Reading

Amelie has started pulling regular books off the shelf to read. For a while, one of my composition textbooks was a favorite. She calls it I Say, I Say, which, come to think of it, is a more accurate description of what most students do when writing arguments anyway. She calls this kind of book an "ABC Book" since it's just full of the alphabet (and no pictures).

Swimming

Ah! I thought I'd taken the video of Amelie jumping (which is also impressive), but apparently it was of her swimming in the pool with Papaw. She is quite enthusiastic about the whole endeavor.



P.S. I'm not sure what the watermark on the video is -- I took it with my camera, but I'm using Holly's computer and the way I uploaded the video isn't the same as it is on mine.

Bathing Beauties

Well, perhaps this was not the most photogenic. Here are those bathing beauties taking a break for some string cheese.

Giving Jeff a high-five.

Hanging out with Dada.

Amelie looks like she might be in trouble for something here.

A new day, another swimsuit. "Look at Mama!"

"Nope, don't want to look at Mama."

Swimming back and forth between Dada and Papaw.

Swimming to the steps.

More swimming to the steps, this time with Grandma.

Being pushed in the starfish by Uncle Joe.

Drying off. (In combination with wearing a beach towel as a dress.)

Cousin Ellie looks quite fashionable.

Uncle Joe

Uncle Joe came to visit Missouri, where he got to do lots of this. (This being "look at cows.")

I promise, this was the best photo I was able to get of Amelie and Uncle Joe. Maybe she's sad about him leaving.

This photo is awesome, though! Joe also took advantage of "Grandma Mary's Pool" and was happy to catch Amelie jumping off the side.

(I took a video of Amelie jumping, but I'm using Holly's computer and need to figure out how to upload it -- there are also a bunch more swimming photos to come.)

Uncle Jeff

The last time we were in the bootheel, Uncle Jeff and Amelie had a grand old time putting puzzles together.

Look how short Uncle Jeff's hair is:

We did get one photo of Amelie with Sadie, but not with Great-Grandma or Great-Grandpa. We'll have to remedy that next time, for sure.

I do think it shows both of their attitudes fairly well, though. Amelie looks like she's thinking, "What? I'm going to terrorize the dog -- what are you going to do about it?"

Thank you to Nana Jana for the fun new summer outfit :)

The Zoo

One more animal post.

We made a last-minute trip to the zoo since the weather was nice and Sam strongly implied that we might not be able to come again for a while with the new baby. In what's become something of a disappointing trend, I didn't manage to take very many pictures.


Amelie liked looking at zebras (or perhaps mostly standing on the fence to do so). I thought the leopard-print pants from Grandma Mary Beth were appropriate attire for the day.

Despite the lack of photographic documentation, we had a lovely time. The weather was great and we stayed from about 1pm until they kicked us out at 7:00. We saw the new underwater sea lion exhibit and went to a sea lion show.

On the car ride home, Amelie talked fondly about the prairie dogs.

Remember way back when we started this blog and Sam complained that it made me look like a single parent? The pendulum's swung in the other direction, and I think I need to get out from behind the camera sometime!

Grant's Farm

Two (maybe?) weeks ago, we went to Grant's Farm. It was hot!

We met friends of ours and their one-year-old, who Amelie called "Baby Hannah," even though she was talking and toddling all over. Both kiddos were pretty interested in the Clydesdales.

Horses!

The rocks were an interesting attraction. (And Hannah was a great sport!)

Here's Amelie walking with Dada, and then the camera died. Oops!

We also took a train ride, saw some real baby buffaloes and other animals, plus Amelie enjoyed feeding the baby goats with a bottle and got to have a snow cone after lunch. Mama was mostly hot.

Cousins

These two were being just as cute as could be, so I decided to (try to!) get some pictures.

"Wait, what are we supposed to be doing again?"

Anyway, Cousins!

Swim Lessons

This post is coming a little late, but Amelie took swim lessons this summer. She got to go with her friend Ezra each night for two weeks. It seems as though the class was more designed to get kids used to the water, but Amelie had a lot of fun anyway, and she keeps asking about going back. She eyed the 3-year-old class pretty enviously, so I think she'll have a lot of fun next summer.

With Dada

At Hickman Pool

Sad to be leaving, but sporting some cool water shoes. 

Of all the various activities, Amelie loved "scooping" and racing after ping pong balls and "zooming" back and forth between Mama and Dada. She was not quite as big a fan of gliding on her back or blowing bubbles. 

Oh, and thank you to Great-Grandma Pat for the strawberry swimsuit and terry cover-up! They came in handy!