week. Confused? Let me recant...a couple weeks ago I gave her toast with some peanut butter on it to check for a reaction. She did great-loved it, no reaction...that day we went to the berry patch and she wouldn't eat her sandwich so I gave her some of my peanut butter sandwich. That same afternoon she got a horrible rash all over her face of which I suspected her sunscreen. The day before I had put it on her and she had a little bit of a rash, but not much. So when I gave her peanut butter this last time I wanted to be sure that it wasn't the peanut butter--and thankfully...it wasn't! 1) she loves it, 2) I'm looking forward to packing her a PB&J instead of her typical ham and cheese for picnics, etc. So much more convenient!!
Last weekend when we went grocery shopping Joe took Sydney in his cart to go look for stuff and I picked up food. When we reunited after our own shopping, I saw that Sydney had this plastic, decoy bird, of which my first thought was that Joe had picked it up for whatever reason. Actually Sydney had spotted it from quite a distance, yelled the Sydney version of "bird!" (more like burrr) and held it in her arms ever since. I just had to laugh that out of everything in Wal-mart she came out with a plastic, decoy bird. :)
Sydney has also become very interested in the baby items she used to use (though I doubt she remembers using them) that we have stored in one of our closets. She has her Bumbo seat that she pushes around, sits in, puts her babies in, etc. She had her jumperoo out, sitting in it and playing with the gadgets. Today she found her carseat and once I got everything off of the top of it, she climbed right on in and expected me to carry her around!!! She's well over the weight limit plus that seat was a tank anyway, before when she was much smaller! Anyway she had fun being silly and I must say it was fun seeing her in it again. :) Of course Auntie Bailey will see this and think this is an obvious sign that Sydney is trying to tell us something. ;)

Busy few days! Berry patch, day with Noah (and Tiffany :) ), and Emporia Zoo and park today!

Last Friday my friend Brenda invited Sydney and I to come to the Berry Patch for the day with her and the kids she babysits. We had never been and though I knew Sydney wouldn't really "get" it, I thought it would be a fun experience for all of us and she does love blueberries! So we arrived mid morning and got crackin' on the patches. With the help of fellow berry pickers they directed us to a patch way at the furthest corner of the farm where they had had some luck. Apparently we hit right in between some good blueberries being picked over and new blueberries being almost ready to pick...so we were a little nervous about how many we could find. Luckily we found the secret patch and took off picking! We only made it halfway down two rows and we all had buckets that were at least half full if not closer to 3/4 full. Once we made our way back to the store area we were able to buy homemade, fresh out of the oven blueberry muffins to take home. We got two, one for us and one for Joe. Sydney and I shared one of them for a snack that afternoon--it was delicious!
Saturday Joe wanted to go to the gun show in Topeka and luckily my friend Tiffany and her family were at their house! So while her husband Ed and Joe went to the gun show, Syd and I spent the day at their house. Sydney and Noah napped most of the afternoon so Tiffany and I had uninterrupted girl talk! It was great! Once the kids woke up we were heading to a near by playground when the guys pulled in. They walked down with us and we watched the kids play and go down slides for awhile. By then we were approaching mid-afternoon and we were hoping to make it home for supper or at least to Pomona for some BBQ. However after a quick stopover at Target it was late enough that we went ahead and stayed to eat. Mom and Dad had given us a gift card to the Outback Steakhouse for our anniversary so we decided to eat there. Sydney was NOT her typical self...teething turns the sweetest babies in to monsters sometimes! :( I can't remember a time when she was ever so unhappy with everything...just discontented all around. Needless to say the food was yummy--what little we tasted--we gulped it down so quickly just so we could get out of there and get her home!

Noah finding Sydney's belly button.Sydney finding Noah's belly button! (their new "game" :) )

Monday morning Sydney and I were invited by some new friends of ours to go to the Emporia Zoo and Peter Pan Park. The zoo was just the right size for our antsy kiddos! Sydney LOVED the prairie dogs...she would have stayed there all day if she could have! The fence was low enough that she could stand right next to it and just watch them. She kept waving and "talking" to them. :) Then we went to Peter Pan Park after the zoo where they have the coolest playground equipment I have ever seen! It was awesome! I wish it were closer-we'd go all the time! She loved going up and down the steps and would have actually been able to get up and go down the slide all on her own if it hadn't been wet. Maybe we'll have to get her daddy back there some day! :)

Playground fun!

