Golf

Living across the lake from a golf course does have a few advantages, nice views and fewer neighbors, for example. But there are way more golf balls in my garage (thanks to those first couple of years when we'd head across the water and gather them like an egg hunt) than I care to think about. So when Rich decided to teach Becca to golf, I was all for it.

I'm not sure she totally gets it yet, but this will serve my purpose just fine, too. (Daddy hits a ball in the water . . . Becca throws a ball in the water . . . .)

If Rich can manage to keep his shins intact

we may just have something here.

Phillies

Even with the 63 minute and 45 minute rain delays on Friday, we had a great time at Becca's first Phillies game. (Thanks in part to Rich's well-timed poncho purchase.)

The kids were being super cute together with their fries, but by the time I got my arm through my my poncho, camera out of my pocket, arm back through poncho, and camera on, this was the shot I got. Still, you can almost see how great our seats were--21st row, plus no one in front for the kids to bother, no blocked views, and a nice little fence for food chucking. And since we were just right of home plate, Becca could really see the batters as she shouted "Hit The Ball!" and "Up High!"

At least she could when she wasn't eating cheese fries.

Amazingly, both kids stayed up and did really well all the way to the end of the game. And we won, without extra innings or overtime (which usually happens when I'm around).

Now if we could just get over her fear of the Philly Fanatic . . . . .

PIGGIES!!!

It's official--my baby's hair is long enough for some adorable pigtails. We tried with clips, but they fell flat,

so we picked up some poly-bands at ACME (that's Albertson's, people) and just look at her now:

So cute I can hardly stand it. Now if we can get her to keep them in for more than fifteen minutes . . . . . . . . .

And yes, I do need to clean the fingerprints off her mirror. Thanks for noticing.

Chinatown (and the rest of the weekend)

Strange circumstances Friday night put us in Philadelphia without a plan, so we turned it into Rebecca's first visit to Chinatown. A little shopping, seeing eels (her favorite part), and dinner. Rich really wanted to get her an adorable dress for pictures, but she wanted no parts of putting one on. She did, however, love her lantern and pig necklace.

I found a hidden Mickey!

Becca LOVED dinner.

It was a great night, and we hope to go back soon.

Saturday was a wash---there was only a little break in the rain, during which we hit the farm and Amish markets, but most of our time was spent indoors. Sunday, however we had a marathon day--aquarium, bikes, beach, dinner with Pop. Here's a bunch more aquarium pictures.

She touched the shark!

Bye-Bye Betta, Hello Becca

Since my blog essentially doubles as Becca's baby book (thank you, Blurb!), I'd be remiss if I didn't document a few important changes in Becca's communication over the last few weeks:

1--She no longer calls herself "Betta"; it's "Becca" now. It's freaking me out, to be honest; she's growing so fast.

2--Becca has three new favorite words: want, need, and mine. She uses want and need in complete sentences ("I need wipes, mommy!" and "I want chocolate chippies!") and the word "MINE!" has become a sentence of its own. Amazingly, need and want have been used correctly (so far).

2 1/2--Just remembered a 4th favorite word . . . "hold." As in "Becca hold this."

3--She's experimenting with pronouns, and gets them right about half the time. (Mostly "me" and "you.")

4--She labels EVERYTHING. And she knows the names of a crazy number of Sesame Street and Disney Characters, including all the princesses, but more on them in my upcoming potty-training post. She finds letters, counts to fifteen or so, and points out shapes and colors everywhere (we're a little worried about red and blue, though, and I wonder if someone didn't teach them to her backwards to get even with Rich). She can even differentiate between a bivalve and a mollusk shell.

Better go. Becca's sitting on the couch next to me, playing with my old Tupperware shape sorter. She's annoyed that the oval shape is as GG's house (we're missing that and the square). And now she's climbing on my lap to do my hair . . . . .

What We've Been Up To

A lot of block building (mostly robots).

Playing in last year's Halloween costume.

Remember this?

And, of course, lots of beach time. This time with butterflies.

And swings.

Philadelphia Zoo

Becca's been asking for the zoo all week, so Saturday we decided to try out the "big" zoo. And since it was only ten bucks more for an annual pass, we now have a membership. (I'd honestly prefer to have one to our little zoo, but it's $68 per person, and the Philadelphia zoo is $59 for me and a guest for the year--crazy cheap.)

And we did get to see some animals we don't see at the little zoo--the cats, for example.

And feed and pet the goats, though Becca got nervous and clung to Dad's leg once she got inside.

The otters were, by far, her favorite.

We finished up in the (surprisingly large) reptile house.

Our Version of Dress Up

What happens when I leave the room (to put the clothes I've been folding away)? I come back to this:

Saturday

Another trip to the shore . . . this time Atlantic City. Rich was hoping to surf, but the weather didn't cooperate. Still, we had a nice morning at the beach,

a little nap,

and another trip to Wonderland (for Becca's favorite ride).

And on our Sunday morning drive back (rain, rain, rain) we stopped at Gilchrist's Offshore. Becca's hooked.