Zoo

We went to the St.  Louis zoo on Labor Day. It was 94 degrees when we got there and I thought for sure it was going to be a mistake - I tried in vain to get Sam to agree to the (indoor, airconditioned) science center instead, but he'd just taken the big kids to that not too long ago and of course we'd been talking up the zoo trip the whole weekend. The kids wore their swimsuits since James had his heart set on playing in the splash pad at the children's zoo.

The sea lions were active right when we got there.

The zoo really was not very crowded at all - since we went in the afternoon, I think we missed the first morning wave, and maybe some folks  had given up due to the heat. 

We were the only people at the keeper talk/animal show - James was not as happy as Amelie to wait for it to start.

I think the splash pad lived up to James's expectations :) A really nice feature was that it was cool and shady. 

Leah liked it, too. I brought a swim shirt, but didn't think she needed it due to the shade. She's just wearing an older diaper cover as a swim diaper. The (some only slightly) bigger kids playing got a kick out of her enjoying the sprinklers.

James is such a helpful big brother.

We saw the penguins, which was air conditioned. James got a big kick out of it  - he told one of the puffins, "I wish I could pick you up."

Leah enjoyed the penguins, too! I don't remember if she called them "dogs," but pretty much every other animal was a "Dog! Dog!"

And what zoo trip would be complete without an ice cream treat?

James also got his wish of Dippin Dots fulfilled.

Leah Says

Leah said her first definite sentence on Saturday: "More bite," meaning she wanted some more eggs for breakfast. She's started saying more things, but most of it is not very clear  - except "Mine!" which she draws out into a long syllable.

So I think she says about 20 words:
All done (usually accompanied by a sign)
Bye!
Hi
Wa (for water)
Ba (for bottle, but she's using it to mean drink - usually a water bottle or milk or water in a cup)
Mama
Dada
Outside
Dog (refers to all animals)
More
Bite
Mine!
Yeah
Down
Stuck
Eye
Die-die (for diaper, sometimes accompanied by the sign - she's just started telling me when she needs a new diaper)
Nuh-uh (for no, accompanied by shaking her head)
Moo (when she sees a picture of a cow)
Buck (for buckle - she likes to try to buckle the straps on her seat)
This
Mmmm-mm (when she's eating something good - and every time Sam says it, she copies him)
& She still signs "milk"

Leah can understand a lot more, and likes to follow some directions, especially to throw things away in the trash can and close the dishwasher door. She loves to be helpful and likes to bring everyone their shoes and try to put hers on herself. At the grocery store today, she kept helping me put things on the conveyor belt.

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Here's a bonus James Says - "How many bucks does it cost?"

After church today: “Is this a luck pot?”

And Amelie and James checked out one of the graphic novel adaptations of The Baby-sitters Club and insist on calling it the "baby sisters club."

What We've Been Doing, Part I

Oh my goodness, it's been a while since I updated the blog. Here's the first (in what will probably be a series of catch-up posts). These are random, with no real theme.

Amelie on the balance beam at a birthday party. Her hair has grown some since then! She's trying to grow it back out.

James being James.

A different birthday party - this is my friend Shauna's epic playroom.

I got a footbath for Mother's Day and everyone is enjoying it:

Climbing on the tricycle and ringing the bell.

MUUSA

The Buffaloe family spent the last week near Potosi, Missouri at the YMCA Trout Lodge. We went to MUUSA, which stands for "Midwest Unitarian Universalist Summer Assembly."

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant just outside of Linn, Missouri on the way down. Amelie is showing off her cast for her broken wrist (which unfortunately meant she couldn't swim in the lake).

Amelie did get stand on a turtle sculpture, though. She also got to sit under numerous trees, which is a favorite activity of hers.

We all took a boat ride around the lake. It was called a "boat float" because they gave us root beer floats beforehand.

The kids are standing in a loft area overlooking the dining hall. The lodge served three semi-healthy buffet meals a day.

Amelie and Sam took a kayak out for a ride. One of those balconies on the top floor of the lodge that can be seen in the first photo was ours.

We enjoyed taking a few selfies from our balcony.

James got to swim in the lake at least 8 times. He enjoyed splashing around in the water and going down the water slide. Amelie made numerous sand castles and tried catching fish in a bucket (and claims to have been successful twice).

Amelie and James enjoyed getting candy a couple of times from a store at the lodge. James is concentrating here on a sour straw.

Amelie made a good friend in her class named Wesley (the one with the hat). He came all the way from Utah to attend the camp.

On our last day there, Amelie and James got to race remote control cars around a dirt track.

James is walking down a ramp in front of the arts and craft center. We painted numerous ceramic animals there.

One of the highlights of the camp was getting to take various workshops. The kids were in their own classes during the day, and Leah was in the nursery. Each morning, Crystal got to take a tai chi class, while Sam got to take a class on making mandalas and painting wooden pallets. Sam made this wooden pallet to put on the play house.

Sam and Crystal also took an acrylic paint class together. Crystal made one abstract painting using ink on yupo paper.

She made another painting using acrylics and fiber paste for added texture.

Crystal also painted a picture of the apple tree outside of our house.

Here's the original picture for comparison.

Sam painted a bridge from our neighborhood park.

Here's the original for his painting.

We didn't always have a camera with us, so many of our best memories weren't captured on film. Some highlights include Sam playing a well-received drum solo on his new slap-top cajon at one of the nightly coffee houses, Crystal and Amelie learning a Sufi dance, the kids attending a nightly reading of a Harry Potter chapter, and the kids drawing about a hundred pictures in our two-story hotel room.

Overall, the kids had a great time, and they've asked to go back next year (when hopefully Amelie can do some actual swimming).