Hands-on-House and Amish Village & Farm House

Last Sunday, we went on a day trip to Lancaster County. It took us about an hour to drive there and by the time we reached the Visitor Centre, it was time for lunch. After collecting some information from the Centre, we settled down for a quick lunch outside the Visitor Centre. We had some sardine sandwiches, which were specially prepared by daddy in the morning.
Mommy and daddy were surprised to find that one end of the bench was slightly elevated and it had a back rest too. We guessed that it must be specially designed for kids. What an ingenious idea!

After having our lunch, we visited the Hands-on-House, which was the main purpose of our trip.Sheri playing with the maze.

What was our little girl doing in this costume 's room where you can dress your kids up in different outfits?

She seemed to be very keen in putting this huge pair of spectacle on.

Our little girl happily ringing a bell on a pirate's ship

Let your kids' creativity run wild. They can creat e toys with different faces at this station. This was daddy's creation!

Sheri: Can I bring the toy with me?

Mommy loves this mini grocery shop where kids can learn to shop and check out at a cash register.

This greedy little girl was caught munching on cheese again!

Sheri: Hmm! How should I choose the fruits and vegetables?

Sheri: Can I catch the lobster?

Sheri: Can I eat the fish's tail?

Laying her hands on some tractors in the mini farm exhibits.

Our little girl trying to drive a tractor. Obviously, she is too short to tur n the steering wheel.

Sorting out good and bad eggs at the eggs' counter

Playing with some construction toys with daddy.

After the Hands-on-House , we also visited the Amish Village and farmhouse . We went on a guided tour to learn about the lifestyle of the Amish folks. Unfortunately, it was then that we realised that our camera 's battery had gone flat. No more pictures! What a disappointment!

Sheri's laughter

Our little girl was in a laughing mode when she was having her tea-break after we came back home from the library on last Saturday. She seemed to be very amused by the 'ouch' sound that mommy made. Enjoy her laughter!

Last Saturday-Gym and library

As stated in the earlier post, mommy and daddy have been looking around to enroll our little girl in a gymnastic class. Auntie Galy recommended the gym class at Parkettes. So, last Saturday, we brought our little girl to a trial class at Parkettes. Unlike the Little Gym, the kids have more sapce to roam around and there are more activities for the kids to be engaged in.

Sheri: Here I go!

Sheri: Here, I come!

Sheri balancing herself in the foam bath.

Sheri: Here, I go again!

Sheri: I'm being turned round and round!

Rock and roll for Sheri!

Sheri jumping on the trampoline with the instructor.

Sheri: Can I do it myself?

Sheri: Oops! I fell down!

The class ended with sit-ups. Daddy made our little girl do 20 sit-ups instead of the usual ten that the rest of the kids did. Hee! Hee! Hee! Poor Sheri! Daddy has decided to add sit-ups to her daily morning exercises.
The instructor dished out some cookies to the kids. Of course, our little Sheri could not wait to put the cookies in her mouth. What a greedy girl! I guess she must be famished after all the twists and turns.

After the gymnastic class, we went for lunch before going on our tri-weekly trip to the library in the afternoon.

Look how engrossed this little girl is in flipping through the books that mommy had selected for her.

Thank you for reading! That was how we spent our last Saturday!

Water, water, everywhere!

Mommy is always thinking of ways to keep our little girl entertained. Fortunately, the weather is warmer nowadays, so at least, we can have more outdoor activities to spice up her life.
Last Friday afternoon, mommy let Sheri have some fun playing with water outside the house.

Sheri: I'm trying to squirt the little duck like what daddy and mommy do during bathing time.

Sheri: Is the little duck edible as well?

Well, at last, this little girl can splash for all she wants without wetting the bathroom floor.

16 months checkup

Today, we brought our little girl to her 16 months physical checkup. Now, she weighs 22.13 pounds and she is 32 inches tall. That brings her to 50 percentile in terms of weight and 75 percentile in terms of height.

