Water (and other) Fun at the River House

The weekend before Princess Camp started everybody went to Grandma and Grandpa's River House for a rafting party. I went down the river in a raft with Mommy, Daddy and Auntie Tracy. It was fun--I got to bring my big blue dolphin along on a leash. At least, it was fun until Uncle Walt decided it would be fun to start a splashing war . . . .

After the trip down the river we had a barbecue and played and played and played.

I made art projects with glue and pieces of nature.

Auntie and I tried to play Cranium Cariboo but it got broken and Grandpa was too busy cooking and talking to find his special glue to fix it.

Mommy and I cuddled Auntie's friend's dog, Emma. She was very soft.

And, finally, we had a HUGE watergun and water balloon fight that ended with a super fun outdoor shower for me.

I had so much fun and I hope the next time at the River House is just as fun!

Love,
Elena

Tu-tu Much Fun at Princess Ballet Camp

Last week Elena attended "Princess Camp" every day for one hour. A summer camp activity put on by Si View Metropolitan Park District, for four days she went off on her own--mommies weren't allowed to stay--and did twirls, bar exercises and other fun ballet moves as well as craft projects.

However, on the fifth day--the recital--poor Elena caught a case of stagefright and wasn't able to perform the show with the rest of the little girls. She was able to show off all of her craft projects of the week--crown, wand, and necklace.

Swimming in Pre-2

Elena is getting over her fear of a male swimming instructor - finally! She did amazing last Thursday, and yesterday she only hesitated getting in the pool for a moment.
Elena's teacher, Zach, plays lots of games like Red Light, Green Light, Simon Says, and Fishy in the Net. Elena is loving the games!!! They aren't games we usually play at home, so it's been fun watching her learn how to play.
In this class there are a lot more directions and rules than in Pre-1 and Parent-Tot. Elena is doing a great job listening to instructions and following the directions - she's becoming a little student!
Her favorite thing in swim class is rolling off the mat. Hopefully we'll get video of that at her next class. Awesome (Zach's favorite expression)!

Ooooh! Raspberries!

Elena picked raspberries at Remlinger Farm on Monday.She loved that they had little blue boxes to put them in.
It was a forest of raspberries and raspberry bush tunnels.
She probably picked more than Mommy, but Mommy had to take pictures...
Look at all those berries! Elena picked a blue box full for Grandma, and two for herself. She used her light-up Ariel pen to label the boxes with who they were for.

Happy 2nd Birthday Ava J!

Elena went to a birthday party yesterday in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. It was a princess dress-up party, so of course Elena wore her Ariel dress...There were 2 pools, a bounce house, obstacle course, swing, playhouse, sandbox, and water table! Plus lots of toys inside too. Aubrie was there too and they had lots of fun together.
Elena got Ava J a baseball bat (a toy she loves playing with Daddy), and clippy-clop dress-up shoes (it was a princess party...).
The chocolate birthday cake was delicious!
Happy birthday Ava J!

Sleepover at Aubrie's

We had Friday Night Dinner at Aubrie's house yesterday. Elena forgot her swimsuit, but Aubrie had a blue one she could borrow. The girls had fun with Aubrie's toys (indoor and out).
There was tasty BBQ chicken and squash for dinner, and delicious chocolate strawberry shortcake for dessert.
Tongue curls!
Elena said she didn't want to go home and spent the night - surprise! Aubrie wished they could sleep in the bed together, but Aunt Kiki set up the portable toddler bed instead.

Warrick eats the camera and Elena laughs and laughs and laughs

Cute Warrick pics

Thanks Nana for the cute pony shirt!


Elena is helping Warrick smile here:

We're getting ready for a garage sale and everything must go! Elena helped clean out her baby clothes and toys today. She kept trying on the shoes, and playing with the toys, and announcing when she thought something was cute.
When something was too small, she'd say, "I'm gonna be a baby yesterday and wear this" or "baby Elena will wear this."
Of course, when we went to put stuff in the car (because the garage sale is at Grandma's house), fat Whitto was taking up all the space. We threatened to take him to the vet and he jumped out.
After E's shower, Whitto walked in the stall and we turned on the water! Elena thought it was hysterical and laughed and laughed. She says, "Whitto took a shower, he's silly, silly, silly. I'll tell Auntie about it and we'll laugh at Whitto. Hahahehah."

Elena and Warrick in the swing

Elena got a swing set! She was so excited watching Daddy and Grandpa bring it into the yard, piece by piece. It has a yellow slide, 2 blue swings, blue rings, and a climbing rope.It is huge, so it's going to stay at Grandma's house. They had to get creative to move it under the arbor... This is Elena with many braids in her hair. When asked how many braids she wanted, she said lots.
Aiden was over for a playdate. They went in the sandbox, the pool, and later the bath tub. We made Ziplock ice cream sundaes and ate cherries.

There was an apple pressing party at the mushroom farm Saturday. Elena helped wash the apples - both big and tiny, green and red.

After chopping them up, they went in the press to squeeze out the juice.
Then it was time to party! We had salmon, ribs, salads, and huckleberry ice cream.

Happy 4th of July!

It's finally dark enough we can see fireworks. We've been hearing them all day (poor Cody) and Elena is excited to go watch. Hope you had a great 4th!

What else have we been doing?

We went to a potluck wedding on Lake Joy in Carnation. Beautiful weather and location and a very unique wedding. Elena chowed down on fried chicken and spice flavored wedding cake decorated with edible sugared flowers. David and Jessica came over for a BBQ. Elena loved the corn, we cooked our first fryer chicken ever (super tasty butterflied on the grill) and everyone enjoyed the morels.
Aunt Kiki had a birthday party. We made wild huckleberry ice cream. For such a huge crowd, we used the ice cream maker instead of the Ziploc method...
Elena brought Aiden to the strawberry fields. Aubrie and Aunt Kiki were there too. We picked over 9 pounds and survived the dirty porta-potties.
Elena helped Daddy wash Mommy's car. Look at it sparkle! Enlarge the pic and see how dirty Elena was from pulling weeds, sliding down the hill, and using the rake earlier in the day. The car wash didn't help because there was tons of sediment in the bathtub...