13 years from now - driver's licenses!

Helaina and her buddy Maddie cruising around the yard in the Barbie jeep.

There was a lot of laughing and giggling going on while driving.

Anna and Ginger

Here are a few pics of Helaina's cousins - Anna and Ginger!

I swear, you could get lost in this beautiful baby's hair!

Try to get an active dog and an even more active 3-year old to sit still for a picture - not an easy task.

Giving "cousin" Ginger a kiss.

The rest of the weekend...

On Friday we semi-recovered from Darien Lake and got right back into the swing of things by going to the zoo Saturday with the local chapter of Families with Children from China. It was a good opportunity for Helaina to get up-close with her favorite animal Siri, and also run wild with some of her buddies. "Siri so big" is what Helaina always says.


Any elephant will do, real or fake.

Helaina giving Cecelia an (unwanted!) backrub, and posing with Elise at the penguin display.

The female lion was apparently bored, and it looks as if the male agreed with her. It never fails, you can always get great pictures of the lions.

Totally exhausted on the way home, Helaina fell asleep while polishing off one of her many snacks. Note the half-eaten cheese doodle in her right hand.

Loving her ladybug sprinkler on a not-so-warm afternoon.

Helaina using her Dora fishing pole on our Sunday morning boating adventure. Anyone who knows Helaina knows that she's an action gal, so fishing gets boring for her quickly if we don't catch anything. After about 5 minutes she turned to me, handed me the pole and said "you hold it".

Yup, she's bored. She asked for a "nack" (snack) and settled in behind the wheel with her baggie full of goldfish crackers. Too funny.

Our adreneline junkie - at Darien Lake

Yesterday was Helaina's first trip to Darien Lake (and Daddy's too). What do you get when you spend 9 hours at Darien Lake chasing after a 38 pound daredevil who doesn't quit? Two very tired, sweaty, wet and achy parents!

When you ask Helaina what her favorite ride was at the park she quickly says "motorcycle", but I beg to differ - I think it was this roller coaster. We were hesitant to put her on it because of it's quick "take off" and jerky dips, but after she saw it there was no stopping her. She rode it several times and squealed with delight every moment she was on it, face wide-eyed and mouth wide open in a huge smile. The pics are a bit blurry but you get the idea by the expression on her face!

Despite us yelling at her to hang on with both hands, she rode the entire time with "arms up, big girl" style, as she calls it.

I see in her future many roller coaster rides with big brother Josh, who is also an adreneline junkie.

She could control this boat with the knob her hand was on, making it go up high into the air then down to the ground. Of course, Helaina spent the entire time circling up in the air!

Helaina's ride on these mini bumper cars was my favorite to watch. She had never been on them before and she actually drove quite well. Jim told her to drive it like her Barbie Jeep, and she did! She pressed on the pedal, turned the steering wheel and rode all over the place. She laughed like crazy (as did Jim and I) and she bumped into so many cars that the pink bow in her hair started coming loose! With each bump she laughed more than the bump before.

Monster trucks - another favorite - she rode numerous times. The cars ran over a very long, winding track and she steered the wheel with such enthusiasm that her entire body was wiggling.

Ferris wheel - arms up, of course. She liked the swings too.

Enjoying the yellow submarine and the bird's nest twirly ride.

Not too many pics from the water park. I forgot the disposable waterproof camera and Helaina in the water is a 2-person tag-team event.

Getting up the courage to run under the waterfall from the "water mushroom".

Taking a break at the water park. Helaina especially liked the wave pool, whether she was jumping through the waves or letting them crash over her as she sat near the edge of the pool. She's going to love the Jersey shore when we're on vacation.

We took a break for a drink and some ice cream but Helaina fell asleep in her ladybug stroller after a few sips of soda. She was exhausted but rallied and kept going even so. She got her 2nd wind after dinner.

Riding in the tin lizzy's (I rode in the car behind them). Helaina liked them but was annoyed that she couldn't drive the car.

