fun in the sun!

our weekend totally rocked! where to begin...

on friday, we started off the day with storytime at the library and picking up our first Summer Reading prize for this year. we got a new book to add to our library!

then in the afternoon, our neighbor friends invited us to join them at the St. Johns Park for some fun time playing in the fountain! so we got Molly in her bathing suit ensemble (see above), we grabbed baby doll (who was naked except for the hat Molly insisted she wear) and we headed out! we met up with our friends (to the right of zero it's Beau, Rachel and Amelia) and had some serious fun! here is a slideshow of the good times!


after the fountain we played on the jungle-gym and at one point Molly and Beau gave each other a big hug, which is of course very sweet, but also hysterically funny - check out the looks on their faces, they're so serious!

so a really fun afternoon! i've said it before and i'll say it again (and probably even a couple more times in this post), i can't believe how lucky we got when we bought our house. we moved into the best block ever! there are five young families living on our block alone with kids aged 9 months to 10 years, most of them being under the age of 2. Molly and Beau get to play together several times a week and it's just so nice! note to neighbors, you can never move!

after we got home from all the fun and frolic, Molly got her hands on the camera and was taking some pictures, mostly of her bangs, and some of her feet. you'll remember from an earlier post that Molly is quite the photographer, and to prove it, she somehow managed to get this shot of herself here on the left! again with the serious face (and kind of caked in snack), but isn't she an absolute beauty! we have titled it "self-portrait".

we woke up saturday and after breakfast we played a bit in the backyard. Molly has a tent we got at Ikea that is super fun to play in, and especially to open and close. here is a slideshow of that, and note the last picture of her and harley pooch. Molly is attempting to give her a smooch. it's so sad, Molly has so much love for harley, and harley wants nothing to do with her. luckily, Molly doesn't seem to notice!


and in St. Johns on Saturday they had the second annual No.Fest bringing music and art to our neighborhood, all day long. so remember how i said we were lucky about our house and our neighbors? well we are also lucky to live in such a kick-butt part of town! every year we have things like the St. Johns Parade, the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival, the Pirate Festival, and No.Fest - all right down the street from us! does it get any better? i think not! (see neighbors, you really don't want to move!)

for this adventure, we grabbed "Shani" doll, who happened to be dressed only in a t-shirt and diaper, and stuck her in our backpack. you should hear Molly say "backpack", it's so cute! and a note about "Shani" doll, she is my doll from when i was a little girl, and i named her Amy. but when Amy passed on to Molly, she renamed her Shani - after her auntie Shani. all on her own and also very cute!

we grabbed our shades and some snacks of course, and put them in our new snack cup (these things are brilliant, and i can't believe we went so long without one) and headed out the door. we went to the St. Johns Booksellers who had a great band called Jelly Jar Productions playing and they were awesome. the music was creative and fun and they included puppets! and we were there for a good hour and Molly was totally enthralled the entire time. it was nap time so we headed home, but got to hear some more great music on the way by a group called the Hemispheric Chamber Orchestra. next year we hope to spend more time at No.Fest!

after nap we got ready to go to our friend Nate's 2nd Birthday party!! we had such a nice time. Molly and Nate are only 5 months apart and played really well together. well, there were a couple tense moments over the animal crackers and Nate's cool cash register he got for a present, but all in all, well done for two toddlers! the sand box was especially fun, and it was very sweet when Nate pushed Molly around on his bicycle. plus the spread was delicious! Nate's mom and dad really know how to host a party! here are some pix...


seriously, this marathon post is almost done! couple things. first, back to the awesome neighbors! on Saturday night the monthly CMG (Charleston Mom's Group) met at a local pub to chat it up a bit. i mentioned the five young families on our block, well here is a picture of the fabulous moms of those families. they are (from left to right) Cosette (mother of Adriana, almost 15 months), Ingrid (mother of Vincent, almost 9 months), me (mother of the amazing Molly, 20 months), Diana (mother of Mishya, 7 and Keeton, 10) and Rachel (mother of Amelia, 6 and Beau, 20 months). i hope i got everyone's ages right! they are a spectacular bunch of ladies!

and then i just had to share this picture of Molly. she's imitating people all the time now, and in some cases, we're not sure where she really gets it from. for instance, lately she likes to sit down, very purposefully, and cross her legs and arms. then, she proceeds to kiss her bicep. what?! where does she get that from? i dunno, but it's pretty funny!




and lastly, here is a little picture of all of us playing around before bed one night! happy family!!