Lucy's First Camping Trip

Happy fall!  We kicked off our fall with Lucy's first camping trip this past Labor Day weekend.  We went to Deer Creek campground near Bailey, CO and luckily found a spot.  Lucy was so excited to set up and sleep in the tent--and so was Bailey!  We had lunch at the campsite, Lucy attempted to take a nap (I think she finally fell asleep in the tent), and then we went for a walk around camp.  However, the rain started pouring soon after, so we spent an hour playing in the tent.  Thankfully we borrowed a ginormous 3 room "party tent" from our friends, so Lucy had plenty of room to play.  

We were also so excited when the rain stopped just in time for dinner.  Bryan was smart enough to gather all our wood during Lucy's nap, and cover it with a tarp during the rain.  Lucy learned from Daddy how to build a campfire, and then had her first hot dog and marshmallow roasting experience.  She loved it!  Especially the s'mores--which are also my favorite part of camping!  We walked some more after dinner, and then layered up the jammies for bed time.  We all were pretty tired and slept great, then woke up early and headed out.  It was a great time and we can't wait to take her again.  

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the trip:  
https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5926534390521862449?authkey=CLa5s7Tz3ob4oAE
(With the change from Picasa Web Albums to Google Plus, there have been some issues with sharing photos.  If you run across the link/album that won't allow you to see it, please click on the the "request to view" button, or email me.  That way I don't need to make the photos public, and I can make sure the people who are viewing the album are those that I want to share it with...i.e. you guys!  Thanks!)

Summer...Part 2

Whoa!  So much has happened since our last summer post I should write more often!  I started back at work this past week, so time has been precious and spent laughing with Lucy.  

Since we last left you, we took some trips and had some visitors.  Mommy and Lucy went to St. Louis for 2 weeks, then spent a weekend in Minnesota with the Fingland family for a McEwen Family Reunion.  It was tiring being away for that long, but so great having everyone meet Lucy and hang out with our lovely family and friends!  Some highlights of STL include:  Grant's Farm with James, hanging with her cousins, the zoo where she loved the sea lions, giraffes, and getting splashed by the penguins, trying to eat ice cream faster than the crazy humidity melts it, swimming, Botanical Gardens with Grammy and Papa, eating brunch with Poppe and Nana, and so much more.  I was super excited to eat at Fritz's two times--and of course see family and friends! :)  Oh, and a couple weeks before we left we started potty training.  Nothing like hanging out in the airplane bathroom with your 2 year old 3 times during an 1.5 hr flight (gross).

 
Speaking of potty training, Lucy is now 2 months in and doing wonderfully.  She's barely had accidents since we first started, and she is great at telling us when she needs to go--even in the middle of a dinner party while we are talking to friends "I HAVE TO GO POOP!".  Gotta love her.  We are working on getting her a big girl bed as soon as we find one we like (we're sooo good at making decisions) so we can start doing nap/night time potty training.  But for now, we couldn't be prouder.  Not to mention I haven't washed or stuffed a cloth diaper since June--score!

After St. Louis and Minnesota, my sister Sue and her family came for a visit to our new house.  It was so fun having them and Lucy loved playing with her cousins.  We went on Lucy's first canoe ride, hiking at Green Mountain and Red Rocks, and even got to go horseback riding with Lucy riding Ginger the "big horse" with Daddy and all of us.  She absolutely loved it, and was not scared at all like I thought she'd be.  We trotted multiple times and she never wanted to stop.  We love watching her experience things for the first time, it's the most amazing thing to see her face light up when she discovers something new!  We also went to Snooze to celebrate Madeline's birthday before they left, where Lucy showed off her amazing skill--eating as much as me!  It was a great visit and we even got to go whitewater rafting (minus Lucy) on some fun rapids in Browns Canyon.  

This past month Lucy has solidified a forever friendship with Bailey.  She now feeds Bailey most of the time and lets her outside.  She's also really good at brushing her, and bossing her around.  One day "they" played in the backyard for about an hour by themselves.  We were cooking for company and just opened the window and listened to her play.  It was adorable listening to her tell Bailey everything she knows, and try to include Bailey in all her playing.  At one point she had her baseball bat on Bailey's legs and was throwing the ball to her.   One of our favorite activities now is to play hide and seek and Bailey finds us.  It's just too cute to see them together. 

Lucy is also taking over the reading in our house.  She will get the books and "read" to us.  Most books are just a couple words and then they are done, but this girl's got a memory like a steel trap.  She can recite the books we read often (Goodnight Moon, Wocket in my Pocket, Beautiful Oops, How I Became a Pirate, How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight) and it amazes us.  I caught some on video so enjoy our little reader in action.  

Other than that, we've just been enjoying settling into our house.  Painting away, especially the bannister--what a project!  Our current goal is to seal that and then get Lucy's big girl room finished once and for all.  How nice it would be to finish a room!  But, life is more fun sometimes and we usually would rather go get ice cream than shop for furniture.  Hopefully we can balance both out this next month and get some more done now that I'm back at work and have a steadier schedule than the craziness of summer.  But it was a good one and we had so much fun.  We hope you all had a great summer too and we're looking forward to some cooler fall temperatures! 

Lots of love to you all and enjoy that last little bit of summer if you've still got it!
The Finglands 

Photos and Videos: https://plus.google.com/photos/101238607047988694288/albums/5917713682246043841

PS-Lucy's been cracking us up lately with all she says/does.  I've made a separate post of some of those here since I got kind of wordy above! Check it out here.

Laughs with Lucy

(at the Denver Nature and Science Museum)
"Lucy feel the buffalo fur, what does it feel like?" Mommy
"Soft.  Like an ox." Lucy, who's been playing with her laptop animal game A LOT apparently.

"Mommy, the snake slobbered away!" or slithered...

 (while driving)
"Mommy, dinosaurs are stink." Lucy
"They're extinct?" Mommy
"Yep!" Lucy, once again that laptop is making her a genius! 

(getting ready for bed after bath)
"Mommy it's raining on my boom boom!(bottom).  It tickles!" Lucy's hair was wet and running down her back, aka "raining on her". 

"Daddy, what's in your armpit?  Bailey hair?" Lucy interested in Daddy's armpit hair...haha.



Favorites:  Dinosaurs!  Lucy knows tons of dino names such as: apatasaurus, anklyasaurus, t rex, triceratops, stegosaurus, dimetrodon, pteranondon, and allasaurus.  It's incredible--thanks "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight!", pirates, ice water with lemon, painting, playing soccer at the park, swinging, getting the mail, playing hide and seek, and reading out loud to us.

Love you Lucy.  I love you as tall as a giraffe, and to the moon and back.  You are my sunshine.