Summer Fun

Well the summer is half way through and I've barely had time to write about our beautiful little girl. She continues to grow up before our eyes. She talks in little sentences now "people on bus," "I want that one, that one, that one," "I drive car," "Mommy, want to color," "Aunt Jen on phone."

Samantha has become really good with her motor skills too. She can feed herself rice krispies in the morning with little to no mess (we love that she eats the same breakfast we have!) She can take her pants off (despite my efforts). And she has become so helpful, like when Ken needs the remote and it is half way across the room.

Samantha has also taken an interest in using the toilet (aka, the potty). Despite my desire to wait until she is two for potty training we had to get her a little seat that she sits on to use the toilet. The good news for me is that she thinks its a game, and she doesn't quite know what to do with it. You may wonder why I don't want to teach her yet, I just am dreading the commute to and from work. Our commute to work is already close to an hour, and I'm not sure where exactly we can stop on the way if she declares she needs to use the toilet. So I'm trying to wait until I can communicate with her that she needs to hold it!

We finally let Samantha sit in the little "car" grocery cart. I was holding back on this too. Because I knew that once we introduce the car cart there is no turning back. So finally, on Sunday I said to Ken, lets do it. There are always car carts available. So of course, there was only one Sunday night. Well, we put her in it and she was so very excited. And of course [hello karma!] the starp was broken. So we had to take her right out of it. And she wailed! It was so sad and unfortunate. So Ken had to stalk a family that was leaving to fill their car up with their groceries and take their car cart right from them. So finally we got her in it and started our shopping. She loved it. She also loved hanging out the side and pointing to everything.

Here's what we've been up to lately:

This past weekend Mommy and Daddy went to Philadelphia to catch a baseball game with some friends. So Sammi stayed back and spent the evening with Grandpa, Granny, and Aunt Jen. They played in the pool that Aunt Jen got for her visit, they played with lots of toys, and they visited the neighbors across the street. On Sunday we got the best crabs ever and Sammi loves to eat crabs! It sure brought memories back when we had to tell Samantha "In or Out!" as she kept going from the family room to the patio. I sure remember my dad telling Aunt Jen and I that we had to go "In or Out."

The first weekend in July we spent time up in Pennslyvania with Grandma and Pappy. She played in a pool up there too. We also went shopping and she went for walks while Mommy and Daddy headed over to Hershey Park. Sammi loves her Pappy and it is so funny when she sometimes calls him Bobby (like I do!). Although, she wasn't very happy with Pappy when he yelled at her when we were at 3B's. She was being a little bossy trying to get her own way and he told her to knock it off! And it worked. She was so good after that. She sat there with her little cup of ice cream and ate.

On the fourth of July we spent the day together as a family. It was too hot to go do some of the activities in Frederick so we went shopping, got Rita's Italian ice, played in the pool, chased lightening bugs, and looked at fireworks from home. Samantha also enjoyed watching "A Capitol Fourth" on PBS because it featued Elmo, and she loves Elmo. She also enjoyed Jason Alexander's song and dance routine and she had us all up dancing to that. It doesn't sound like much, but it was such a great day. I wish every Tuesday was just like it!

The last weekend in June was fun because we had crabs with some friends and Samantha loved the pond in the backyard! For Ken's birthday Sammi spent quality time with Grandma while the rest of us went to bet on some ponies and play the slots in Charles Town. She also splashed around in the pool while Mommy and Daddy went to a wedding.

We got the kitties some new feathers to play with. They are feathers on a stick that of course the girls think are birds. Well Samantha loves to chase Rosie with the feather. Its really fun!

Samantha Got in Trouble

Samantha had her first "time out" over the weekend. Aunt Jen had to put Samantha in time out because she wasn't listening very well. Jen and Samantha were playing with magnetic letters and when it was the time to clean them up Samantha wouldn't help. And then she went over to the container and dumped them all on the floor. So mean Aunt Jen put Samantha on the step and told her it was time out time. Samantha cried because she was so sorry. And she was just overly tired, poor little angel.

BUS!

We see lots of buses on the way to (and from) work. And every time Sammi see's one she gets so excited and yell's "BUS!" and points at it. This happens with trucks sometimes too (she calls them buses too). It makes the car ride fun!

Wanna Coke?

When we were at the beach Samantha was so funny. She had a little pad of paper and a pen and kept trying to take everyone's order. She would say "Wanna Coke?" and then when you replied yes she would go get a coke out of the fridge (with Mommy's help of course). However, when Granny asked for something else, she got the finger pointing Samantha saying "No, you get a Coke." It was Hysterical.

