The Purcells: Summer Fun

This post is for you mom...chock full of pics! I was putting this together and didn't realize just how much we had done this past week...it's been fun! Riley is getting more fun with each day...speaking full sentences although we can't tell what she's saying, laughing like crazy, dancing to any kind of music, and loving on her parents. As she learns more and more new words there is nothing that beats your own little one saying "i uv you" back to you...it just doesn't get any better than that! One of her new favorites is when she says with all kinds of passion "aaaammmmen" after her nighttime prayers!

Here's what we were up to this past week!

We had dinner with some new friends from Jason's squadron...they have 3 kiddos and they are so cute, sweet, and know how to have fun! Their 2 and 4 year old girls LOVE Riley as they think she's a real life baby doll for them to play with...here's Ashley feeding Riley ice cream! Riley reciprocates this love because they feed her ice cream...that's pretty much enough to become Riley's BFF at this point!

Here's Riley being fed ice cream with one spoon while she herself loads up another spoonful of ice cream...little did she know that mom and dad ate most of her ice cream before she could devour it so she was just playing with the spoon and bowl...we knew Ashley would give her plenty!

Riley loves to play with my hair brushes...she will brush my hair and her own...she still, however, likes to swing her head back and forth at very high speeds when I try to do her hair...sometimes I don't fight it, but sometimes I'm just itching to put pig tails in and I win!

Speaking of Riley's hair...I managed to get her first single ponytail in this past week...it's super tiny but so cute! It didn't last long as we went to play outside and the wind blew it all crazy!

We took Riley's plasma car out and rode down the driveways on our street...it was so fun...for her and for me!

She loves running up and down the driveways because they an have an incline to them...she does really well but I about have a heart attack every time she comes running down...her excitement though is enough to keep me going!

At one point she actually tried to slide down our neighbor's driveway...insightful but could possibly have ripped her clothes to shreds so she had to resort down to running down instead!

We also got out the bubbles this past week...I bought this cool wand that makes TONS of bubbles and it was so cool! The bubbles didn't start off to well as a big bubble popped right in Riley's eye...don't worry Doc we flushed it out with water right away...but she was a little leery of them after that! It didn't take too long before she was thrilled with them and had no memory of bubbles in her eyes!

We tried out a new park that had some really fun tunnels...a little hard for mom to fit through...but fun nonetheless! After our park trip we went and had some gelato...Riley was like a little bird waiting for me to stick a spoonful of gelato in her mouth!

We spent some time just playing in the backyard with the doggies...she just loves playing with them along with yelling at them "no" and "hush"...her opportunity for a power trip! It reminds me so much of when Gabbi was around two years old and she would scream at the top of her lungs for Hank to "drop" the ball and "sit"...too funny!

Riley had two great days of pre-school and was totally worn out both times...she can't even make it through the ride home! I took this picture before we left for pre-school the first day...do you think we have a diva on our hands?

Riley and I tried out a new fun place called Jungle Tots this past week and it was great! It's basically an indoor kids's playplace where they have classes and such but you can also just go and play for as long as you want...the floors are padded...the walls are padded...it's perfect for toddling kiddos because they can just run free and not get into trouble! They have slides, toys, tunnels, trampolines, and much much more! Riley met lots of friends and even had a favorite friend that she continued to hug and follow around...it happened to be a little boy! She can be such a flirt! It was really sweet, though, because he was a little apprehensive and shy when he came in and she immediately went up and waved, said hello, and gave him a hug!

We made a trip to visit Daddy at work after we had gone to the duck pond on base and fed the ducks! Let me tell you...this pond has some very large well fed ducks that will walk right up to you! It freaked Riley out a bit...she was running down the pathway away from the ducks and would stop every now and then, turn around, and point her finger at them while yelling "no no no"!

Jason put Riley to work answering phones and he even made her a line badge! She had lots of fun and I know Jason enjoyed us stopping by!

We are looking into getting bikes for Jason and I and a way to transport Riley so Jason rented a mountain bike from outdoor rec this weekend to try it out! He took an hour bike ride over some of the hills by our house to a nearby park and loved it! While he was out bike riding Riley and I met up with Jen and Cooper for a hike...kind of! We have this great park just a few miles from our house that has tons of hiking/biking trails, a dog park, and a nice lake! We had the kiddos in strollers so we had to stay on the paved trails but we had a few hills that made us burn a little! The kids loved it and we kept feeding them snacks the whole way!

Here's Jen and Cooper...or "poopoo" as Riley calls him!

Here's Riley and I...Riley was all geared up in her Bass Pro Shops hat!

Here we are in front of Lagoon Valley Lake

Coops and Riley always wanted to be side by side and by the end of our hike they were trying to hold hands...on their own!

Best Buds...look how happy these two are!

We also made a few trips to the pool this past weekend...the water has warmed up a bit! The weather is great here, but it has actually been a little cooler than expected. The past week the high has been in the 70's which is great but almost not quite warm enough for longs days at the pool! The wind is always whipping so you actually end up being warmer by staying in the water! We can't complain AT ALL, but we're hoping for slightly warmer temps to come so we can get back to spending the evenings on our patio!

"Mom...I am done with the pictures...can't a girl get a break?"

Whenever I think of growing up and spending summers at the pool I always think of goldfish because that was what we ALWAYS had at the pool! I make sure to always bring some for Riley and she loves them!