Flying kites and Stephen's Lake.

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The Zoo.

Paul, Charlie, and I went to the St. Louis Zoo today.   She was unsure of some of the animals but started talking and pointing to them after a bit.  It was a really hot day, and she did really well.  I am glad that we took her, but I think she will like it even more next year.

Summer.

I love summer afternoons outside with Charlie.  We play with bubbles, kites, water, and eat popsicles.  She loves being outside so we spend most of our time in our yard playing.

A week at home.

Paul had a few extra days left to take off before July so we went home for a couple of days.  Julie and Steve came last weekend to drop off the motorcycle for Paul and they ended up taking Charlie home with them.  It was the longest I have gone without seeing her!  It was Sunday afternoon to Wednesday morning.  I only had one little breakdown.

Shannon and Olivia were in town and we had a baby shower for Emily and Mark in Des Moines.  Shannon is due in October.  She gets blood clots in her legs when she is pregnant so she is supposed to stay off her feet.  I ended up having a kidney infection and was down for a couple of days.  My mom stayed very busy running after two young children.

My grandma, grandpa, Barb and Bill all came over one day to see the girls and Molly drove up from Cedar Rapids to hang out too.  There were a lot of fun new toys for Charlie to play with and she came home with more new clothes.  Charlie went to Pepper's, Rudy's, 4 Queens, and had a lot of good food (Mabe's, blueberries, oreos).

We left Charlie again on Saturday to drive down to Des Moines for the Dempsey's baby shower.  Addie was adorable and slept pretty much the whole shower.  Paul and I went over to the Humpals and played games with them and the Luders.  On Sunday we got to spend time with both dad's for Father's Day.  We got to see a lot of people and are excited to come back for Sturgis Falls in a couple of weeks!

New favorite things:
blueberries
Mabes
4 Queens slushie
water tables
saying "Wow"
doing the splits
beads

Least favorite thing:
Sharing

Charlie and Papa.

Charlie calls Papa.  She walks around the house looking for him and says ,"Papa" over and over again.  When he gets home from work she runs into the kitchen to say hi to him.  She follows him around the house and loves when he goes to the bedroom so he can throw her onto the bed.  Last night Paul was outside mowing and Charlie banged on the sliding glass door until I let her outside.  She sat in a chair and watched him the whole time he mowed.

With all of the rain we have been having our yard might actually have a chance at surviving and we have had rainbows two different nights in the last week.