Museum fun

Ryan and I decided to take Shelby to the Tacoma Children's Museum today to get her outta the house and to have some fun romping around. We had never been there before and I must say I'm pretty impressed with that place! Best part...it's free! You can make a donation if you'd like though, which is totally worth it. This place had SO many fun things to do; Shelby was in heaven.

They had everything from climbing toys to slides to musical instruments to water tables! Shelby couldn't get enough of the slides and climbing toys for the first half of the visit.

Back and forth and back and forth...

Again and again and again!

It's made to look like a flying ship. The wings at top actually flap up and down!

We spent a LOT of time on this simple slide, but she loved it!

Next up, the music rooms! These rooms are full of instruments from around the world and the kids can bang, strum and smack all they want on them. It's pretty cool actually! It got pretty noisy in this room every so often.

There was this really neat vacuum tube wall that I think I was more interested in than Shelby was. I wanted to try it out but it was always so popular we hardly got a chance to! You'd stuff a scarf into the "start" block and watch it fly through a certain path of tubes. You could block paths and open new ones so there was always a new path for the scarfs to take. Then they'd fly out of the tubes at random places and the kids would try to catch them. So fun!

I want one in my house!

Seriously, so cool!

She couldn't really reach that well but we tried! 

There was a little black light and laser room which was pretty neat. We didn't spend much time there though. You got to take little laser lights and "color" on the white wall with them. It would disappear a few seconds later so you you could do it all over again.

The green is what showed up on the white board. 

And last but not least is the water area. We spent a lot of time here as well and thank goodness we ended up here last because Shelby came home pretty wet. They have little aprons you can wear while playing in the water but they were all way too big for Shelby so we just let her play without one.

There was a certain table that had little buttons to push which turned on different faucets. It would then fill up the bowl, which would then tip over and splash down on the table. Fun again!

Button button, who's got the button?

There was even a fun little "build your own tent" area in which you could sit and play under or color or just chill out under.

It was a fun filled early afternoon at the Children's Museum. And now if you'll excuse us, we've gotta go change this cute little one's bum into some dryer clothes for nap time.

Chase me up the stairs!

A beautiful day for the beach

Last weekend we visited Chehalis and went clam digging with my family. We've been doing this for years and years and it's a TON of fun, most times. Shelby loves to help "pack" her suitcase when we go there.

"Just a few animals momma!"

The days at the beach when the sun is out, the tide is low and the wind isn't blowing are the best. I've done my share of digging in sideways pelting rain and wind, no fun!

This weekend was one of those great weekends! Perfectly sunny, not a stitch of wind and hardly any waves. 9 of us went and we were able to get 9 entire limits of clams in 30 minutes. It was amazing!! Ryan, Shelby and I dug all 45 of our clams within a 20-30 foot radius. That rarely happens and it's so much fun when it does. You basically get to pick and choose which clams you wanna dig up by the size of the holes you see.

Shelby had a great time romping around on the beach. She managed to find every hole that was filled up with water after a clam was dug. Needless to say she managed to lose her boots a few times in the holes and came back to the car a sandy sopping mess, but a happy one!

Going for the hole!

This was a shallow one thankfully; others were not.

Ryan was super patient when it came to showing Shelby where the clam was once it was dug out. She liked to kick the sand tube apart to find the clam. A few times she stomped on it but managed to miss the clam. Whew!

It was a little chilly that day and Shelby's nose ran like a faucet. Mima had to chase after her with tissues to get her nose wiped. It was pretty funny.

This girl is hard to catch!

Ryan showing off our catches for the day. Shelby was in mid pursuit of another puddle and didn't want anything to do with this picture. Hah!

Helping put the clams away.

 Here's part of the gang getting our clams together. Nic, Becki and Jane were elsewhere on the beach having a grand old time. I'm the picture taker...never in the pictures unfortunately. Maybe someday!

 Shelby and Kaeli had a great time on the beach. Shelby sure loves her Auntie Kaeli.

 Ryan was washing the clams off and Shelby wanted to follow. Would have been a little too deep for her but I'm sure that wouldn't have stopped her if I didn't!

I took this last picture on the beach of Shelby admiring the ocean. Love this picture. She's just so little!

That's a lotta water, little one.

Shelby didn't get much for naps that day and finally crashed on the way home that evening. Thank goodness for a cozy car seat and for a little one who doesn't mind car rides or car seats at all. She does, however, have to fall asleep with her blanket over her face now. I'm constantly checking on her to move the blanket. Silly girl.

Out like a light!

