The Daily Kate Update

Monday, July 22, 2013

Fun in the Dells

We spent July 13-17 up at the Wilderness on the Lake in the Dells, and as usual, it was so much fun. Kate loved both the indoor and the outdoor pools; I even got over my distaste of water in my eyes to go down the kiddie slides with her in the inside pool, which she loved. She kept hugging me after every slide we went down and saying, "Mama! This is so much fun!"

My mom also threw a beautiful surprise shower for me; it was so cute! We played games, had yummy orange chiffon cake, and of course received a lot of wonderful, thoughtful gifts. It was so much fun!

The view from the pool

This girl is not afraid of water; she would purposely stand under each bucket that was dumping just so she'd get soaked!

You can see her at the top of the slides, in her pink and orange suit

Love this getup she had on as we packed up at the end of our trip!

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Summer Fun

The week of the 8th was so much fun. I love how everything we do is so exciting to Kate; her catchphrase appears to be, "I'm so excited!!!" Like I said in a previous post, we spent Monday morning at the library, which is always fun. Tuesday we had music class and then we were going to go to Lunchtime Live on the square, but a downpour erupted about 10 minutes before we were to leave. So, we just spent the day lazing around at home, playing with her dolls and her blocks. On Wednesday we met some friends at a really nice park in Sun Prairie; they had brought a lot of bubble equipment, so the kids of course had a lot of fun with that. Afterward, the two of us went to Gus's Diner for chicken strips and chocolate malts (I know, healthy).

Thursday we hosted our playgroup, and Kate had a lot of fun with the kids who came. Then on Friday we met Meghan and her kids at the zoo, which is always fun--although I must say I much prefer it in the spring or fall as opposed to the summer! Even though it was only in the 70s, the humidity made it feel much hotter. But I'm not really complaining (or maybe I am, just slightly); I know it will be cool weather again before long, so I'm enjoying the summer as much as I can!

Kate & Sam after music class; we were the only two people in class that day!

At Gus's Diner

I told her I had to make a work call when we got home, so she had to be quiet. She then got on her laptop and phone and said, "Mama, I need to make a work call; please be quiet." Ha!

At the zoo

Playing with some kids at the park after the zoo

Monday, July 8, 2013

Our Day at the Beach

We had such a fantastic 4th of July weekend; love those four-day weekends! On Friday we just hung out at home and relaxed, but on Saturday we went to Sandy Beach in Lake Mills. We all had so much fun; we spent over three hours there and could have stayed longer if it wasn't for naptime! Kate & I loved splashing and swimming in the water together, and she and Dan had fun building a sandcastle together (although, let's face it, he did most of the work!) Then that night we went over to Bianca's house for dinner; Kate has so much fun with her, it's so cute to see them play together. Kate found a baby toy there (Bianca has a little sister who is almost two) and now she always tells my stomach, "Baby! I have a toy for you the next time we go to Bi-nac-ia's [her pronunciation] house! You're going to love it!" It's so cute to see how excited she is about her sibling.

On Sunday we just kind of lazed around, cleaned up downstairs, and spent the evening in our pool. Today, Kate & I had a fun morning at the library playing, doing puzzles, and picking out new books (she is doing so well on her "Dig Into Reading" Summer Challenge; she is already 75% of the way through. I'm so glad we have a child who loves to read!) and then we went to a nearby coffee shop for lunch and read some more. I just love being with her; she is such a fun, sweet, smart little girl, and I love the conversations we have together. Cuddling together on the couch in the coffee shop and reading book after book together is pretty much my idea of heaven. I'm so lucky I get to spend my days with her! Now she's napping so I'm getting some work done, and then we'll head to the gym and then our pool.

That's Kate in the pink suit; don't worry, Dan was close by (he's just covered up by the woman in the blue suit)

Making some new friends

Snacktime!

"No pictures, please."

Asleep by the time we had even been in the car for five minutes!

Friday, July 5, 2013

Random snapshots of our summer

Kate and I (and Dan, too, of course, when he's not working!) have been having so much fun this summer; I can't believe we're already into July! The weather has been pretty mild, which is great in terms of not being miserable during pregnancy, although luckily there have been some really hot afternoons that Kate & I have spent at our pool. We can spend hours there; we have such a good time just swimming, talking and being together. She has such an imagination; I love having a three-year-old!

Speaking of pools, Kate took a two-week swimming class at the Sun Prairie Aquatic Center, and she passed (of course!) Out of the 25 items or so on the list, there were only two things she still needed to work on; the back glide and the back float. I had to laugh; one of the items on the list was "does not fear the water." I'm pretty sure Kate had that down pat, oh, two years ago! So she is officially ready to move from Whales into Dolphins (which starts in August).

Other than that, the only other class we are taking this summer is music. Our spring session ended on June 18, and then we start our new session on July 9. There are so many great activities going on in the summer, but I want to have plenty of time to relax, too, before the baby comes, so I wanted to keep our schedule simple.

We've been really enjoying the outdoors; this past weekend, we biked in the Arboretum as a family, which was a ton of fun. Kate & I also met our playgroup at Lunchtime Live on Tuesday, which is this great little free concert at noon on the capitol lawn. She had so much fun (as did I). Then we also met some people from our playgroup at the concert on the square on Wednesday; concerts on the square are definitely one of my favorite summer things in this city. And Kate had so much fun with her new friend Bianca (who is 4.5 but she and Kate just love being together!)

We've also enjoyed playing with friends; Kate has become friends with a girl from her music class (Mary) so we've had a couple of playdates with them at their house, and of course Adelaide is still one of Kate's best friends, so we enjoy seeing them, whether it's at our house, theirs, or Play N Wisconsin. We've been hanging out with Gus (from Tiny Tots) and his mom a fair amount too; we hit up the Wednesday's farmers' market together as well as Madtown Twisters on a rainy day. And our playgroup always has fun activities that we try to take part in on a weekly basis, such as the aforementioned Lunchtime Live, storytime at the Middleton library followed by playing in Bianca's backyard, or the weekly Thursday's playgroup at someone's house (which reminds me... I have to host next week; yikes. Better get cleaning!)