Merry Christmas Gemma!

She was pretty fun this year, compared to last year when she slept all day. She sort of got the unwrapping thing, and really liked her toys. The best was the dolly; as soon as she opened it she hugged it, and patted it on the head and back. It was too cute. She also got a fire truck, and she figured out right away that if you put the little man in the driver's seat it plays a song. She got a doll house and some sweet socks from home (plus the bike helmet). AND Baba's package hasn't come yet so we can make Christmas last a little longer.

The rest of the pictures are already on the flicker (wow, we are on the ball with blogging and pictures)

We're off to the Philipinnes tonight. Pray for safety and fun and good weather.

Talk to you in 5 days.

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with friends! Our Christmas package from Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Rod came, so we put more presents under the tree. One was sort of loosely wrapped and too roly poly to stay under the tree so we let Gemma go at it. This is just a teaser, I can see Chester was working on the flicker so there will be more pictures there soon.

New Friend

Hurray for Ryan and Allison! They have a new baby girl to join their family, Ayda Sharon Ruth. She is completely beautiful, and when I talked to Allison she was so energetic and calm...Not how I remember feeling after giving birth;) But I am a huge wimp. Anyway, check out the link here to see the pictures.

Stay Sleeping

One thing I love about having Gemma in bed with us in the morning is that she sleeps longer. She sometimes wakes too early but if we pretend we are sleeping she rolls around, pokes us in the face a bit, flops down on us, wiggles her bum around and eventually goes back to sleep. Today she was so funny, she woke up and was sitting us blabbing away, and then she started doing this thing with her tongue, darting it in and out of the side of her mouth really quickly, like a little frog. Then she would laugh.

She was conducting in her sleep. And talking a bit. :) Mommy's girl.

Injury

Our baby has a booboo. We were in the computer room and she pulled Chris' laptop down off the couch, and the corner landed right on her toe. I saved the laptop from hitting the ground (phewww) but the poor girl was just howling. It hit her toe beside the big toe on her right foot and the nail is pretty much lifted right off. It looks like it is going to fall off at any second. She didn't cry long, and is walking fine. We put shoes on her and went out tonight and she didn't complain at all. When we got home I washed her feet in a sink of warm water with antibacterial soap, trying to run the soapy water over the injury and pat it clean without actually touching it too much, or ripping the nail off. She was even examining it, touching it gingerly and then she lifted the nail a bit. It was so funny to watch her examine herself. Of course when she lifted the nail it hurt again and she cried a little more but mostly she is a trouper. I put a bandaid on it (putting bandaids on baby toes is very difficult) and put some snug clean socks on, and we'll see. My biggest worry is that the whole toenail will fall off and then never grow back. I am not joking when I said the WHOLE nail is hardly attached; What is she loses the whole thing? Where will the new one grow? Will it grow? Will it hurt until then?

You know, people talk about the empowering feelings of motherhood and the strength of women. For me, I feel the opposite. I feel being a mother has made me more weak and afraid then ever. From about 3 seconds into the first push during labor I remember thinking, This is impossible! There is no way this is going to work! And I still fight those feelings. No matter what I do, I can not protect her from all the bad things in this world. I can't keep her from falling down on her head as she learns to walk, pulling computers down onto her toes... Arm's reach is not close enough all the time. I can not keep her safe from everything. I can hardly stand the news, hearing about little babies being abandoned or kidnapped or raped and all sorts of awful things. What is she has autism, or some other disability? It was a miracle when she finally burst out of my womb, and I can honestly say that everyday I in awe thank God for letting us watch over this precious little angel. I am completely dependent. I worry that I won't be able to discipline her, even though I know she needs it and craves it, etc. Heck, I'll be honest and say I have no idea how we are going to even wean her in the next 2 weeks (which is our plan).

You could pray for strength for me to do what I know is right and as I battle my own self doubt.

Baby Einstein

I love these fresh out of the bath tousled hair pictures, like the old Albert Einstein posters. She needs a haircut!

Oops!

The funniest thing happened yesterday...Ok, funny for me, not Gemma.