Sun, Sand, Wind, Rain, and a Beautiful Moon

Our trip to the beach was awesome! We went down Friday night just in time to eat at Duffy's Tavern on 122nd Street. I love this place! Its an old pub, really dark inside, loud music, Keno, sports on the TVs etc, but they have great crab soup and crab cakes. And Ken can get something off the menu he likes too! Samantha loved the crab soup here. Grandpa tried to give her some crab cake but she's not a big fan of mayo and I think she could taste it. She had several bites and then didn't want any more. She did enjoy their delicous french fries though. She loves to dip everything in ketchup! On the way home we swung by Dumsers for ice cream and Sammi enjoyed sharing Granny's banana ice cream!

On Saturday we got up and had a delicous pancake breakfast and then we headed down to the beach. Samantha was a little scared of the Sand for a few minutes but once she learned how to walk on it and Grandpa showed her how you can use the bucket and shovel she warmed up to the sand quickly. Ken and I took her down to the water and she screamed when her feet hit the water. Granted, the water was very cold! We weren't on the beach too long when she got very sleepy. Ken's not much of a beach person so he volunteered to take her up to the condo for a nap. After lunch we went down to the pool. Nobody was going to the outdoor pool so we assumed it was freezing, so we headed to the indoor pool. Again, Samantha was a little nervous about the water but she warmed up to it quickly. She had fun swimming around trying to find us. We played peek-a-boo with her by going under the water.

That evening we headed down to the boardwalk. Mommy, Grandpa, and Granny enjoyed some awsome soft crab sandwiches from Daytons while Daddy got Dough Roller Pizza and we all had some Thrashers french fries. Some of my favorites! We then took Sammi to ride the rides on the boardwalk. She really enjoyed the cars but we were all a little nervous when she got on a hot air balloon ride that was a bit too exciting for her. I really thought she might fall out at one point. She actually cried on the ride! And the lady stopped it so we could rescue her! We all rode the old carosel and headed back down the boardwalk. Of course we hit the Kohr Bros ice cream stand for some soft ice cream and Grandpa got a funnel cake too!

On Sunday it was too cold and windy to spend much time at the beach. So we walked to breakfast down the street and then checked out some of the shops. We went to candy kitchen and Sammi made out like a bandit! Sammi took a nice long nap and Daddy and Mommy went for a walk on the beach. In the afternoon we went to the playground. Samantha had a great time even though most of the playground was for older kids. She could go into this castle and Grandpa kept looking in the windows to scare her. She thought it was hysterical (it was!). That evening we had crabs back at the condo. Sammi enjoyed her first crab! Of course Mommy picked it for her. She kept running over to Ken to offer him some. He had NO interest. That night we went to the boardwalk in Rehoboth, Delaware. We really enjoyed the boardwalk and atmosphere up there. It was a lot calmer and the rides were not only cheaper, but better maintained, and we had easier access to Samantha. They had a lot of the same things we love about Ocean City (thrashers, kohr bros, pizza, etc.) without the hassle! Samantha rode more rides and we played some games too (Granny scored a dismal 70 on whack a mole). We even won a few prizes for Sammi. Samantha loved watching the people on the bumper cars. And we saw the most beautiful moon rising above the ocean. But soon it was time to go home to get Samantha in bed.

On Monday we woke up to a very wet morning. Daddy and Mommy ventured back down toward the boardwalk to an Internet Cafe so Daddy could check on his fantasy baseball line up. We got some delicous Fischer's Popcorn while we were down there. Then it was back to the condo to pack up and hit the road. Of course the sun was starting to peek through on the way home!

We had a great time and want to thank Aunt Jane and Uncle Jim for letting us stay at their condo. We also want to let Granny and Grandpa know that they sure now how to have a good time in Ocean City. Ya'll wouldn't believe the amount of food Grandpa can eat!

The Beach

We just got back from an awesome weekend at the beach. Thanks to Aunt Jane and Uncle Jim for letting us stay at their place! Samantha had a great time, although she didn't like the Ocean Water and it took her a little while to get warmed up to the sand! Check out Samantha's Picture Collection (password: our last name in lower case) for the complete set of pictures, a preview is below:

Beautiful Sunday

Samantha is sleeping now (its 11:30 am) after sleeping until 9:30 this morning. I guess we kept her up too late last night. Last night we went into downtown Frederick with some friends. Sammi got a little cranky when we ate at a nice italian restaurant. Good thing we were seated outside! I probably would have gone smoother if we had better service! Yesterday we spent the day cleaning the house, Samantha loves to help us clean. She loves doing the laundry, and picking up her toys with us. Of course, then she spreads all her toys out again, but that is to be expected! Today we are hoping to go strawberry picking or to a baseball game since it is a beautiful day. I'm hoping she wakes up soon!