She Shoots!

She Scores!

Before you can score, you must have a goal!
~ Greek proverb

Vanessa has been doing this lots when asked to put her dirty clothes in the laundry basket. I have a feeling she got this from Daddy or Grandpa.

Girls in Skivvies

These two know what's comfortable in 90-degree temperatures and 100% humidity.

And as Vanessa might sing: "Hugs and kisses. Hugs and kisses. There's a fountain flowing hugs and kisses."

Lyrics adapted by Vanessa Betz. Sing to the tune of Deep and Wide.

Frozen

Vanessa has had a thing recently where she freezes in place. It always involves arms out to her sides, mouth opened wide, and a very surprised look. It's hilarious. She just stops and says, while trying to remain a statue, "Look. I freeze." She's been learning how to put that skill to use when playing freeze tag, but there are lots of rules to learn, so we're still working on it. Some might find this skill helpful when they need her to hold still for a second. Just keep in mind that she needs a little room to throw out those arms.

(And please excuse the chocolate Pop Tart in her teeth. Her teeth are not rotting. Looks yucky, I know.)

Kinfolk Happenings

Andrew and Zach share birthdays close together. They opted for a celebration in a gym where boys could be boys and girls could be girls. We had lots of fun and enjoyed catching up with some of our cousins.

Ben, Andrew and Zach leading the pack . . .

Parachute fun!

Rachel, will I ever be as tall as you?

We LOVE cupcakes!

And we were able to celebrate Aunt Leah's mommy and daddy's 50th wedding anniversary, where we hung out more with cousins. Aunt Leah's mommy and daddy sure give an example to live up to! They are two very impressive Christ-centered individuals who deserve tons and tons of recognition. Their strong interest in our lives and Vanessa's is incredibly heartwarming.

Luke and Vanessa lead us to think we're just asking for trouble. (Don't let this innocent and cute picture fool you.)

Joel's Nintendo DSi is just way too cool . . .

But we pulled him away long enough for a picture with an awake Seth.

Just Add Water

Vanessa and her friend Megan basking in water and sun . . .

What's a little water in the face?!

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

Picnic Party

While Mommy was on a work conference call this week, Vanessa decided to set up for a "picnic party." I realized she had gotten into the pantry and pulled out the paper plates, and when I acknowledged that, Vanessa said "I need JUST one for my party, Mommy." I nodded that was fine, knowing she couldn't possibly stop at one. A few minutes later I noticed she was setting out ALL the plates.

After getting off the conference call Vanessa told me "We're having a party, Mommy. Look! There will be lots of people. Let me go get balloons." She pretended to go get balloons and carried them back into the kitchen. She then threw pretend "streamers" about. "Is it a picnic? Want to come to my picnic party?" Mommy happily accepted -- "I sure do!"

And can I just add that this idea could lead to a wonderful surface area problem?! Probably not reasonable for an almost 3-year-old, but for older kids, our ugly geometric floor and perfectly round paper plates seem to be a perfect combination!

Zooing with Family

A little over a week ago we were able to make last-minute plans to go to the zoo with my oldest brother and his family. For a weekday, the zoo was busy -- it must be summer! Vanessa was excited to hang with her cousins. These cousins came with an agenda -- they all had favorite animals they wanted to see. Vanessa and Hannah plotted how they were going to play at the playground. Both mothers pointed out that we were not there to play at the playground -- since we get to do that often -- rather we were there to see the animals. They forgot about their strong desire once occupied by all the other great zoo stuff. At one point we were able to use my brother's large family to create a wall to block the girls' view as we walked by a playground, just to keep the peace and stay on track. :)

Vanessa liked having her uncle, aunt and cousins do things for her, instead of Mommy. What a huge help with Mommy moving slower these days. :)

We got to gently touch flamingos and learn why these two aren't very pink.

Vanessa took her first rides on the boat and the train. She was excellent with both. She stayed on her bottom and enjoyed watching her surroundings.


We checked out Polar Frontier this time and loved seeing one of the bears from underneath.

The visit was so exciting Vanessa did something she's never really done before -- she crashed out in the stroller. And she was out of it! She slept for probably 30 or 40 minutes.

Fun times!

Going on Vacation

So a few weeks ago we prepared for our first family vacation. Vanessa enjoyed every step of it. She packed Mommy's backpack to leave a day or two early. (We had been on a hunt for a special backpack for Vanessa because she loves them, and Mommy's was just a little too long and big to move easily. We found an Elmo backpack in Bethany. It's awesome.)

