Fun at a Bounce House

Yesterday I met up with a group of mom-friends that I met online, and we had a get together at a local bounce place.  It was the first time Judith has been at a place like that, and she had a blast!  Given the location of this particular venue, I was trying to figure out how they got all of the inflatable equipment inside, but once we were in there and I saw how expansive it really was, I was impressed.  It's about $8 for a 2 hour session, and it's all open bounce during regular business hours so that's a big bonus.

It took Judith a bit of time to figure things out, but once she got going she had a great time!  When we first got there, there was a large group of older kids bouncing around, but it was pretty awesome to see some of the older kids helping out Judith and some of her other little friends!

I'm really grateful that we went to this place instead of trying to do what we originally planned (we thought about going to a local zoo, but the weather was really iffy, so we opted for indoor activities to be safe), because now I discovered yet another place that we can go to this fall and winter when it's too cold or nasty to be outside.

She was so eager to get into the moon bounce that I forgot to take her glasses off.  Oops!  Thankfully we didn't have any incidents and I didn't have to take her for a frame readjustment.

The toddler structures were a huge hit...

... as were the slides!

Fun at the Park

Judith & I met up with my friend, Amy, and her 3 kids this morning at a local park.  The location was gorgeous, and everyone had a blast!  It was great to have some in-person adult interactions, too!

The park has a covered bridge and some historic buildings (the buildings were closed, though, so we didn't get to see what they look like inside).  There's also a new peace garden with a bunch of different plants that the kids could explore.  I didn't get a picture of it (and I regret it now), but we saw a pretty caterpillar that will turn into a monarch butterfly, lots of bumble bees that were busy pollinating, and even some mosquito larvae in the stagnant water of the bird bath.  Naturally, Judith saw water and wanted to play in it, and I had a brief moment of panic quickly pushing her away from the gross West Nile virus breeding ground.  I have to admit that it was kind of neat to see the larvae in the water, as I never saw that before.  Anyway, the garden also had a small corner for vegetables, and they had some nice tomato plants and corn stalks.

We couldn't have asked for a better August day, either.  The weather was gorgeous, and the temperatures were nice - warm, but not overly hot.  I am so grateful that it's finally cooling down, and we can start doing stuff like this with Judith again!

She's unimpressed.

Swings were a hit last year.  This year, not so much.

Judith loves dogs, and was infatuated with Amy's Yorkie!

Cheese!

Hugs for the pup!

A Get-Together and Milestones

Today Judith and I met up with one of my friends, Amy, and her 3 children!  We had some lunch, and the kiddos spent at least a good hour playing in the play area.  While this isn't the first time Judith's been to a park/play area, it is the first time that she could really do more than just swing (not that they had swings haha): she crawled all around the space, stood up at the walls/windows and explored them by pounding on them, drummed on the climbing equipment, and actually figured out how to climb up on the lowest play thing designed for toddlers!  It was so awesome to see her doing this!  She also did some people watching, but, as expected for this age, didn't play with anyone.

Amy took up crocheting a little while ago, and she shared some pictures of a cute dog sweater she made.  So I asked her if she could make sweaters for Buster and Lady, and she did!  Amy is super awesome, and the sweaters are adorable!  I'm going to take pictures of them in the sweaters this weekend, and I'll post pictures as soon as I can get them loaded.  We talked a little bit about crocheting, because I never learned how to do it, and thought it looked like a relatively easy hobby to pick up.  Call it peer pressure or whatever, but I'm going to give it a whirl and see what I can do!  I'm not the craftiest person, so I'm hoping that this will go smoothly for me, and I can add crocheting to my very short list of crafts I can do (counted cross stitch and scrapbooking are about the only other things I can do semi-decently).

I was so glad that we were able to have a few hours together to sit and talk, and to allow the kiddos to interact with each other!  We had a blast, and I can't wait until we can do it again!


Judith has developed a few more milestones: she just cut another tooth, this time on the bottom, and it feels like there's another bottom tooth working it's way to the surface.  Total tooth count right now is 7 - she's a tooth cutting machine these days!  She's still babbling a ton, but we're still waiting for her first word to come out.  She's cruising around, using the furniture as a support, and is starting to take some steps assisted (by holding on to our fingers).  She can climb the whole way up the stairs, but still needs some assistance coming down.  This one I was so excited for: she's finally clapping on her own!  She's a stinker about it though, because she'll smile and clap if I have to pull her away from something she's not supposed to have - I can't help but laugh when she does this.  I'm sure it won't be quite as amusing in a few years, but for now I feel safe in enjoying it.

Fall Fun and a Get Together

This weekend was filled with so many fun activities - it was busy, and we're all tired, but it was definitely worth it!

Saturday we took Judith to a pumpkin patch for the first time.  She couldn't do a lot of things, and wasn't able to appreciate a lot of it, but she still had fun!  We went on a hay ride, which went through the orchard and made a stop at the pumpkin patch - you could get off and pick your own pumpkin, but we decided to stay on the ride.  It's not like Judith could really "pick her own" pumpkin this year anyway, and it would be more fun for her to be able to walk around the patch and explore.  Plus the price per pound was kind of expensive, and the pre-picked pumpkins were much cheaper.  We chose a pre-picked, smaller sized pumpkin for Judith's first Halloween!

Judith is not amused.

Hay rides are fun!

Sitting amongst a bunch of pumpkins

I'm not sure if John's going to carve it for her or not - it's on him if he wants it carved.  I honestly hate carving pumpkins.  It's such a mess, and whenever I try to carve anything, it always turns out dumb.  I'd rather paint it so it lasts longer.  We'll have to make a decision, but for now it looks quite decorative in the living room as is!

Today Judith and I drove to Hershey for a get together with some of the great ladies I talk to online.  We met at Zoo America, and spent the afternoon socializing and looking at the different animals.  Zoo America isn't a huge zoo, but it's a decent size: something like 11 acres, and they have different animals from all over North America.  There were a few animals missing (most notably the bison that died in the recent floods), a few habitats under construction, and some animals sleeping/hiding, but overall we saw a good bulk of the animals housed there.  It was such a fun afternoon - it was great to meet many of the ladies, and see a couple that I've met before!


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