Just Girls!

With Finley busy fishing and ziplining at camp most days, 

Dagny and I have gotten a ton of quality time together, just girls! Dagny's a great shopper and errand partner. Though she rarely sticks to the shopping list!

And when it hasn't been 90 degrees or more, we've checked out some playgrounds together. 

Though she doesn't have as much fun without Finley by her side.

We have been doing a Stroller Strides class where moms exercise with their kiddos in jogging strollers.  Running, doing hills, etc. all with a 3 year old getting a fun ride!  Here's Dagny before class one morning:

 Our class is at Nara park in town that also has a beach and a pond so we reward ourselves after the workout and hit the beach!

 See that blue boogie board in the above photo? Well, Dagny set her mind to covering the whole thing in sand and did a very good job!! See below!

No one else around to take pictures of the two of us swimming but boy did the water feel good when we jumped in!!

Needless to say, Dagny keeps me quite entertained when it's just the two of us because you never know what she might say, want to play, or "need" to wear.

While I am truly enjoying the girl time I am getting with Dagny this summer, we do love picking Finley up off the camp bus each afternoon and seeing what fun they get into together at home.

Blueberry Picking at Parlee Farm in 2015

After two years of picking at Honey Pot Hill, we decided to venture a bit farther north to harvest blueberries at Parlee Farm.

We picked up three buckets and made our way to the HUGE patch.

 The kids were on the look out for the perfect row to start in.

 Dagny was ready for action and with a little guidance from Finley, she was soon picking ripe berries and dropping them in her bucket like Little Sal, kerplink, kerplank, kerplunk.

 Finley is a seasoned pro and was excited whenever he found a good branch that was overflowing with berries just waiting to be picked.

 Dagny picked several handfuls and then said she had plenty, but Finley and I convinced her to keep picking.  Thankfully, she bought it and continued on her merry way through the patch with us.

 A nice gentleman nearby snapped a photo of the three of us for me and then we kept picking and finally the sampling began -- Dagny liked eating them right off the bushes while Finley took a seat and snacked out of his own bucket for a few minutes.

 Then, it was back to work.

 The kids loved getting into each row and looking for berries that were hidden from everyone else's sight.

 After about an hour, we had picked plenty and made out way out.  The kids were very proud of their bounty and while we didn't make any friends in our NY sports' gear...we did pick just over nine pounds of blueberries!!

 We also bought some corn and peaches from the farm stand along with a bag of freshly made blueberry donuts! We snacked on the donuts and then explored the animals nearby. Sheep, goats, chickens, and one very fluffy rabbit.  Neither Finley or Dagny have ever shown any interest in hand feeding farm animals...but there was a loophole in this preference -- feeding goats via convener belt!!.
Just drop some food pellets on the belt and then turn the wheel for the hungry goat at the top!

Finally, the kids got to drive motorized tractors around a little hay track before we headed home.  It may have been a bit of a longer drive, but this blueberry picking adventure was well worth it and if we can eat our way through all nine pounds of berries -- we'll be back up there soon!!

Dagny Meets the Dentist

Turning three isn't all cupcakes and presents, it also means an inaugural visit to the dentist.  This morning, Finely and Dagny had dueling appointments and Dagny did great for her first time!  She watched Finley get his check up and cleaning and then crawled into the chair for her turn. Of course she brought along Hops, her trusty lovey.

 She did not get this enthusiasm for dental check ups from Dan or I, must be from Finley.

After the cleaning, she patiently waited for the dentist while flipping through magazines and books like a pro.

Finley told Dagny afterwards, "See, now you know what the dentist is like and you don't have to be worried about it."  Cuteness.

Summer Siblings

With Finley at camp on the weekday, it's been a great deal of time apart for our two buddies so they do try to catch up on the weekends.

Saturn siblings

Homemade Playdoh!

 Friendly's for lunch.

 Good thing they gave us a table next to an available dance floor:

While there's plenty of togetherness, Finley adores playing with Legos on his own and Dagny has developed her own ability to play solo with her Calico Critters -- many of which came from my childhood collection and several new families from my parents that she got for her birthday.

 Such cute imagination and hysterical conversations going on between these animals as Dagny gets more into playing with them.

 Until she decided she wanted them all to be naked.

 I really had to hold back my Type-A, OCD nature because in my head, I was screaming, "NOOOO!"

 At one point she brought to the bigger sheep in the kitchen and asked me, "Which one is the mommy and which one is the daddy?" and I had to laugh since there was no discernible difference now that they were clothing-less.

Davis Farmland, at last

The first full week of summer vacation, we were trying to soak up at much sun and time with friends as possible so after a day at our friend's neighborhood beach, we met up with our friends the Barrons at Davis Farmland.  This is a place full of farm animals for petting and feeding that also has acres of fun stuff for children to do: multiple playgrounds, bouncy house, splash park, go carts, pretend neighborhood full of shops and houses to play in, alpine slide, etc.  Many of our local friends were SHOCKED that despite this being our third summer in Acton, we had never been to Davis.  I had my reasons (mainly financial) but was finally swayed and so there we were!  It was a gorgeous day, not too hot, and the kids were just bursting to get in.

First things first, there was a paint-your-own-face station and while our kids were not interested -- their friends certainly were!

 Dagny did ask me to write a D and an F and draw a butterfly on her arms, though.  Finley also got some F's on his forearms.

 There were tons of farm animals to feed and a few special corrals, where you could go in and a staff member would put an animal on your lap once you sat down.  Dagny and Annie couldn't wait to get in, while their older brothers stayed on the other side of the fence .

 She loved holding this baby goat, even when it sniffed her ear and hair. Brave girl!

 We also met a 27 year old tortoise (a spring chicken in tortoise terms).

 Everyone took a turn pumping water for these very curious goats.

 Several playground were around and we settled on this one to start.

 Then, we did the bouncy house, some swings, and then onto the pretend neighborhood where Finley ran to the firetruck.

 Dagny and Annie were kind enough to ride in back.

 Then, there was some teamwork to deliver the mail all around the pretend town.

 

 A visit to the town's chicken coop.

While the bigger kids went down the huge slide on potato sacks, Dagny opted to keep her feet on the ground so she filed up her painter's pail at a pump and proceeded to paint the cow playground structure for a while.

 

Meanwhile, over at the slide....

Finley's in blue in the lane from the second from the right.

Last stop before lunch required bathing suits, so all seven of us piled into a generously large family bathroom to change.  We popped out and made our way to the splash park and I wasn't sure how Finley and Dagny would like it since neither are terribly brave in terms of water to the face situations.  However, before arriving inside the splash park, we came across a HUGE foaming bubble pit!!

 

 

Let's just say that Dagny LOVED it and I lost her a few times under the bubbles! Finley had fun there too and they both only came out occasionally to rinse of their bubbles in the least aggressive spray nozzle at the splash park.

We said goodbye to our friends who needed to head home and then found ourselves a shady spot at a picnic table for our packed lunch.  We ate quickly and then both kids wanted to go on the big slide together so off we went and I was so proud of Dagny, she dragged her potato sack up and happily slid down without any help from me.  We also watched as Finley drove a go cart around a track a couple times before making the trek back towards the parking lot. Phew.  All this and it was only 1:30pm!