We have been trying to stay cool and keeping busy with some fun activities. We've gone to the Children's Museum now twice in the past two weeks. The museum just opened in June, and is only about 40% complete at this point. For our first trip, it was just Rylie and me, but last week, we had a special treat spending the day with Cousin Jordyn. The girls had a ball together, and while they missed Micah (the third muskateer) I am sure he was probably happier to get a break from them :-)
A few pictures of Rylie and Jordyn enjoying the museum.
The girls loved the supermarket exhibit. You can go shopping, check the stockroom, and Jordyn even checked us out!

The kitchen exhibit was another big hit. Iron Chef 3 and under Competition :-)
"Uh oh!"

There was another exhibit where you could paint a house. Rylie preferred to paint her shoes :-)
The tunnels were a lot of fun to climb through. We went back to this section of the museum three times! Rylie's Garden
We are always looking for new activities for Rylie to learn different and new things. So the newest addition to the Tennen Family's Backyard: Rylie's Garden. So far, we have basil and tomatoes. Next week we'll be adding peppers.

Our little gardener!Rylie was very involved in the planting process. Thankfully at school she has learned "Pat, Pat, Pat" from when they do art projects. This came in handy as we tried to explain to her that she needed to pat the soil down. She seemed to think it was more of a sandbox and preferred digging and moving soil from one place to another.

Once everything was planted, Rylie watered all of her plants. While it seemed at first the plants may drown (if that is possible in Arizona in August) Rylie definitely gets an A for effort, and is getting better each day. The truth is, while it would be nice to actually get some produce out of this garden, more importantly, we really just hope the garden will allow Rylie to learn about nature and grow a sense of pride in her accomplishments. We now water the garden every morning before we leave and every afternoon when we come home.

K-Stan Cousins

Rylie's friend, Caroline, has appeared on this blog before. As you may recall, Caroline is from Kyrgyzstan and the girls are only a few weeks apart. We were so excited to spend time with Caroline and her family again. We really enjoy hanging out with her parents, and all four of us love to watch the two girls together. They are really like 2 peas in a pod. It is a very special friendship they have, one that we look forward to watching develop throughout the years. They have become more interactive in their play. (Much of their interaction this weekend revolved around Caroline taking grapes and raisins from Rylie, and Rylie taking watermelon and cookie pieces from Caroline!)

After an afternoon at the pool, we hit Havana Cafe for dinner.

The mac & cheese could only keep the girls in their highchairs for so long. Climbing on the fireplace was much more fun!

Kisses for one another!

Love to everyone....

Go Team Kazakhstan!!!!

Hooray for Irina Nekrassova for winning a Silver Medal in Weightlifting and Nubakyt Tengizbayev for winning a Bronze Medal in Men's Greco Roman Wrestling!!

We LOVE the Olympics and are loving having a new team to root for in the Tennen house.

Go USA!!!
Go Kazakhstan!!!
Go Israel!!!

Vacation!!!!

We just got back from a wonderful vacation in Southern California. It was so nice to get out of the extreme heat and enjoy some serious outdoor time.

We started our vacation in Orange County seeing some of Adam's family. It's always fun to see family, and this was extra special because we got to spend some quality time with our cousins Dave, Meredith, Sophia, Isaac, and new baby Max. Rylie loved getting to play with her cousins!

Rylie planting a wet one on Isaac.

Visiting with Great Grandma & Great Zadie. We also got to spend time with Saba and Safta on Saturday.

Rylie and Safta examining the fish in the Koi pond.

The koi pond had stepping stones to cross over from the main area to the center. Rylie loved jumping from stone to stone. Rylie loves sitting on curbs. I guess maybe because they are the perfect size for her. Rylie and Saba singing and clapping. One of my favorite things about Rylie (I have about a million of them) is that she finds humor in the littlest things. She cracks herself up constantly. I love that! Who knows what she is laughing about here!

Have I mentioned that Rylie loves dogs?

Enjoying the splash fountain and the carousel at Fashion Island. I don't know why, but I love this picture.

After a few days in the OC, we headed down to San Diego. We spent Sunday on the beach in Coronado. While not planned, Auntie Bethany, Uncle Jay, and cousins Jordyn and Micah were in San Diego too!

Rylie and Micah playing catch.

Rylie loved the beach and the ocean. She walked straight to the water, and went right in.She especially enjoyed eating sand :-)

We spent one day at Sea World which was absolutely fabulous. Our morning at Sea World started with Breakfast with Elmo and the rest of the Sesame Street gang. We thought Rylie would enjoy this, given her recent obsession with Elmo, and basically anything Sesame. Rylie was so excited when we saw this sign as we approached the character breakfast.

Unfortunately, her excitement did not last! Surprisingly, Rylie was terrified of the characters. While it made for a long breakfast, it was reassuring to know that our little Rylie does have some fears (or at least one for now!) Rylie spent most of the breakfast chasing birds and running away from characters. We also went to the Sesame Street play area for a while. Rylie went on her first ride- Elmo's Flying Fish. Our first time on it was filled with a combination of blank stares and tears.

But as the ride ended, Rylie started giggling, clapping, and screaming "More!" We went back later in the day, and she loved the ride. She wouldn't even let me hold onto her. She kept pushing my arm off of her saying "No!"

Now for the real reason you go to Sea World...

Our little Rylie is definitely an animal lover. She really liked Shamu, and absolutely LOVED the dolphins. Before the Shamu show, we went down to check her out in her viewing tank. Rylie loved the Shamu show and surprisingly sat still the entire time.

We also saw the Dolphin Show, which Rylie loved, and the Pets Rule Show, filled with special tricks by dogs, cats, birds, and even a pig. At the end of the Pets Rule Show, we got to go to the stage to meet some of the stars. No pictures of those shows because we sat in the "Soak Zone." It was pretty hot by that point in the day, so the water felt really refreshing.

We also fed the sea lions!

The next day, we headed off to the Wild Animal Park.

Rylie and Daddy by the entrance to the Wild Animal Park. (The pictures from the blog might be misleading... Adam actually spends a great deal of time with Rylie. He just doesn't part with the camera much!)

We went on a really interesting tram ride called "Tour of Africa." The best part of this park is that the animals are roaming freely through a very large area designed much like their natural habitat (as much as you can make California feel like Africa!) Rylie loved the animals and said "Hi!" "Bye Bye" and blew kisses to EVERY animal we saw. It was pretty funny, though somewhat embarrassing because I don't think anyone could hear the tour guide over Rylie. Unless you include climbing in and out of the stroller or pushing it, Rylie really has no interest in the stroller. For that reason, the Ergo came in very handy!While the monkey used to be Rylie's favorite animal to imitate, now it is the duck. She walks around saying "Kack Kack" while flapping her arms.
And of course, the carousel. Rylie loves them. Thankfully Daddy can tolerate them better than Mommy- once around and I'm done! Daddy obliged to Rylie's "More!!!"

And now here we are back in Phoenix.

One last thing, special congratulations to the Ruopoli and Serra families!

Love to everyone...