MCM

That's right, Emily and I finally made it to the Minnesota Children's Museum for the first time today. It was a cool, cloudy, rainy day so we ventured to St. Paul to check it out. We were there for 2 hours and still only experienced about a quarter of the museum because Emily was so engrossed in the exhibits and activities!! She loved finger/brush painting, the pretend city and of course the water exhibit. We had such a good time that we purchased a membership so we can go back again and again!

Planting flowers, painting and being a police man!

"Wawer!  Bubbles!"

Water, painting and happy for lunch!

Get your groove on!

This summer there was a park in Bloomington that hosted kiddie concerts on Monday mornings at 10:30.  Emily and I made this activity part of our routine and it was so fun!  The park has such a big playground that there was always something for Emily to do even when it was at it's busiest.  At today's visit Emily even refused the smaller, toddler sized playground and only wanted to play at the big girl playground.  Look at the size of the slide (compared to her) that she insisted on going down over and over!

As an added bonus at today's concert, there was a young boy that was driving a remote controlled car around.  Emily had a great time chasing it around and the boy was nice enough to play with her!

We both really enjoyed the music as well.  There were times when Emily danced and times when she observed, but she had fun at each show.  We would normally have a picnic lunch at the park at a mini, kid-sized, picnic table too. 

Lunch time!

Excited to go and having fun dancing!

It was a really fun part of our weekly routine, one that we'll miss! 

Precisely!

If you're in the mood for parent humor, check out this blog that I've gotten into reading: http://jasongood.net/  One post I found particularly funny was: http://jasongood.net/365/2011/08/day-215-approximately-3-minutes-inside-the-head-of-my-2-year-old/

And for all the new parents (including me) out there: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-vienna/latest-parenting-trend-ctfd-method_b_3588031.html

Eating out

Due to the heat wave this week we've been avoiding using the oven in effort to keep the house as cool as possible. So, that means a few dinners out...twist my arm : )

                            "All Done!"

Hope you're all staying cool too!
The Harrisons

Mail call!

This week Emily received her first piece of mail that wasn't from a family member. Mark your calendar, Emily will be participating in the toddler trot this fall! We know she'll do great, just like she did in the diaper dash last year. Hope to see you there!!

Multi purpose toy

I'm sure as Emily gets older she'll start to use most of her toys for purposes other than those originally intended.  Since Emily isn't quite able to spin herself on her sit and spin, she found another purpose for it.

Lots-o-babies!

This week Emily and I went to a playdate at our friends Griffin and Hattie's (Lesley and Nate, too : ) ) house.  I worked with Lesley for a few years before she had babies and decided to stay at home with them and am so glad that we've been able to keep in contact.  Some other friends that I used to work with came with their children as well!  We were lucky that the weather was nice and that Lesley has a big backyard...there were a lot of kids!  Luckily, they did great playing with each other and it was a success until we tried to get a picture of all of them.  This is what we got:

Lesley has said there's no better way to ruin a party (with kids) than to try to get them all together for a picture.  She was right.  The kids were doing great but as soon as they were supposed to sit for a picture the tears and whining began - almost immediately!  Notice that Emily and her friend Quinn even refused to sit!  Thankfully this picture does not represent the good time we had.  Thanks for hosting Lesley, we had a great time!