I can't believe my little girl is going to be 2 in just over one short month. We sure do love being able to get out and do so many things with her and creating memories. She is such a joy and always keeps us on our toes and laughing. Love her!!

p.s. - I also turned 30...but that wasn't really fun, haha! I mean, who wants to turn 30?! Ryan, Shelby and family did spoil me with fun gifts and a gift scavenger hunt here at the house after Ryan got home from work. I got a new perfume, Taylor Swifts' Wonderstruck (smells soooo good), some yummy starbursts which were stuck to each scavenger clue and Home on the Range movie. It was an over all pretty good day!

NOT a flattering picture of either of us, but it's the best we had.

The last days of summer

Goodness I need to be better about my blogging. It's been over 2 months since I've last blogged and a lot has happened. So much so that I don't think I want to fit it all into one blog...so maybe I'll just blog about the super fun and important stuff.

We spent a lot more time down at the Emrich Farm in Chehalis and had an absolute blast. We had the privilege of helping pick the massive garden my parents nurture every year and canning a lot of the produce. We picked apples, peaches, pears, beans, zucchini, corn, potatoes, pickling cucumbers, dill, cabbage, tomatoes, pumpkins and mini pumpkins. I probably forgot something...actually I'm sure I did, but you get the picture. We also did some target practice and just some good ol' playing.

How many hands does it take to get ear protection on Shelby??

Success! And OH so cute!

Our little garden stomper...with a mouthful of cherry tomatoes.

Kaeli absolutely LOVES Cold Stone and the store in Chehalis recently closed, leaving her without her favorite treat; oh no! I decided to stop at the closest Cold Stone in Lacey on my way down to Chehalis one weekend and picked up the largest container of her favorite ice cream for her. She and Shelby were in heaven, as you can plainly see. These ladies love their ice cream!

The bigger the bite, the better it tastes!

Nic and Becki were able to spend a few weekends down in Chehalis too during the summer. Jane and Shelby hit it off and were best of buds. These two are so stinkin' cute! I just love em. They each had matching necklaces one weekend and wore them everywhere. These two are constantly on the go and wanted to be outside in the sunshine every second they got.

Shortly after this picture the wheelbarrow tipped over...no toddlers were harmed; just scared.

She looks like she's screaming...but she's actually super excited.

Shelby cannot get enough of watermelon. I swear she ate 1/2 of one herself this particular weekend! And it wasn't the personal sized ones either.

Cheeks full of cherry tomatoes, yummmm!!!

My parents grew an amazing dill patch this year and some of the stalks were over 6 feet tall. This picture I took is of Shelby and Kaeli trekking through the trails of the dill patch. They're dwarfed by it! I absolutely love this picture. If you haven't seen my parents garden you need to see it sometime. It's amazing!

A panoramic view of the awesome garden. 

We went to the fire department with Pops. Shelby loved her little fire hat.

We took breaks during the hot summer day to come in and eat ice cream sandwiches. She's a fan!

I took one weekend and baked till I was tired of standing. I ended up with 98 zucchini muffins and about the same amount of banana muffins. They're great to freeze and make easy healthy snacks. Shelby couldn't wait to get her hands on them.

We took one weekend and went to Point Defiance Zoo. I had a total brain malfunction and forgot to take pictures until we got inside at the aquarium. She loved all these little neon fishies.

Play time!

She would have gone down the "Otter Slide" all day if we let her. Up and down and up and down...over and over again. It was pretty fun though!

In September Shelby started swim lessons. We enrolled in the "Parent & Tot" lessons and it was...well...let's just say a roller coaster of  emotions for 4 weeks. Some days were great and some days were not. She is getting more and more comfortable with the water now, so we'll be starting another round of lessons on Monday. Woohoo!

Ryan turned 31 on Sept 20th!

Loves for daddy.

Shelby loves to put coins into her piggy bank that Great Grandma Kershaw got for her last Christmas. So excited in fact that she came to show me she was done, tripped over her own feet and came crashing down. We are now in the market for a new piggy bank. She was absolutely devastated and ran off sobbing. Poor thing! I picked up the pieces and she noticed that the money slot was still intact on a larger piece and tried to put money into it again.

Poor little piggy.

Shelby now has an obsession with closing doors and has to close every door of every room she goes into or out of whether it's a bedroom, bathroom, pantry or closet. This video shows one of her mistakes...I heard little cries for help from her room which usually end up as great photo ops (she's never in danger, just gets herself into predicaments she can't get out of herself) so I grabbed my phone and took this video. Poor thing. She's never done it again though!

And last but not least I'll end with this SUPER cute picture of our pride and joy dancing on our kitchen island. Normally I would tell her that it was a "no-no" and get her right down, but I couldn't resist this picture. Last Sunday was a fur boot kinda day and I just had to capture her cuteness. She even says "cheese" for pictures now. She's a hoot!