I told Vanessa that it would be helpful if she were to choose a few stuffed animals and books to pack. She left my bedroom and returned with her mini Brutuses, putting them in the toiletry bag. I thought it was pretty special she wanted to take her OSU-themed treasures with her. She has her priorities straight. :)

We woke up early to get on the road -- aiming to leave at 4AM. Vanessa was confused and insisted that we couldn't go anywhere until the sun woke up. "The moon needs to go to bed and the sun needs to wake up!" She cried as we told her that it was okay to travel in the dark and the sun would wake shortly. But once in the car, Vanessa was amazed by all the nighttime happenings. "There sure are a lot of circles at night." She was referring to all the lights. She went on to name the different colored lights she saw. Much like her mother, she talked and talked and talked out of excitement.

Somewhere on the eastside of Ohio I encouraged her to go back to sleep since it would be a long ride, but in no way was that happening -- the girl didn't sleep until Pennsylvania, and then she only slept about 45 minutes . . . there was too much to talk about and see! (She only slept about 20 minutes on the return trip, but was absolutely amazing to and from.) At one point she decided to go through her state stickers. I assured her that was a good idea and that it would be really neat for her to find Delaware since that would be the state we would be spending most of our time. Now I know it was purely coincidental, but can you bet she found Delaware and held it up!

We stopped in Baltimore on the way out. We had lunch and spent a little time exploring the downtown and port areas. We were served lunch by a very friendly waiter who had just moved there from New York. He commented on how slow and quiet Baltimore is. I couldn't relate. :) Vanessa identified a song playing at the restaurant as a Bob Marley song. She told the waiter she loves Marley songs. Workers were so tickled by her enthusiasm that they vowed to play Marley during the rest of our lunch. The manager had to come out to meet her.

We crossed over Lombard Street, which made me think of my grandparents. So I had to take a picture to acknowledge that they were in our thoughts too.

The port and ships were neat to see. Vanessa enjoyed watching the water. She was most interested in a red sculpture closer to the parking garage, though. Go figure! :)

(Here you're looking at the length of a submarine.)

We finally made it to Bethany and you could see the excitement in Daddy and Vanessa as they explored the backyard to our condo.

Our time together as a family was unforgettable and quite enjoyable. There was so much peace and happiness in having us together all day for several days, disconnected from the rest of the world, and even with Vanessa waking early each day ready to explore. Vanessa is still asking to go back on vacation, even when reminded of the really long drive.

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing." ~ Unknown

Neverending Vacation

Just how long was this vacation? I know -- it seems like it is never ending (or never beginning . . .) :)
When we arrived to Bethany, we unloaded our car and ventured over to check out the beach for the first time. Vanessa loved the gigantic sandbox; it felt weird under her feet. She didn't confuse the ocean with a river but seemed to be amazed (and intimidated) by its vastness.

The next day we casually went back to the beach again. We woke up to a funky fog/haze that hovered over the beach most of the day. But believe it or not, the weather was perfect for us -- not too hot and not too much sun for us intolerant people. (Let's face it -- I'll never be tanned and I've been known to have a heatstroke.) :) Because of the weird weather and moon pulling on the tide, the waters were a little rough and extra loud. At first they were almost a little frightening for Vanessa.

This is the only day Vanessa really attempted to build sandcastles, probably because of the weird weather and tides. She decided that molding and tearing down the towers of the castle was much more fun than completing it.

Later in the evening we decided to venture up the road from Bethany and ended up at the Cape May-Lewes Ferry dock. We got there just in time to see the huge ferry take off. Then we played at a playground and ran up and down the dock to chase birds.

The Rest of Tuesday (PM)

After visiting Assateague Island, we headed to Ocean City, Maryland. I would say there were a good number of early vacationers there. We headed down the Boardwalk to check out the various things of interest.

There were small amusement rides for little kiddies. Vanessa was very excited. Mommy went to purchase the tickets Vanessa would need to ride the small airplane-go-round and fire truck-go-round, and even a few extra. Mommy just knew once Vanessa rode one ride, it would be hard to pull her away from many. She was being loaded into one of the rides when we explained that we would not be riding with her but we would be watching. She panicked and had to get out. She then told us that she just wanted to look around. She liked watching all the rides but refused to get on any. We ended up sharing her tickets with a family with two preschoolers. And although Vanessa changed her mind about riding daring rides, she was not shy about kissing a pirate and playing with his beard.

We really enjoyed the fun mirrors too. It created lots of giggles. We now use the various pictures to talk about smaller and bigger, taller and shorter. And riding the coin operated "tractor" proved to be lots of fun.

We had delicious pizza and cherry-strawberry flavored ice. We played at various playgrounds along the beach.

Where's Vanessa?

And we checked out various shops without having to walk in. This place got our attention. They even had an obnoxious Batmobile. Where's Daddy?