Roughing it

Last month, I brought Marla to the annual Terwilliger family camping trip at Interstate Park near Taylor's Falls, MN. We only stayed one night, but I was pleasantly surprised at how well Marla did and very proud of myself for sleeping in a tent for the first time in several years. The last time I camped, a tornado hit the campground one night and a skunk showed up the other night, so I wasn't exactly eager for a wilderness experience. But I do believe in the value of camping, at least for kids, so I hope to do it every once in a while in the future.

Ah, the majestic St. Croix River.

 

Not surprisingly, Marla wanted nothing more than to float away in the river. Thank goodness Grandma was there to hold her back.

 

She had a blast getting really, really, really dirty.

 

And sitting in her super special frog camping chair from Auntie Alisa. (Notice the giant scrape on her nose. She'd taken a face plant into the sidewalk earlier that week.)

 

The Terwilliger family isn't exactly gender-balanced. In fact, girls are kind of an anomaly with this crowd. She had a great time with all the boy cousins.

 

Loving the great outdoors!

 

Loving Grandma!

 

Loving water fountains! 

OBX

We took a vacation to North Carolina's Outer Banks at the end of July. It was our first "real" vacation since Marla was born, and it was exactly what we all needed. It was a perfect mixture of relaxation and fun activities. Marla had a blast, the weather was fabulous, and I got my ocean beach fix. I highly recommend the OBX to anyone, especially anyone with young children.

I miss it so much.

 

We rented a condo in Duck, NC. Duck is one of the northernmost towns in the Outer Banks. Our condo complex was right on the beach, which made it easy to hit the beach every day, sometimes two or three times a day.

 

Here's our living room. Marla is watching the Elmo DVD that we brought for her. Speaking of which, Jeff and I both nearly poked our own eyes out by the end of the week, having watched that DVD at least 20 times. I really hope this child develops a taste for other TV characters soon.

 

 

We ate most breakfasts and lunches in the condo, and usually ate dinner out at a restaurant. Marla practiced big kid stuff such as sitting in a chair to eat...

 

 

And sleeping in a real bed! We did push chairs up against the bed to prevent her from falling out (although she still did fall out one night). She loved sleeping in a big bed, but is clearly not ready for one yet.

 

We did a little non-beach sightseeing each day, including touring the Wright Brothers Memorial, the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, the Currituck County Lighthouse, and Jockey Ridge State Park.

 

Here's Jeff and Marla walking along the Wright Brothers' first flight track.

 

 

Wright Brothers Memorial

 

Our favorite part of the vacation was the beach, naturally. Marla loved the water and playing in the sand. She had no fear of the ocean whatsoever, and since the Atlantic current is pretty strong, the experience was both exciting and scary. Keeping her from getting swept out to sea was a constant battle. But at least we got a good workout.

 

 

We had lots of great food, including very fresh seafood and genuine North Carolina barbeque.

 

I took nearly 400 photos, so this post doesn't really do the trip justice. I'll leave you with a small sample of our week. What an awesome vacation!

 

 

The state fair, Wisconsin style

This post is about two months after the fact, but still worth it. This year was my first experience at the Northern Wisconsin State Fair. Coming from Minnesota, home of the best state fair in the world, I wasn't sure what to expect. It turns out the Wisconsin fair is actually pretty perfect for toddlers. It's small, but not so small that it lacks all-important fair staples like barn animals and lots of fried food.

Marla LOVED feeding the donkeys, goats, and llamas. And they LOVED her for not eating all the pellets herself (though she tried).

 

I was a little uneasy letting her ride a carnival ride alone, especially since the only thing holding her down was a nylon strap. But she did a fantastic job sitting in the car. Even though her face was completely expressionless throughout the ride, she insisted on riding the cars again afterwards.

 

She was more interested in Grandma's cotton candy than the corn dog I gave her.

 

Still just not sure about people dressed as animals. Maybe next year.

 

Her grandma, monkey, and pacifier. What more could a girl want?

 

She rode the merry-go-round once with me and cried the whole time. She rode it twice more with Grandma and was all smiles. Guess it's all about the company you keep.

Catch-up

Every day Marla does something new and/or funny and/or cute and I think that I need to document it on the blog... and it doesn't happen. My only excuse is that this has been the busiest summer in recent memory. Here's an attempt at catching up on the last couple months.

She has a great appetite, especially for cheese, hot dogs, sandwiches, yogurt, ketchup, eggs, mac and cheese, spaghetti, and pizza. But her favorite is always fruit, making me feel better about all the other processed stuff. Here she is eating some watermelon on Memorial Day.

She's very social, especially with other kids. Lately she's more likely to hug, kiss, and high five than she is to hit or bite, which I count as major progress. Here she is giggling with her cousin Brennan.

Taking a stroll with some very protective "big girls" at Grandma Susie's house.

Giving her cousin Bailey some love.

Speaking of friends, she said goodbye to a few last month when we switched to a new daycare. Tanner was her first real friend. Marla calls him "Tee-tee" and though we haven't seen him for almost two months, his name still comes up every once in a while.

As much as she misses Tanner and her teacher, I think what she misses the most about her old daycare is a toy clock music box. The staff kept it locked up most of the time to prevent too many fights between her and the other kids.

She still loves to read more than anything and seems to have most of her books memorized. I'm also continually amazed at her language development. She tries to say almost any word she encounters, and it's so much fun to communicate with her more and more. There are too many words/phrases to capture in a single post, but here are some of my current favorites:

"Foffer" = flower

"Up dee-dee" = upsie-daisy

"Namma" = Grandma

"Bumpa" = Grandpa

"I no-no" = I don't know

"Ho-ho" = uh-oh

"Ebbow" = elbow

"Bee-bee" = belly button

"Umbebba" = umbrella

"Tee-pee" = toothbrush (or toothpaste)

"Anenna" = antenna

"Hal" = help

"Pee?" = please

"Fuf um" = I love you (I know that one's a stretch, but it's an honest attempt!)

I spent a week in Madison for a training in June and Jeff and Marla came to stay for a few days. We took her swimming in the hotel pool and ever since she calls any large body of water a "poo."

We also got her a water table and kiddie pool for the back patio. This has made some of the summer's excessively hot days a little more tolerable.

She's been mimicking lots of adult behaviors lately. She'll put phones to her ear and say "Ho?", apply pretend lipstick, and feed just about anything (baby dolls, stuffed animals, pictures in books, you name it). Here she is trying on Daddy's shoes and sweeping the floor. 

She LOVES to swing. If I ask her what she wants to do, she almost always responds, "Par. Wing!" (park, swing). 

She continues to climb and stand on everything. She has heard me warn her so many times that she now beats me to the punch: "cay-pul!" (careful). She likes to drag this shape sorter over to the couch and use it as a step stool. On the bright side, at least she's resourceful.  

Five!

Marla has *sort of* started counting. She can say 1, 2, then 3 comes out something like "eeee!" (accompanied by some hand waving), 4 gets skipped completely, and 5? Well, see for yourself.

Photo flip book

Every day, I fight a losing battle with Marla about standing up in inappropriate places. She stands in the bath tub, in her high chair, on the couch, in the shopping cart, on her sit 'n spin, etc. When I order her again and again to "sit down," she crouches momentarily, then slowly stands back up with a grin on her face.

Below is a series of shots I took yesterday. I think these would make a lovely flip book. I would title it "Trouble." Or maybe "Don't Try This at Home."


Climbing...

Nearing the summit...

Getting a little too confident...

Tempting fate...

Posing for a picture. (Here's where I order her to sit down.)

"Sitting."