Birthday Party Fun!

Ramona was invited to a birthday party this weekend for a daycare friend, and she had a fabulous time playing on the toddler gym equipment. She also liked the cupcake, but refused to eat any pizza.



There was so much stuff to climb and slide down and explore.


Ramona really liked the slides, but she hated the ball pit. I tried to throw her in it once or twice but she acted like it was a pit of lava, so we avoided the ball pit.









Ramona was also afraid of the dolphin swing at first, but she decided it was really fun.

It was pretty adorable watching all the toddlers run around playing on all the equipment, and they also really loved bubble time!









What a great birthday party! Ramona says "thanks for inviting me!"

Florida Beach and Aquarium

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Tampa, Florida, where we visited our friend Anne and I attended an academic conference. Steve and Ramona tagged along for a chance to visit Florida in March and enjoy some warm weather!

In between working, we managed to hit the beach and aquarium. Ramona got to test out her new bathing suit, sun hat, and red sandals at the beach.















Ramona loved the beach, but it did take some coaxing to convince her that the beach wasn't terrifying. To be fair, the water was a bit chilly and the waves were unpredictable. Here she is trying to hide from the water behind my belly (which is probably big enough to protect her, so good job, Ramona!).

She eventually decided that water was okay in small doses, and spent quite a lot of time playing with a bucket of ocean water and some sand toys. She really liked scooping the water and pouring the water on her legs. We all had a great time at the beach and it made us really miss living close to the ocean!

Later that day we visited the Tampa aquarium, where Ramona showed off her hermit crab skills.

The aquarium had some really amazing coral reef exhibits. Ramona was completely entranced by the aquarium, and loved pointing at all the fish, sharks, turtles, and sting rays.

We can't wait to go back to Florida in the future!

Sesame Street Live

We took Ramona to Sesame Street Live, a live show with all her favorite Sesame Street friends dancing and singing. She loved it! She was enthralled most of the time, and did lots of clapping, pointing, and yelling "Elmo!!!!"

She also brought her Elmo doll, which she hugged the entire time.

It was dark so we couldn't take many photos but here are a few (with apologies for the blurry quality):

 

Happy Halloween!

Ramona had lots of fun on her first trick-or-treat outing! We visited a few houses in our neighborhood. At first she was shy and a little nervous, but she quickly got the hang of things and really loved putting candy in her bag! (all the free candy for us is a real perk of parenthood.)

Fall fashion!

It's fall, and that means new clothes for Ramona! We did a big round of fall clothes shopping, and here are some of our favorites.



Here she is sporting stripped leggings, a pink top, and her new sneakers. She really looks like a big kid, right? She's definitely not a baby any more, and she loves running everywhere and climbing everything.

Fall is a perfect time to break out the cardigans, says Ramona. This is one of her favorite books, and she is particularly fond of going "hoot" like an owl and pointing at the ball when we read it. As you can see, her hair is still really blonde!






















Ramona is sporting her new winter hat (even though it's not quite cold enough yet for a hat) and one of my favorite new shirts, which has a silver zebra on it. She really likes to point at the zebra. She's also channeling 90s fashion with these sporty plaid leggings. (shout out to Auntie Jo and her love of all things Scotland.)





















Ramona loves this shirt with birds on it, and spends a lot of time pointing at the birds whenever she wears it. In this picture, the shirt is also covered in strawberry juice (strawberries are one of her current favorite foods), and she is chowing down on animal crackers with her best buddy, monkey. If you ask Ramona, she'll tell you that monkeys say "ah ah ah!"

And I love putting her in pigtails!

Here Ramona is playing with her favorite blocks (thanks Grandpa Andy and Grandma Kay for the first birthday present!). She's also wearing a cool shirt with a gold cheetah on it.






















Ramona is a huge fan of animal crackers. She knows which cabinet they are in, and will stand in front of it banging the doors when we get home from daycare. Here she is wearing a blue and white shirt with her plaid leggings, and contemplating the cruelties of a world where she can see so many animal crackers (thanks, Costco) but can't figure out how to eat them.


Thanks for visiting the Ramona Fall Fashion Show!

Ba boo!

Ramona is a huge fan of peekaboo! She plays all the time, and yells out "ba boo! ba boo!" so we will play with her.

Here's an after-dinner game of peekaboo:

Seattle

I forgot to post these photos from our August visit to Seattle! Enjoy!

Playing with salad tools

Meeting up with some new friends!

Relaxing in the toddler rocking chair

Chewing on a duck

Story time with Auntie Jo and Uncle Scott!