"Boo at the Zoo"

Mark, Jen, and I took Olive to Boo at the Zoo.  It's an event the Atlanta Zoo puts on each year.  They have Halloween decorations put up throughout the zoo, and have spots they give out treats.  Even though it was 50 degrees and a bit rainy at times, we still had a fantastic time.

We got Olive a Buddy the dinosaur costume this year.  Her favorite TV show is Dinosaur Train, and Buddy is the Tyrannosaurus Rex on DT.  She love him.  Unfortunately, the dinosaur head to the costume was too big, and would not stay on her head.  Luckily we brought along her Yoda hat.  So she was, "Yuddy" a combination of Yoda and Buddy, for most of the day.  The funny thing was Yoda and Buddy were the two costumes we debated getting for her, and ended up going with Buddy.

Checking out the meerkats.

Rhinos, giraffes, and zebras oh my!

"What am I doing in a pteranodon nest?"

Trick-or-treat!

Pretending to be a naked mole rat.

Hanging with the tiger.

Waiting for lunch.

With Olive on it, the zoo train became the Dinosaur Train!

After the zoo she took a two and half hour nap.  I would say it was a successful visit.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we took Olive to the pumpkin patch, it was actually a place called Southern Belle Farms.  It had a bunch of different rides and activities.  We all had a great time, and Olive loved every second of it.

Cow Train!

Happy Family

Fun in the Corn Maze

We finally made it out!

YAY!

First cotton candy.

Painting her pumpkin.

She saw a real horse and cow too.  They were big, she liked them but seemed intimidated to pet them.  She did however, "moo" and "neigh" at them.

Hay ride

Yay pumpkins!

Tuckered out.

Beach Baby

 In the middle of July, Olive and I spent another week on Fripp Island with my Mom.  When we were there in June, we spent more time at the pool and only went to the beach once.  The one time we did go, Olive immediately began eating sand. When we went in July the first evening we went down to walk on the beach and Olive walked straight into the ocean.  She loved it!  We ended up going to the beach every day. 

Walking out into the ocean.

Going into the water.  She would keep walking straight out until a wave knocked her over or I made her stop.

When the waves would knock her over, rather than being scared even when she went face first into the water, she would start laughing.

Getting a taste of the sand.

Doing some digging, and eating sand.

Walking to the beach one evening so the sand was cool enough to walk on with bare feet.

Hanging out with Lauren.

Taking a break from running around.

There was this great playground next to the restaurant where we were eating dinner, of course Olive didn't want to go down the slide or go on the swings; she just kept going up and down this set of stairs.  Because everyone knows the best part of the playground are the stairs.

It's been awhile...

I last posted for Olive's first birthday and here she is almost 16 months old!  It's funny when I am out in public and people ask how old she is, I've noticed it is beginning to take a little longer for them to do the mental math.  Anything under 12 months was easy for everyone, because they automatically knew she was less than a year old.  But over 12 months seems to throw people off, like they need a moment to figure out exactly what 15 months or 16 months means.

For Olive almost 16 months means being busy.  She is constantly on the move.  She love wide open spaces where she can run around, and she loves taking things apart.  Including unpacking the diaper bag, my purse, baskets of laundry etc.  Our living room also doubles as her playroom, and as soon as we clean up she interprets that as her cue to take everything out again.  Especially her books on the book shelf.  She is a reader.  She picks books up and brings them to whomever is closest, she hands them the book and then puts her arms up so they will lift her into their lap and read her the book.  If you are sitting on the floor she will just plop right down in your lap.  It doesn't matter how many times she has a heard a book she wants to hear them over and over again.  She will also sit and go through books on her own.  But she prefers to make us read them to her.  She has even learned to be more efficient and will stack up 4 books and bring them over to Mark or me, so she doesn't have to get down and get more books.  The other night at the dinner table Mark and I were reciting some of her favorite books to her, we have read them so many times we have them memorized.

This summer she has also become something of a fish.  She absolutely loves the water and being in the pool. The first week of June she was spoiled when we went to Fripp Island because they have a baby pool that is only about a foot and a half deep.  Once she as able to balance herself she could walk around the pool all she wanted and it even had a slide she would go down over and over again.  She loved being able to be in the water and touch the bottom and walk around without having to hold on to anyone.  Now, she's not a big fan of being in her float in the big pool, because she can't control where she is going or what is happening.  She is very independent and likes to do things for herself.  She is finally getting used to being in a big pool and having to be held, but she prefers "jumping" in the pool, and being pulled around the pool by her hands/arms.  She likes to kick and feel like she is the one controlling her movements.

Her other big discovery of the summer is horse racing.  It all started when we were watching the Kentucky Derby on tv.  When they first showed the horses she got really excited and was clapping at the tv.  Then during the actual race she saw Mark and I yelling and screaming at the tv.  Now our cable company picked up TVG the horse racing channel, and she will sit on your lap and watch the races, bouncing her self up and down shouting, "Go, Go, Go!"  She has even tried to "ride" Zinny (our very sweet cat) bouncing up and down on him while he lays on the ground.  The other day when I was tired of reading the same book for the 5th time that day, I asked if she wanted to see the horseys, she got really excited.  It took a minute for the tv to come on and she actually started to fuss because she wanted to watch it so badly.  Her grandparents tried taking her to the merry-go-round so she experience some riding for herself, but she freaked out.  When we go St. Louis at the end of July I want to take her to the track and see if she likes seeing the horses in person or not.  Maybe she will just prefer keeping them in the tv for now.

She is talking up a storm these days.  Her current favorite word is, "toot."  She will say it and then pass gas, she thinks she is hilarious.  She also loves making animal noises and her favorite books are the ones with animals in them so she can make the noises.  She says lots of different words and is in to mimicking the last word of any sentence Mark and I say, so we have to start being careful with our language.  The other day Mark said, "Oh my god." And of course Olive started saying, "god, god, god."  She went through a mini "mine" phase, and she still says mine from time to time, but it didn't last very long, and wasn't too bad.  She hasn't started putting sentences together yet, but I am sure the is just around the corner.

With Mimi at Fripp

Blowing kisses with her Titi Taco.

Partying with Aunt Jen.

Cousin Love.

Fun times with Aunt Stacy.

Olive scolding me when I told her not to put the baby wipe in her mouth.

Climbing up the frog slide in the baby pool.

Getting Uncle Eric to read to her.

Burger at Steak n Shake

Bubbles with Grandma.

A little apprehensive on the merry-go-round

The only thing cuter than one baby, is two babies.  Hanging with her pal Harlow.

Riding the dog like a little horse is not frowned upon in this establishment.

Bathing beauty.

In St. Louis over Spring Break.

Reading.

Strawberry hat!

Deep thoughts with Dada.

Haircut.

I love the expressions on Olive and Quinn's faces in this picture.

Sand is yummy!

Playing the piano with cousin Jordan.

Taking the trash out.

First time running in the sand on St. George Island for Ali's wedding.