Gemma was standing in the bathroom at the opposite end of the faucet (If you've been a McKenzie blog follower for a long time, you'll have heard about Taiwan bathrooms; there is a shower and a faucet but no tub) So she was standing at that end, away from the water because I was going to run it to fill her little bathtub. Well, I turned the water on full force and the little knob on the faucet that switches it from tap to shower was UP so instead of water coming down out of the tap it came shooting out of the shower head and totally sprayed the fully clothed Gemma from head to toe. Poor thing was so surprised, but didn't cry or anything. And then I was laughing so hard she started laughing too. (reactions are so key with babies). What a brave little girl. I'm still laughing today.

Gemma at the Concert

What a cutie! Here she is hanging out, chillin' with some friends from school, and sleeping during the finale. It was the loudest part of the concert; all 120 kids singing carols along with the audience and she conked out. Babies!

Just like mom

For those of you that only read Nevada and Gemma's blogs I will repost this post from my blog:

When I took these pictures today I knew they had to be posted. We finally started decorating today and apparently it took a toll on my ladies. Gemma crashed in the afternoon and I kept mom up a little late tonight.




We were trying to get Gemma to pose with the bobble Jesus in the afternoon but she was having none of it. She just ket trying to bite the bottom of it. So when they got home tonight and she was fast asleep I decided to pose her with it. Then later on Nevada fell asleep so I posed her with it as well. So funny that all these pictures happened all in the same day.

The New Gemma

Gemma has entered a new phase... the tantrum phase. When she doesn't get what she wants, she screams and arches back, throws her head back... Yikes! She does this when someone picks her up she doesn't want to, or when she iswalking with a sharp pencil and I take it away. We have managed to be firm with her and not give in, so hopefully they decrease as she learns that she will not get her way if she does it.

A cute story; she has always been a dumpster diver, digging around in teh garbage whenever we look away. Well, since we've taken it away so many times and put things in it so much she has also changed her approach. Instead of taking things out of the garbage, she is putting things in. For example, yesterday Chris found the lid to a sippy cup and a toy fruit in his garbage can.

She is loving all her birthday toys, and learning how to push he buttons, etc. That's pretty cool.

More Birthday PIcs

Here are some of Andy's pictures:




OUr girl got some neat presents:
Little Tykes 3 in 1 sports centre. It has a baseball to hit around, a football to spin and a basetball net with a scoreboard that lights up
Disney baby princess ride on car. We are not huge princess advocates but this was the best one they had at Toys R US. The other ones looked opened already, and used. Plus this one had cool features.
A red bikini
toque and mitts, (that match the scarf you sent perfectly, Baba)
Activity cube, with blocks to put in and ittle knobs to move around a track
a remote control
a cell phone (This one was awesome, the girl who bought it for her was so excited, as soon as she came in she said"Come and open this present right now, Gemma is going to love it!!")
The cutest esprit outfit from Allison (you'll see pictures of that later)

and so much more...She is so spoiled! (and loved, I guess!)

Happy Birthday Baby Gemma!

We had a lot of fun at her party. It was exactly opposite of what the books reccomend inthat we had tonnes of people in our house. We had to move the coffee table out because there was no room. There were three babies and two older kids and lots of adults. People loved the cake and cupcakes, and she got some super presents; her friends and grandparents are too sweet.

Just a few pictures are posted (I need a hero cookie for my first cake!) but Chris has more up on the flicker. Also, Andy took soome pictures too, and when they are ready we'll tell you how to see them.

Update

Babyfood making party round 3... This month's menu includes spinich/beef(have you ever seen forest green food before? Yikes!), chicken/pea/asparagus (we kind of just made that one up), green beans, applesauce, and apple/pear. There were three sets of hands this time and so we got all of that made in 2 1/2 hours. And then ordered pizza :)

Gemma had her chicken pox vaccine yesterday, and only cried when they stuck her. Pheww! She was also weighted and measured; 8.3 kg and about 73 cm (so about 18 lbs, and 29 inches). She is right in the middle of her growth chart, even though she seems to be a light weight beside all the other babies she knows. That's what other parents say when they pick her up; "She's so light!"

She has a new trick, too, but this one I really dislike. She can spit out food she doesn't like. So she squeezes it out of her lips, and then tries to grab it. Ewwww :)

Birthday on Wednesday, so excited!

Celery

Yummm...Celery is so good for me! I think I will eat the whole stalk!

