Strawberry Picking!

Last week we got to go on a special trip with Nana and Lisa- to go strawberry picking! Nana loves loves loves strawberries, and there is nothing better than getting them fresher than fresh! Anna had just had some delicious fresh strawberries at the beach thanks to Bar-Bar, so she was pumped and ready to go. And by pumped, I mean that I told her there were also animals at this particular farm and everything else about the day disappeared from her train of thought. So we headed to Patterson Farms, a little bit outside of Mooresville, and picked several boxes of strawberries. Anna initially really just wanted to pick all of the green ones, but she soon discovered she could eat the yummy red ones out of the box Mommy was filling and not put in the effort of picking. Then we saw some of the farm animals, went to a park, and went out to lunch- it was the best kind of day for Anna (food, animals, swings, more food... perfect!). Of course I forgot my "real" camera, but Lisa helped me get some adorable shots of our fun!

Ready to go picking! (Also just very excited to carry a basket)

Getting into it quick... we had to have some lessons though. She liked the green ones..

"How about this one, Mommy?"

\

Taste testing is a must!

And, they're good!

Wanna try one?

Ready to get more!

With some of our bounty. Like I said, Nana looooooves strawberries (and she picked some to share)! Anna wasn't into photos at this point because she was ready to go see the animals.

Petting the animals that she wasn't supposed to. Luckily they were sweet :)

Happy girl with Aunt Lisa!

And showing off her CHEESE face with Mommy!

After a fun morning of strawberry picking and playing we got a yummy lunch! Thanks for a fun day, Nana!

Knee Boarding with Daddy!

Mark is convinced Anna is going to get into water sports soon. And not the kind of soon like by the time she is ten, but the kind of soon like tomorrow or next weekend. So, training has begun, although he does't realize she will not be behind a motorized water vessel anytime "soon" and my soon is a little further away than his. Although I do have to admit, Anna was super cute "kneeboarding" while Daddy pulled her around in the shallow. And her balance was great! She only almost fell off once, which led to the end of the activity as someone doesn't love to fall even if she doesn't actually hit the ground (or water).

Get ready for a bunch of pictures of pretty much the same thing. They're all so cute I can't choose!

The first step of kneeboarding 101.

I'm not sure who is happier!

This is a grainy zoomed in face of awesome.

I can do this one handed Dad, I'm already a pro!

After some instruction from Daddy that two hands are necessary...

Loves it!

Happy Mother's Day!

So we are late with everything this year when it comes to Mother's Day- thanks to Shutterfly, our cards didn't arrive until the Monday after, we didn't post any special Mother's Day photos, and we didn't do a Mother's Day jig (I needed three items for my sentence, just ignore me and keep reading). Well, we will just pretend that we wanted to extend the holiday and give all of the matriarchs of our family an extra moment or two of special love. I did make Mark take photos of Anna and I together (a rare treat) in our matching outfits, and here are the best of them!

Dear Moms, Gigi, Nana, Nanny, Great Grandmas Marshall, Post, & Rotman

Thank you for everything you do for us

For the smiles you put on our faces

For the millions of hugs, kisses, and snuggles

And for always standing behind us

Even when we were being a stinker!

WE LOVE YOU!

Beach Babe

So last week, Anna and I were given the opportunity to go to the beach with Gigi and our next door neighbor of forever, Bar-Bar (okay, so her name is Barbara, but her grandkids call her Bar-Bar, and so does Anna). Mark was headed out of town for most of the week for a conference in Indiana, so we jumped at the chance to go to the beach and not be home alone. We both had a blast despite Anna having some trouble settling in and sleeping well (as to be expected) and hurricane Ana (HA!) kicked us out a little early. Our little beachcomber is going to have a blast when we go as a family of three here in a couple weeks! Big thanks to Ru for watching the beagles all week!

Day one: Anna would RUN into the ocean. Full speed, pure joy. We also learned an important beach lesson for potty training toddlers- bring the baby potty. When in a pinch, the sand bucket is also helpful and sand can be kitty baby litter.

Our sleepy girl enjoyed (by her own choices) staying up late and getting up early. Oh, and she climbed out of the pack and play a few times. Happy vacation!

One thing Anna did an exceptional job with was cleaning off the sand. She is a good height for the foot wash and enjoyed stripping down and getting a "shower". It helped it was pretty quiet so she wasn't in anyone's way, because she would keep asking for "more water please". We used this wagon to go back and forth to the ramp (Bar-Bar's house is second row), and it was hard to pull with the handle since the wheels went all over, so here is Gigi pushing a naked little Anna home after her shower!

Our daily events included digging holes and playing in them. Also, Anna was really into finding friends- we only ran into a set of twins and one other girl the whole week though.

Little Anna in a big hole!

We may have bribed her to sit all cute and smile... but come on, look at that girl!

Loves, loves, loves the sand. She calls all sand "the sandbox"... beach, lake, wherever!

One day while Gigi and Bar-Bar walked we made this "creation".. just a pile of shells and some dead sea grass. It was still there the next day and Anna was so proud! She actually did most of it herself, too!

Anna's most favorite beach activity of all? Chasing birds. I didn't get a photo (she's going after the dogs here) but she would chase birds for blocks- literally. She would go pretty fast too, and considering her fear of the ocean came and went, you had to stay pretty close in case she turned and ran into the water. Gigi and I joked that whoever stayed with Anna during bird chasing got the most fitbit steps!

Heading out to dig some holes with Gigi! Love how you can tell she is running here!

Evenings with Daddy

We've already seen that Mark loves to throw Anna in the air. He is also an expert at wearing out toddlers. It's a gift, really. He will get more energy out of her in the hour after dinner than I do all day sometimes. This particular evening, when we got home from our walk, Anna was still rip roaring ready to go, so Mark proceeded to play some games with her in the front yard. While I got to sit on the bench and watch. It was mom heaven.

She's still working on her frisbee skills. We won't sign her up for a team just yet.

I appreciate her willingness to think outside the box. Running the frisbee to Daddy. Then...

Throwing it at him from two feet away.

Next up, throwing the ball for Emma. And then...

Retrieving it herself.

Her form is improving already!

You might remember this game from this post... Anna sits in the car, and Mark pushes her up the driveway. Then she comes speeding back. This driveway is steeper than the last, so it's super fun. So much so, Anna will get in her car and use her feet to push herself to the top of the driveway just so she can roll back down... Mark recently commented that she is "ready for roller coasters". No.

It wouldn't be any fun in the front yard if we didn't catch some air...

Or run races across the front yard. I'm tired just looking at these pictures.