Sam's Summer Adventures

This summer after I finished with school, I wanted to make sure Sam and I got to do something special every day. She wanted to do some fun things and I knew that once Baby Sister arrived, Sam would suddenly have to share her time with Mommy. We made a calendar of activities for every month and Sam got to choose activity stickers and decide where to put them on the calendar. We went to museums, the library, picnics at the park, made a painting, and played games together.

One of her favorite things to do is to go to the Children's Discovery Museum. During the summer, we took the "train" (lightrail) to get to the museum. On the train, Sam would list all of the things she wanted to do when we got there--play with the bubbles, see Alice in Wonderland, climb on the red dragon, make a straw doll, and play in the water. She has become so familiar with the museum that she remembers what comes next in her list of things to do and makes sure we accomplish everything she listed while on the train. After visiting the exhibits, we ate our picnic lunch in the park before getting back on the train to come home again. On a couple of our visits, Sam got to invite a friend to come along.

Sam created a painting for Daddy one day while Matt was on a scouting trip near Tahoe. She had a great time choosing paint colors and putting the pain on the canvas. I gave her a few pointers on when to get more paint or how to hold the brush, but didn't help her with the artwork at all (which was hard not to intervene sometimes). She got really good at knowing when to dip the brush in the paint again, announcing, "It's getting a little scratchy." She was so proud of the finished masterpiece that she wanted to put it up where Daddy would see it.

Sam took "swimming lessons" this summer and enjoyed spending time in the water. It was a toddler class in a shallow pool, but got her used to being in the water and not being so afraid of getting into the water and splashing and getting her face wet. She loved playing with the toys, especially the "squirty fish" and rubber duckies. Her teachers were encouraging and Sam really liked them. On the last day of the two-week session, she got to go down the water slide with her teacher.