The zoo

We went with Emma and her classmates to the Potowatomi Zoo yesterday. It is in South Bend and it is the smallest zoo I have ever been to, but it was great for a field trip. We saw several different kinds of animals. I was happy that they had Zebras since that is Emma's favorite, but no Elephants or Giraffes. It had a little petting zoo that the kids could pet and brush goats. It also had an albino alligator on loan. Very cool. Afterwards, we had a picnic in the park and the kids played on the huge playset. Then a few of us went back in after the official fieldtrip was over and road the train and Emma had to ride the pony. I was a great time!

The fair

We went to the Elkhart County Fair this week. We went on Sr. Citizen day. I highly recommend it, it was not busy at all! We had a great time looking at all the animals. Emma pet a pig, a llama, and a sheep. She was surprised how prickly the pig was. Emma got to ride on all kinds of kiddie rides including a roller coaster. She loved it! Jacob wanted to ride on all the rides, but the only one he was allowed to go on was the merry go round. He had fun on it. We walked through the commercial halls and Grandma got Emma a cool barrette. Emma got a Dora blow up toy and cotton candy. This made her very happy! Jerrod and I enjoyed corn dogs and elephant ears. It was a great time to be had by all!

Happy Birthday, Emma!

Emma was 4 years old on July 18th. We had a super fun day at the indoor waterpark in Shipshewana. We went to the Blue Gate for lunch and Grandma Kass surprised Emma with a princess birthday cake. It was really cool looking--crown, magic wand, and a sash that said Princess Emma on it. The Blue Gate was having an ice cream social and pony rides later in the day and we were able to get a pony ride early on our way out. We headed back to the water park and swam some more. It was a perfect day and Emma was a perfect little girl.

Emma really enjoys girly stuff now. She got a tinker bell purse for her birthday that she had to put "purse stuff" in. So I had to come up with a wallet for her and some other "purse stuff". She loves to be

pretty and anything that makes her pretty she loves. We made her a jewelry box for her birthday that she can put all her little jewelry items that make her pretty in. It was fun to make it rather than buy one. She loves anything princess, but she still likes trains and cars too. She's doing really well riding her bike. They have bike days at school, which has given her lots of practice riding her bike this summer. She loves "school" and she has had lots of fun activities going on this summer at school. Last week, it was dress like a clown day and a couple of weeks ago she had a whole week of camping in a tent in the

classroom. She's doing really well with her letters and numbers. She can recognize all the letters and write most of them too. She can count to 100. We will work soon on letter sounds and starting to read. She loves to draw and color. Her favorite colors are pink and purple of course, but she says she likes any color that is in the rainbow. The other day she asked me if yellow was in the rainbow and when I said yes, then she said "ok, then I like it"! One of her most favorite things to do are puzzles. She is really good at puzzles. She got a Little Einstein puzzle for her birthday and had to together in no time.

Emma's behavior is improving, but of course she does have her days. Timeouts are not over in the Furlong house for Emma yet, but they are getting fewer. She's getting better at voicing when she's mad and frustrated, however I'm not sure if I like this either! But we have been telling her to use her words and don't whine, so I guess that is what we get!

Busy summer

We have been super busy this summer just going and doing. A couple weeks ago we got to visit the Zile's in Columbus and had a super great time. It's really great to be able to feel like it is ok to let your children be children. We had such a great time visiting with them and the kids love eachother! Emma, Kate, and Micah are all best of friends. And Jacob absolutely adores Ella, probably too much for Ella's taste! He would not stop hugging her!

Here's another super cute picture of Emma and Jacob, a rare time that they get along. Although, Emma is starting to play more and more with Jacob and of course Jacob LOVES it!

Happy 10 year anniversary!

June 12th was our 10 year anniversary. We celebrated by taking a weekend to ourselves (the first since Emma has been born). We traveled down to southern Indiana on Friday night and went to the horse races at Indiana Downs. It was very cool and very fun. We were able to check out the horses before they raced, which we went and looked at them for 2 different races. They had a restaurant that overlooked the track, we were able to get a window table right on the track. Very cool! Then on Saturday, we traveled further into Southern Indiana and stayed at the West Baden Springs hotel near French Lick, Indiana. Such a BEAUTIFUL 5 star hotel! We highly suggest it to anyone who wants a relaxing weekend away. They had a rose in our

room when we arrived wishing us a happy anniversary. The turn down service was very impressive with chocolates and everything! We sat, we swam, we rocked on the porch, we walked around the gardens, we had a horse drawn carriage ride, we at at nice restaurants. The hotel is just gorgeous! It has a circular dome, the largest free standing dome in the world, with an atrium

under it. The hotel has a very cool history, it used to be the place to go for hollywood stars in the early 1900's. Then it was a seminary for the Jesuits, and then a college, a

nd then it sat empty until it was restored to its granduer. It is gorgeous at night too. We sat for a very long time watching the lights change colors in the dome on Saturday night. The West Baden has a sister property called The French Lick Hotel. It was beautiful too. Sunday, we ate a really nice breakfast buffet and swam a little and then headed back up north.

