Whirlwind, part 2!

The past two weeks were another whirlwind of fun, visitors, and new words from Anya Rashi. She's added a bunch of new words to her vocabulary -- see if you can detect which ones are her brothers' influence at work . . .

Spiderman = my-man

Batman = bah-man

Rubik's Cube = doopy doo

Elmo = melmo

camera = yamya

brother = bruh-bruh

yogurt = goh-ga

whee! = whee!

bubble = bubble

ball = ball

Grandpa/Grandma = Bampa

up = ba

Dora = hwa-rah

The funny thing about Dora is that we don't have cable, so she's only seen our one Dora book, and a plate/bowl/cup set we have. Then we saw a girl at the park wearing a Dora band-aid, and Anya Rashi exclaimed, "Hwa-rah! Hwa-rah!!" They must've done some great toddler research, because Anya Rashi is really interested!

Anya Rashi also got her first goose egg, or "goose bump," as Nathan calls it. She was sitting in a toddler chair at a cook out, and pushed off of the table with her feet -- ouch! I really hate those heart-stopping injury moments. She was fine, since the chair took the brunt of the fall, thank heaven. She had a nice bump on the back of her head, though, and a slightly sleepless night, since we had her in our bed for a few hours (playtime!!), and then woke her up a few times to make sure she was okay.

It's finally hot here, so we've also had some water fun with wading pools (including snorkeling!), bicycle washes, etc. We went to the Milwaukee Zoo for a day, which was a huge hit all around. The boys got to be part of the Birds of Prey show, volunteering to wear oversized eyeball glasses to demonstrate how large our eyes would be if we had the proportions of owl eyes! Anya Rashi loved the gorillas, lion and elephants -- and tried to "talk" to them by making the appropriate animal sounds.

Last week, we should've installed a revolving door on our house! We had lots of visitors, including our friend Becky from Milwaukee for one night, my sister Alicia for one night, then our friends Trina and Tyler from Indianapolis for two nights. We'll take anyone who will put up with the craziness of three kids. :o)

We also had a morning visit with Katy from Arkansas (the wife of Joe at Sandbox Adventures), their two kids, and Doris (Joe's mom). Stephen and our boys quickly disappeared to the basement, where the Legos and Star Wars toys live, while Grace and Anya Rashi competed for little-kid toys and the affections of our doll family upstairs. It was a good visit, but way too short!

Meanwhile, Peter went on a four-day backpacking trip in Michigan's Porcupine Mountains with three friends. It was a much-deserved oasis of nature, camaraderie, waterfalls, athletic hiking, and ticks (ick). I think it's the first time he's been able to go on a non-work-related guy getaway since we became parents. We've had weekends away as a couple, of course, but time with friends is so important too.

Last, but certainly not least, Nathan lost a tooth! His first two teeth fell out over a year ago, exactly one week after he turned five. Then, a long dry spell. He was very brave as Daddy helped pull it out last night.