In the video, you must be wondering why mommy asked Sheri whether she was ready for the barnyard dance. Well, it came from her favourite animals' book called 'Barnyard Dance'. It describes the animals dancing in the barnyard and it starts off by asking the animals to clap their hands and stomp their feet to get ready for the dance. Sheri loves to do that in front the mirror.
Later, mommy also asked Sheri whether she had done her morning exercises . Thanks to daddy. Her concept of morning exercises involves swinging her arms because that was how daddy helped her do her morning exercises when she was a baby. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MADH6a-Tg5w

Last weekend

By the time we got home from Princeton on Friday, it was ten o'clock at night. All of us were completely exhausted by the trip and we fell asleep very soon after we reached home. To our dismay, we found out that our little Sheri had teary eyes and a runny nose the next morning. Actually, mommy noticed that she started having a runny nose in the late afternoon when we were in Princeton, but the runny nose seemed to have gotten worse the next morning. Fortunately, there was no fever and our little Sheri was still as bubbly as ever except that she would get real messy when she started rubbing her nose and eyes. Obviously, mommy could not stand her being in such a big mess, so mommy was always running after her with a tissue to clean her up. I suspect that she was suffering from some form of allergy.
We kept her at home the whole day on Saturday to prevent her condition from worsening. Mommy had to force her to sleep a couple of times in the day and drink plenty of water. Sleeping in the daytime has always been a perennial problem for our little Sheri. She would get real mad with mommy when I forced her to sleep in the daytime. Fortunately, drinking water is not a problem for her. Every night, she will gobble down one whole bottle of water before sleeping. I guess that is her recipe for keeping herself healthy.
Fortunately, she became better on Sunday afternoon and we brought her to the playground in the evening.

Mommy was surprised to find that she could rock herself back and forth on the 'dolphine' now. She was not able to do it when we were at the playground last week. Good job, Sheri!

Mommy and daddy saw this swing which we have never seen it in our home country, so we could not wait to put our little girl on it.Too bad! It's too big for our little girl. It's for 5-12 years old kids.

On our way home from the playground, we stopped by daddy's office to pick up something. Mommy saw the magnolia trees in full bloom at the carpark. The flowers that had fallen form a flower bed on the ground. I thought that was a beautiful sight. Crazy mommy could not resist taking a picture of it.

Prof Cava's birthday celebration 2008

Yesterday, we brought our girl to Princeton to attend the birthday celebration of Prof Cava, daddy's PhD adviser. At first, we were running a bit late, so daddy sped all the way along the highway. However, we were caught in a traffic jam on Route 206 in New Jersey for awhile. By the time we reached there, it was already 3 o'clock just in time for the cake-cutting.

As part of the group's practice, Prof Cava had to blow the candles through a small hole in a paper cup and he did it in one breath! That's really amazing! Three cheers for Prof Cava!

Little Sheri is the youngest member of the group. Auntie Linda had specially prepared a birthday hat for her.

Sheri: I've put on my bib. I'm all ready for the cake.

Here's comes the cake!

Auntie Linda always bakes very delicious cakes for the group. The cake was really yummy!

It's nice to meet up with the rest of the alumni. Three cheers to the Cava's group!

The foo family would like to wish Prof Cava a very happy birthday and many happy returns!

Even though it was not Sheri's birthday, Auntie Linda gave her a big present.

Our little girl could not wait to open the gift bag that Auntie Linda gave her. Guess what did she find?

A storybook about animals!

Sheri could not wait to lift up the flaps in the book to see the animals. What a perfect gift for her!

In fact, Sheri loves the book so much that it was the first book that she took out the next morning. She even brought the book all the way to the bathroom to find mommy. I guess she really wants mommy to read the book to her.

Auntie Linda also bought some beautiful clothes for our little Sheri! Mommy could not wait to put it on her. Thank you, Auntie Linda!

This year, we did not make it in time for the cherry blossom at Princeton. Most of the flowers had fallen when we reached there. What a pity!

The weather was pretty warm yesterday. Many people could not resist going into the pond for a big splash. Of course, our little girl could not wait to join in the fun too. Unfortunately, mommy forgot to bring an extra set of clothes for her, so we could only let her get her feet wet even though this brave little girl wanted to venture further into the pond.

After having some fun at the pond, daddy wanted to bring Sheri to take a picture with the mascot of Princeton University.

On our way there, daddy insisted on taking a picture with this bell even though mommy was more interested in looking at the architecture of the buildings. Mommy and daddy took some wedding pictures in the campus when we registered our marriage at the City Hall in Princeton in 2003, so taking a walk in the campus always brings back fond memories.


Finally, we reached the Nassau Hall and took a picture with the Tiger, which is the mascot of Princeton University.

This was the last shot we took before leaving. Goodbye, Princeton!