So we invited an elephant over for lunch........

Kali 1.4 had a big Fourth of July weekend. She started the weekend by heading over to see her grandparents and great-grandma. She spent a whole lot of time just wandering around the house, saying 'Hi' to everyone she ran into and trying to find lots of stuff to pull off shelves. I tailed her for most of the afternoon, grabbing her hands to pull them away from breakable objects and pointing her in the right direction every once in awhile. Once thing you quickly notice when you visit someone else's house is just how much you baby-proof your own home. It's amazing just how many things a baby can find while exploring.

Next, we headed over to Bobby's house. They had a big party at their place. We walked into the house and it was relatively quiet with only a few adults sitting at the table eating. But then I looked back in the back yard and my jaw dropped. There was no less than 20 kids, all younger than 8 years of age, running amok in the backyard. It was absolute chaos with a few adults supervising it all. We let Kali loose and she thought it was great. Lots of watching the other kids and she also wore Mrs. Lime out by climbing up and down the stairs over and over again.

Kali wasn't phased by the fireworks either. They were blowing off some pretty large fireworks and Kali didn't seem to mind at all. She loves watching them blow up in the air. To be honest, she doesn't seem to be scared of anything. That's a blessing now, but could be an issue when she gets older and starts getting bright ideas. I'll cross that bridge when we get there.

Saturday, we took it easy. We hadn't really had a free day in some time, so it was nice to hang around the house. Kali and Mrs. Lime took an afternoon nap. Mrs. Lime watched several episodes of the 'America's Next Top Model' show that she had missed from the previous season. We also went to Parkville, MO to look at some of the shops and have some ice cream.

Sunday, we went to the Rainforest Café for lunch. Kali lost all control. From the moment we entered the place, she just pointed and walked from one animal to the next. She did a great job with some of the names. She nailed 'butterfly', 'monkey', and 'fish'. She recognized a few of the other animals, but didn't say their name. Sometimes, she would make the noise that the animal makes rather than actually saying the name of the animal species. We had a table right next to the elephants, which was great. Kali's a big fan of the elephants at the zoo, so to have noisy elephants right nearby was a big thing for her. The only problem with the restaurant was that Kali didn't eat all that much. She was too busy taking in the sights to even care about eating more than a few bites of her lunch. Such is the sacrifices you make as a toddler. Play or eat?