Summertime Fun

Well, we've had a couple of nice weekends in a row recently. I, of course, only managed to get photos of one of them. A few weeks ago we went to our local county zoo. It's a great place for kids - just the right size to see everything and get tired out, all in a couple of hours. We enjoyed the day with some friends who have a little girl just a few months older than Molly. The two of them are great friends. They both had fun with new experiences, like riding a pony for the first time and enjoying the zoo's aviary, where visitors can feed free-flying canaries with little birdseed sticks (something that unnerved the wee ones but was still very fun. Here are shots from the zoo:





Last weekend was 4th of July, and the weather could not have been better. Daddy and Molly marched in the 4th of July parade in the nearby town, where Daddy is a member of the local adult school board. Molly was a trooper, cooperating fully in the parade by sleeping through most of it. We all enjoyed free cake in the park afterwards, then an afternoon BBQ with our same friends from zoo weekend. Molly and their daughter Izzy had a great time playing with Izzy's new backyard playhouse, before their general frenzy and tiredness got the better of them. When the meltdowns outnumber the giggles, it's time to pack it in.

The next day we enjoyed the birthday BBQ tradition thrown by another set of friends with a son who was born on the 5th of July. There were tons of kids, and though most of them are a couple years older than Molly, she eventually found her footing and enjoyed rooting around in the sandbox and hitting the dinosaur pinata. Alas, no photos of either the parade or parties. Trust me, I wish I'd gotten one of the birthday boy relieving himself on the tree in the backyard!

All in all, it was a great couple of weekends and really made us feel like summer had finally arrived after weeks of rain.