Summer Fun

We've been trying to pack in some fun summer activities, as I think Brityn's little world is going to be rocked in the next 3.5 months! Brent and I have been trying to make this summer all about Brityn. But when isn't it all about Brityn? We've been doing lots of fun things.

One of her favorite things to do is just play outside with daddy in the evenings. One stipulation is she has to take a nap at papa's. For some reason she resists naps there quite a bit, but not at home...
I love the nights she has napped and daddy is not on night shift, it gives me 20 peaceful minutes to get dinner going, and hopefully completed.

Since we turned her old pool into her sandbox she got a new giraffe pool. We've all enjoyed cooling off in it.

One weekend she wanted to go to the mountains, so we took her to Manny Lake. She had a great time catching minnows and splashing around.

Riding the Ferris wheel at the fair in Billings.
She was not loving this ride! She has a lot of faith in herself and thinks she can handle some of the bigger rides.

The highlight so far this summer has been ChuckECheese. It was a big hit! She has been seeing commercials for it and begging us to take her so we planned a weekend trip to Billings. We went to the zoo, which I have no pictures of because it was raining so hard when we got there I was scared to take my camera out of the car. ChuckECheese, of course. The fair, obviously. The mall, naturally! We also took her to ToysRUs for the first time. She was in awe, and amazingly we made it out of there spending only $65.00! We stayed at a hotel with water slides so we played in the pool Sunday morning before we left. After going down a few times with daddy she decided she wanted to do it by herself. These were pretty small slides and she was wearing her swimming suit with floaties built in so we let her try it. Brent took her up and I waited at the bottom to catch her, she LOVED it! She went 5 times before we made her leave. My little girl is getting so big :(
I haven't been to a ChuckECheese in years... 27 to be exact... so I don't know what they all look like now days, but the one in Billings has sky tubes all around it and that was her favorite part. She is still a little too short to be able to climb to the top so either Brent (if he wasn't playing video games) or I would help her up and off she would go, running around the tunnels like a hamster. Out of everything we did that weekend that is one thing she is still talking about, and she keeps telling us she is going back!

On the way home from Billings we took a ride over Beartooth Pass. This was my second time, the first it was raining so hard we could barely see 10 feet in front of us, so this time was much more enjoyable.

Going through Yellowstone
A bull elk laying in the trees

Yellowstone River
Brityn was begging to stop and play in the river. We were all tired and ready to be home so I had been telling her no. Smarty figured out a way to get us to stop anyway. She told us she had pooped... needless to say we stopped and you guessed it, no poop! Stinker!!

We've also been taking lots of trips to the park, the farmers market most Saturdays (in hopes of some yummy tomatoes, so far no such luck, but we have been buying lots of farm fresh veggies), the Jumparoo (not sure we'll be going back, as she's had an allergic reaction to something the last two times she has been), the splash park, the carnival, and Fairmont Hot Springs. She really wants to do that slide by herself but I think she is a couple years away from doing that one by herself!

The big news right now is, Brent is building her a playhouse/swing set. I will post some pictures of the work in progress.

Other big news is Brityn is potty trained. She is still wearing pull ups to sleep, and has a few accidents here and there but we are officially done with diapers! YAY Brityn!! Also she is starting preschool next week!