Playing at the Park

San Diego Zoo

We went to the San Diego Zoo today.  Violet seemed only mildly impressed.  I think she's still a bit young.  It didn't help that it was hot as hell today (in the 90's).  She did enjoy the lions--she proclaimed "Kitties!".

Kitty!  Proof we saw real animals too.

And a video showing Violet's skill at "Fruit Ninja":

There's such a thing as too quiet Part 2

 Violet was in the other room today and was a little too quiet.

Her first ink.

Violet's first beamer.

Visiting with Uncle Merrill

Child of the Corn

 Violet enjoyed playing in the corn today at the petting zoo.  It was set up like a big sandbox.

Diaper surprise!

Violet hangs out.

Twins play date and Pretend City Museum

Violet is having a great summer.  She is picking up new words every day.  Two days ago she learned the word no and she's already starting to say it a bunch.  Eric was pointing to body parts and asking her what they were.  When he pointed to her toes and asked her "Violet, what are those?" she answered "Piggies!".  Sort of.

We went to Pretend City Children's Museum again last week and it's quickly becoming a favorite hang out, especially with all these afternoons which are too hot for the park.

Pretend bathroom

Pretend bed

Yesterday she had a play date with her friends Luka and Tobias.  She loved playing with all their toys and wielded her power from being 6 months older over them.

Fun water play

Sheer exhaustion

Coloring

I initially bought crayons for Violet about 6 months ago.  It was a bomb--she really wasn't coordinated enough to hold them well and mostly just tried to eat them.  But we had been noticing that Violet has much better manual dexterity recently.  She will find the tiniest piece of paper on the ground and pick it up.  I noticed her interest in a pen when we were out to the lunch the other day, so I decided the pull out the crayons again.  This time they were a big hit.

  Obviously mommy drew a bit in there too.  In fact every time I stopped, Violet protested and shoved a crayon in my hands.  She really liked coloring in what I had drawn as well, so I think it's time to invest in a coloring book

OC Fair

We recently took Violet to the OC fair.  Violet loved the petting zoo.  The baby goats were so cute.

They also had the largest sand box ever.  Violet went to it twice in a four hour period and left completely filthy but having had a great time.  We knew it was time to leave when she laid down in the sand to sleep.