Fun with Addi

Everyday is an adventure with Addi, but here are a few of the special adventures we did last month. Early in the month Addi's playgroup had a field trip to the zoo.
We got to take a train ride around the zoo.
Then we walked around and saw all the animals. It wasn't a very big zoo, but it was perfect for a bunch of preschoolers. Addi's favorite were the monkeys she said there was a daddy monkey an Addi monkey and a Shazie monkey (that is what she calls my sister Makenzie).
A couple of weeks ago was farm day at Westmoore Park that I blogged about earlier. Jared was busy so I took Addi by myself.
Addi likes to pet the different animals. They even had a new baby animals we got to see.
Besides the animals they had all sorts of different activities for the kids. The wheel barrows were for races but Addi preferred to fill hers with sticks. After about an hour or so of walking around seeing all the different animals and playing I started having a bunch of intense contractions ad needed to sit down,but there wasn't many options so I tried to get Addi to go, but then she saw a girl with her face painted and insisted on getting hers painted just like it.
So being the nice mom that I am waited with her in the long line to get her face painted. When the lady asked what she wanted she told her she wanted her nose painted.
After getting her face painted we stopped to plant a flower before finally heading back (there may have been some bribery involved to get her to leave) The flower never made it home because she completely destroyed that pots in the car on the way home leaving a very dirty mess in daddy's car.
Addi is getting bigger and more independent everyday. We tried the potty training thing again and have been in panties for 3 days now, but she still decides when she wants to sit on the potty. She definitely runs the show around here and maybe in for a little shock when the baby comes. She is a talker and will talk your ear off if you let her. My new favorite thing she says is "what's that noise" when ever she hears a new noise. She can successfully say her ABC's although sometimes she gets 3/4 of the way through and switches to a different song. When she is bored in the car she will randomly start yelling her ABC as loud as she can. She can also count to 13 skipping 12 so I guess she can count to 11. We have been working on her colors and she is doing pretty good with most colors. She is very smart and I can't wait to see what she learns next.

Camping

Pachaug State Forest May 13-14, 2010
A few weeks ago Jared took a couple of days off work so we could have some family time. We decided to take Addi camping. We hadn't been camping since before I got pregnant with Addi.
Addi thought it wasgreat and was dirty within min of arriving when she thought the fire pit made a fun little sand box.
Daddy had to do most of the setting up the camp since mom was 8 months pregnant, but Addi decided she would help him set up the tent.
All set up. Addi loved the tent and thought it was a little play house. I think we will be needing a new tent soon since we barely fit in a double air matteress and Addi's pack-n-play.
After Camp was all set up we headed over to the beach at the lake. We built sand castles, threw rocks in the water, and tried to caught tiny fish in our bucket.
We had fun chasing bubbles.
Even mommy waded into the water. Checkout the huge 33 week belly. Some people thought I was crazy for going camping, but it really wasn't that bad. I may not have slept all that well, but its not like I sleep well at home.
After the beach we decided to go on a little hike around the pond. Addi wanted to be just like daddy with a hat and sunglasses. On one of our hikes I got a stick to help me walk. Addi being the copy cat that she is found her own stick to help her walk to bad it was about 2 in tall and made it more difficult to walk so daddy found her the perfect walking stick to be just like mommy.
We had this cage thing to put Tito in and Addi wanted to be in it with him. I am sure people passing by our campsite thought we were cruel parents for caging our toddler with the dog but it was her choice she even ate her dinner in there with Tito.
Daddy's chair has slowly been breaking everytime we use it and it finally gave up and completely broke. I think daddy needs a new one for Father's Day.
After we roasted our hot dogs for dinner we read Curious George Goes Camping (Addi loves George) and then roasted marshmellows like George.
Addi's first smore. YUM! After desert we slept in a tent like George. Addi went down in her crib ok but half way though the night woke up calling for mommy. So, she ended up in bed with us. So we had daddy, pregnant mommy, Addi and Tito all on a double air mattress. A little cozy, but it kept us all warm since it rained all night. Despite it raining all night and our fire wood and matches were left out in the rain Jared was still able to start a fire in the morning to cook us breakfast.
Since the morning was still rainy we went for a little drive to checkout the beaches in Rhode Island.
The afternoon was perfect weather so we went on more hikes, relaxed and rolled around in the dirt before packing up and heading home.

