Brave Girl.. Big Girl

Olivia and I haven't been to Adventure Zone in a while... we heard that several of the schools were closed due to an outbreak of Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease! Also, were warned that many of the kids with the outbreak were going to local play-places! Those two bits of info were enough to keep this mamma and baby under lock and key for a few days. Call me paranoid! Just do it!

We made it out yesterday.. had a great time! Olivia surprised me with her new display of independence by climbing to the second level of the kids area, and going ALL BY HERSELF across the tightrope!!!!!

She's saying several new words lately!

Here are some favorites:

- Hiiee (in a super sweet tone)

- Bye Bye

- Mommy, Daddy, Baby

- Ya Ya (Olivia - she got this because Owen calls her Ya Ya for short)

- Poo Poo

- Please (most often while doing the baby sign for please)

- Up, Down

- Book

- Apple; Nana (banana); Gape (grape)

- Dee Dee (DVD); Nemo (for Finding Nemo); Bop ( for Bob on Veggie Tales)

- Ball

- Cup

- Eat; Nummie (for Num Num = good food, or give me food!)

- Aiye

- booos (Spoon)

- Shay Shay You (or) Day Day - (both combos of Xie Xie (shay shay) which is Thank You in Chinese, and Thank You)

- Woof Woof (for doggie); Eeee Eeee (for monkey); Meeee (for cat); Teeeet (for bird); Raaar (for lion)

Several other cute things lately...

- If she sees a kleenex, she will scrunch up her nose and blow in and out really fast!

- Loves to get her plastic 'kid' food and 'feed' the baby dolls and animals while saying Nummie

- Plays with mom's pony tail really gently with her arm wrapped around my neck

- Always points to Justin's glasses and asks, 'What's that?"

- If she wants a kiss, she wants in ON the lips. If your head is turned she will grab your face and turn it so she can give a proper kiss! I think Daddy taught her this! ha :)

- If we get a text message, and the phone dings.. she immediately says, "UH OH!" and runs to the phone

- When she plays "cooking with mom" aka when I give her pots and bowls to play with in the kitchen on the floor, she'll get toys and act like she's pouring in spices, etc and stir it up!

- MY FAVORITE CUTE THING - she goes to bed by 7:15pm and doesn't get up til 7:30am-8am.. and today slept in until 8:40am! She loves her sleep just like her mom!

Celebrating Another WIN for OSU!!!!

During color time today, we used our favorite ORANGE and BLACK crayons!!!!!!

This is Olivia's first effort at drawing Pistol Pete! Pretty good :)

Good thing we are using washable crayons.. in all the excitement, she decided to color on her tray!!
The fun ended, when I looked up and saw this: (And she said, "Yummy")
We took a family outing to stroll around town... Olivia's "bath time baby" was stripped and ready for a bath!
Another family was walking a dog.. so we chased it for a while (come on, it wasn't even on a leash) and practiced our doggy noises.. Olivia's sound like "ruh, ruh" :)
Fun Fall Day!

My Girl..

I have someone in my life who always keeps me on my toes... she's ready, "YEP," to run and jump... to make sure that the baby gate isn't going to come loose... she wants to read and color and watch DVD's... put on our shoes and socks and pick leaves and flower petals...

I have someone in my life who always brings a smile to my face... when life is hard to understand, she reminds me I don't have to find all the answers, but rest in knowing I can't ... and enjoy this moment... the most unexpected kisses... the hugs I never want to end... and the giggles, even the fake ones ... the things she does that I realize later are imitations of myself... she makes me strive to be a better mom, person, wife, friend... the shoes of Mom are big..

Someone who always reminds me that I have more capacity to love than I'd ever imagined..

And here she is, my girl.. Waiting on Mom to take her to play at Adventure Zone...

That photo captures her personality... perfectly. She knows what she wants.. and knows how to get it!

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Beautiful Day

We have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather by getting outside to play at the park!

Olivia LOVES bubbles :)

I love the sweet smile on the lady's face in the background watching the little 'foreign' kids play!
This is my favorite pic from the week - Olivia has decided that she is a BIG girl and can go down the slide all by herself! So I planted myself at the bottom and snapped this look of complete happiness! Don't you love her shirt!!! And her crazy static hair!
More fun at the park with buddy, Owen..

I'm trying to decide whether or not to trim her hair~ she's sort of becoming a crazy haired mullet head, with long straggles in the back and not much on top! Any suggestions??!

Rainy Day..

I ventured out alone to get some groceries... Tom (our driver) was with Justin at a meeting out of town, so I took a chu zu che (taxi)! FUN times in the rain! I'm not sure which is more exciting - trying to find one in the rain or riding in one while it's raining! At least one I stay dry.. and least one I stay alive!

Starting to clear up outside!
I got to come home to this sweet angel...
We had fun editing some photos!
Olivia with the gang! Boss those boys... you go girl :)
PS - the last pic is at Adventure Zone - yea, we got her a membership!

Adventure Zone!!

This Wednesday, we beat jet-lag by running, climbing, sliding, scootering, pulling, and playing at ADVENTURE ZONE!!! It's the most amazing indoor play area I've ever seen - inside a new luxury hotel only 15 minutes from our house!!!!! Olivia's pal Remi had some guest passes, so we (along with Owen and Henry and Jack) were invited along for a morning of FUN!

Here is a pic of the 'baby' play area:

What Adventure would be complete without a scenic car drive!?
Bigger kids area, but we had fun exploring here too!! It's hard to capture with a camera, but the entire area is filled with places to climb and maneuver through.. fully padded, and netted for safety since it was at least 2.5 stories high!!!
Ball pit at the bottom of the big kids slide!
Here is Hannah (Remi's big sis) about to do the big kids slide!! We climbed out of the ball pit since it's the landing zone for the slide!! (And technically, we weren't supposed to be in it!!)
The little kiddos!! Owen, Henry, Olivia, and Remi! ~Olivia likes being the only little gal!
Thanks for the invite, sweet Remi!
Here we are going down the slide!! Heidi and Owen on the left - me and Olivia in the middle! It was much MUCH faster than I had anticipated!
We decided to go again!!
Scooter ride!
The place was just slightly too big for the little ones to explore alone, since once they got to the summit, they were too little for the slides.... so it's a good thing the mommas were all in decent shape and could fit through behind the babes! It was a SUPER good workout for me - and gave us great laughs watching one another crawl up and over and through the gym! Olivia needed several boosts and held my hand a few times to reach things that were too far, but otherwise was showing her mommy what a BIG girl she has become~

Let's go again!!! (yes, this is where I had to being following her!! I did get slightly claustrophobic a couple times :)
We had such a fun time!! We're considering getting the full details on the cost of a membership!! So hopefully, more photos to come from this cool play place!

To Daddy, From Olivia

You are there... We are here.. and missing you!

Really soon, we'll be doing this again:

(Aren't we cute in our coordinating colors!)

Until then, I'll be swimming :)

Have a safe business trip! We love you!

VACATION!!!

This past weekend Olivia went on her first family vacation with Mommy and Daddy to Sanya! A beautiful beach ... just a 3 hour flight from Shanghai!

This little whitey LOVES... LOVES.. LOVES the beach.. and the pool..and the sand!!!!

She was such a good girl.. made lots of sweet friends at each meal... the waitresses were drooling over her! We had the BEST surf and turf!! And enjoyed a YUMMY Mojito! or two! :)

Is that the cutest little wedgie you've ever seen!? I thought so!

A Beautiful Weekend

Fun in the backyard!!

Let's do some watering!

Afternoon at Century Park!