The Optometrist

I went in to the optometrist for an eye exam yesterday.  One of my eyes has been bothering me off an on for the past little while.  But switching to just wearing glasses has made it much better.  Since I haven't had my eyes checked in many many years, I thought it was time to see the optometrist.  It was in Spokane Valley and Will was very kind to watch the girls while I had my appointment.
I was able to narrow down my glasses selection to these three pairs.  I knew that I wanted something a little more bold and a little more fun than my current glasses since I plan on wearing them most of the time.

I guess they all look very similar in these pictures, but it was nice to be able to look at the pictures at the eye exam place and get a different viewpoint of what I would look like wearing the glasses.  Tune in in like two weeks when I get my pair to see which ones I selected. 

And Whitney got to try on lots of glasses as well.  I think she is trying to act like a police officer in this picture.

A short visit

Will's sister, Emily, and her family were visiting family in Portland and they wanted to see us as they drove back to Colorado.  We wanted to see them on their way back, so we met up in the Tri-Cities to hang out with them for a little bit.  It was just a fast trip because they had lots more driving to do, but we were really excited to get to see them.  It has been about a year since the last time we saw them.  We met up at the Playground of Dreams in Kennewick.

Will brought his bubble contraption and it was a real hit with all the kids.  Here is Emily giving it a go. 

I think Matthew liked the bubbles the best.  He loved making his own (and got really good at making them) and he loved chasing the ones that Will made.

Grant got ahold of the flyswatter that has holes cut out of it which makes for a good bubble wand for little kids.  He waved it around and got a lot of little bubbles all over the grass. 

After bubbles, the kids had a ball playing on the playground.  Whitney and Anna stayed pretty close to each other.  Anna is about a year and a half older than Whitney and she was very nice and let Whitney tag along with her.  I think this picture is really cute with both of them smiling in their little boat.

All Matthew needs is a hard hat and he could be a great construction worker.  Here he goes to town digging for whatever can be found in the bark.

Whitney and Anna both like swinging.  I didn't get a picture, but they were both on the tire swing for awhile just chilling together. 
After playing at the playground, we went out to the Olive Garden for dinner together and then we had to say goodbye to the Guptills.  They wanted to keep driving for a little longer that evening.  Thanks for visiting us.  We had lots of fun.  We will have to go down to Colorado and visit them some time.

Saturday was just a relaxing day with my family.  We went to Chiawana park in the afternoon and only got a little sunburned.  Whitney loves holding grandma's hand and is happy to be walking to the water.  There were a lot of duck feathers and seagull feathers all around the water's edge that Whitney kept trying to throw into the water.  It was pretty funny because the feather often just floated right back to her.  Oh well.

Rachel is not too happy in this picture because we had just put her feet in the water.  It was apparently too cold for her because she started crying right away.  Again I say, oh well.  We went back to Cheney Saturday evening so we could spend Fathers Day without driving and just being by ourselves.

That is pretty much all that has been happening here. Hope everyone is doing well.

Potty Training

Why was I never warned just how difficult potty training can be?  We have only been doing potty training for the past six days and I already want it to be done.  But I guess that just doesn't work.

This is our potty chair that we are using.  It was given to us by a friend whose little boy was too young for potty training.  We have had this chair for about seven months; I have really been putting off the potty training.  Now all of Whitney's friends in nursery are starting to learn to use the potty, so we decided that we better start as well.
So we bought a bag of jelly beans as a reward for using the potty.  At first, Whitney was afraid to even sit on the potty, so she got a jelly bean for just trying to use the toilet, but now she isn't afraid anymore.  I am thankful for that.

I didn't take any pictures of the actual sitting on the potty, but this is Whitney right after she went potty for the first time in the toilet.  I let her play with a whole bunch of stickers and she put them all on our little brown toy chest.  She kept saying "What is that?" when she saw that she had gone to the bathroom.  So I am hoping she is starting to recognize the feeling of going to the bathroom in the toilet. 
What else should I do for potty training besides just leaving her on the potty for a long time while we eat or read books or watch TV or whatever?  I would love potty-training suggestions.

Anyway, that is what we have been doing this week and will be continuing to do for a long time.  Cheney has been rainy, so we have been spending lots of time inside.  I hope next week will be better.

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.