Weaning

Starting to think about weaning. Not that I mind breastfeeding, she is down to early evening, bedtime, and once in the night. We've made the mistake the books all tell you not to make; I let her fall asleep while nursing, and so now it is just easy to whip it out in the middle of the night when she fusses. I also don't want to use bottles. Our dishwasher is a pretty old model, the NE-VADA 1979, and with Gemma eating solids that means an extra litte bowls a day, and spoons, and sippy cups...all I need is bottles to wash, too. BUT I guess she is going to be one year old and if I could figure out a way to get her off the breast I guess we could. I'm not really in a rush.

So I invite your advice (and not judgement please; I know everyone elses' baby but mine sleeps through the night. Oh, and before anyone gets upset about me doing dishes, I do it because Chris cooks and does laundry, and a variety of other household chores)

So funny

Two hilarious stories form Thursday...

At lunch time Nick and Ali (aka Nali) were over because Nck was watching basketball with Chris. We were eating subway around the coffee table, and we all had glasses of water. Gemma was of course hanging around and trying to get in on the action. Well, she reached across the table, grabbed a glass of water with two hands, and drank from it. She was like, "Hey, I can drink from a real cup, don't you know?" The second gulp she got a bunch of backwash in it, ewwww...The thrid sip, well, that was hilarious too because she totally missed her mouth and poured the rest of the glass down her chest. Hahaha.

Then Thursday night when I was talking to Mikala, Gemma was hanging out with Chris in the office when she toddled off. Chris came out to the living room looking for her, calling "Gemma..." but she wasn't out there. Then he hears the sound of baby playing in the bathroom. He turns around, peeks in, and there she is, in the dark bathroom, sitting in her bathtub. Her bottom half was soaking wet from the bottom bit of water that doesn't drain, and she was playing with her little bathbook. It was so funny.

Gemma's list of skills continue to grow....Climb on coffee table? Check. Drink water? Check. Bathe myself? Check.

Personality

Our baby gets more personality everyday. She is at such a neat stage where she is learning things really quickly, remembering old things and trying out tonnes of stuff.

Today Chris was playing with her Helen Keller style; he was touching her hand to his face and saying da-da..da-da, and then touching her face and saying Gemma...Gemma. After a few times, he put her hands on his face and she said it; da-da. Daddy is also working on 'kiss' and 'high five'.

Tonight was Gemma's first experience with toothpaste. We have a nurse that is working with our school system to be on call to ask health questions, etc, and I asked her this week about flouride drops for Gemma. (We drink bottled water, not tap water, and so there is no flouride in it) She said, after all her research and talking with doctors and dentists both in Taiwan and America that flouride drops or pills are very difficult to dose properly; too little and there is no point, too much can cause serious problems. What she recommends is brushing at least once a day with a smidge of toothpaste and then start flouride treatments at the dentist when she is 3. Anyway, Gemma and the toothpaste...It was so cute! She made this awful face, like "Mommy, take it out, yuck" and she never makes that face. I think it was a little too minty for her :) I will go buy her a more gentle kiddy flavor tomorrow.

Another little story; in the bath she likes when I put the soap on her hand. It started when she would first start playing with the bottle, and I would hold her hand flat, palm up and put a little on her hand and then rub them together to make the bubbles. Now she holds her hand out palm up all by herself, and waits for me to squirt the soap on. Then she tries to rub them together enough to make the bubbles. And I showed her how to rub the bubbles all over her tummy and arms...I gave her about 5 squirts of soap and she would have taken more. One thing about bath time is I can't make her look up to rinse the shampoo off. I try to dangle toys in front of her up high so she tilts her head back and then pour the water, but as soon as she feels it on her head she puts her chin down, and it all runs down her face. Maybe time for one of those foamy hat-ring things?

The Triumphant Scaling of Mt. Coffeetable

We are pretty firm about not playing with the remote control, so whenever we happen to leave it at her level she darts for it. Well, Chris left her today for a moment to go to the bathroom, and when he came back into the living room she was kneeling on the coffee table, bouncing up and down, grinning ear to ear, waving the remote control over her head. What a little goofball:)

Your Chariot Awaits

Before she used to like being picked up just to for the sake of being picked up; for hugs, cuddles, etc. Now she she likes to be picked up as a mode of transportation. You lift her up and she doesn't even bother to nuzzle anymore, she just extends her arm and points: 'Take me there. What's over there? Let's leave this room and go to another." In the mornings she points to the door of her bedrooom wanting out, or she points to the top half of the fridge (where we keep most of the magnets).

