Play while you Play

Work while you work,
Play while you play,
This is the way
To be happy each day.

All that you do,
Do with your might,
Things done by half
Are never done right.

-Nursery Rhyme

We may have been in Idaho to remodel a house and get it on the market, but Mommy and Zoey needed a little time for play.  Play with a four year old is never boring, but sometimes draining.  I'm grateful Zoey has a few aunts and uncles around to help keep things going when Mom has crashed.

While home we were back to the daily grind of renovations, there was always time in the evenings to go to Grandma and Grandpa's (Memoo and Papa) and visit, oh and play with Rufus of course...

...the races with Chrissy, Karlie and Bianca.....

 ...take trips to the park and have water fights in the back yard.

The slides are her favorite.

The end of June we took our annual trip to Ogden for the D.C.  Although we were there for a specific purpose, we weren't going to pass up a chance to make it a full vacation.  My sister, Chrissy, and I thoroughly enjoyed taking Zoey to Cherry Hill, our old stomping grounds, to ride the water rides.  She rode each one fearlessly, including Cardiac Canyon, a wild tube ride down waterfalls  and through twisty canyons.  At the end she declared it was fun, but she wouldn't be going down it a second time.  Her favorites were the blue tube slides and a pirate ship where she play-steered the ship then ran periodically down stairs to check the map and change course.

One day after the D.C. in Ogden, my other siblings Karlie, Micah, and his wife Jessica joined us for the Dinosaur Park adventure.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the fossils and life sized replicas of dinosaurs artfully displayed amongst dense vegetation.  

The work on the house was not over in July as I had hoped, but we still had many wonderful days of fun ahead of us.  Although we had already bid farewell to our poultry, we did get to foster a neat little rooster for a week (he loved to perch as near us as possible, which was often my head); and  we loved the cool little 20's dress-up dinner party hosted by Karlie and Bianca...

 


...days in the canyon with friends and family.....

with Barbara and Joe's little ones.

...the county fair and Zoey riding her first pony...

...and of course our own petting zoo.

 There were so many great moments this summer.  When we worked, we worked hard; and when we played, we played hard.  The only sadness was that I was only able to share most of these experiences with my loving husband, John, via pictures, but at least we had that.  I hope all my friends, family, and if you're reading this and I don't know you, I hope you too had a wonderful, fun filled summer too.

Little Adventures

 "Play is our brain's favorite way of learning"

- Diane Ackerman

One of the many sculptures at a local park.

Carousel at the mall.

One of the fun things about moving to a new area is finding out what fun activities are at your disposal.  We loved our day at Monahans National Monument and hope to find more family activities like that one.  We're well on our way to finding some really great things to do as a family.

Recently we explored the weekly local flee market which will full of hundreds of unique items.  We left with a few drinks and a bow for Zoey's hair.  I wasn't looking for much due to our small living space, but it was fun; though, I think I would do better there if I learned more Spanish.  While searching for the local Farmer's Market, we ended up at the local fair for the Midland Arts Counsel, which had hundreds of displays to tempt any art lover. After hours of walking we decided to reserve the Farmers Market for another day.

Zoey and Babs

  Most of my activities  involve the entertainment of my little girl.  At first we found ourselves filling our time at the public parks in the area or at the ponds feeding the birds and ducks, and we still do, but we also found some additional activities to fill a little girl's days with adventure.
One of those places is the Odessa Mall.  It' s a short 15 minute drive from our home and this mall definitely caters to families. There is an indoor ice skating rink at center court; but I have yet to take Zoey out since I sustained a knee injury as a teen and am unsure of it on ice, yet I'm sure we'll figure out how to get that kid on ice soon enough. There are two play areas throughout the corridors complete with slides and tubes to climb through, which Zoey makes full use of both of them.  There is also a carousel and a small train for the kids to ride (for a price). On Saturday they have someone creating balloon animals of each child's choice (free of charge), and these are pretty elaborate animals by most standards, you just have to be willing to wait in line.  Of course Zoey chose the pink Babs Bunny.

