Allison and Maggie took us to the "lazy" park again. It's fun for the kids and it's all fenced in with no crazy high slides so the moms can be lazy. We had a picnic and the girls had a great time. At first Casey didn't want to go to the park because she wanted to stay at Maggie's and do laundry. Maggie has a little washer with a timer in her toy kitchen and Casey remembered it from last time. Casey fell asleep after 2 minutes in the car on the way home. 
The girls spent a lot of time inspecting ants eating a piece of food. Then we went to the play kitchen at the bookstore and when Ellie and I got in there we couldn't find Casey. Or DogDog.
My mom invited some friends over for Sunday brunch. Casey wanted to know if we were going to walk or drive to the party and we told her it's going to be right there at the house. As people arrived, she greeted them, telling them her name and then introducing Eric, "This is my daddy!" and then would bring them to me and say, "This is my mommy!" She even said, "Nice to meet you" and told people what city she lives in. About a half hour after the party started, she asked, "When's the party?" I think she was expecting balloons, kids, singing, or at least cake with icing and candles.
Today we were on our way to go swimming but there was a thunderstorm. Casey was VERY disappointed so we went to the bookstore instead and told her she could pick out a book. She ended up with one book and a new Big Bird. Now we have Little Big Bird, Middle Big Bird, and Big Big Bird. I think he reminds her of Daddy.
Casey LOVES to walk Kahuna. (And feed him, do tricks with him, and chase him around the yard.)
First picture - two cowgirls with their dogs heading to the train ride. 
We're in Santa Fe! Casey has been so excited to come here. We dropped her off at daycare for two hours on Thursday morning so we could run and pack and when I went to pick her up, one of the teachers asked how we were getting there. I told her we were flying and she said that Casey had mentioned a bus, a plane, and a choo choo train. All were true though, because we took a bus from the parking lot (first picture) and we were planning a ride on the Santa Fe Southern Railroad. She was also very excited to see her cousin Baby Aubry (last picture).
From the day Casey first went to the park with the waterfall in the sand, she's been saying she wants to go there with Katie. So last week we met Katie and Marie at the park so the girls could play. I told her that the water might not be going at the end of the day on a weekday but Casey said they could just play in the water fountain. And they did. Then they traded kids and pushed them on the swings. They even managed to eat a little dinner.
Casey always wants Eric to come to gymnastics, so every time she asked we kept telling her he'd come to the last class. (He got to come over the three day weekend, too.) Lass cass finally arrived.
We went to see Allison and Maggie today. When we got to their house they swept us away in their minivan to go to a great park for a picnic. The weather was perfect and the girls kept each other busy while Allison and I talked and relaxed. There should be more fridays in every week.
I took a parenting class with Max a few months ago and they said to sit down with your kid and let them help you make a list of everything they're supposed to do as part of their bedtime routine, take pictures of the kid doing all of those things, and then post them on the wall so that the list can be the boss and you can just say, "What do you need to do to get ready for bed?"
