We have made it over to Bear Lake twice this summer, and hope to make it at least once more. There were some definite differences in the trips.

 

The first time, I put her in the water when she wasn't quite comfortable with it - big mistake. She cried until we put her clothes/pajamas back on, and wouldn't go near the water again. Jders is a water bug, but it has been a while since we have been to a lake. I finally got her to come near the water, and play in the sand with me, but there was NO getting in the water. 

 

The second time, we went with our friends (the boys) and I took the girls I babysat this summer with me. The girls gave Jders the confidence to get in and play, although she was a little timid in the deep water. It doesn't help that it's cold. I was just happy she would get in the water this time, and then, of course, when it was time to go, I couldn't get her out.

 

We had lots of fun in the sand this time, and that's where we ended up spending most of the day playing in the sand, rather than in the water. That's what the beach is for! So fun! Hope that Farmer Brown can make it with us next time. 

 



Have I mentioned that Jders LOVES dancing. Well she does. She loves everything to do with music. Singing. Dancing. You name it. You put a song on with a good beat and she can't help herself from rocking with it.

 

We were at Farmer Brown's cousin's wedding, and they had music playing, and Jders HAD to be the star of the show. She loves it when other kids dance with her too!!

 

We're doing the second part of ring around the rosie. That's why we're on the floor.

Stopping for a snack:

Dancing with Daddy:

She loves to go to dance class with me, and I can't wait until I can put her in a dance calss of her own!

It's only the end of August, and I'm finally getting to the Fourth of July. Sigh!

 

Like I have said before, the Fourth of July in Small Town is a LOT of fun. We went to the foam at the park the day before, but Jders still didn't want anything to do with it. I waded through to show her that it wasn't that big of a deal, and she freaked out, and wanted it off of me. She kept pointing at my legs and crying.

 

Granny was holding one of the newer members of the Brown family, and Jders thought the baby was so interesting. Jders just kept watching the baby.

 

Have I mentioned how much I love this sweet, sweet lady? She is wonderful! Sometimes I get a bit jealous that Farmer Brown got to have such wonderful grandparents growing up, when mine were non-existent, but then I am happy to be able to have them in Jders and I's life now.

 

These pictures are at the foam. As you can see, all the little kids wanted nothing to do with it.

 

The next day was the parade, and Jders loved everything about it. She kept wanting to watch the parade instead of pick up candy, which I guess is a good thing, because these kids that were next to us kept coming right where Jders was and stealing the candy.

 

The way it works in Small Town, is you park your car in a spot the night before, and that reserves the spot where you sit. It's just always been like that. When we got to our car, there was a ton of people with kids in front of it. We just kind of put our chairs down and were trying to decide what to do now, when the people asked if that was our car. We told them it was, and then they started clearing out, but not happily. We never asked them to move, but they were mad that they had to move. The point of this story is, to punish us, they let their kids run Jders over for the candy. I wasn't too happy about this. I would have rather had them take our spot, than be mean to my little girl. We finally had Farmer Brown's parents stand on one side of Jders and us on the other, and we would put our foot over the piece of candy so Jders could get it. One of the kids tried to shove Farmer Brown's foot out of the way for a piece of candy!!! Jders still loved the parade, as you can see on her face below, and was oblivious to the kids - thank goodness!

  

Sadly, there were no fireworks this year because of potential fires. Ironically, just a few weeks later, right where they usually set off the fireworks started on fire, and burnt up the whole hill behind it. Good thing they canceled! We were too lazy to drive to see any fireworks. I'm sure Jders would have loved them, and I thought maybe we could go to Logan on the 24th to see their firework show, but it didnt' happen. Next year, baby girl, next year.

 

My mom got us (no joke) 4 plastic tubs FULL of children's books, because a library at one of her schools was getting rid of their books. I LOVE children's books, and LOVE to go look for them at D.I. We now have an over abundance of children's books - which I love! Although, I do feel guilty going into the library and just checking out movies for Jders. What they don't understand is, we have a library of our own at home.

We brought these home at the end of June, and we still haven't read through all of them! There are TONS!

Jders loves "big piles", and I was taking all the stickers off of these books, and so I was making big piles, and she sat right in the middle - in heaven! She kept moving the books from one pile to another. She was distraught when we started taking the books back to her room. They sat in the living room for a while until we decided what to do with all of them, we finally caved and bought new book shelves for Jders room.

In Big Town, they built this AMAZING park! It's wonderful! They have sections for each age of children, and the kids could get around without any help! The only problem is that the flooring is made out of recycled tires, which is wonderful for no tripping, but is SO hot right now. We went early in the summer, and went back once and about melted. So, we're waiting for it to cool down a bit again before we go back. Oh how I wish we could have something like this in Small Town, so we don't have to drive an hour to enjoy it! But, I'm glad there is something this fun for the kids to do on shopping days!

The people who design these parks, design them to cater to your community, so the small park is farm themed. Isn't it appropriate to get a picture of these three "farm children" in front of the tractor? On that note, we were in the combine yesterday, and Jders pointed behind us to the window where the grain comes into the combine, and she said "wook mommy, a gwain bin". Who would have thought my 2 year old would know something like that? 

Can't wait for it to cool down a titch so that we can go back again.

At the beginning of the summer, I was able to watch the kids that I used to nanny for a week. We did some fun things! I took them to Lava Hot Springs. There is nothing Jders loves more than water!

This is one of Jders new things. While we are mowing the lawn, she mows the lawn with her stroller. So funny! She gets in the way a lot, but it is too cute to get mad at her. She does exactly what we do, when we turn, she turns, etc.