On the GO!

Hi Everyone,

I am afraid that my return to work is going result in less frequent posts to the blog. I hope to still post once every two weeks (or so), but we'll see how it goes. Time really flies now and it is hard to find time to load the pictures much less the blog etc.

Everyone is doing very well. Josie has started going to Day Care full time this past week. Basically, this means she now takes her afternoon nap at day care instead of at home. She just has time for her snack after waking from her nap before I pick her up. This schedule is actually working out better. Since she has napped when I pick her up, we are more able to head to a park or somewhere fun for the afternoon instead of straight home.

Below are several pictures of our "Tour de Playground." So many different apparatuses to play with and of them all-- Josie's most favorite are stairs.

Yes, you are reading that correctly-- STAIRS are all the rage in Dong Dong land at this time-- no matter where we go or what else is going on-- Josie is all about the STAIRS.

Here we are at the YMCA park.

"Oh boy! Look at this toy!"

"Ha HA! I made it to the top!"

We took some time out from the Playground tour to visit with Auntie Michelle. Josie had a great time playing mail. We are ALL anxiously waiting for Auntie Michelle to travel to China and bring home her little girl-- Josie's new playmate.

"I want to mail some yummy snacks to Grace."

Onward with our "Tour de Playground." This is another playground in Coventry. There are a lot of ball fields also at this playground. For some reason they designed this area so that the younger kid's playground is somewhat secluded. Mommy and Josie Dong Dong got the great pleasure of surprising two young lovers when we approached. Mommy was very happy that the event warranted only a PG-13 rating.

Josie took right off for her favorite-- THE STAIRS!

"Look Mommy! STAIRS! I want to climb up the STAIRS!"

"Look at me! I'm at the top!"

"I know how to hold on to the railings so I don't fall going down."

This picture isn't the greatest, but Josie's expression-- this is her "I'm so proud of myself" look.

Josie Dong Dong did decide to make one trip down the slide solo. Yes, I did go down it with her a couple of times first. I'm sure several of you would like to see photos of THAT, but it is hard to take a picture of oneself sliding down a slide with a toddler on slide that is built for toddlers.

"Wow! That was FAST!"

Next on our Tour is a park in West Warwick that had all kinds of stuff just the right size for little Miss Josie Dong Dong. Yes, even the right size STAIRS!

"These are just the right size for me!"

Gabrielle came with us to this park and was able to coax Josie into doing a few more things besides climbing up and down the stairs.

"Look Josie, I'm on a Zebra."
"OK. I'll try the Rhino, but you look a little silly on that Zebra."

"Whoa! My skirt is going to fly off!"
"Maybe we should just spend some quiet time going for a short walk."

At the homestead, Gabrielle often spends time reading to Josie, or simply playing silly games with her. Josie always enjoys spending time with her big sis.

Last weekend we went to my friend's wedding-- it was a new age style wedding with gongs and all kinds of really cool stuff. Below is a picture of Xavier showing something to Josie (I'm not sure what it is) just before the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Josie wanted to check out the gongs and the area where the ceremony took place.

"This place is pretty cool, but it would be better if it had some STAIRS!"

"I guess I'll make due with running around!"

Today, we spent the morning at our favorite park, ImPossible Dreams. Of course Josie spent a lot of time climbing up and down the stairs. She also enjoyed crawling through the tubes, the slides, and running around in general.

"Catch me Mommy. I'm going to slide all by myself."

That pretty much sums up our activities-- not really a whole lot of interest, just a whole lot of on the go-- speaking of which, gotta go.