"Lets go to the Movies"

Emma and I had another first experience this morning. One of the local movie theaters shows free kids movies during the summer, so we ventured out to try it out. We met our friend Adam to watch "Ice Age". I thought this might be a great trial run because
1.It was a theater full of kids and
2 It was free, so if we needed to leave we would not waste any money.
Adam made it about 5 minutes into the movie and decided that it was not for him. Emma made it about 3/4 of the way though the movie before it was time to go....

That was about the time that we ran out of popcorn :)
I took a friend's suggestion and brought Emma's own booster seat to use. That way we had a tray for popcorn and she was snapped in and could not get up and down. It worked out really well. Now if only I could teach her not to talk through the whole movie. We had a running commentary throughout "Look, it's snowing", "Look, the squirrel has a nut", "Look, an Elephant".... and that was only the first five minutes...
Overall, I think we might wait to take Emma to a movie that we have to pay for :)

A Minnesota Weekend

It had been almost a month since Emma was on her last airplane, so we headed off to Minnesota to visit various family members. Nana and G-Pa were in town for the weekend for G-pa's high school reunion and Uncle Scott and Tricia had a new house to show off. We flew in on Thursday night and on Friday, we headed down to Owatonna for a little family get together that my aunt was having. Emma loved seeing Nana and G-pa and meeting family she had not met before. Aunt Ione also had a great garden that Emma enjoyed looking at (and eating from :)




Emma and G-pa spent a lot of time in the garden
We also learned a new game called "Corn Hole" Which involved throwing corn bags into and onto holes and boards

Dan makes his throw

Emma cheered everyone on and collected the corn bags

Thank You Kuester family for such a nice day!
G-pa also got Emma a little present from his college...Emma now has a Golden Gopher to wear along with her Hokie shirts

On Saturday, we went to the zoo with Uncle Scott and Tricia

Emma checks out the otters

Then she digs for dinosaur bones

See the tiger?

The bald eagle in the bird show

Riding the horse drawn wagon to the farm exhibit

Grooming the goats

Emma found lots of tractors to ride

Does she have a future in farming?

Emma found chicks to pet

And bunnies

And she even got a tattoo from the dairy counsel
After the zoo, we headed off the original Famous Daves for some Bar-b-que


We got the family platter served on a trash can cover

We ended the day hanging out on the porch
On Sunday, we headed off to the "Mall of America" to do some shopping and try our some of their awesome rides


The indoor amusement park

Emma and Daddy on the roller coaster

and the cars

Checking out the scene from the Ferris wheel

Daddy and Uncle Scoot tried one of the scarier rides

The view from the second floor

Snuggles with Uncle Scott before heading back to California
Thank you all our Minnesota family for such a fun weekend!

Making Dirt

Emma and I had fun in the kitchen today making dessert for our church small group. First, we made a yummy ice cream cake using ice cream sandwiches, hot fudge, oreos, and whipped cream. Emma helped stirring and crushing oreos. Here is the finished product before we cut into it...

After nap, we made dirt cups for the kids in our group using oreos and pudding... Emma had a great time crushing the oreos and putting everything in the cups. Here she is putting in the finishing touch... gummy worms

Counting the worms to put in each cup

Two for each cup

A little taste test

Emma shows off her finished product
It is so fun to have Emma old enough to "Help" in the kitchen. We both have a great time being creative!

Google Picnic 2008

Yesterday was the annual Google Family Picnic. We met Daddy over at the Googleplex and headed over for some fun times at the carnival themed event. There was tons of food, entertainment, games, and prizes for young and old.

Daddy and Emma check out the picnic map to figure out where to start

Emma finishes off her plate of Bar-b-que before heading off to play

One of the most popular places (with the longest lines) was the build a bear station. Here are the bears lined up waiting to be chosen

Emma hugs on her new google bear friend

Then she must think of a name for the birth certificate... can you guess the name she chose? She named him Bear, of course

Next, we headed over to the sand box to dig for treasure. Emma and daddy finally found an inflatable ball hidden well beneath the sand

Off to the petting zoo, where Emma loved on bunnies, ducks, goat, and chickens

Then Emma decided to catch some butterflies. The goal was to catch a flying butterfly in your net...

Emma thought it was much easier to pick up the ones on the ground and put them in her net

Emma liked motoring around in the paddle boats. She did a great job turning the handles, but sometimes went in circles when she only turned on one side

The ball pit was Emma's ultimate favorite part of the day... She was crying in the car on the way home to go back into the balls

Swimming in a sea of balls

Lastly, Emma and Daddy took a ride around in the Google train

Daddy got a little upset when he found out mommy took this time to take the last Oreo ice cream sandwich and then followed the train around with it. Don't worry, they brought out more :)
We had a really fun afternoon. Emma would have stayed all day and night if we had let her; but alas, it was time for a much needed nap for all.