what we've been up to

This is a conglomerate of several posts, so I apologize if it's a little too long. But here goes. We've had some excited adventures the last few days. First of all, we got some new woodchips on the playground. Naomi enjoyed watching the dump truck unload...
...and then playing in the pile.
We also went shopping at the outlet malls in the area. We didn't really get a whole lot, but it was fun to get to know the shops a little better. Naomi is a natural shopper, I think. Look at her hammin' it up.
She loved to look in the tri-mirrors. She kept walking up to each mirror, saying "Naomi, Naomi, Naomi!"
She also caught on very quickly about the changing rooms. I had to go in and rescue her when the diaper came off, too.
On the way back from the outlet mall, our car started acting up. We made it home okay, but we had to get our car towed into the shop. The problem turned out to be a shredded alternator belt, which also knocked off the power steering belt. Considering we thought the alternator was broken, I thought we got off pretty easy. We also got a new car battery, since the one we had was rather old and corroded. The saddest thing about the whole ordeal was that it happened on Kurt's days off from the lab, so instead of vacationing before school started, he was stuck fixing the car (school started today).
We did manage to do a few fun things, though. We had a potluck barbecue Friday night. It was quite the fancy BBQ with barbecue ribs, pulled pork, and various delicious salads. We made strawberry ice cream, too, which was a hit. Here Naomi enjoys her ice cream with cheddar chips. Mmm.
On Saturday we went to Stonybrook State Park with some of the new first-year medical students. Naomi found a passion for throwing rocks in the water.
She went a little far into the water, and Daddy had to rescue her. She was fine, but her pants were soaking wet, which in turn got Kurt pretty wet.
After the hike, we got ice cream. I let Naomi choose between the "rainbow" ice cream (rainbow sherbet) and the "happy to you" ice cream (birthday bash), so naturally she picked "happy to you". She has been asking for more ice cream ever since.
Then there's today. I don't know if Naomi knew it rained last night or was just in the mood for wearing her rain gear, but she found a pair of her rainboots in the closet, and decided to don her entire entourage. The ground was wet, but it was also quite hot and humid, so we didn't stay out too long.
Now throwing mud into the water.
And because she's cute.