If You Go Down Into the Woods Today...


You're sure of a big surprise...


If you go down into the woods today, you'd better go in disguise.

 

For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain.


Because today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.


Sam and I had another fun playdate today - this time we were the hosts.  We had a teddy bear picnic at our neighborhood park.  Sam was pretty good, as long as his little bear paws were full of Teddy Grahams.

The other moms got some great photos of their babies with their teddy bears.  We're looking forward to the fall - lots more outdoor playdates and photo shoots scheduled!









Nature


This is how the other children see Sam during playdates. The back of him - off and running.  Always on the move.

I couldn't blame him yesterday.  We met the other moms and babies at a really pretty park in McKinney.  There was lots of shade and open space for Sam to run.  And boy did he run.

The purpose of the playdate was for all of us moms in this particular group (a club for mommy photographers or "momtogs" as we're sometimes called) to get together and practice taking pictures of the kids outdoors, with bubbles and pinwheels as props.


This is the only picture I got of Sam officially participating in our photography shoot.  He can't say no to bubbles!  But for the most part, Sam had other plans.  He wanted to get down and dirty with nature.




And boy did he get dirty!  He collected seed pods ("baw-uls") and threw them in the lake, one by one, and watched the water ripple.  He found some leaves, a couple of sticks, and pounded his hand on a park bench, touching a spot that I thought was dirt, but later decided was something else, judging by the number of geese lurking around...

And by the time we were ready to go home, this is what his playmates saw, the ones he had ignored for over an hour - a dirty, hot and sweaty boy who'd had a great day just hangin' out with nature!

Hoppin' Down the Bunny Trail

Sam's first word today? ROW-WERS!

Sam and Gram and I headed down to Dallas last week early for a visit to the Arboretum. They had a special exhibit called "Peter Rabbit's Village". We were able to visit several little cottages belonging to Peter, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, and Miss Jemima Puddleduck. Sam loved the bees, butterflies and ladybugs made of moss, and gave a mossy Miss Puddleduck a kiss on the beak.



 













Sam and Gram watched a fountain grow "big, bigger, BIG!" and played catch in a maze garden. We saw some koi fish taking a morning swim and I'm sure they heard us leaving with Sam screaming and kicking his feet. Apparently he likes real fish, too, not just the cheddar ones.




We ended the day (at noon - it was hot) meeting a big, friendly Peter Rabbit along with some real-live critters including a bunny, hedgehog and mouse.  When we got home we were tired and sweaty, sweaty, sweaty but we had a great time!  Flower collages to come....

Arboretum Fountain from Sara Straka on Vimeo.

Row-Wers


Sam loves flowers. He asks at least once a day to go see the flowers in our yard.  He points to the front door and says "row-wers" and then comes back inside yelling "row-wers" to whoever didn't go out with him.  He also has a ladybug ornament in the flower pots that sit outside the living room windows that he must say "Hi-ya" to at least once a day. 



Here we are in the backyard one morning (the only time we can stand to be outside), smelling the flowers in our garden, and then in Gram and Pops' backyard, smelling more flowers.  Both Pops and Daddy have a green thumb, so chances are Sam will successfully grow his own row-wers someday.


More Swimmin', More Picnicn'

We had a picnic on Memorial Day at a spot we'd picked out over three years ago.

We have lots of little parks in our neighborhood with benches and shade. We chose to picnic at the park that Gram and I drove by one day back when Brian and I were house-hunting and she said, "If you move here I want to take my grandbaby on a picnic right there" - so we did!






This was Sam's first time at our neighborhood pool and he had a great time. Gram put him on the side of the pool and he "jumped" to her on the count of three, he swam on his tummy with Pops, got a horsey-ride from Daddy, and bopped around the pool with Mama. I think his favorite part was the walk-through water fountain area. My favorite part was that Sam slept great that night!