The second part of our midwest trip was spent with Ken's family in Wisconsin. Emma had fun times taking her first Carousel ride at the Madison Zoo, splashing and playing cups in the pool in Grammy and Grampy's backyard, and playing (keeping safety at the forefront of their minds, Of course!) with her Cousin Carter. A wonderful time was had by all. More photos to come from the trip.
Emma got to spend some time with her 2 cousins from MN last week. Her littlest cousin Isabel, or "bell" as Emma likes to call her, was baptized at the Basilica in Minneapolis. This is a rare photo of the 3 girls sitting still long enough to all be captured together. Haley and Emma tried to plan a great escape during the service, as Haley "whispered" to Emma, "Hey Emma, you wanna go outside?" To which Emma responded, "Yeah!" Isabel took it all in stride though, and didn't even make a squeak when the water was poured over her head. Such the calm baby-makes me wonder how long it will take for her two cousins to school her in their mischievous ways.
Ken and I continue to learn as we go in the parenting department. This weeks lesssons--Spaghetti is messy and Emma still has a few things to learn from Miss Manners. I thought it was pretty cute when she tried stowing away some of her dinner in her bib sleeve, and even when she started devouring the meal by eating fistfuls at a time (hence the pictures). However--things started getting a little out of hand when the fistfuls of spaghetti stopped going towards her mouth, and started going straight on the floor (not so cute...and not so many pictures of that part of the meal)!
Emma happily checked out the architecture at the Mount Angel Abbey library. She particularly liked playing "BOO" behind the columns in the front of the library.
Daddy and Emma went on a zoo outing with friends Gen and Elias Friday. I'm not quite sure, but Emma looks like she is trying to tame this wild camel. Luckily Elias was there to keep everything under control.
Tuesday was a magical day for Emma. She got her first "bike". She mostly scoots herself backward, but is working on propelling herself forward too. On the first day she "practiced" riding around the house. She has since taken off down the sidewalk and next door to visit our neighbor Marge, and her dog, Heidi...with parental supervision of course.
Emma seemed to enjoy her first dip in the backyard pool. She splashed around a little, and then wanted to climb out, go pet Darby who was basking in the sun on the back porch, before heading back to the pool for another dip. She is definitely enjoying the outdoors, and gets super excited everytime we tell her we are going out. She gathers her shoes and socks, and then goes to the coat closet to get her jacket.
Emma just looked so cute in her tights, sneakers, and sweater she put on for our hike, I had to take a picture. She wasn't really protesting going out for a hike...but she was a little upset I was delaying our trip outside by taking pictures first.
Emma cannot seem to get enough of the outdoors nowadays. She has been enjoying the cool mist of the garden hose, visiting the neighbors, and playing ball in the backyard. It has been nice get all this fresh air, and we are looking forward to another 4 months of this.
