Dude, Iowa corn rocks!

  

"Henno kitty!"

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Originally uploaded by binmke.

With Auntie Ruth at the Milwaukee Zoo

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Originally uploaded by binmke.

Look at the Giraffes!

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Originally uploaded by binmke.

At the zoo with Uncle Eric

Mowing the lawn with Grandpa

Mowing the lawn with Grandpa
Originally uploaded by diddlediddledee.

Playing with Grandma and Grandpa

Playing on the tractor
Originally uploaded by diddlediddledee.

Nora had a great time playing with Grandma and Grandpa in Iowa this week!

Singing

Nora is officially a singer. She can sings quite a few songs now on her own and does so at all times during the day. She knows all the words to Twinkle, Twinkle, Frere Jacques, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and All Night, All Day. One night in the car while we were driving around Woodinville and gawking at million dollar homes she just started singing on her own and hasn't stopped since.

She sings in the car, in her stroller and in the tub pretty consistently. She even closed her eyes, threw her head back and belted a few words in Twinkle the other day!

Nora LOVES to jump in!

 

Last Swimming Lesson

 

Playing with Auntie Pea's Shoes

 

What did you say?

In the last week or so Nora's vocabulary has taken off. She is much more intelligible now which makes it easier to have conversations with her. Although we know what she is saying most of the time, someone listening to her off the street might be concerned.

For example, Nora loves to see the garbage truck arrive on Thursday mornings. She asks about when it is coming at least once a day and then answers her own question with: "No, not today, next morning." The worst part is that garbage truck comes out as "double f@%#." It wouldn't be that big of a deal, except for the fact that it is one of her favorite words at the moment and she says it in all settings :-0

The other words that can be misinterpreted are 'duck' and the sound it makes 'quack.' Duck sounds like the word that means levee and quack sounds like the word that starts with an 'f', ends like a 'g' and has an 'a' in the middle. Ooops!

Down by the river

 

Reading books in the hammock with Daddy

 

HUGE Trees!

 

Hiking on the CCC trail

 

Camping in the Mountains!

We went camping this weekend at a newly-refurbished campground called Middle Fork, in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest near North Bend. It was quite an adventure to get there, as we had to go over 12 miles of pockmarked gravel logging roads in the car.

We went on a long hike on a trail that was started by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) back in the 1930s. Nora loved to walk by herself and check out all the huge bananna slugs!

Silly Hair Day

Nora and Auntie Pea with matching pigtails...

 

Yummy!

The idea was for Mommy and Nora to share the ice cream cone. Nora is normally very good at sharing with others...but not when ice cream is involved.

Theno's Dairy

This is the place in Redmond where we go to buy our milk. We have become shameless milk snobs over the past few months. At Theno's we buy organic milk that comes from a farm near Tacoma. It's the same price as the grocery store. And the best part is that it comes in these cool glass containers that make a klinking noise every time we open the fridge!

Nora's favorite part is the cow statue, which she excitedly points out to us each time we go.

Their ice cream is also top-notch. Alas, custard hasn't caught on in the Pacific Northwest yet.

Nora do it!

Nora is becoming more independent every day. All of the things she used to need help with, like climbing stairs and eating ice cream, are now things she is proud to do herself.

"Nora do it! Nora do it!"