Madison's Summer Report! Part2

During the last week of our Summer break we were able to fit in a few more Science Experiments Anna found online...:-) BUT most of them did not have successful results...

One of them exclaimed that with simply Baking Soda and Hydrogen Peroxide you could turn ordinary Mountain Dew into a glow stick...

 

So we tried and eagerly anticipated the amazing results...but they never came...apparently it is a trick where they put a glow stick at the bottom of the Mountain Dew and just neglect to mention that part...

 

Another one Anna found involved drawing a picture with glue...

  

Sprinkle Kosher Salt and then...

By dabbing paint the paint is supposed to spread throughout the drawing...

This was a bit of a dud as well...

Then we tried one I (Dave) had done in my classroom and even this one doesn't work...it is a simple illustration of diffusion using gummy bears...the gummy bear in salt water shrinks a bit and the gummy bear that sits in tap water expands to like 20 times its size...but perhaps due to the heat in the house...all the gummy bears disintegrated...very disappointing!!

 

And lastly, don't think we posted this experiment we did right after Violet was born...

Making moon dough using cornstarch, shaving cream and food coloring!! 

This one was a bit more successful!!

Madison was able to use it like playdough and cut out shapes...

Another thing we put some effort on teaching Madison until Violet arrived was playing Tennis but unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of her cuteness... I will do better in the Fall though:-)

And lastly our little fish really became like a Dolphin this Summer so see it yourself:-)

After our Sea World trip we took back in June Madison turned into this amazing Dolphin girl and started to spin in the water, dive down to the bottom to pick up toys, etc... She pretty much started to do these things on her own so we really can't take the credit for it...:-)

Here Madison is getting comfortable standing on a body board...:-)

 

Sometimes this happens but it's okay...:-)

Here Madison is getting thrown far by Daddy...:-)

Here Madison tries to swim like Daddy...:-)

This is nothing new but Madison jumping into the pool with Daddy...:-)

It was tough to film, but Madison also loves to dive down and retrieve her diving sticks...she often comes up doing a spiral like a dolphin :-)

Hope everyone had a great Summer!!

Madison's Summer Report! Part1

Before we officially end our fun filled Summer of 2013 we want to share a few more things Madison enjoyed or accomplished:-)

Madison helped us out by washing our cars sparkling clean! Big benefit of having a pool is she can put on a swimsuit to enjoy all kinds of mess outside and magically get cleaned after jumping in the pool! * of course she gets pre-washed down with a hose if the mess is severe:-)

 

During our first visit to Sunset Beach Madison made this Seashell Castle with a little help from Daddy:-)

Madison is either getting ready to go exercise or help us wash the white rocks(our front yard project we will report in a separate post...). For some reason she enjoyed wearing the 80's headband... It makes her look extra cute, don't you think?

We don't know who she is getting this from but a class clown may be in the making!? We hope not!

I would like to think she got this from me, but one day she just decided to paint and she turned into this 4 year old Artist!! Her use of all the colors is just amazing!! is what I think:-)

Madison's very 1st work was quickly put into a frame for our wall... It's not for sale;-)

One day we got a little bored and ventured out to Santa Ana for this really cool playground complex called Atlantis Play Center where you pay $2 each person and there is tons of different play areas including this water play area... We just beat huge camp groups by about 15 minutes so Madison got to enjoy the water playground for that long before we all got squeezed out! We were glad she did not waste any time getting wet:-)

With the 2nd child we had to be more outgoing quicker than with the 1st... Violet did okay but we definitely had to get going before Madison was ready, but she was very understanding when bribed with an ice cream stop...:-)

This Summer very social Madison made a few new friends in the neighborhood and after dinner they visit each other in the front yard playing with bubbles, talking, etc...

Here she is returning from a jog around the block...don't worry she didn't cross the street herself :-)

Part 2 coming soon!

So glad Baaba is here!!

