Pools, Geese, and Rocks

Yesterday was finally a nice enough day for Samantha to play in her pool at Great Grandma Shirley's. It wasn't unbearably hot, but it was sunny and warm. She had more fun sitting outside the pool and dumping water on herself with that cup. Go figure.

Last night we went to Prairie Lakes Park so Chris could do some fishing while Samantha and I walked the loop around one of the lakes. When we first got there she was very interested in the geese and the rocks in the parking lot. I had to stop her from running up to the geese 'cause those birds are crazy and they might have attacked her. She just thought they were ducks and wanted to get close to them.

(Kiera! Did you see her shirt! It fits really well! Thanks!)

Vacation!

Last week I was on vacation! Well, I guess now we call it "staycation" if you don't really go anywhere. Samantha and I were home for the first part of last week, and then on Wednesday we all went to Oak Lawn for a few days. Chris had a training seminar to go to on Thursday and Friday in Chicago, so Samantha and I went with and were able to spend that time with my family.

I found a toy box for her on ebay, and my dad went to pick it up for us on Thursday.

We did a little swimming in the pool, and discovered that Samantha thinks she's a fish. She was constantly dipping her face in the water and kept trying to wiggle away from whomever was holding her.

We can always count on Gina to provide some entertainment...

On our way home we stopped at the Goodwill in Coralville and scored this little kitchen for $3.39. They have these kitchens in the nursery at church and Samantha loves all the little doors and sounds it makes. It's the perfect size for her to play with in our tiny kitchen while I cook.
This one didn't come with any of the food or extra toys, so we'll have to keep our eyes peeled for those sorts of things at garage sales this summer.

A post on our blog wouldn't be complete without random pictures of Samantha from the past few weeks.

To end on a good note, I got some great news yesterday! Our Nikon camera that I dropped (and broke!) is going to be fixed under warranty and hopefully returned to us in about a week! I like being able to take pictures with my phone, but It'll be nice to get our camera back. I'm pretty happy that we don't have to go out and buy a new one after all!

Catching Up

This past weekend we went out to Lake Okoboji with the other Young Life leaders for a little retreat. One of the leaders has super generous parents who allowed us to stay in their lake house for the weekend.
Their house is amazing.
The weekend was incredible.
The food was delicious.
The fellowship was inspiring (and hilarious!).
The kids were adorable.
Other than the fact that we didn't get a whole lot of sleep we had a blast. I would go back and re-live this weekend in a heartbeat.
Here's a picture of Chris and Samantha in the living room. I was up on the second floor looking down on them. Everything was so open and comfortable and welcoming in their house.
Greg & Dani (the house belongs to Greg's parents) were such fantastic hosts. Dani prepared all of the food, and after every meal Chris practically ordered me to get the recipe. He didn't have to try too hard because I was already planning on getting them!
They brought their dog with, and naturally they brought her kennel too. That wire cage provided endless entertainment for Samantha. She probably would have slept in there if we would have let her.

Before we left I thought it might be a good idea to get Samantha one of those kid sized neck pillows for sleeping in the car. It's a cute little pink puppy pillow. She likes it, but it's a little big for her to use when she's in her car seat. We just used it upside down in the car and it seemed to make her comfortable.

Last week we made a little trip to the thrift store so Chris could try to find some books. I found this super awesome pasta strainer. I'm not sure yet if I'm going to use it as a pasta strainer or just for decoration. Either way, I love it.

Last night Samantha was reaching for my head wrap that I was wearing on my head (duh). It was way too big to fit on her head, so I put her little pink one on her. This was the first time she's ever left something like that on her head for an extended period of time. I think she wore it for darn near an hour last night. Yay!

And that is pretty much the extent of the 'news' with us. We have a couple of busy weeks coming up, so I'm sure I'll be posting more soon.

Broken Camera :(

I dropped our new Nikon point-and-shoot camera this weekend. :(
I do need to use the video camera Kiera got for us a little more, but until then here are a couple good pictures from my phone.
How Samantha sleeps at night:

Out on the boat for the first time ever!

Playing in her tent with Bandit: