Elsie and the Cooler: Part 2

If you are a loyal reader, you will remember the fun Elsie had with the cooler on the deck at her pool party a few weeks ago. Now that the string of parties is over and the cooler is back inside, Elsie is finding other ways to entertain herself. P.S.- at the time of filming, the cooler was loaded with ice, two inches of water, and three two-liters of pop. Wow!

Acting Like Daddy

Mama and I had some fun preparing Daddy's Second Father's Day gift.

Things I learned while acting like Daddy:

~I really like glasses.
But not to wear.
Just to eat.
~Ties are funny.
~Button-up shirts take a long time to button.
~Being Daddy is tough work!


Here are some pictures of our efforts...

Elsie is on KP

While Andy is away on his business trip, I have been trying to get Elsie to play near me while I take care of the myriad of house-hold chores that pile up after a week of being a single parent. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Yesterday while I was busy making us some dinner and cleaning up the kitchen Elsie opened up a cupboard and found our potatoes. She played with them for 15 minutes, letting me finish cooking, unloading, AND reloading the dishwasher! Hooray! Who knew potatoes could be so interesting?

Playing with Papa Todd

Boy, I had a fun time at my First Birthday Party! Here are some of my favorite pictures of me and my Papa Todd (courtesy of Grandma Julie, Daddy, and Mama's cameras).

Pictures with Grandma RJ

Grandma RJ came to visit a day early for my birthday party, and boy was I glad she did! There was so much cleaning and rearranging and messing about to do that Daddy and Mama were going crazy! Here are some of my favorite pictures of Grandma RJ and me from the weekend (courtesy Grandma Julie and Daddy's cameras).

Eating Lemons

At my birthday party, Grandma RJ gave me a lemon to chew on. I was a little surprised by the flavor, but I loved it. I'm just glad I sucked on the lemon BEFORE I got to eat my sweet birthday cake!

Early birthday morning pics- waiting for my party!

Playing at the big kid pool with Edie

Playing at the Castle Park

Otherwise known as McKee Farms Park, for you Madisonians. Mama and I went there for the first time last week, and my friends and I had a great time. I really liked the swings!


And playing with my friend's ball.



My friend Dexter drove me around in a wooden car for awhile...


Then let me take the wheel.


Cruisin'. Only fifteen more years, and I'll be driving one of these for real!

Elsie plays with Lummox and Gizmo

Just another Saturday afternoon with Daddy.

Today I played with Daddy. We had lots of fun! We did puzzles together. I stood up the whole time,


but sometimes I needed to go on my tiptoes to see what I was doing.


Then I spotted Isiah in the kitty tree and went over to see what he was up to. I chewed on his brush for awhile,


then called Daddy ("Dada"!) over to help me out.

He lifted me up really high so that I could pet Isiah.



We brushed him and petted him and he purred and purred. I love my kitties, and I love my Daddy, too!

Daddy plays in the pool.

Last week Daddy decided to come play in the pool with me. I had a great time splashing around, but Daddy was too cold to sit down.


Finally Mama teased him enough that he put on an extra shirt, then took the plunge into the pool.


It's especially fun when Daddy slaps his hands on the water and cries out "Power Geyser!" and makes a big splash. He's a lot of fun to play with in the pool!

Potty Time!

Just hangin' out on my chair, doin' my thang.
(Thanks for the shoes, Auntie Kate!)

The case of the Mysterious Cooler.

Last week when my friends came over to play in the pool with me, Edie and I noticed that all the Mamas were getting fun things out of a mysterious blue cooler. Whatever it was, we wanted some too, but the Mamas didn't seem to want to share. We were never quite fast enough to get inside it when they were getting things out, so we decided to take things into our own hands.

First we pretended to play in the pool while we made a plan of action.


Then I stood guard...


...and we sent our friend Noah in to do some reconnaissance.



When we saw an opening (the Mamas were deep in a conversation about "baby sleep training"...ha!), Edie and I made our move.





There was no obvious way to get past the latch. Edie even checked underneath to see if there was a secret door we could get into. There wasn't.



Since we were getting desperate, we even tried to dig/scratch a hole through the top. There were actually a couple of deep circular holes in the top already- apparently someone else had the same idea before us.





Digging didn't work either, though. My friend Edie and I tried really hard to open that mysterious cooler, but I am sad to say that the workings of the magical latch eluded us. We worked long and hard, but we never did figure out what good things were hidden inside.