BTW - I *did* write this in July, but I couldn't access my pictures until August, so the title stands...I'm sitting here on my couch because I am accessing the internet wirelessly! So very cool. However, I still need to fix things because for some reason I can't access my network when I am using my wireless network. One of these days I'll spend some time getting it going. (yeah! It's been fixed - Thanks b)
July has been a fun-filled month. At the beginning of the month my Aunt Patti, cousin Debbie and her daughter Jayden came to visit. Jayden is a rambunctious, happy 3 year old. Sammy had a great time watching and playing with her!
One day we played tourist and rode the Ducks. These are amphibious vehicle that have been around since World War II. The tour guides are jokesters and they blast music and get the whole crowd going as they drive around Seattle and then go for a ride in Lake Union. When we first sat down in the fron row, Sammy noticed a shruken head hanging from the rear-view window. She was not pleased. She cried and hid her head in my shoulder until the perceptive tour guide (Captain Lotta Danger) took it down. Then she had a great time.
On another day we went to a local park for a picnic. We went to the zoo. And Debbie and I took Sammy and Jayden to a quaint little "kids" parade. The drill team, marching bands and bagpipe bands were the big hits.
Our friend has decided to start a photography business. So the day before he left for Korea for a year, he took David and Sam, and then later me, David and Sam to the parks to work on building his portfolio. Lucky us! We were the recipients of about 70 beautiful photographs. Here are a few:
David's musical ended July 15th, so we have had some wonderful family times. This last weekend we went camping. David did all of the prep work and packed the car when I got home from work on Friday. We drove for north for about an hour and a half and came to the Bedel campground in the Cascades. Sammy loved the blow up queen bed and she was so proud of herself for wearing her own little backpack. We hiked for about 30 minutes but had to turn around because the trail had been swept away in a recent storm. 
Her favorite activity was throwing rocks in the river. She could do that all day long if we let her!
The following photos are others that John took
Lately Sammy has shown a few of the terrible twos symptoms: little fits if we move one of her toys aside, temper tantrums at the slightest things. We are trying to ride the storm while making the "correct" parenting choices. So far, these things have blown by within 3 minutes or so, but it still comes as a bit of a shock!
She is chatting up a blue streak, putting together 3, 4 and 5 word sentences: "Sammy Grandpa play Sammy crayons". "Mommy play bead balls too."
She also has a love/hate relationship with the car wash: we took her through one last week and she started crying and said "out car wash". We talked her through it and from that moment on at least 14 minutes a day we would hear about the car wash. She seemed to want to go through it again because when we asked her she would get all excited. After camping our car was filthy, we took her through it again and after her initial hesitancy, she seemed to enjoy it. 
I will sign off with Sammy's trademark goodnight call: wa-wa, bunny, nap!