Where were our children? Jacob stayed home with Grandma and had a great time with her. They visited Emma at c

amp and went to Chilis! He did wonderful away from Mom and Dad. Emma went to Grand camp with my parents and her two cousins. They had a super terrific time. Her favorite part was the parachute that they played with launching balls up into the air. She also learned archery. Wow! She's not even 4 yet and shooting a bow and arrow! And she hit the target! We met my parents and brother's family on the north side of Indy for dinner on Sunday night and picked up Emma too. We got to hear all the cool stories from everyone.

California and Disneyland trip

The last of May / first of June we took a trip to California and Disneyland. We had tons of fun! My first fear of going to California, was getting the kiddos used to the time change. Well, it ended up being super easy! We had a late flight into San Diego on Saturday and didn't get in until 10:30 pm pacific time. Emma and Jacob both woke up when we landed and stayed awake until we got settled into our hotel at 1:30 am. Then they both slept until 7:30 am. After that, they were on California time. Pieceof cake! On Sunday, we took the fairy across the bay to Coronado. We ate at anItalian place on the beach and played

in the sand. We had a blast in the sand and wished we would have had more time there. That night we ate with friends at the California Pizza kitchen. It was so nice to see people we hadn't seen it a long time. On Monday we went to Oceanside beach and pier with an old friend, Becca. It was so nice to spend some time with just her. Then on Monday night, we headed to the Iwasaki's for food and fun. Jacob and Emma loved playing outside in their backyard. It was also a nice break for us to have someone else be able to play with the kiddos.

We headed to Disneyland on Tuesday morning. We checked into the Disneyland Hotel and we were off to Disneyland. W

e got to see almost all of the

characters over a 5 day period. Emma had an autograph book for them to sign. We had breakfast with the characters twice, lunch with the princesses, and dinner with Goofy and friends. One morning we got to get into Mickey's Toontown early, so we got to see all the

characters there too. Emma's favorite ride was the huge ferris wheel at California Adventure. She was very brave and went down splash

mountain. I had forgot how enjoyable a ride it is until you go down the drop! She loved it though and she ended the ride lauging instead of crying. And we didn't get too wet since we were sitting in the back! Other fun rides for Emma were the tea cups, Dumbo, It's a Small World, and the carousels. Jacob also got to enjoy a lot the rides too. He had a lot of fun watching the characters, he pointed a lot! He was a little freaked out by the

characters at first if they got too close, but after a while he thought they were pretty cool.

Of course, what would our trip be without a medical

emergency? Jacob ended up getting Pink Eye while we were at Disney. We ended up going to Urgent care on Sunday, thank goodness for Urgent cares that are open on Sundays! They gave him eye drops that cleared it right up. Unfortunately, our plans for Sunday had to change because we didn't want to give anyone pink eye. So we didn't get to spend any time with friends on Sunday like we had planned. Instead, we had a great family day, checked into a wonderful hotel with an ocean view in Carlsbad, and ate at the Macaroni Grille.

On Monday, we got to go to the Wild Animal Park with Nichole, Jeremiah, Sarah, and all of the Martas. It was a great time. My favorite part was the spitting dinosaur that spit at Jacob Marta and he just took it, didn't even move! We of course loved riding on the tram and seeing all of the animals. Monday night was a terrific night of hanging out with friends at our condo. It was perfect for families, since it had a great playground and grills to grille on. It was great to see everyone and hang out with them.

Then on Tuesday we headed back

home and flew back to Chicago. We had parked at a hotel and planned to stay Tuesday night as part of the park, sleep, fly program. Our hotel there was really awesome! Since we were still on California time, we ended up eating at 10:00 at night, I think the server in the hotel restaurant thought we were crazy eating with kids that late at night! The next morning, we got some breakfast and swimming in and then finally headed back home. We had a super fun vacation!

Jacob is 16 months

I am so far behind! Jacob turned 16 months this month. He started walking around 14 months. And like everything else, when he decided to actually do it, he did it well. He is a pro walker and is actually starting to run some too. Last monthhe started to get up from a sitting position without holding onto anything. He loves to play "get you". He falls far less than Emma did when she started walking, I guess it is because he is older. Although he does have lots of scrapes on his knees, that seems to be where he falls the most. He has not hit his head near as much as Emma did. He loves playing with his sister when she will let him. He will mimic everything she does, which can be good and bad. He is also starting to mimic her bad behavior too. He loves eating all sorts of food, especially fruits and veggies. I think he is finallyable to take one nap a day now. Some days he gets more tiredthan others though. When we went for his checkup at the Dr.'s, he was 25lbs, in the 70th percentile for weight and 31 inches, 75th percentile for height. So not as

super tall and big as I had thought. He is doing really well with

signing. We have only taught him more please and all done. But

I think he would catch on quickly if we taught him more signs. He loves to climb, he is our little monkey. He has finally gotten tall enough to climb onto the couch. He scares me though, a couple of times he's just went head first onto the floor and fortunately someone has been there to catch him each time. He is very bull headed and when he gets something he is going to do on his mind he

doesn't forget it. And he gets very upset if it is something that Mommy and Daddy tell him not to do. Let's just say he has a lot of temper tantrums that are usually short lived, thank goodness. He especially gets upset whenever he can't go outside or he has to come inside.

He LOVES to be outdoors.