Memorial Day 2013

We had a great Memorial Day weekend which included lots of outdoor time enjoying the beautiful weather!

We made and ate our own homemade popsicles...

Enjoyed lots of park time

And had some major fun with the sprinkler and water-table

 

 

 

 

 

And just sitting and talking afterwards is fun too!

We had both sets of grandparents over for a fun BBQ one evening. Olivia absolutely ADORES her family, so having Mimi, Gra, Pop-O, AND Tutu over nearly blew her little mind. She was SO happy!

Her happiness for her family was slightly overshadowed by her happiness at the abundance of readily-available ice in the cooler. I swear she ate half a bag of ice!

Gra and Mimi brought over a pool that was a big hit too!

Gra got a "high fi" for setting up the pool!

And, thanks to Mimi & Gra, we can cross "blow giant bubbles" off our summer bucket list!

And once Olivia lost interest in the bubbles and went to lounge in the pool, both grandpas still had fun blowing bubbles!

We kicked off summer with letting Olivia experience the joy of eating outside, including a slice of watermelon. As I expected, she loved it and I expect many more outside dinners at her little table!

And, like every good party, we finished off the evening with a little tea.

Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures of the delicious spread we had, but if you're looking for some good recipes this summer, we loved The Pioneer Woman's Mango Margaritas, Martha's spicy grilled shrimp, and these delicious cheesecake parfaits that Mimi made.

On Monday we took a morning trip to the zoo --- it was hot, but lots of fun!

She had a similar response to the petting zoo as she had in the past....work up the courage to pet the animal

Actually pet the animal...

Quickly run back to daddy for protection!

There is a little park in the middle of the zoo, next to the petting zoo.  And there is a random rooster strutting around on the fence. At one point the rooster let out a "cock-a-doodle-doo" which Olivia thought was amazing and she continuously begged the rooster "Again! Again!" Sadly, he did not oblige.

As she has with past trips, Olivia really wanted to ride the carousel..

Until it actually started...

At which point she decided she wanted to get off immediately and be held ("hold you!" she screamed at me). Once I did, she was perfectly happy to waive to daddy.

She finished riding with mama and cried to "ride" again with dad.  

These giraffes were the last stop and they put on quite a show chasing each other and the zebras around!

We finished off the weekend with a frozen chocolate "nana" which Olivia LOVED.  (And, in case you're wondering, she decided to get herself naked before going outside to eat it - completely unprompted by me....kinda weird but I wasn't going to complain!)

Such a wonderful weekend and we can't wait to work some more on our summer bucket list!