She definitely rules the roost around here :)

A few stories...

It's so hard to remember stories to tell! Or else they seem so short and insignificant. Anyway, since I committed to be a faithful blogger, I hope these tidbits don't suck too bad.

1) I was at school photocopying something and wen we were done she walked right up to the guard (doorman) and reached up her little arms. So of course he picks her up, and she points to things around his office to check out, and he obliges, and then she notices the security camera monitor. It's just a computer monitor with the screen divided into quadrants, with four different video cameras outside the perimeter of the school. Well, she was looking so intently at the screen that I thought I would mess with her a bit. I walked out the front door and stood outside the school facing one of the cameras and waved and danced for her. I couldn't see her reaction, but when I went back in after a moment she gave me this amazed, incredulous look. She looked back at the monitor so I went and did it again, and again she was soo amazed. It was pretty cute.

2) She waves to random people now and it is also soo cute. When we are waiting at a red light on the bike she'll look at people stopped beside us and wave Most of the time they wave back. Or when people pass her on the street.

3) Today we were at 101, and in the ten minutes it takes to eat a food court lunch she had her picture taken 3 times. Andy had a great idea for a T-shirt; 'Photos; 100NT' and get it printed in Chinese. I would laugh super hard.

4) She had two big falls today:(. Once at church, she lost her balance as Andy was setting her down, and she tipped over onto her head. The second time was tonight, she was climbing in her toy box and flipped right over somehow and out of the box, banging her head on the footstool before it hit the floor. That one even drew a little blood on the inside of her bottom lip. Poor baby.

5) Chicken and papaya has not been a success. Unless everytime I try to feed it to her, she just isn't hungry. Her favorite foods are yogurt, chicken, and beef/potato.

Have a great Sunday!

New Toy

So Gemma is way into phones lately. She tries to climb up on the counter where the house phone is kept and pull on the cord, and she loves cell phones. We were messing around with her at Penghu, and while she was playng with a phone we'd call it so it would buzz and ring. (She didn't really get it but it was funny for us) So when we cleaned Chris' office last week we found an old cell phone and gave it to her. At first she would hold it up to her ear and really listen to see who was there, but I think now she gets that no one is talking to her. I do the pretend talk on the phone thing and say, "Oh Gemma, its for you," and hand it over and she listens for a second but then hands it back. It's like she's thinking, "Mommy, it's not working for me, you try it again!"

Walking

She took her official first steps a month ago, but since then hasn't been to eager to use this new form of transportation. Our house is so small that she can cruise almost every where she wants to go, there is no large expanse of space that has to cross. Or when there is a space she would stand there, then lower herself down and crawl. Yesterday though it was like she got it. Several times when she was standing there instead of lowering herself down and crawling she walked. It's like she believes in herself; Yes I can walk! She is still very slow and stiff, like an astronaut, but she did about a dozen little walking journies of 5 or 6 steps yesterday.

Twin Day

No joke, this coordination of outfits was completely unplanned! Thanks, Baba, for the funky pants.

New skills

Here's what she's been working on:

1) Pointing to what she wants or where she wants to go.
2) Waving hello and goodbye consistently
3) More 'words'. I'm sure she's saying Hi, yeah, this, and no. (or not...hard to say!)
4) Picking up teeny tiny bits of food and getting them into her mouth.

She is also spending more and more hours in her own bed at night; two days ago she didn't wake until 6am. But as always some days are better than others.

Baby Bowling

Don't let a sleeping baby throw off your game!

Ponderosa

I wish we had pictures because it was really cute. We went out for dinner last night, and Gemma was really good. Restaurants have become a little more difficult with a baby; staying in the high chair that long, etc. So Chris and I usually spend a lot of the time walking her around or playing with her outside while we wait for the food to come, then put her in the highchair and try to eat as quickly as possible. But last night was really relaxing and nice. We went to Ponderosa, sort of like Bonanza, and got her some food from the salad bar and she stayed happily in her chair the whole time. She had little bits if plain spagetti noodles and some steamed broccoli, and picking up the bits of food and feeding herself kept her totally entertained. Then she had some papaya, and for dessert; a waffle wedge. The waffle was especially funny because she wanted to hold it by herself, and since she is gtting the bite thing I let her. It was so cute watching her munch off bites of waffle. It was a nice relaxing dinner for all of us.

