Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great Memorial Day down in Pasco with my family.  We did lots of fun things and also got to spend some time just relaxing - playing games and watching movies with lots of popcorn.  Life doesn't get much better.  Here are some pictures from our adventures.

Everyone took turns making some of the huge bubbles from Will's cool bubble contraption.  I think Conner likes it as much as Will.  Whitney is holding a fly swatter with extra holes cut into it that can be waved around and make bubbles.  So that was a hit for her.  I think everyone got a little bubble soap on themselves Friday evening.

We spent a lot of Saturday at the Playground of Dreams.  It is this really huge park that was built when I was about twelve by people living in the Tri-Cities.  I remember going to help out for mutual one evening.  Here are a couple of pictures from the park.

Whitney starts climbing.  It was really hard getting good pictures because she didn't want to sit still.

One of Whitney's favorite parts of the park was the slides; there were quite a few slides and Whitney had to try all of them - many times.  She has gotten a lot less nervous about going down all by herself and not always wanting to be caught by me or Will.

Rachel sat in the swing for about ten minutes and she wasn't too sure about it the whole time.  She never cried, but she also never smiled.  So I guess we will have to try again in a couple of months to see if she likes swings any better.  Whitney didn't want to get out of her one.

   
Next to the park was a church gathering.  It offered free jumps on the bounce house and free face painting.  There were a lot of kids in the bounce house, so Whitney was a little nervous, but she did a good job.  Some of the kids were very nice and helped her jump and avoid falling down.

Whitney got a purple glittery star painted on her face.  We just had the lady do something really small because I didn't think Whitney would sit still for very long.  Whitney really liked her star and kept touching her face later that day to make sure it was still there.

Memorial Day was fun.  We went on a hike in Sintel Canyon in Kennewick.  It was a nice easy one, more like a nature walk, so it was perfect for a family with little kids.

We saw this sign outside of the trail which seemed really appropriate considering it was Memorial Day.  We do want to remember all those who sacrificed to make America great.

Here the troops get started on their journey.  My mom was nice enough to carry the bag with some food and water and extra diapers (just in case).

It was so cute and so nice seeing how well Conner took care of Whitney along the trail.  He held her hand during the more rocky hills and ran with her when she wanted to run.  Thank you Conner for being a great uncle and a good role model for Whitney.

We pose on a fallen tree for a family picture. 

Brave Kylee and Kaitlin got on a tree that was fallen and was over a small stream.  It was about six or seven feet in the air. 

After the hike, we went to a program to remember all the members of the armed forces who had fought and are currently fighting to maintain our freedoms.  It wa a beautiful program.  Here is just some of the crowd.

Everyone got a yellow balloon to write names of loved ones on.

Whitney clung to her balloon pretty fiercely. 

After the program, everyone released their balloons at the same time.  It was touching to remember all of our soldiers for Memorial Day and to be part of something to remember their sacrifices.

Anyway, we had a great weekend.  Thank you my family for letting us come stay for a couple of days and for the fun times.

The Big Red Wagon

On Friday, I picked up Will at work and we decided to go to Riverfront Park to play for a little bit.  This is a huge park with lots of fun things to do.  But in Whitney's mind, there is only one part of this park and that is the big red wagon slide.  She doesn't consider the rest of the grounds to be park at all.

Here she is climbing up the ladder to get to the slide.  At first, Will or I would follow behind it to make sure she didn't fall off the steps, but she did really well climbing.  So I need to do less worrying because my little two year old is growing up and doesn't always need a hovering parent.

Here Whitney goes down the slide...

And again...

And again.  We were at the red wagon for a long time before we convinced Whitney to go see the rest of the park, and we ended up back at this slide before we left for home since the rest of the park was not such a hit.  She must have gone down this slide at least 25 or 30 times while we were there.  Here are some other pictures when we convinced Whitney there was more to see.

There are lots of little letter blocks that are the perfect size for Whitney.  She liked sitting on them - for a second or two.

The day was pleasantly warm, so the water fountains were turned on.  We went in and played with the water for a few minutes; Whitney was a little timid and didn't want to get really wet.  So we mostly watched some of the other children splashing around.

One of my favorite things at the park was to watch Whitney chase the seagulls and the ducks.  I know we probably should have stopped her and told her to leave the animals alone, but it was just too cute and funny.  If any of the birds or ducks had the audacity to get onto the pavement, Whitney ran after them and told them to get back into the water.  I don't know why she insisted they all be in the water, but it was really funny watching her.

Anyway, that was our fun day at the park.  Most of it was spent with the big red wagon.  Here is a cute picture of Rachel who was also at the park, but didn't make it down the slide this time.

So happy to be back at home after our park adventure.  Doesn't she just have the cutest smile?  Anyway, smiles for all our friends.  Life is good in Cheney.

Rice Cereal Time

At Rachel's four month doctors appointment, we were told that she can start eating rice cereal.  They usually recommend waiting until six months, but I think the doctor was impressed with how quickly Rachel is growing that he thought she would be ready.  So we have given her rice cereal on three different occasions and Rachel is getting to be a better eater each time.  I hope that means she will be a good eater when we start trying other new foods.

We made the rice cereal pretty watery since we didn't want Rachel to accidentally choke on it or anything like that.  Here Rachel is about to try her first bite.

And it's good.!  Rachel opened her mouth and accepted the spoon placed in.  She didn't immediately start crying or anything like that.

Rachel was pretty fascinated at watching the spoon move toward and away from her mouth.  She probably thought the spoon was more tasty than the rice cereal (and she may be right).

We had to hold down Rachel's hands so she wouldn't put them in her mouth and get rice cereal all over the place. 

Will gets a turn feeding Rachel.  What a great dad.

And just look at how happy Rachel is.  I think she is really liking this eating business.  Today rice cereal - tomorrow going to conquer rolling over.

Discovery Park

We went into Spokane Valley yesterday because Will really needed new black shoes and there is a Foot Locker store at the mall.  We took advantage of the trip by going to Discovery Park as well.  I wish it had been about 20 degrees warmer since it ended up being a little cloudy, but it was still fun.  Will and I took turns playing with Whitney and staying inside the car with Rachel.

Here Whitney is walking into the playground.  There were lots of cool little sayings put into the sidewalk.  I liked this one.

"Take only memories, leave nothing but footprints".  Kind of a cool quote.

Whitney takes a turn becoming a bear.  Roarrr!!! 

This trampoline was one of Whitney's favorite things.  It was underground, so we didn't have to watch her too carefully.  Even Will got on the trampoline for a little bit and got Whitney bouncing really high.

There were lots of swings at the playground.  Whitney liked being pushed for quite awhile.

I took a turn swinging Whitney around for a little while as well.

If you look very closely, you can see Whitney and Will in the pumpkin.  This picture was hard to get because Whitney only wanted to remain in the pumpkin for a minute.

Whitney preferred staying on the frog.  And I cannot blame her because it was a cool frog.

There was a big sand pit that Whitney just loved.  She wanted to dig and dig and dig.  The yellow bucket and the shovel came from Anna's birthday party last year; Whitney hasn't had much chance to use it since we don't do much playing in the dirt.  Whitney really liked filling the bucket and having me help her.  So we will have to find some more dirt places where she can play more.

And there was a "sleeping" bear next to the sand pit.  Whitney decided she needed to feed the bear some sand.  I had to help her find the mouth because it was a bit hidden by the big snout. 

Anyway, that was a fun park.  We will probably try to go again when it gets a little warmer because there is also a water area for playing, but it was way too freezing for that.  And here is a cute picture to send you off.