Splash!

Mati and I spent the morning at Hawk Island. We started at the playground which is in sight of the splash pad. Needless to say we didn't last long at the playground because Mati is drawn to water. So we had a ton of fun at the splash pad then spent a few minutes at the lake.

Strawberry Fields Forever

What a great time we had strawberry picking. Mati dove right in. She needed constant reminders about not picking white strawberries and then more reminders about not eating the strawberries in the field but it was a wonderful time. I think this will definitely be an annual trip and maybe we'll go back this summer and do some blueberry picking.

Now that we're home with them Mati thinks the strawberries are her own personal possession. I bought a pint of pre-picked raspberries while we were at the farm and Mati doesn't like them sitting near her strawberries. I put the case of strawberries on the kitchen counter, turned my back and Mati was picking up the entire case and putting them on her play table. She has certainly taken ownsership of the strawberries.

Gymnastics

After our failed attempt at gymnastics last summer I was worried about this summer's try, but my worries were unfounded. Mati loves gymnastics. After the first week I had to carry her out because she did not want to leave; she spent 10 minutes crying in the car saying "I want more 'nastics'." For week two, Doug went with her and I got to watch.

The reverse of this device looks like a rock wall; Mati climbed and then slid down the other side. That's her teacher Miss Gretchen looking on.

Balance Beam. With assistance Mati practices forward, backward and side-stepping.

The rings. At this point they are just supposed to support their weight with the rings.

Bear crawl across the parallel bars.

Finally a video of a jump attempt and then high-stepping across the balance beam.

Easter Weekend

We started Easter weekend in Indianapolis with a Friday trip to the Children's Museum. What a great place! Mati had so much fun. Her favorite location by far was Dora and Diego land.
If you're not a Dora fan this will not mean much to you, but it was too cool for Mati.

Driving Tico's car.

Planting flowers in Isa's garden.

Hanging out with Dora and Boots.

In the Dinosphere (those are actual fossils behind us.)

Moving around the eggs in the dinosaur's nest. Every exhibit has something for kids to touch or wear to get in on the action.

Saturday we went to the zoo. Because Mati is such a Dora fan she insisted on reading the map. She couldn't quite tell how how to get places but she could identify the animals she wanted to go see.

One of my favorite spot in the African plains exhibit, the elephants.

Mati loves trains and loved taking a train ride around the park.

Watching the seals with dad.

Its hard to choose the highlight of the day, but this experience was pretty far up there... petting a shark. These are dog sharks. They were around 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 feet long and they feel very soft. Mati was excited to touch them.

Saturday night was the celebration for Holden's baptism and first communion. Here are the kids gathered around the cake.

Easter morning. Mati found her eggs and her basket and went straight for the chocolate bunny. I told he I like to bite the ears off and she said, "No, I eat the belly."

In our Easter finery.

Small Animal Videos

Mati milking a cow:

Mati and Aly petting a duckling:

The border collie doing some herding:

Small Animal Day at MSU

We spent Saturday at MSU for Small Animal Day. We had loads of fun with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Jen & Aly. Here's Mati on a tractor. Doug lets her assist in driving ours so she was a little disappointed it would not move but excited to be up so much higher than our tractor. Milking a cow. She dove right in. While waiting for our turn I asked Mati "How do you milk a cow?" She answered "You grab it, and pull the juice." Not far from the truth. She loved this cow. She wanted to feed her straw and at one point Mati even laid across her. We drive by cows every morning and say hello to them, any up-close cow time is treasured. Mati was patting the duckling and then looked to cousin Aly and said "C'mon Aly, duck." So sweet.

Lamb time.

Making a pig craft with Aunt Jen and Aly. She later chewed on her pig until it looked like Pac Man and then further chewed it to oblivion. It was fun while it lasted.

Hi horsey! Like at the petting zoo last year with the donkeys, she is still interested in their nostrils.

Cone in the Car

We made an ice cream run tonight. Our plan was to bring the ice cream home to eat. When Doug got back to the car he was holding a cone for Mati, not a cup. He said, "Should I just hand it to her?" I thought for a moment and said "Well, why not?" Everything is washable. So here it is the play-by-play as Mati ate her first ever ice cream cone, in the car. She is a seasoned ice cream connoisseur but a cone is a new thing. Just getting the cone, not sure how to approach it without a spoon. Figuring out the no spoon thing just fine. Yum! Oh yeah, fully into the cone; most of it is gone by the time we're in the driveway. There might be a little up the nose at this point. Full on chocolate attack.

Notice the jacket sleeve, right elbow.

Excited that Doug is offering her a spoon to scoop out the cone.

Really getting to work with the spoon now.

Yes!

We got her in the house and sat her at the table to finish the cone. Doug taught her to bite the cone which she did with great gusto. She got to the end and picked up a blob of ice cream with her hand. She decided it was too cold. At that point she shook her hand to get the ice cream off. Ice cream on the window behind her, carpet below her, the chair she was in , and the table in front of her. Doug took care of bath while I scrubbed down the immediate vicinity. True family fun! I love my family!