Ball Pit

September 9th 2013

This Summer we stopped by the yard sales to see if we could get some fun stuff for Marlee.  One place had a storage bin full of ball pit balls.  Sam and I kept browsing, but Marlee didn't want to leave the balls.  We let her play for a minute and then told her to say goodbye because we didn't want to pay as much as they were asking.  The owner saw all this, jumped in and offered us the container and balls for $3.  We figured that was worth it and brought it home.  

These pictures show how happy the ball pit made Marlee:

Eventually we discovered that the Banana chairs and a pillow make a pretty good ball pit.  This is how we play with it now and Marlee has discovered how to dive in and loves her ball pit. 

Artist Marlee

August 23rd 2013


 I found a book with activities for toddlers .  One activity was to squirt paint on a sponge and let the little tyke finger paint.  

 



 Marlee was a little unsure about the texture of the paint at first.  After a few tries she decided it was fun, kinda like Mom and Dad asking you to make a mess! 

 

Marlee stayed surprisingly clean until we tried to take pictures.  Then the painty fingers went right in her hair!

Coloring :

Marlee will color forever if she is in the mood.  She just started laying on her belly when she colors and I think it's super cute!

On this day Marlee thought under the table was the best place to color! Apparently it's easier to color with her shorts off :) 

River City Bandits

August 9th 2013

Every year our ward here has a ward baseball night.  We had a ward picnic and then went to baseball game together.  We had the cheap grass seats way out in the outfield.  It was fun to go as a ward and get to know some more ward members. 


 















The ball park is right on the Mississippi River with the Centennial Bridge there in the back ground.  Sam wondered if that meant there were home run balls in the river, but some one else thought of that too because there was a big net backstop thingy set up to catch home runs!  


















My two cuties! 



















Enjoying the game together!

Maquoketa Caves Revisited

August 7th 2013

We had so much fun going to the caves the first time we decided to go again.  This time we took the trail on the back side of the caves.  It was more like a nice hike than cave exploring, but we liked that. (Is it really a hike if there is a boardwalk and stairs?) 

The area was so green and pretty.  Marlee did really well following the path.  She was really excited when we found....

... stairs!  Only Marlee loves it when there are stairs out in the middle of nowhere!  Her Dad was so good to climb the stairs we her.  :)  

More pretty scenery 

This little bit of graffiti reminded us of our soon to arrive cousin and nephew!  

I couldn't believe that Sam crawled into this little cave!  Who knows what was living in there!  It didn't bother Sam, though, and Marlee thought it was funny.

Taking a break. Don't these two look cute together!

We couldn't leave without stopping by the largest and coolest cave!  Marlee really wanted to jump into the water on either side of the walkway!