First time at the movies

One thing we had planned for vacation was to take Ally to see a movie at the theater for the first time. We saw Toy Story 3 (not in 3D) and it was wonderful. Ally was great. We found some seats in the handicapped aisle which was great because there was a huge space between rows and that made it possible for Ally to see over the seats. In a regular row she could not see over the seats, and with a booster she is not heavy enough to weigh down the seat! Yes that is correct. She had to sit at the edge of the seat or the seat would fold up, and the only way the booster works is pushed all the way against the seat back!

I was really bummed that I left my camera in the car during the movie. Ally was adorable sitting in her seat, eating popcorn and staring up at the screen. She did not talk or wiggle or anything, she was completely entranced.

It was SUPER hot in PA, so I went and cooled down the car while Beth took this picture of Ally and Becky to commemorate the occasion. Yes Ally is holding Special Kitty, I brought her with us, in case Ally was scared or upset during the movie. She was not, but it helped to soother her when the movie was over.

One thing I think helped Ally a lot was that we had purchased the Toy Story 3 story book and had been reading that for the past week before we went to the movie. She knew what to expect while we were there and really enjoyed herself.

Sparklers

I thought the sparklers deserved their own post. It was unbelievable to watch Ally and the sparklers. After a few minutes of seeing everyone else do a sparkler Ally wanted to do it too.

Her first one, Becky helped her light it.
And Becky helped her hold it.

But Ally insisted she could do it herself, so Becky let go.

Then Ally proclaimed that she could light it. And she did! She must have done at least 5 all by herself.

She loved the sparklers

I think what was most unbelievable was how careful she was and brave all at the same time. She was very respectful of the sparkler and the fire. But at the same time so proud of herself.

She had so much fun.

4th of July 2010

4th of July was spent at Grandma Debbie and Poppy's house in PA. They hosted a very nice family party so we were able to see cousins and Aunts and Uncles. The day before Becky's grandmother passed away, she was 93 years old! We were all sad, but after 93 years it was nice that she was finally at peace. Thank-you to everyone in the family who came to celebrate the 4th with us, it helped a lot to take our minds off the loss.

What's a party without bubbles?

Aunt Beth is a pro.

Ally was so hot she asked for a cup of ice and hairbows to keep her hair off her face! She also was getting bitten by mosquitoes so I was putting her special hydro-cortisone on her to keep her from scratching.

After dinner it was time to croquet.

Can you tell she was having fun?

After croquet it was time for sparklers!

Mommy and Ally

Ally and Mandy

Look at Poppy Dave with his sparkler!

After a while Ally was content to sit on Poppy's lap and watch the show.

The sparkler line up by Aunt Beth and Grandma Debbie.

Great Aunt Cindy made Ally a fire fly container.

Ally had so much fun catching lightning bugs with everyone. It was the first time Ally had seen these bugs and she loved them (she likes all bugs and squirmy things), but these were extra fun.

Soon after the catch and release of the lightning bugs the relatives all went home. We then stayed out to catch a glimpse of the fireworks. Ally was happy and ready for bed when she finally saw some fireworks.

It was a great 4th of July. It was very special to share the holiday with family.

First Night of Vacation

We spent the first night of vacation at my parents' house. It was great to see them and its a nice break in the 8+ hour drive down to Becky's folks in PA. As usual there was bubble blowing and chalk drawing.

I love this picture of the 3 of them blowing all in sync.

Some are better at blowing bubbles than others.

Grandma Barbie tries (or should we say puffs)

and puffs and tries to blow the bubbles

but then she just laughs!

But wow are her flowers beautiful! She calls her white hydrangeas "snowballs" Since we've been home Ally has seen similar flowers here in the neighborhood and comments on how Grandma Barbie has them too, but Grandma Barbie's are bigger!

I was inside talking with my dad for a while, and when I came out I was told Ally drew this sun all by herself!

Then Ally made a dinosaur.

And I got a picture of the artist in action.

with her final masterpiece

The good time was complete with a before bed story.

Awesome Mama

In case there was any doubt, Becky is an awesome mama. Our vacation together is almost over, tomorrow is the last day. Monday Ally starts summer camp for 5 weeks at her preschool and I go back to work. We all had this past week together and before that Ally and Becky had 2 whole weeks home together every day. Becky is such a good mom she made pink and purple pancakes for Ally and even figured out how to get an A in them. I was so impressed at the leftovers in the fridge I staged a photo shoot so I could blog about it.

And then last Friday, July 2 our vacation started and again Becky demonstrated how awesome she is by sitting on the curb on the off ramp of I-90 with Ally so Ally could pee.

