Best. Day. Ever

This past Saturday was probably one of the best days ever. We managed to cram a whole lot of summer into just one day- probably because it was the first day that actually felt like summer.

Aliza and I started with a morning walk, where I finally visited a cute little local coffee shop and discovered they have delicious iced chai tea lattes. Aliza fell asleep during the walk so I parked her in her stroller outside and settled on the grass with a book. She only slept for fifteen minutes once we got home but I'll take fifteen minutes of uninterrupted reading- and in the sun no less!- any time these days.

Once she woke up we headed over to our local Y for swimming lessons. Aliza has gotten over her initial terror and now thoroughly enjoys the pool. Russ took videos, so I'll have to post one later so you can see the little fish she is becoming.

After swim lessons we ate lunch and then headed outside to (finally!) play with some of her fun presents she got for her birthday. Here she is with her water table:

Look! No hands! Daddy put together her special chair from Aunt Cindy, and Aliza had fun exploring it, and even sitting on it:

Next we played catch:

Finally we headed over to her Little Tykes play house:

Aliza, much like my third graders, likes to try to climb up the slide.

And we ended back at the water table for some more splashing:

After a change of clothes and a nice long nap, we headed over to our neighbor's for pizza and then to our local fireworks. It was the first time we had gone to the fireworks in our town and it ended up being quite the expedition. We had to park several blocks away and load up Aliza in the stroller then walk to a huge open field, passing vendors selling all the usual paraphernalia before settling down, a good hour and a half before the fireworks were to start, on our grassy spot. Aliza handled the fireworks like a champ, she whimpered a bit when they first started but then pointed and stared and even said "Boom!" a few times. Russ and I marveled at what an amazing little girl we had, and what suburban residents we had become.

It was a perfect summer day.....