Family

Over the last week, a few of our relatives have been through our area. We were able to visit briefly with Aunt Sara, Cousin Blake and his girlfriend Tammy, and cousin Drew. Later in the week we also saw Aunt Maggie and Uncle Phil. Then we went to meet up with Aunt Kay. They all live out of the state, so we don't get to see them often. It was good to see you all. I hope our next visit will be longer. Hope you all had (or have) a good journey home.

Can you do this?

So, maybe since I have never quite mastered the concept of the Hula Hoop, this is quite extraordinary to me especially since she was only introduced to it a few months ago!

Future Gymnast?

Leah loved gymnastics! She is in a class with only one other child (another 3 year old girl). I was surprised that they still held the class. Good for Leah, though, as she gets lots of attention.

June Celebrations

Happy Birthday:

6/14- Kari
6/24- Cousin T.J
6/25- Cathy
6/27- Cousin Bryan
6/28- Aunt Cass
6/29- Cousin Mike

Happy Anniversary:

6/10- Cathy and Anthony
6/15- Uncle Peter and Aunt Kay
6/20- MOM and DAD

Bathtub Interview

So, tonight while Leah was taking a bath, I decided to ask her a few questions.

What is your name? Leah Benner
How old are you? "I'm big and 3"
Favorite color? Purple
Favorite animal? Sparky (the sea lion at Como Zoo), "my size" lion and "my size" monkey ("my size" refers to a small size- we often say that is "Leah size")
Favorite place to go? "the BIG Target" (this means Super Target)
Favorite show? Dora
Favorite restaurant? Chili's
Favorite activity? Gymnastics, "I like doing gymnastics" (this is funny because she starts gymnastics tomorrow- but she has been excited about it since we signed her up and the coach let her try out the equipment)
Friends? Joshua, Nathanial, Trevor, Elizabeth, Morgan, Kaylee, Thea
Favorite game? "the game in the bag" (this is Hi Ho Cherry-O)
Favorite song? ABCs, Itsy Bitsy Spider
Favorite radio song? "My song" (which is really called "Our Song")
Favorite outside activity? Play
Favorite book? Franklin books

Happy Father's Day

"Our Song"

Leah's favorite singer is Taylor Swift. She is a country artist. Of her songs, Leah's favorite song is called Our Song. Leah calls this song "MY SONG." This video is of Leah singing this song. Unfortunately, it does not accurately display how she sings it because usually she has a lot more attitude. Leah has a great way of becoming timid when I bring out the video camera!

Swimming

Leah had her final LITTLES 1 swim class yesterday. She did so great, but she did have some problems this session. About midway through, her teacher quit. She had bonded with her, so this was a difficult transition to a new teacher who was not as enthusiastic as the first one had been. Then, I spoke with the manager, and Leah ended up having private sessions for the last 4 weeks. Great- yes, but we are talking about Leah- sometimes the weirdest things set her off. This time it was the MALE instructor. He looks so intimidating, doesn't he? He is actually fabulous with the kids and a great teacher. But Leah would get very upset even at the mention of his name (Ryan). So, last week, I bribed her (some may not agree- but I say whatever works). I said, no crying and we will go to McDonald's for dinner. Amazing how quickly she was able to turn off the tears. So, in the end, Leah had a great session, she worked well with Ryan, and she is starting to "swim" independently.

• She keeps her head in the water for "5 banana's" and sometimes longer
• She kicks and paddles her arms together over the noodle while her head is in the water (by the end of class, she was doing this with light 1 finger support)
• She backfloats unsupported (not great), better at backfloat over a noodle-no support.
• Hopefully, I can keep up with bringing her to the pool so she doesn't forget what she has learned.

Michigan

We had a nice trip to Michigan. A long 12 hour drive for only a 2 day stay. Leah was an excellent traveler. I would say an A on the way there and a B on the way home. Coming home had a few difficulties, but primarily because she was tired. On the way there, it would have been perfect, but she will NOT wear headphones to listen to her movies, so I had to listen to DORA! She was quite amazing at keeping herself occupied- I was even able to read a book!

Saturday: We went to Cabela's to feed the fish which she loved. Leah remembered doing this the last time we were there. When we told her we were going to MI to visit Grandpa Shorty, she stated, " I want to feed the fish with Grandpa Shorty." Then we went to the Hotel Waterpark- Splash Universe. She had a great time there, but it she preferred to stay in the toddler pool (8 inches) which had a small slide. She also enjoyed the 2 foot pool and the Lazy River. She would really have nothing to do with the Playground area. She had such a busy day, she almost fell asleep at dinner.

Sunday: We went to visit Grandma Benner and Andy. Aunt Lucille, Uncle Dennis, Aunt Lauren, and Uncle Randy joined us there for a brief visit. Then we went to Aunt Sandy's (Uncle Les was out of town). They have tons of horses. We thought Leah would love to see the horses, but she was a bit hesitant and really did not want to get to close. We finished the day by going to Bronner's- The world's largest Christmas store.

We had a nice visit with Joe's dad. I just can't believe how tired a person can get from a full day of driving- or in my case riding in a car!

Click on the picture link to view more pictures. Click on the sets (left side of page) to get a more accurate timeline as the photostream (pictures on the right) just gets organized by how I uploaded them, and I did not realized that, so I did not take care in paying attention to dates when I uploaded the photos.