4th of July

Emma celebrated the 4th of July in the U.S. this year! (And she was much more active than she was last year!) We spent a relaxing long weekend at Kurt's parents house where Emma got to run around in a big yard, look at fishies in the creek, be intrigued by her first camp fire, eat cookies whenever she wanted (she WAS at Grandma and Grandpa's house afterall!), and pretty much have any one of at least 10 people's attention whenever she wanted. It was a 13 month old's dream come true! And all while that was going on, Mommy and Daddy got some time to relax and even go out to dinner without Emma for the first time in the States!

Funny stories from the weekend:
We arrived at Kurt's parents' house just before lunch and nap time on Friday. After lunch, we just put Emma down for her nap on the bed in Kurt's room, which is in the basement, since we hadn't unpacked and set up her pack and play yet. We all go off to do our own things for a bit, Kurt gets on the computer, I read in the living room, Kurt's Dad is cooking in the kitchen for the party. The house is pretty much silent. After an hour or so, he thinks he hears something and goes over to the basement steps and there is Emma, half way up the staircase. Apparently, she woke up, climbed off the bed, and figured we were all upstairs and was coming to look for us! We were all amazed that she wasn't scared at all and knew exactly how to find us!

Grandma and Grandpa bought a little kiddie wading pool for Emma. We were all excited to get her into her swim suit and put her in it to play. She on the other hand, did not think that was a great idea! We finally coaxed her into it but she would only stand. She was playing with a toy and got water on her tummy and started bawling. For the rest of the weekend, she would only play on the outside of the pool. Finally, late on the 4th, she did get back in for a few minutes.

We bought Emma a booster seat while we were in Pennsylvania. She was SO excited! She initially showed interest in a friends' booster seat a couple weeks earlier and we put it on our list of things to look for. Since we were visiting, we thought it would be a good time to get it so that she could have her own seat. She feels like such a big girl in the seat!

On Sunday morning, we met up with the entire extended family for breakfast. We ended up going back to the house for a few hours afterward. We could tell that Emma was severely disappointed that we weren't staying in the car and heading right home. Although she enjoys visiting and seeing family, she was more than ready to get back into her own house with her own toys and back into her normal routine. She went to the front door a couple times and said "Go." When we arrived back at our house, we set her down in the living room and she just looked at her corner of toys and said "Woah!" and "Wow!" She took it all in for a minute then ran up to her chair, climbed in and just sat there for several minutes admiring her toys and her living room. I wish I had been recording the scene! It was so cute!