Today we walked down to a nearby elementary school playground that has lots of fun equipment. It will be even more fun for Sydney in a year or two but they still have small slides that she can get to by climbing little steps and she loves just walking around and under and in between the equipment. She had some very brave moments, (climbing to places a little out of my reach, etc.--i.e. very scary for me!) but she knew what she was doing the whole time. ;)

Summer "activities" and day with friends!

These very hot days we've been experiencing have really given Sydney and me some cabin fever. She's been sleeping in late enough that it's already too hot to play in the morning (well, who am I kidding? It's HOT at 7:30 anymore!) and it's still hot long after she goes to bed. So yesterday I got crafty and made some "Play Clay" aka play-dough. She didn't know what to think of it at first but kind of got the hang of it later. I made her some "jewelry" to wear and she loved that!

Pointing to her necklace (don't worry it isn't choking her! ;) )

Later we took a short trip outside so she could try painting. Donning her very big, over-sized paint shirt we tried our hand at water colors. She kind of went out of order with the brush: brush in the water, dip in paint, dip in water, paint on paper. I didn't expect her to get it right away and it was just the experienced I wanted to give her. She seemed to enjoy it! We'll have to try finger painting one of these days!
Today we met our friends Tiffany, Ed, and their son Noah and our friends Brenda and Steve in Olathe to eat at a BBQ restaurant. It had been TOO long since we had been able to get together so we really enjoyed each other's company while the kiddos were nice enough to let us get some conversation in in between peas being thrown and fries being snuck away. ;) Noah was quite entertaining as he growled across the table at Sydney and made us all laugh! Sydney had her first french fry, which she very slyly snuck from the pile I had removed from her tray! Tiffany said she heard her say "mama" and watched her sneak it from the pile! :) After lunch we went to Bass Pro Shop where our friend Brenda introduced Sydney to the basics of camping, i.e. a tent. She was scared at first but grew to love it! We may have to try a camping trip to see how it goes! Noah joined her later and they had a good time climbing in and out of the tents!

"Sydney, how old are you?"

Yesterday during snack time I told Sydney she could only have "1 more" vanilla wafer and showed her 1 with my finger. She did 1 back to me and said her version of "one." I thought hmm....we could be on to something. So after some practice this is what we came up with!

Mmm....blueberries!

Thanks to my failed attempt at a patriotic cheesecake on the 4th of July Sydney had her first true taste of blueberries. I had given them to her before but she didn't take to them like she does now! Joe gave her some from his cheesecake and she inhaled them! Afterward her little fingers were stained purple and so was her tongue! Luckily it came off of her face! Since then I've put the leftover blueberries on her waffles, which she loved, and just this morning mixed them in to her pancakes. She devoured her pancake and wanted another one!
I also tried something new today with her...I let her feed herself her yogurt. This was a huge step for me because I knew it would be messy and I try to avoid messes like this if at all possible. Once I just let go and let her try it, she did great! Yes she was messy but not as bad as I originally thought. Not to mention the fact that she was very proud of herself and another great part: I got things accomplished while she was eating! So here it is, play by play. :)

Scooping some yogurt up......just got to make it in my mouth.......success!

Returning home and celebrating Independence Day

We returned from Omaha Thursday evening and we were all ready to be home! We unloaded everything and then Sydney got to play out back for awhile. I sprayed off her little slide and she had a blast climbing up the ladder and sliding down! It was a great summer evening and we were just enjoying being back home.

She loved being sprayed by the hose!

Finally! A slide just her size!

We had a wonderful weekend to celebrate the 4th of July! Aunt Bailey came down Friday evening to spend the weekend with us and Sydney was thrilled to see her. Saturday Joe took Maggie fishing while us girls hung out at the house. For supper I put together shish-kabobs for Joe to grill, made some potatoes and cheesecake for dessert. (It was supposed to be patriotic with blueberries and strawberries but the result wasn't quite what I had envisioned--still tasted good though!) Sydney ate a great supper and was ready to play basketball in the driveway with her Dad and Maggie. We were trying to keep her busy until fireworks time and it worked! She did great at the fireworks show and even said "whoa" a few times. :)

Day 3: Omaha Children's Museum

Wednesday we were able to meet my sister's friend Kacia and her daughter Gracie at the Omaha Children's Museum. This place is awesome! I wish we had one near us because we'd go every week. We could have spent all day there, there is so much for her to do!

