Bugs

Little Squirrel doesn’t mind bugs, as long as they aren’t in the house or within 10 feet or so of her. Oh, and they have to be announced in advance, she can’t stumble upon them. While Papa was working in the yard today he saw a praying mantis and multiple dragonflies. Little Squirrel was very politely interested, as long as I was holding her, and then promptly wanted to go inside. Papa and I both thought they were very cool but apparently we were the only ones.

Sprinkler Park

As a testament to how resilient little kids are, Little Squirrel was up at the crack of dawn – even though she and I both had taken the day off to “recover” after the dance recital. (Papa, the trooper that he is, went to work). We had Tea and Cracker, (and parents) over to our house to play, have lunch, and then all go to the sprinkler park. The kids ran around while the adults rested in a nice shady spot. The kids always have a great time and the area it is small enough that it is easy to keep them always in sight. Afterwards, Little Squirrel and I went home to take a nap and ended up missing soccer completely. Needless to say, Papa wasn’t too surprised when I called him and asked him to pick up dinner on his way home.

Recital

After many, many, many, (did I mention many) Saturdays of rehearsal at dance class, a technical rehearsal at the Grand Sierra Resort on the (wait for it) world's largest theatrical stage, and a full-blown dress rehearsal on the same said stage, Little Squirrel finally had her first dance recital last night. The "Intro to Dance" class did a routine to "On the Good Ship Lollipop" in full Shirley Temple regalia. It had the twelve little girls from the Saturday class and the twelve little girls from the Tuesday afternoon class for a grand total of 24 three to five year olds tap dancing in curls. Needless to say, Mama is exhausted (believe me - I have no idea where the child got straight hair that won't hold a curl much less a corkscrew curl), and Little Squirrel was in heaven. After her routine (which was second in the show), she got to come out and sit on my lap to watch the rest of the performances with Mama, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, one of her Godmothers and her Great Aunt. She was mesmerized until the very end (at approximately 11pm!). It was quite an adventure for us all.

Soccer

Now that swimming is over we decided to give soccer another try. It is only a three week “camp” which means that they learn skills and get to run around a lot (which is about as interested as Little Squirrel gets right now). I don’t think she is ready for the structure required of a team or games. If she can’t stay close to her friend Claire from school, then she kind of loses interest. They like it best when they can run around together (especially if they can still hold hands). It is kind of cool to see that they both have improved since last fall and seem to remember a lot of the basics. Little Squirrel is enjoying her self but she definitely likes dance and swimming better.

Busy days...

Summer hasn't officially started yet and we are already busy! We have had a lot of fun over the past few weeks. Swimming lessons finished up and by the end, Little Squirrel happily went all the way under water. I think we are going to try to get her into lessons again later in the summer so we don't lose the momentum.

The first really hot weekend, we took Tea, Crackers, and Little Squirrel to the Animal Ark (a local wildlife sanctuary) and hiked around. The adults ended up hot and tired but the kids had a lot of fun - even with a flying insect terrorizing Little Squirrel. (She threw her water on the ground, screamed and ran for her Papa - which she later edited to be putting her water down and asking Papa to pick her up. On Memorial Day the two families met for a couple of games of bowling. None of the parents were actually beaten by the kids but it was a close call for the Moms.

We celebrated my birthday, which was even more fun because Little Squirrel was excited about it. She couldn't wait for it to get here and loved being able to celebrate with family and friends on different days. She also was so excited that she walked around the date of my actual birthday, announcing it (complete with my age) to her entire school, and her 20-25 year old teachers.


Last weekend we went to Tea's big dance recital and then back to her house for cupcakes and ice cream. Little Squirrel was very excited to watch Tea on the "big stage" and is eagerly looking forward to her own recital on June 18th. Tea and her dance class were incredibly adorable and did a great job.



The day after the recital, everyone slept in and then we took Little Squirrel to a bug exhibit at the May Center. She liked the robots bugs and the glow-in-the-dark scorpions the best. Afterwards we met up with Tea and Crackers (they had already seen the exhibit) and went to the Great Basin Adventure. We rode the log ride a few times (Little Squirrel preferred to sit in the back so that she didn't get splashed), checked out the baby goats, played on the playgrounds, and finished up with pineapple snow cones.




Today we had dance class and Perry's Pirate Party (which has been greatly anticipated for the last few weeks by Little Squirrel), and tomorrow it is back for dance photos and then to Tea and Crackers to play while the Moms make cards. Thank goodness Papa knows how to do laundry and dishes or we would be in real trouble. :)
~KK