On July 29th, two days before Violet's arrival into this world my Mom arrived from Japan...:-) Her available dates to visit us happened to work out perfectly to cover 1 week before and 1 week after my due date but of course we were hoping that Violet arrived early to give her as much time as she could to spend with her new granddaughter... Well you know what happened:-)

We picked her up from the airport on the 29th and took that day easy to relax and enjoy all the cool things Baaba brought for Madison(mostly) and the next day we were able to introduce my Mom to Sunset Beach which is our newest go to beach here...:-) We love that this beach has waves for Dave and tons of sea shells for Madison. I haven't done much here since all the past visits has been during my big pregnant time and I've been just sitting on a blanket reading magazines and snacking:-)

I was hoping to have the baby on the 1st to match with Madison's birthday which is May 1st so I did walk a lot on the beach to try to encourage the baby to come out which I suppose really worked...:-)

Dave and I talked that in case the baby is early we need to fit in a trip to Five Guys right away which my parents really enjoyed last year... My mom does not eat meat but she gets a grilled cheese and absolutely LOVES the fries and peanuts!! So we were there for a long time working on those peanuts:-) Someone told me eating a hamburger helps induce!? I supposed this too contributed to my plan...:-)

Unfortunately for us this was the last day for us to freely go to places and enjoy what Southern California has to offer for a while since my wish came true at 8:22am the following morning...

I had originally asked my mom to take care of all the meals after the baby comes and we thought we will be okay but it wasn't the meals we needed all the help with, but instead being Madison's go to play buddy who can give 90% of attention to... We casually thought yes we can take care of the newborn and a 4 year old at the same time while sleep deprived and exhausted, but our 4 year old is so full of energy and has such a thirst for attention that we were sooooo glad my mom was there to spend lots and lots of time with her! AND we are really thankful for all the delicious meals she prepared for us of course;-)

I am very ashamed to tell you that Madison is not fluent in Japanese... She knows some key words but not much more and this I'm not ashamed of but my mom is not fluent in English either but understands much more than she can speak so it was really interesting and funny to watch them play or interact while speaking their first languages... and somehow it was working out! They even came up with a game that caused such loud happy squeals from Madison that we had to close the doors to the dance room so Violet could take her nap...:-) Mom said the rules of the game were a little tricky but she just went along with Madison and they had fun so we never clarified the rules with Madison since we didn't want to ruin the fun, but got it on film for our record...:-)

The simple rule of this game was to hit each other on the back with the ball but my mom said once in a while you get hit and Madison would tell you to go stand in the corner but then there is only two of them playing the game so I have no idea how the game could keep going... Anyhow as you can see Madison was just having a blast so none of the details matter!:-)

While my mom was here we started up a tradition of watching movies before bedtime and introduced mom to so many movies that we enjoy... We watched the 4 Shrek movies, Despicable Me, Cars1 & 2, Madagascar1 & 2, then Ice Age1... Usually finished a movie over two days so this went on for a while... My mom watched them in English of course but most of the time she understood and laughed at the right time so we knew she wasn't faking...:-) She loved all of them and is planning on watching all the movies in Japanese once home... It was really relaxing and fun, it really helped that Violet usually napped during the movies... Thank you Violet:-)

Another funny thing that happened was that since my mom loves walking she went out for walks by herself a few times and came home right when we were starting to think she was never gonna come back to us... One of the walks she went all the way to the near by playground she went with Dave and Madison last year and that's about 2 miles round trip...:-)

Anyways, it was the quickest two weeks of our lives and I was sooo glad my mom was able to be there to meet Violet from day 1 and to help us out with so many things. It was just impossible to see her off without tears running down my face like a crazy person... I partially blame my post pregnancy hormones but I just wished she could have stayed longer and didn't have to go back to work...:-( 

We made Mom read this ridiculously long book in Japanese...:-)

Mom and Madison enjoying our harvest:-)

My parents got Madison her very first LEGO blocks!! She loves them!