A few weeks ago, Ally and I had the chance to go visit my parents. Ally got to try out her new school backpack for the trip.
The first night we got to visit Longwood Gardens for a fireworks show. The only issue was the massive rainstorm. We made the best of it, though - we walked around with our two umbrellas and stroller. Ally stayed fairly dry, at least.
We managed to get to one of the treehouses - the birdhouse treehouse - and it was really neat. Ally and I went up the 3ish flights of stairs to the platform. We were right in the trees, and it was almost dusk when we were there. We were up there in between rain showers, so we were able to try to find the bird houses scattered out in the other trees at that height. Ally looked through the binoculars that were there, and we waved to Poppy from the top. Then we went inside the little room and saw some real birds nests, and crank machine that played different bird calls, and there were some fun books to sit and look at. Ally bypassed the Dr. Seuss books and went straight to the bird book, where we looked at pictures of different birds and their eggs.
When we were done at the treehouse, the sky opened up, so we all stayed under the birdhouse to wait it out - we still had some time before the fireworks started.
Ally didn't think the rain was bad at all. When we got to out lawn chairs that we had left upside down earlier (to keep them dry), it was a bit comical because it just rained so hard they were totally saturated. But...what could we do? We had some wet bottoms...
But still had good spirits!
The fireworks were a lot of fun. I thought of this as Ally's first time to see fireworks, at least at a show. She said that she HAD seen them before - we think she must mean some that we'd seen neighbors set off at some point, a whole different thing. Anyway, Ally's report on the fireworks was that they were lots of fun, but too loud.
The next day we took a road trip to see some of my Aunts and Uncles (Pam, Tom, Cindy and Denny). We hit some big time traffic, so it was a lot more car time than we had anticipated. Oh, and it was raining again.
The next day we took a road trip to see some of my Aunts and Uncles (Pam, Tom, Cindy and Denny). We hit some big time traffic, so it was a lot more car time than we had anticipated. Oh, and it was raining again.
Anyway, we had some nice little visits with family, and on the way home Ally entertained herself by taking pictures. The first shot was of me (above).
Then the feet...
And then the trees for "pictures for Kitty's nature journal". Yes, apparently her lovey has a nature journal. She took about 50 photos (some of which I took at her command). Thank goodness for digital cameras - and thank goodness for the 30 minutes of entertainment in a confined space!
And it continued to rain the next day! Ally and Grandma got into playing with the dollhouse that my parents (Poppy and Grandma Debbie) made for me and my sister (Aunt Beth) when we were little girls.
Since somehow we didn't have any gymnastics equipment in the dollhouse furniture collection, Grandma Debbie decided that we needed to make some. She called on Poppy to open his basement workshop/man room (not the cushy tv type, but the lots of tools and sawdust type).
The result (above), was a balance beam (right next to the stairs), a vault and springboard (the middle stuff with some styrofoam), and uneven bars (the dowel-and-popsicle stick creation on the right). We had some drill press and hand saw mitre box action to make this all happen. (Ally used the mitre box saw with Mama and Grandma Debbie putting their fingers on the line...)
Ally had the dollhouse baby doing tricks on the bar.
And walking the balance beam.
Phew. Baby was tired.
And there was one very full kitchen (converted from a kitchen to an eat-in kitchen in order to accommodate an entire room just for gymnastics). I suppose that's the sacrifice we need to make for out sport.
One happy dollhouse-playing gymnast.
Then the feet...
And then the trees for "pictures for Kitty's nature journal". Yes, apparently her lovey has a nature journal. She took about 50 photos (some of which I took at her command). Thank goodness for digital cameras - and thank goodness for the 30 minutes of entertainment in a confined space!
And it continued to rain the next day! Ally and Grandma got into playing with the dollhouse that my parents (Poppy and Grandma Debbie) made for me and my sister (Aunt Beth) when we were little girls.
We took photos of their interior decorating skills. The main attraction, below, is the "gymnastics room". (The red rug is actually the tumbling mat).
Since somehow we didn't have any gymnastics equipment in the dollhouse furniture collection, Grandma Debbie decided that we needed to make some. She called on Poppy to open his basement workshop/man room (not the cushy tv type, but the lots of tools and sawdust type).
The result (above), was a balance beam (right next to the stairs), a vault and springboard (the middle stuff with some styrofoam), and uneven bars (the dowel-and-popsicle stick creation on the right). We had some drill press and hand saw mitre box action to make this all happen. (Ally used the mitre box saw with Mama and Grandma Debbie putting their fingers on the line...)
Ally had the dollhouse baby doing tricks on the bar.
And walking the balance beam.
Phew. Baby was tired.
And there was one very full kitchen (converted from a kitchen to an eat-in kitchen in order to accommodate an entire room just for gymnastics). I suppose that's the sacrifice we need to make for out sport.
One happy dollhouse-playing gymnast.
We had a good visit. The sky seemed to clear up just in time for Ally and I to fly home. Thanks, Poppy and Grandma Debbie - we had a great time!
1 comment:
Aww, that is precious.
Nikki
www.madebynikki.blogspot.com
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