And of course I grabbed the camera and took a picture of it. I must admit its terrifying to be driving on the interstate at 70 miles an hour and have your child say, "mommy I need to pee", at the exact moment that you drive by the very last rest area. Then Ally gets upset and starts saying "mommy I need to go really bad..." So as we try hard not to panic, and I keep driving, since I refuse to stop on the side of the highway and wait for the next exit things get more and more tense in the car. But finally there was an exit and I pulled over as soon as it was safe. Becky quickly got the small pink potty out of the trunk and I extricated Ally from her car seat. I am extremely proud to report that there was no mess, no wet, and all was good. Afterwards we got back in the car, and drove the 45 minutes left to my parents house.

Colorful

Ally had her first gymnastics class last week. It is every Thursday for the rest of the summer. She is not required to wear a leotard yet - they just recommend non-constricting clothes. She really likes it - Becky and I watched thru the glass and saw Ally do the balance beam, somersaults lots of jumping and of course the bar! It was fun to watch her learn how to do things and try it out herself without our interference. After class we went out to dinner. I just thought Ally and Becky look so colorful I had to take a picture.

First Camping Trip

This past weekend we took Ally on her very first camping trip. In the end its hard to call it an actual trip - it was just 1 night at a state campground about 90 minutes away. But it was fun.

To get ready for the trip we set the tent up in our living room before we left. We wanted to make sure all the parts were there (its been over 3 years since we went camping) and that we remembered how to put the tent up.

Then of course we set up Ally's sleeping bag in the tent in the hope that she would feel more comfortable for the real set up in the woods.

Here is our campsite - that is the lake through the trees.

Waiting for dinner to be served.

Games during dinner - Ally enjoyed playing peek a boo at the tent. She is so silly sometimes!

After dinner it was time to roast marshmallows. Can you tell how safety conscious Ally is? She can't even reach the fire pit.

So Becky tried to show her that the marshmallow was not getting hot.

Finally with Becky holding on to the stick too Ally agreed to put the marshmallow in the fire to roast.

But that did not last long - after about 15 seconds Ally pushed her chair way back from the fire and left Becky to taste the marshmallow all by herself. Frankly I thought the whole thing was hilarious - Ally has always been super safety conscious. We've never completely child-proofed our house. It was just not necessary, she points out when an outlet cover is missing and if we leave out scissors or a knife she says something like "uh oh...we should put that away".
Well she has to also be the most fire-safety child on the planet. The whole time the fire was going she kept saying we needed to "pour water on it" to put it out. She also would not get close at all.

Her she is after she ate her 4th and final marshmallow of the day. I should also note that Ally refused to eat or even take a bit of a smore and was not even interested in the chocolate bar - all she wanted was plain marshmallows.

After dessert it was time for popcorn over the fire!

It was taking a long time so Becky took over from Ally.

Ally waited

and waited

and waited

but there was no corn popping until I took over! The key is to get the basket closer to the heat source.

because very quickly popcorn fills the basket!

After popcorn it was time to go to sleep.

If only getting Ally to sleep in the tent was as easy as getting the popcorn to pop. We were all in our sleeping bags ready for sleep at about 8:45PM. Unfortunately sleep did happen until 12:00AM. There was a trip to the bathroom, a night-time banana snack, books read to Ally, Ally reading books to herself (pictured above), stories told by mama (that were so boring they almost put mommy to sleep), songs sung, flashlights played with, and numerous fits of "where is Ariel" (Ally has a small 4" Little Mermaid doll that she insisted on bringing with her and Kitty and Ernie but the small figurine kept getting lost between all of the sleeping bags and pillows) and eventually crying "I want to get out of the tent...I can't go to sleep in here" Becky tried to reason with her and explain that it was dark and tent would not fit in the car... it was adorable but finally I cuddled Ally close and she fell asleep in my arms, sharing my sleeping bag. I woke up a few times all stiff from sleeping with Ally and every time I moved she would cry. I was awake for good at 530AM and around 630 got up for a bathroom break, which of course woke up Ally for good as well.

Here is Ally in the morning. She was not in a good place. She said she was ready to go home. We said "we'll go home in a while" and she said a while was too long.

And really - how much did I want to battle with Ally to stay longer - we were getting eaten by mosquitoes, it was cold and I was tired. So we agreed to pack up and go home.

And boy was Ally happy to leave soon.

In the end Becky and I think our mistake was in doing all of our camping stuff on the first night. In the morning Ally felt we were all done camping, she was tired and cold and wanted to go home. We've already planned a 2nd trip, this time with Alice and her parents, and we're going to leave Saturday morning and plan on spending only 1 night again but we'll plan more activities for the day.
We did have a great time, while it lasted. And I am actually looking forward to the next time.