Here are the motorcycles she loved so much. They went in a circle and up little ramps so it seemed like they were doing wheelies! There was also a buzzer she could press that made a loud annoying noise. I have pictures of Joshua when he was about her age riding these same motorcycles in Wildwood. I'll have to dig them out and do a side-by-side photo.

Helaina slept (restlessly) in the car on the way home and didn't get tucked into her bed until 10:30 last night. We thought she'd be good to sleep until at least 8am this morning. Uh huh. We were awakened by her little voice coming from her room "Mommy, Daddy. I up, get me." I peeled open one eye and said to Jim "@!%%** (swear word), what time is it?" His answer: 6:30am. My reply "you've got to be kidding." We both layed there, waiting for the other one to go get her because she likes to get in bed with us when Jim doesn't have to go to work. I won - Daddy got up and retrieved her. And so our day began this morning at 6:30am - all 3 of us are still tired today but Helaina was the only one who got to take a nap this afternoon!

Tired little feet...

These pudgy little feet must have run thousands of steps over the last 3 days.

We had a busy weekend doing lots of fun activities and by early Sunday evening Helaina was pooped. After dinner she kept saying "outside, outside" and we wanted her to just relax.

She crawled onto the couch with her favorite pillow, layed down on Daddy's lap and literally 30 seconds later was fast asleep - out like a light!

We let her sleep for a while before waking her up for a much-needed bath. She got her 2nd wind (of course) after her bath, but she's now fast asleep in her big girl bed. Night night, sweet dreams!

Happy 4th of July

Our All American Gal last July ...

and this July just one short year later!

I tried to pose her like last year's picture, but this was as close as we could get. Same skirt still fits (it was huge around her waist last year). Even though she had just turned 2 when we brought her home, I think Helaina still had a "baby face". Not any more - toddler all the way.

Daddy's day off

Daddy's day off meant that we'd do something fun today. Since it was a bit too breezy, cloudy and drizzly for the beach we decided on a little miniature golf. Helaina was all for it this morning by running around the house saying "I golpfing, I golpfing".

Proper technique is everything, especially when you're 3.

Ready to chase down her purple ball that she just sent flying.

Oh forget it. Using the club is too hard, I'll just pick it up and put it in the hole.

Wow, 3 holes-in-one!!!

By the way, only one person in our golfing party hit their ball in the water today. Hint: It wasn't Helaina or Mommy! There was also one person in our party who got clunked in the head with a club - that would be me. I was bending down to pick up my ball, apparently too close to Helaina's wild swing, and got hit right on the side of my face (eyebrow area) with her club. Ouchie! I've got a small bump and sore spot from it. Now I know why the girl behind the counter asked if we wanted a plastic club for Helaina!

Funny Helaina: Helaina is talking so much now that Jim and I are just amazed at what comes out of her mouth. The number of words she uses in a sentence is increasing, as well as her vocabulary and her articulation. She has us laughing constantly with what she says in that sweet little voice of hers. I am CONSTANTLY saying to Jim "Did you hear what she just said?" This afternoon we went grocery shopping and the check-out boy was very tall. Helaina kept eyeing the boy from the grocery cart and I was wondering what she was thinking. All of a sudden she blurts out "He big!" Of course I cracked up and said to Jim "Did you hear what she said?" The boy laughed and I said "Yes, Helaina, he is very tall." Earlier today she was rubbing one of her eyes and I asked her what was wrong with it. She looked at me and said "I poked it." Apparently she's been listening to Daddy when he tells her to be careful or she'll poke her eye out!

Bubble blowing and bath time

Can you believe it, Mom? Strawberry scented bubbles.

Smell it! (bubble wand up my nose, thank you)

Blowing bubbles is a messy experience, but Helaina loves it - as all kids do.

This is one "ring-around-the-tub" child at the end of any given summer day. It's the time of year where a bath HAS to be taken every night. Sticky, snotty, grimey, food stuck to her face - all mixed in with about 20 layers of sweat from playing hard all day.

Squeaky clean, hopefully for at least the next 24 hours (good luck).