Victorian Gardens

When the weather warms up Central Park opens up a little amusement park, called Victorian Gardens. We took Olivia last year as well, but this time she had a lot more fun!

The first ride she wanted to go on was a flying swing ride. As I saw her go around and around I could tell she loved it. Last year this was also the first ride she went on. The plan was for her to ride on it with Matthew, and so I was shocked when I saw the ride start and Matthew walking through the exit gate. He said there was no room for him so he left her by herself. The poor girl looked terrified as she went around and around. When she got off he said the ride was scary for her. Luckily this year, she had quite a different reaction.

Matthew and Olivia went on a bouncing frog ride. Unfortunately they both came off the ride saying their stomachs hurt.

This airplane ride was Olivia's favorite. As she was waiting for take off she told me she was off to England and than France. Matthew said the entire ride she was screaming "this is fun, this is fun!"

Olivia was also very excited to ride the train. She made a be-line for the pink car.

She loved being the conductor and was very concerned about the comfort of her passenger.

Olivia absolutely loved this outing. We went just a few days ago, but we have already reenacted out amusement park adventures many times and she often asks if we are going back.

Miami

We decided to take a trip down to Miami for a week. Olivia frequently talks about going to the beach and she loves to have us play "beach" and build sand castles on the rug. We knew she would have a wonderful time in Miami, and she did, but I was quite surprised that she didn't seem to be as eager to go to the beach down in Florida as she was at home.

She wasn't interested in getting into the water, Matthew convinced her let him carry her in once. It was a pretty short excursion, she came back to report to me that a wave splashed salt in her eyes.

Olivia may not have been that eager to head down to the beach, but she always had a lot of fun once we got there.

The swimming pool was Olivia's favorite. She practically skipped all the way to the pool, she loved it.

The cabanas by the pool offered a lot of fun as well. It turns out cabanas can also serve as a stage for wonderful performances.

(Olivia laughs whenever she sees this dancing picture)

We had so much fun in Florida, probably the highlight for all of us was the bike ride down a beautiful boardwalk on South Beach. Olivia was very excited to wear her helmet.

On our last day in Florida, Matt asked Olivia, "Isn't Florida great?" Olivia enthusiastically answered "Yes, but New York is my favorite!"

Church Cleaning

This morning was our turn to clean our church building. Everytime we go to clean, Olivia sure loves to help!

Olivia always keeps us laughing with comments like these:

-I told Olivia: "I am going to go to the temple tonight, so dad is going to put you to bed." Olivia replied "Ok mom....so who are you going to marry this time?" It looks like we need to talk about eternal families.

-Olivia asked me the name of the man we had hung out with the night before. I told her his name was David. Olivia responded, "Oh just like..." I interrupted her and said "just like David from David and Goliath." I assumed she was going to say David and Goliath because she loves that story and we had just read it. Olivia replied, "No, just like David A. Bednar."

-Olivia absolutely loves the song "The Star Spangled Banner" and she loves to sing it. If she is singing along with someone else she does a pretty good job with the song. If she sings by herself she gets some of the words wrong. Without fail she always belts, "Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the Harold B. Lee." I haven't corrected her yet, because I just think her version is so cute.

-I love when Olivia will make up a word and immediately define it for you. For example she was pretending to be my waiter and said, "here is your hamburger and your trelecoo...a trelecoo is an adult drink, not for little girls."