Vacation!

Here are several pictures from our little family vacation. We had a great time venturing across Iowa to visit our friends in South Dakota for a night (see separate post for those pics) and then headed down to Omaha. We stayed downtown and enjoyed some good food and shopping in the Old Market and took Ainsley to the Omaha zoo as well. She loved the zoo. Her favorite things were the monkeys and the aquarium. She loves the fish. More than anything I think she loved the "ishies" (fish) in the hotel lobby ponds. Every time we went back to hotel and each morning she asked about the "ishies". It was pretty cute. Mommy and Daddy of course got some shopping in too. All in all, it was a great vacation but we were all happy to get home again. Ainsley was excited to see her "diddy" (kitty) when we got home!

Sweaty pig tails!

Playing in the zero-entry pool with Daddy in Carroll, IA on the way to South Dakota.

Ainsley had a lot of fun in the water and she's all ready to start her parent-tot swim classes next week!

Daddy and Ainsley

Pointing to the "ishies" in the hotel lobby.

Where are all the ishies Ainsley?

Out to dinner--I'm not sure what she was doing when the picture was taken except that I leaned over to her because she kept trying to give us hugs from her high chair!

Checking out the goats at the zoo's petting zoo. Ainsley thought they were puppies at first but then proceeded to make the goat/sheep noise the rest of the time! She was not really excited about petting one though!

Feeding the fish at one of the monkey exhibits---a definite highlight of the zoo trip!

Kisses from Mommy

Feeding the fish with Daddy. Those fish got fed well.

Daddy, Ainsley and the elephant.....another of her favorite animals!

Cuddling with the stuffed animals we got her. She now has to sleep with the purple monkey and will make the monkey noise if you forget to give it to her at bed time. She still working on saying monkey well, but she's got the noise down pat!

Big kitty!

Although we thought it would be fun to take her on the Carousell, Ainsley did not enjoy it and couldn't wait to get off that thing!

Before the ride.....looking a bit apprehensive, but still OK.

Poory baby was not happy when that ride was done. She's a little wimpy I would say.

Family pic.....no, I am NOT pregnant again. That top was not laying right!

Ainsley showing us her muscle!

Zonked out on the car ride home after a fun time as a family!

Visiting the Brownells

As part of our little family vacation we made a stop in Dakota Dunes, SD to visit our good friends and former neighbors Travis and Nicole, their daughters Olivia (Ainsley's age) and Anna (just 6 weeks old) and of course their dog Daisy (Dizzle) too. We had a great time catching up with them, admiring their beautiful new home and new daughter and watching our girls play. We all decided that newborns are actually less exhausting than toddlers! We grilled out and even had a fireworks show in the back yard over looking the pond. Good work boys! Ainsley and Olivia stayed up until about 10 that night and were tuckered out afterwards! Another triumph for Ainsley....she overcame her fear of puppies. She has always loved to see pictures or point out a puppy from afar but usually when she gets up close she clings on and whooses out. After about 5 minutes of adjustment with Daisy, Ainsley was all about the puppy and spend a lot of time making sure she knew just where Daisy was! Daisy, of course, is not nearly as interested in the toddlers as they are in her!

A very peaceful Anna Claire. She was such a good baby and I forgot how much newborns sleep!

Travis modeling his new Snuggie---the joke part of the housewarming gift :) We think he looks more like a monk than anything else! Perhaps a career change if the medicine thing doesn't work out?

Notice how nicely Olivia sits and poses for the picture.....oh well.

Awwww. Caught this one just at the right time! They had a great time playing together.

Ainsley taking Olivia on her "loop" through the kitchen and around the hall. She loved having a new place to explore!

Fireworks off the back porch.

The kiddy version of the fireworks before the boys busted out the good stuff! I think Ainsley and Olivia would have been happy with just the confetti and silly string but they liked the others too.

Cashed out in the car before we even got out of the Dunes!!!

Summer Fun is Just Starting!

Here are some more recent pictures of Ainsley. It was finally nice enough out this past weekend to put her in her swim suit and get the little pool out! For some strange reason it took quite a while for her to work up the courage to stand in the pool and about equally as long to sit in it, but after a while she decided it was alright. We are trying to get her prepared for her parent-tot swim class coming up in July!
Ainsley is changing every day. Lately she has been starting to say more and more words. Of course "Mimi" (Mickey), and puppy are still favorites, but now she has added snacks, outside (we hear this a lot!), spoon, Mimi show (when she wants to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse), bubbles, please, pretzel, Boppa (grandpa), bean, beads (necklace), apple (she thinks every fruit is apple still), icey (ice cream), cat, Ella, Staci (from day care) and probably a few others that I just can't think of right now. She loves to give kisses and she cracks herself up trying to blow raspberries on our stomach.
We are planning a little trip to the Omaha zoo in a couple of weeks and can't wait to see her reaction. She loves animals and knows many animal sounds so it should be fun.

Daddy's shoes are just a little big, but she had fun wearing them!

We got this accent chair for our living room and it didn't have legs on it yet when we unpacked it. Ainsley thought it was just for her since it was just her height.

Ainsley was "helping" us get some things out of the basement for the church garage sale and she decided to lounge in her Boppy chair. Hard to believe that she used to sleep in that as a newborn!

Finally coaxed in to the pool!

Cheese!

Hi Mom.

Finally sitting in the pool. After that she pretty much realized what we were telling her---like the bath tub only in the grass!!!

An all time favorite---bubbles!!