Trip to the museum

The other week some friends invited us to go to the Durham Natural Science Museum. We were only there a short amount of time but Emerson had a lot of fun. We headed to the outside portion which looked huge but we didn't cover all of the ground of course. Emerson found the water portion and loved it as you can see.  Luckily it was a hot and humid day because she got completely drenched. I was tempted to jump in myself.

 Next we went to the toddler section. They had a play kitchen and lots of other contraptions.  Our little climber scaled the ladder all the way to the top of the tree house.

The other half of the section had natural toys, a small playground, and cool things on the walls. Emerson liked opening the doors and putting toys inside. If they hadn't closed and kicked us out we would she would have been occupied a few more hours I think! Ha! I can't wait to take her back because I'm sure she would have a blast exploring.

A hike in the park

Monday we decided to go for a hike at the local state park. Mia absolutely loves running around like a wild dog. She actually chased a few deer. Emerson got to ride on the back for the first time and she seemed to enjoy the new point of view while sporting her backwards cap.

Mid-trip we stopped at the lake to rest our legs. Little E. was excited to be free.  She loves to be outside!

Doesn't she look cute? She wore her new merrell's from the consignment sale to get the outdoor feel. We headed back and evidently the sun is setting a lot sooner as the end of our journey was pretty creepy in the dark woods. 

On a random note I had a star sighting at the mall when I saw "Mouth" from One Tree Hill. I've been watching this show forever so I spotted him immediately in H&M. He was much bigger in person that the "nerdy" character he portrays on tv. Then in the food court he got Moe's for lunch and I decided I liked him even more! Not that I was stalking him. Just in the same places at the same time! :)

Weekend update

 

Since my updates have been far and between I'm going to attempt to do better. This past weekend we went to our first Appalachian game of the year. E. dressed in her hippie tie die ASU onesie. I'd say she was definitely an eye catcher. 

Although she look less than thrilled in the pictures she had a good time.  She cheered for her team and made friends with everyone around her. In face she outlasted most of the other fans and was a real trooper to stay the whole game. Even if she ended up throwing a few bottles into the crowd. 

On Sunday we headed to the mall to give Emerson a turn on the carousel. We knew she would love it since she was so excited her first time back at the zoo in Utah. I think the whole mall knew she had fun since she was squealing so much. I think she rode a total of 3 times but really would have went all day long. 

Here she is waving to the crowd. I think this maybe a regular stop for us every time we are in Hickory.

Beach Baby

Over the Labor Day we headed to the beach. Emerson had a blast! She loves the sand and probably could have spent all day out there digging around and finding seashells. These are some of her 18 month pictures and I hope to post more when I get around to editing them. 

She also found snacking on seashells and sand to be a favorite past time.  Emerson loves seeing the seagulls and ran after them with lots of energy and yelling. She also liked to impersonate them, which I have a video of that I hopefully I'll post soon. 

Doesn't she look adorable in her bathing suit?!? I think we might have to make a few day trips back to give her a taste of the beach life again. It was a nice end to summer, although it's still in the 90's so I'm not so certain fall is around the corner. At least in NC anyways.

18 months

I can't believe Emerson is 18 months old! Half way to 2. Crazy! The changes in her from 12 months are unreal so I can't imagine what she will be like at 2. We went for her 18 month check-up a couple of weeks ago and she weighed 17lb 17oz and was 29 and a quarter inches tall. Still itty bitty. Here is a the low down on what  Little E. is like these days.

• Her favorite activity to do is reading books! At the moment her fave one is "Wheels on the bus," and we read it at least 5 times a day!
• She's a chatter box. Emerson is constantly repeating words and learning new ones everyday. She tells us when she wants to go outside, what she wants to eat, and is constantly saying Mommy now and not Mama. Of course she is 18 months going on two and constantly saying,  "NO!" She even reprimands the dog. Poor Mia!
• Her taste for food is definitely changing. Her new favorites include greek yogurt, cheerios with milk, hummus, pickles, bananas, avocado, and watermelon. Of course she loves cheddar bunnies and would eat those all day long if I would let her. 
• She has 10 teeth, with four more coming through at the moment. 
• Her hair is growing like crazy and we wear pigtails quite a bit now. 
• She is still not a big napper and I'm lucky to get an hour and a half nap out of her. But, we've been trying to go to bed earlier, by 8pm. She pretty regularly wakes up at 6am on the dot. But, thankfully she has slept in this weekend until 8ish. When she wakes up, all I hear is "mommy....no....mommy...mommy...no..no." It's pretty funny to listen to. 
• She loves to be outside running around, blowing bubbles, and throwing the ball for the dog.
• She has started the climbing phase and gets up on top of her toy chest much to my discouragement.
• Her favorite song is "Itsy bitsy spider." Anytime I try to do anything else she gives me the motions for that song. 
• She absolutely loves music, and loves to dance. 
• Emerson is fiesty for her size! Don't be fooled!

It's been such an amazing year and a half getting to see Emerson grow and change and we can't wait to see what the next 6 months has in store for our sweet girl. :)