Tomorrow is July 1...

...Which means that July 4 is coming really, really quickly. It's sort of snuck up on me. I went to the Fourth of July page of Toddler Celebrations to get some ideas of stuff for Landon and I to do this week. I know; it's my own site, so you'd think that I could have come up with activities on my own, but sometimes you just need a little refresher.

I printed a patriotic coloring sheet from PapaJan, which Landon worked on this evening. I also requested a few Fourth of July books from the library, but at this point, I'm not sure that they'll actually be here on time. I don't know how we're going to spend the holiday. We were supposed to travel out of town, but I'm not sure that that is going to happen now. Maybe we'll check out the Fourth of July parade instead.

Waterpillar

Landon got a chance to play in our Waterpillar (a caterpillar-shaper sprinkler) at the church's kids' Water Night on Wednesday. I picked it up last summer at a Kay-Bee Toys outlet to use at last year's Water Night. It was a big hit, so I got it out again for this year's Water Night. I wasn't sure that Landon would like it, but he had a great time with it. In fact, he was still playing in it even after all the other kids had moved on. Maybe we'll get a chance to get it out again tomorrow.



He had a lot of fun with this battery-operated bubble machine that his friend brought over, too.

Bub Family Reunion

Last weekend Tony, Landon, my parents, and I traveled to Ohio for the Bub Family Reunion. Here is a slideshow of our photos from the weekend. We visited Marblehead Lighthouse, swam in the pool, and, of course, participated in the traditional egg toss!

The inflatable boat is a Toddler Racer. Landon loved it, and I highly recommend it. It was a great price (in fact, One Step Ahead has it even cheaper now than it was when I bought it) and worth every penny. Landon also had a really good time playing in the little fountains at the zero-entrance pool. We'll have to make a trip to a splash park soon.

Toledo Zoo

It's been a zoo-filled summer for us so far. We went to the zoo in Toledo, OH, last Friday with Grandma and Grandpa on our way to the Bub Family Reunion. We were very impressed; it was a really nice zoo.

This picture is for Alison, because she was sad that our giraffe picture from the San Francisco Zoo got deleted.


This one's for Alison, too. I wanted her to see that she's not the only person I make pose by "How does your height compare to an animal's?" signs.


Here are Daddy and Landon. Forgive Landon's scraped-up nose. He fell at the park a few days earlier.
Don't miss the elephant in the background!

Last of the CA pictures

Muir Woods and Stinson Beach
5/26

Visiting the redwoods:




At the beach:
The ocean water was frigid, so Landon didn't enjoy it much, but he loved playing in the sand.






We stopped for a view of the Golden Gate Bridge on the way home from the beach:


Whew, I made it through the California pictures! And just in time for our next trip this weekend!

Alamo Square Park, San Francisco

See the Full House houses behind us? Please forgive my windblown look.

5/25

Ice Cream

Today at playgroup Landon and I worked together to make this ice cream cone. He wasn't into coloring today, so I did that part, and he helped with the arranging and gluing. The best part was adding real sprinkles to the top.

Happy Father's Day!

We checked the book My Dad, by Anthony Browne, out of the library this weekend. Landon's enjoyed reading it. Another good Father's Day read for little kids is Spot Loves His Daddy, by Eric Hill. We own this one, but Landon and I had to leave town for a wedding this afternoon, so we didn't get a chance to pull it out today. Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Zoo pictures

San Francisco Zoo
5/25

Saturday morning at the farmer's market in San Francisco

Landon and I at the farmer's market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco.
5/24

Landon's first visit to the ocean

From Friday (5/23) of our trip

Spring Kite

I haven't posted any seasonal projects lately, because we've been spending too much time outside to do much by way of projects. However, tonight Weather.com's radar showed a huge patch of green right on top of us, so we chose not to go on a walk. Instead, Landon and I made a spring kite. I'll admit that it feels more like summer than spring right now, but the calendar still says spring, so I pulled out this project that I've been intending to do for a month or two now. (By the way, it never did rain, so we could have taken that walk. Oh well.)

As you can see, Landon decided he needed to paint with his hands.

First of the California pictures

We've been back from our visit to see my sister and brother-in-law in San Francisco for a week, and I'm just now getting any pictures up. Sorry to those of you who have been waiting. I think I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of them. So I'm going to do a few at a time, until I finally finish.

Here's the first batch. These pictures were taken on Friday (5/23, the day we arrived) at Golden Gate Park. We rode the carousel and played at a playground. Landon called the big turtle statue that he sat on Tuck (as in Turtle Tuck on Nick Jr.'s show The Wonderpets).