Since our arrival in the area, we have noticed carnival rides at every turn.  Sometimes in Odessa and sometimes in Midland, but they never seem to leave the, yet.  After realizing the rides set up at the Midland Mall didn't require admission (I hate paying admission to something I'm going to spend more money at), we decided to take Zoey to the rides.  Pulling up she saw the drop ride and the Kamikaze, she declared that she was going on those rides and "Don't worry Mom, I'm not scared."  Although she didn't meet the height requirements for those rides, I'd have to say I was pretty proud of her bravery. We bought her an unlimited pass and a few tickets for Mom and Dad to join her on the kiddie rides that required a parent to accompany her.  She rode every ride without hesitation and loved it.  Her favorites were the giant slides (we got some air on those) and the caterpillar roller-coaster. John and I kept putting a hand of comfort on her as parents do, but she defiantly pushed our hands away, because she can do it herself (she's getting so big).  Hearing her little squeals of delight whenever zoomed at higher speeds or flew through the air on the slides was priceless. 

The last days, weeks and months have been a blast.  I'm sure there is still so much more we can enjoy in this area and I can't wait to find the next adventure for my little girl.

On the rides with Daddy

I don't need hands for this ride!!

I can steer this thing!!!

1....2....3....4 Already!

 "Childhood is a short Season"  - Helen Hayes

Four years old, it seems so grown up and yet my baby is there already.  I keep hoping time will slow down but instead it gets even faster.  Zoey has become her own person and surprises me every day with her loving nature, opinions and questions.

Sometimes I take for granted what she may know and she surprises me with a question that I never thought would go through her mind.  "Mom, is Idaho on Mars?"  (There are times I thought it was.) We had shown her maps of the route from Idaho to Texas and she loves identifying points of interest to her on maps.  When she spotted the red star in the sky we confirmed it was the red planet and told her that was Mars.  Somehow she put the two together and wondered how they worked together, concluding Idaho is on Mars. After showing her images of planets on the internet and explaining that 'only Earth has good air', she now understands planets.  I just love the internet for teaching.


It also amazes me how educational cartoons have become.  She has learned some basic math principles, geometry, reading skills, and sometimes tells me of animals I've never even heard of.  "Mom, my favorite butterflies are the blue morpho butterflies and the monarch butterflies, but a pink butterfly would be the coolest."  Most interestingly is how she was watching Dora and began to speak Spanish words to me, even counting in Spanish at age 2 before I had started to teach her.

Each day we do a lesson (or five) in some of her preschool workbooks, practicing writing, letter sounds, basic math and the like.  She is ready and eager to start her lessons and understands most concepts quickly.  Then we sit for a while and the both of us practice Spanish words (Mom is trying to learn a bit too).  I hope this eagerness to learn continues to grow as she does.

She's become such a girlie-girl too.  Her favorite color is pink and anything pink she must point out (or ask for) from toys to walls to food.  In her words, "Pink is the most beautifullest color and that's why I like it."  She even told me she is going to drive "the pink car with no top" she saw parked near our house, a convertible pink Cadillac.  She often expresses her opinion on how she wants her hair done, often without me asking her, and she recently has decided she wants no bangs.  I was considering growing them out, so I think we're going to try it as long as mom can get through the awkward stage (her hair grows so slowly.

Zoey has about  6 swimsuits from hand-me-downs and gifts and wears most of them when the temperature reaches above 95, because she feels its the only way to stay cool even if you're not swimming.  I let her as long as we're not going anywhere, but once we are heading out I insist she put something else onand hear her new favorite phrase, "But MooOOoom....".

Our little girl is growing up, way too fast for me, but I'm loving every minute of it.  What will the next year bring?

Zoey and Mommy

Zoey and her friends at Memorial.