Baby Food making party round II is scheduled for Monday at 3:30. The menu? Papaya/chicken, beef/potatoe, and fruit medley. RSVP to Nevada :)

Gemma the Octopus

We went grocery shopping yesterday and Gemma's new reaching capabilities put our parenting skills to the test. Chris threw a triangle of brie into the cart, and Gemma somehow got it, and bit a piece out of the aluminum foil wrapper. Then when we were walking through the meat section, she reaches out to the side and literally grabs onto a raw fish from a huge bin... EWWW!

We are working on 'no'. And she is frustrated, understandably. See a cheerio on my high chair, eat it. See it on the table, eat it. Mommy gives it to me, eat it. Find it on the floor, DON'T eat it??? Toy truck goes in the mouth, OK. Remote control, not OK. Toy banana goes in the mouth, OK. Paper, not OK. How difficult to be a baby. She is getting better with some things, for example, paper. She doesn't put that in her mouth near as much. But other little things from the floor, yikes! Last week I pulled out a popcorn kernel, a pretzel, a recipet...She does look guilty when I catch her, so maybe she is learning.

New Video

There is a new video on Chris' facebook.

It's been such a crazy week, practicing afterschool for my TV thing, plus events every day after the afterschool practice. Poor Gemma has been drug all over the place and not spent an evening at home. This isn't so bad, she's pretty good about travelling, but its teh missing her early evening nap that is killing her. She usually naps around 5-5:30 for 40 minutes or so. Except not this week, so then all evening she is tired and clingy. Her current bed time is 9pm, which is great beacuse I have an hour of quiet time, and she sleeps in till 10 or so. (Which may make you think Chris is spoiled but he is often up doing his classwork/church work late at night. Those are his office hours) Anyway, she is getting better at sleeping on her own, she even wiggled out of my arms to be in her bed and went right to sleep on her own. I think she is getting that can choose to go to sleep when she feels tired. (In case you are wondering, we totally spoiled her and let her fall asleep in our arms form day 1. And now thats how she has to fall asleep; the books are true!) Which leads to another topic...

I always said I would never let my baby sleep with us. In fact, I used to make fun of those people. But now I do it. A) I am so tired, and when she gets up two or three times a night its so much easier to pick her up, bring her to bed and nurse her laying down B) She often doesn't need to nurse when she is in bed with us; you can pat her when she starts getting fussy and she goes back to sleep without a full wake up C) She is so darn cute and sweet, I love her little baby hands beside my face, and her little milky breath and her teeny body. I just lean my face close to her and bretah in her baby goodness. To our credit, she does go to sleep in her own bed, and sleeps there until 1 or 2. But after that middle of the night wake up, to bed with us she comes and there she stays until the morning.

Thats how we roll at the McKenzie house:)

Back from Break

We had the best vacation in Penghu! Gemma was a star, of course, she travelled well. Ahe also slept really well, I think from all the exercise. There are tonnes of nice pictures, go check them out on the flicker. Enjoy the teasers, but seriously, if you've never looked at our photos before thats ok, but these ones are great and you should take a look.

We got home Thursday and Friday Gemma had a fever. Saturday day she was good but then was hot again all night and Sunday morning, but then at night was ok again. We'll see how she is today and maybe take her to the doctor.

New Skill

whistle blowing!

SHE DID IT!

We didn't have the camera handy but today was the day our baby took her first steps. She's been walking with our help and getting more and more stable. Nevada was just saying how impressed she was that Gemma was walking while only holding on to one guide hand. Today she was standing up against her blocks and all of a sudden turned towards mommy and just went for it. Then I called her over and she left mommy and took about three steps in my direction. It was thrilling. I was so proud and she was so happy. Although her new found mobility makes me a bit busier and more worried I do feel this opens up a whole new world of play. I'm excited to go to the park and watch her walk around and explore. I'll try to capture some video of her new skill sometime in the next couple of days.