Sydney immediately was drawn to the farm animals, especially the pig (could it be because it's the perfect size for her? :) )
We went to a get-together at a friend of Joe's and his daughter had a play set with a big slide that Sydney just fell in love with. So here she is watching Gracie go down the slide ahead of her!
Next we went to the "super market." She had a blast picking out everything she wanted to "buy" and putting it in her basket. She loaded up on oranges and green peppers and onions (things we eat all the time at our house!) and found a nice block of swiss cheese. She's a cheese fan and was excited to find this!
While we could have shopped forever, we kept moving along. Sydney joined Gracie at the water table and like most toddlers, she loved getting wet and splashing and making a mess! The water was quite chilly but Syd loved it!
We kept trying throughout the day to get a picture of the two girls together but there was just TOO much going on to distract them, so this is the best that we got. Still turned out pretty cute!

Day Two: 2nd half of the Omaha Zoo!

We began day two of our vacation at the aquarium but unfortunately only have video from there. The penguins, sharks, and other marine life were too exciting and beautiful for still shots! :) Our next stop was the Desert Dome. It's amazing! We were shocked as it kept going on, and on, and on!

Meerkats! I love meerkats-they are so funny to me. We spotted some that were sharing an exhibit with a very small relative of the "big buck" Sydney loves so much. This "deer" couldn't have been more than 3 feet tall but she kept pointing and saying "big buck" over and over again! :)

More meerkats!

She spotted the fox that was taking a rest.

We went to the Cat Complex after the Desert Dome and Gorilla House (only video of those guys and gals too!) and she found this lioness. She could have stayed here all day long, waving, blowing kisses, and "loving" on her (by pressing her face to the glass). :) It was so cute. If she only knew what this animal was capable of! :)Look what I found Mom and Dad! (at the petting zoo)

This little goat made her so happy! She found him in the barn and just sat right next to him as if he were her very own. :)Some bunnies I believe...

Our family saying "goodbye" to the Henry Doorly Zoo!

Day one of our first family vacation! The first 1/2 of the Omaha Zoo...

We arrived in Omaha Sunday (6/28) afternoon. We were hoping that by leaving at Sydney's nap time that she would sleep some of the way...some is an understatement. She slept maybe an hour out of the 3 1/2 hour trip and needed to be entertained the rest of the way. She did pretty well though thanks to plenty of books, snacks, and trees to look at outside! That night we ate at Famous Dave's (Joe's pick) and got ourselves ready for our first big day at the zoo.

When we arrived we didn't really know where to start (it's such a huge zoo!) so we saw this sign for Lied Jungle and decided to head in. It didn't look big from the outside so I wasn't expecting much...it ended up being this huge indoor rainforest. (I think I read one of the largest of its kind in the world! We sure underestimated it!) So here is Sydney at our first stop, near a waterfall and below us were Madagascar Tapirs.

Here she is with some parrots (or macaws, I get then confused).

She is also really in to birds right now and spotted this bird! She kept her eyes on it for the longest time!

Once we left the rainforest we headed towards the giraffe house. We were about to walk inside before we spotted them eating leaves outside! (How we almost missed them I'll never know!) Accompanying them in their area were ostriches and black footed penguins.
And here's Sydney checking out the giraffes!

Inside the giraffe house there were some birds (kind of misplaced if you ask me...) but she was checking them out with her daddy!
They look thrilled don't they?
We found a giraffe she could actually love on! :)
Our next stop was the zebras, one of Sydney's favorites! She started spotting them in her book and sticker book (although she can't say "zebra") she gets excited when she sees them. She could have watched these guys all day long!
Next stop: Red River Hogs. We were fortunate enough that they were both right by the fence, so it gave Sydney the opportunity to stretch her legs and see them up close. She was thrilled to pieces to be so close to them, and didn't want to leave them behind! (It's in the bottom left hand corner--hard to see.)
Another Red River Hog!
Sydney with the Bongo she found. :)
Refueling with some raisins before taking on the Rhinoceros exhibit!
Sydney and her daddy with a rhino. Please excuse the raisin in her mouth; she started hoarding them as he took her out of her stroller. :)
Sea lions (see the baby on the rock! So cute!)
Sydney enjoying her lunch by the sea lions!
All of the Koi in the Monkey Island pond.
And Day One is....DONE!