Polka! Polka! Polka!

What a great night in Syracuse....we love summer festivals.

Tonight Patrick and Mommy celebrated our Slavic heritage at Polish Fest. It's the closest that we Czechs, 1/2 or 1/4, can get to a festival in our honor in Syracuse. We spent our time in Columbus Circle with Ciochi (a true Polock), Mark, Sarah Jane, and Will. The kids had a a great time running around, playing games, and getting their faces painted. Pat was a shark and Sarah a butterfly.Of course Patrick and Sarah danced the Polka!

The kids ran around the steps of some building, made friends with passing preschoolers, SCREAMED a lot, and got filthy! What more could kids ask for?!?

POPSICLES!!

Patrick recently suggested that we make Popsicles. I am really not sure where he got the idea, but we had to go with it......it is part of summer! They were absolutely delicious! We were quite creative with our "original" method and recipe. We used our favorite animal Dixie cups and popsicle sticks. Our secret recipe is to mix together vanilla yogurt and frozen fruit (we used peaches) in the blender. Pour in the cups and freeze over night. Mmm Mmm.
Patrick shared his first homemade popsicle with Sissy. She LOVED it and ended up with the whole popsickle so that Patrick could play his own version of leap frog off a chair.
I know it is a fuzzy picture. Sometimes it is hard to get in focus shot of the crazy daredevil that we call Patman.

Yum, Yum, Yum

Elizabeth is getting pretty close to totally giving up her highchair. She really does eat much better when she isn't in it. Whatever we can do to get her to eat, especially foods outside her signature bland colors, is a benefit. So, Thursday night Sissy sat in a big girl chair. Mommy's chair actually, which meant Daddy didn't sit.
The pictures speak for themselves....she is in need of some lift. But she was content to barely see over the top of her bowl, eating her tortellini. Notice she even ate it with tomato sauce......progress with Progresso! As usually Rusty was waiting to catch any scraps, spills, or food from wandering hands.
And then we can't forget about Patrick. He wanted us to take pictures of him eating like a big boy, just like Sissy eating like a big girl!

More Summer

Sissy is giving her signature 'Hi' with a wave to her good friend Leah. Sissy is a fan of the backpack, often wearing her Zoe backpack (Zoe is a character from Sesame Street) all day long.

Summer So Far

Our summer has begun. We tried to get some relief from 90+ days by swimming in Aunt Di and Uncle Dan's pool. The water was cold and the kids had little interest in being in the water. Nonetheless, we had fun, especially PAL who gained a blow up palm tree from the visit, dragged Timbo on "safari" and had his poor cousin crawling under the deck and behind fences to retrieve toys in need of "saving". Sissy had fun hitting a golf ball, laughing at the boys, and loading up on cheese and crackers.

Sissy is learning her way about the park. She likes to climb and is quite a dare devil, going down tubes slides on her belly. Her big brother wont do the tube slides.

We have already been at the park and play ground a lot this late spring and start of summer. PAL prefers "the purple park" and the "green park". He loves to hang on the bar before going down the slide.

Our Blogged Summer

Friends of ours have a blog for their little girl, so that all their family and friends can see her grow and change. I find myself checking out the blog all the time, even though I see this little girl practically everyday. So, we are going to use this as a means to let the world know about PAL and Sissy. I may keep 500+ pictures on my camera for months at a time, but I can atleast get a couple on the computer to post to the blog.

PAL and Sissy are doing great. Patrick is approaching 3 1/2 and Sissy just turned 18 months. Sissy had to have tubes put into her ears due to frequent ear infections. She came through the surgery like a champ and recovered quickly. She loves to play and is pretty much easy going. Sissy loves to dance, sometimes making up her own songs to bop to. She is very friendly, greeting almost everyone we see out and about, and then saying good-bye once they begin to leave our field of vision. PAL is definately a big brother, buggy Sissy whenever he can, but also becoming protective and caring when he needs to. Patrick is very into animals and dinosaurs, still. He and Dad just went to see Kung Fu Panda so our toy of choice has been a Panda we got from a Happy Meal. We got the Happy Meal just for the stinking toy. I think PAL drank the milk and Bri ate the cheeseburger and fries. PAL is playing baseball....he goes for an hour every Saturday and has progressed fairly well. He can hit a ball off the tee and even hit a pitched ball pretty well. However, his main concern during baseball is the slides next to the baseball field and the chocolate cone usually awaiting him after baseball. He and Bri are having fun together.

I can't wait for school to end. Pop-pop built the kids an awesome playset that the kids are already loving. Lazy days of playing in the pool and hanging in the yard will be nice.