New Trick

I could probably write a post every two or three days with that title but today's new skill was particularly momentous. For a while now we've been able to set our living room up as a large playpen using furniture and these cubes made of foam tiles. It's worked great. She has her toys and a few little places to explore but she can't get in much trouble or danger. It's the place I put her when I need to do things around the house and can't watch her every move. She's been pushing the boundaries lately by trying to squeeze out small cracks in the wall of this makeshift playpen...she's succeeded a couple of times with brute force. But today she finally figured out how to climb. Nevada and I were in the dining half of the room chatting and having lunch when all of a sudden Nevada saw that Gemma was on top of one of the cubes. We took some pics and helped her off. This will add a whole new dimension to supervision in our house.

a birthday party!

Gemma was invited to her first birthday party last week. A friend from school's son turned one, and so we went over for a little get together. The total count for people was 3 babies, 3 toddlers, 3 school aged children, and then 8 parents. The mom had games planned for the younger kids, and prizes, and it was a nice afternoon. Note to self; 2 hours is PLENTY of time for a first birthday party!

Unrelated note; yes, you can put prunes into icecube trays. Even though they stay sort of mushy, they will hold their shape in freezer bags.

Baby Food

So I made my own baby food this week. And it was easy, and cheap, and fun too. (I love making stuff, and since I don't have so much time for crafts and stuff making baby food sort of fulfilled that need). My firned came over with her babe one night and it was great; one set of hands for baby watching and one for working. I had a pretty extensive menu planned, so it took me three nights but I think with more friends it could go faster. Here's what I made:
1) beef/potatoe/carrot: Brown some ground beef. Chop it up. Bake some potatoes. Scoop the middles out and chop.(Can you use the peel? Maybe.) Boil some carrots. Chop. Blend in the blender. Sppon into ice cube trays.
2) Chicken/brocolli/rice: Baked some chicken breasts, steamed the brocolli, cooked some brown rice. Chopped and blended. Scoop into trays. It looked like glue, and tasted very gritty. I think it was the rice that made it gross, so not sure if I'll do it again. Although Gemma eats it fine.
3) Apple/plum/nectarine: This one was yummy! Carve an x with a knife onto the side of nectarines and plums. Steam until tender. They are quite thick, so it takes a while to get the middle tender. Keep the water you cook them in. Then peel them, it sort of scrapes off with a knife. Messy job! Then I peeled and chopped some apples, and cooked them in the plum water. They turned a yummy purple color. Then I chopped it all up, blended it and ta da! Aplesauce stuff.
4) Heather brought prunes, and they are yum! (I love prunes!) Just put them in a bowl and cover with boiling hot water. Let sit until they puff up, then chop and blend. Keep the water for other griut stuff or making cereal or just as juice. NOTE: prunes don't freeze solid, so don't put them in ice cube trays. I just put them in a tupperware, and when I need some I just spoon some out.

What did I learn that I didn't already know? 1) Blending stuff takes lots of water. Otehrwise its too thick and the blender makes an awful sound. I always tried to use as little water as possible when cooking, but then I had none left for blending, so go ahead and use water. 2) You need to chop stuff up before you put it in the blender. They are not as strong as you think. Hmmm...that's it. It was REALLY easy to do, made tonnes of food, and was easily half the cost of baby food ehre (Its over a dollar a jar!!!)

Any good recipes I should try?

How do they do that?

There was a comment on how we did the underwater pictures; well, Andy has a plastic case for his digital camera. So he just puts inside and can use it like regular under the water. As far as getting Gemma under the water, we just blew lightly in her face and dunked. (Sheri taught us that; blowing on their face causes them to breath in and hold their breath for a second)

Meet the Teacher Night

Here is me and Gemma at meet the teacher night, and a pic of her and members of her after school club. (Check out the jelly sandals; Thanks Allie!)

Fun with Hats

This was soo funny! Chris would put the hat on her, and she would try to pull it off. But every time she'd grab the hat and yank, her head would go along with it, so she was just pulling her head around in different directions. She loved it too, she thought it was funny, maybe because we were killing ourselves! Chris put the video on his facebook, so go there to check it out.

Under the Sea

Here is a smapling of picturs from our weekend retreat at Green Bay. We had a staff getaway at this incredible resort, with an indoor pool, two outdoor pools, on the beach, a spa, billards, arcade games...It was awesome! We had a buffet supper and breakfast the next day. The pool was the highlight though. It was so big and beautiful, with so many options. There was a current river you could float through, fountains, a little kiddie warm pool. Gemma had a blast and even got her face wet for the first time.