another promise, another scene

I love our small little town! There's always fun stuff going on. Last week was "Babes in the Zoo" week. No, the Hawaiian Tropic swimsuit model bus wasn't in town- if you brought a kid in a stroller to the zoo (they're free) then you got an adult admission free! Yay for free stuff! So I took Avery on Friday morning and we had a great time! She loves animals. At every cage she went through the same thought process. First she would get excited: "PEGUINS!!!!" Then she would think about it for a second and say, "I want to touch it." or "I want to get in." I would laugh (she's so cute!!) and say, "No, we can't get in. We're just here to say hi." or (at the lion enclosure) "No way, Jose. That lion is a nice guy, but he would eat you up if we went in there. Let's just say HI! from here, okay?" Then she would shout "HI LION!!!" or whatever. If an animal was sleeping she'd whisper, "He's sleeping, mommy!" and if something looked odd to her (camels, red panda bear, flamingos, etc.) she'd see them and say, again, after a moment of thought, "FLAMINGO! (repeating after me)... He's nice, mommy." haha.

She's been doing that so often lately- she assigns everything (especially inanimate objects) emotions and types. The other day we were at the park playing on those plastic animals on springs that you can rock back and forth on. You know what I'm talking about? Anyway, she was riding the dolphin (saying, "Giddyup, Dolphin!!"), she climbed off and went right up to its little face, looked at it and said, "She's sad, mommy." Then she gave it a hug and a kiss and said, "AWWW SHE'S HAPPY MOMMY!!" Or she'll see the alligator at the zoo and say, "DRAGON!!He's scary." with a little shudder. I'll say, "Yeah, he looks a little like a dragon, but that's an alligator and he's nice." Then she'll say, "Oh. Alligator. He's nice." haha. It's amazing to watch her mind work. She's so smart and sweet. Lately she's taken to hugging (and even kissing) everyone before we leave somewhere, whether it's her cousins or our neighbors. We were at the Chandlers on Sunday evening for a few minutes and she went in a circle around the living room hugging everyone and saying, "Bye! See ya!"

Then on Saturday evening the Idaho Falls Symphony held a free(!!) concert on the river in Freeman Park. It was a really nice, perfect evening. We brought a picnic dinner of things that Avery and I purchased at the Farmer's Market that morning; Artisan bread, Gruyere cheese, ham, blackberries and fudge (Amish Sour Cream- sounds weird but it was SUPER yummy). Mandy and Troy and their kiddos joined us and we all had a great time laying around on blankets, listening to the music and chatting and eating. Avery is just obsessed with her cousins, especially Milo. Those two become 10 times more mischevious when they are together, and they love to play and giggle. It's so fun to watch. Rocky came with us as well, and he was so excited and hyper and crazy that when we got home around 7:30pm he passed right out for the night!