Tulip Festival and Mother's Day

FOr Mother's DAy I wanted to go to the tulip festival in Albany, NY but Jared was on call and didn't want me going by myself, but then Jared got someone to trade a Saturday with him so he could take me. I was excited to take some pictures of all the flowere, but forgot to charge my battery so half way through my camera died :(
Despite the rain the flowers were still pretty and Addi looks pretty excited to be there.
This is my belly at 32 weeks we are almost there.
Another reason to go to Albany was to find where I lived when I was Addi's age. Since my parents couldn't remember our address it took a little bit of driving and a lot of calls to my mom, but we found it.
I wanted a picture of Addi sitting on the steps because I have a picture of me sitting on these steps but she wasn't as excited about finding the house as she was about the flowers.
This is where my dad went to medical school and the reason I lived in Albany when I was little.
A few things I learned on this trip, my belly makes a nice little shelf to make sandwiches on in the car. Always charge your camera battery before going on a photography adventure. Yelling the ABC as loud as you can is a fun thing to do when you are bored in the car (at least addi feels that way). Write down places that you have lived so when your kids ask you 25 years later you can remember. And don't get stuck in a hail storm a block away from your car when you are 32 weeks pregnant and there is no hope of you running.
On Mother's Day I got breakfast in bed, went to church, came home with the urge to cleaned so I cleaned (despite my husband assuring me I didn't need to clean on mother's day) until I was tired,took a nap, made Chinese food with my husband talked to my mother, other-in-law, and grandmothers, and then skyping my mom so I could be part of the phone call with my missionary brother before going to bed very late. Now today I took the day off and have done nothing but eat ice cream while watching TV with Addi, blogging and talking to my mother.

Weekend Adventure: Boston

May 1, 2010- Boston,Ma
Last weekend our weekend adventure took us to Boston.
I decided I wanted to go to the temple before the baby comes and I can't go for awhile, so Jared and Addi dropped me off. Addi wasn't to happy that she didn't get to go with mommy, but Daddy took her to the children's museum instead.
And what could be better than the children's museum? The children's museum with a Curious George exhibit. Addi loves George and would watch him all day if she could.
She also got to play at Arther's house.
And build a few things. After the museum They came back and got me and we all headed into the city to walk along the freedom trail.
The freedom trails is a walking path through Boston with a bunch of historical sights along it.
Things like Paul Revere's House.
And different monuments.
Old north church where people sit in little boxes that each family rents out. Sometimes you would think people at our church rent out their benches since everyone ends up sitting in the same place every week.
The whole trail is 2.5 miles, but we only made it as far as the harbor(about 2/3 of the way) because I don't think I could have made it any further. We had parked in a 2 hour meter parking and I knew I wouldn't make it back in time so Jared left us to take our time while he made his way back to put more money in the meter. Little did I know that after I turned the corner I would have to walk up a hill. Addi was throwing a fit because I made her get back in the stroller so I could push her up the hill. I started having a contraction that last about 10 min. Everyone was staring at the large pregnant would wincing as she push the screaming child up the hill by herself, and I am sure they were all wondering what I was thinking. But we made it and eventually meet up with Jared at the old cemetery.
This cemetery has many famous people in it including Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Mother Goose.
Addi was having so much fun she decided to eat some of the dirt. For some reason dirt in a cemetery seems grosser than dirt else where.
After the trail we hung out in the public gardens which is like the central park of Boston.


Although I thought I may end up going into labor after this trip we had fun and my contractions eventually stopped after I was able to sit for a while.

Weekend adventure: Plymouth

April 24, 2010-Plymouth, MA
We have had quite a few family adventures the last few weeks. We decided that since much of our summer we will be a little preoccupied by our new little one we better see New England while we can. So a couple weeks ago we decided last min to drive to Plymouth Rock
Plymouth, MA is a really nice town right on the ocean. If we were staying on the east coast it is a place I wouldn't mind living.
We saw the mayflower (it is actually the mayflower II and the the original Mayflower).
And of course Plymouth Rock, which is a lot smaller than I always thought. It is just a large rock about the size people use in there yard. I was expecting a much larger rock that could hold more than 2 people at a time.
There were lots of museums and monuments to see. We only went to the free things, because we are cheap.
We then found this nice park in the middle of town to have lunch at. Addi wanted to sit on her own bench. The day was perfect with lovely blue skies we couldn't have asked for more.
When we told Addi we were going to see a big rock she kept telling us she was going to throw it in the water. Since we couldn't throw the big rock in the water we found some smaller rocks to throw in the water.
After we had seen all we wanted to see we headed to the beach. Jared was having fun with my camera and my zoom lens and amoung the many pictures of ducks, birds and airplanes that he took I found this picture and really liked it.
Addi had fun walking on the beach.
And digging in the dirt until she realized it was making her hands dirty.
Here is my belly at 30 weeks.
It was a long drive almost 3 hours because we took the scenic route, but Addi was good and we had a lot of fun as a family, and now we can say we went to Plymouth rock even it isn't quite the rock we thought it was.