august stuff

Brooklyn is quickly becoming the tech expert in the house! She has no problem getting around on the iPad or Laura's iPhone. We try to keep the screen time to a minimum though. :)

We went to Ikea and couldn't resist getting a classic wooden train set -- Austin had nearly the exact same one when he was little!

She loves pushing the train through the tunnel -- just like her Freight Train book! (another classic from Austin's childhood...)

We played "snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug" and she loved it!

We went to get ice cream for family night recently -- we hadn't been to Coldstone in ages and we loved it -- especially Brooklyn!

One of the Saturdays last month we went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. We hadn't been to the zoo since visiting Austin's parents in Phoenix last December/January and she loved it.

She was very excited to see the elephants...

...and she's a big girl now and doesn't always need to look from the stroller or our arms!

She wasn't sure what to think about the baby elephant statue.

Zoo buddies.

One of the special animals the zoo had were a few snow leopards. They were beautiful.

The favorite of the day was this brown bear. We thought this was a good view...

...until we turned the corner and went into an area where you could see the bears swimming in their pond -- Brooklyn got to see the bear right up close!

She was a little nervous -- he was a big bear!

Then the bear put on a show for everyone by giving himself a back scratch on the rocks next to the pond! It was just like Baloo from the Disney Jungle Book movie.

He was a fun bear. Apparently bears can be fun when there are fences and walls and thick glass between you and them. :)

Hippos.

Brooklyn had a great time at the zoo. And we were pleasantly impressed by the quality of the zoo -- for some reason we were expecting it to be kind of small and not kept up as well as it was. It was really quite nice and we'll be back again for sure.

We went swimming with some friends recently -- Brooklyn was excited to wear her swimsuit! She was cute with her buddy Kate.

Her favorite thing was swimming in the "boat" -- she's a lot more brave in the water than she used to be!

B loved playing with her friend Annika...

...and James!

We had a great evening with friends -- burgers and brats on the grill and swimming -- a perfect way to enjoy the summer!