Lost and Found at the Beach

Wow, we had a great time at the beach! I just have the pictures from my camera at the moment, and I didn't even click the first 3 days! It was so exciting that we would rush out of the house without the camera. Grandma and Uncle Pete were good about always having their camera on the ready, and I'm looking to get some good pictures from their collection! But, here goes with a few to document. It was great to have all 10 of us under one roof! All 4 cousins were there, enjoying learning more about each other.

Some things were lost at the beach trip...Woody lost 2 pairs of sunglasses this time. He set a world record for losing the first pair on the first jump into the ocean! The waves did seem a little rougher this time, and even though he had a strap the second time, it didn't have the float attachment so it was lost in the murky waters.

Put into the almost lost category...Nate had a new kite, which was in this picture. He held it well for a few minutes, then did what any 2 1/2 year old would do...which is let it go. We found out that kites do sail away fast in the beach breeze. Grandpa made a run for it that was worthy of a marathon tryout, but it still sailed away. But, the good news is it was found the next day not too far away and it did still sail!

Uncle Pete, Emily, Nate and Natalie with the almost lost kite.

The sisters loved the beach!!

Found category...we found out that our neighbors were brave (?) enough to strap what looked like a fan on their backs, connected to a parachute, and fly in the ocean breezes. Another step up from a kite! The only negative was that they eagerly went out early in the morning, which wasn't too early for our little girls but was too early for the rest of the household!

The cousins also found that they could make a neat t-shirt for the craft they did together. Nicole and Natalie did really well all by themselves!

We also found the pool was fun. The girls both loved the slide and the pool! (Don't look too hard in the background of this picture, though...not a pretty sight!).

Natalie then Nicole down the frog mouth!

Our family borrowed Jo Ellen's idea for the turquoise t-shirts! This was a picture after the big picture time.

Found category...crabs! We went crabbing with the kids (except little Isabelle), and they loved it! They were good crabs too! They liked seeing the baby crab that we threw back. We only kept the big ones to eat!

There were several other things found in the ocean, including one conch shell that had an animal still in it! Also, fiddler crabs were popular as well as a live sand dollar.

And of course, anything with water is always popular with the kids!

Here are the cousins all together!

Natalie and Nicole another shot too in their cute jumpers.

We had a great time and wish we were back there!

Changes

There are some changes around here! Ch-ch-ch-changes! First is a news flash from today...Nicole went in the potty for the first time! She was able to wear a Dora Pullup because of that surprise (that was the reward). However, we're back in diapers now because she has gotten Dora wet and then soiled, so back into diapers until we try again!

Also, during our beach trip (which I will post pics from soon I hope), Nicole discovered she could get out of the portacrib and the pack&play. She then was able to get out of her crib here too. So, time for changes in where she sleeps! Here is a picture of her first time sleeping in a bed at the beach for a nap....
And, now is her room fitted with the toddler bed. She is napping in it right now, so we'll see how she does staying in it at night and after naps!

The little sweetie is getting to be a big girl!

Bubble Celebration

Nicole is 2! I can't believe it! We celebrated with both sets of grandparents and a big bunch of bubbles! We had Woody, Nicole, and Natalie mixing the bubble solution and used several different wands/tools to make several big and small bubbles. The girls had a great time!
It was cake time! I had made the cake (chocolate) and Mimi had helped by icing it with the white icing. Then, a little Dora decoration and lettering, and voila! A cake that Nicole liked. She is very much pro-Dora right now.

Mimi and Poppa there to celebrate!

Nicole (and Natalie) were definitely into opening and playign with the presents. Natalie was sure that she could share with Nicole!

Happy Birthday, little sweetie!!

R U A Chicken?

Natalie, Nicole, and I proved we are no chickens by dressing up as cows to get free meals at Chic-fil-A on Friday. Woody chose not to participate, so he had to buy his own meal. Mimi and Poppa were there to cheer us on and helped us with our costumes. It was a great deal of fun on Thursday afternoon getting the costumes together. The girls were looking forward to it! In fact, Nicole woke up saying "Moo" on Friday morning!

We went early and were the only cows in the restaurant at the time! There were a lot of people who looked at us funny, but I did not care. I loved getting the free food and having fun! As were were preparing to leave, 2 more cows showed up, then a family was getting out of the car with dotted t-shirts. So, we weren't the only ones!

July 4

July 4th has been fun. We started out making a special dessert for July 4th! This is a kid able to assemble dessert, and both kids liked helping!

The girls mixed the red & blue (I know, it looks green in the pic, but it is blue!).

Then, layering the crackers and filling...

And, tada with the topping...it is done! Everyone liked it!

We then went to the fireworks. The girls were dressed in PJ's since it was way past bedtime. I took the circus lightup toy which they both had to learn to share. But, it passed the time as we waited for the show.

Wow, it was great! The girls were jumping and laughing. So much that a family in front of us kept looking at us. I didn't think it was that unusual, so I just said, "They are excited." Duh! We only see these once a year!

Wow, today was nice celebrating in church in our red, white, and blue. I didn't get pics of our outfits but we did enjoy putting on patriotic colors for the actual day.

Over the Top

Wow, this past week has zoomed by! We definitely topped last week's activity level and went over the top! The first part of the week, Mimi and Poppa came to visit. I hate that I was brain-dead & didn't get any pic's of their visit! We even went to the jump place with the girls and I forgot my camera again!! But, it was nice to move at a fun but not break neck speed those couple of days. We then had a few families over for an early celebration and time together grilling out and letting the kids play here. Then, we made the decision to tackle a theme park for the first time since we had kids. Natalie is definitely old enough to ride most rides but Nicole was even able to ride quite a few!

The first thing that Woody did was ride the newest, fastest rollercoaster on the park. I watched the girls and went on a few rides like the carousel that we could all three go on. Natalie went on one ride by herself. Then, Woody came back and encouraged me to ride the rollercoaster. He said it would fill my rollercoaster void for the rest of the day. Did it ever! I definitely had never been as high, fast, or long on a coaster. I didn't need any more of that and was happy to stay in Snoopy land the rest of the day.

The first surprise was that the girls liked the characters, even Nicole who had disliked the Clifford and other walking characters, including Santa.

The second surprise was the huge markup in drinks and other foods. You cannot bring any outside food or drink into the park, so you must buy there. The only thing you can get is a little dixie cup of ice water for free, so we got several of those to keep us hydrated.

The third surprise was that after a few rides, Natalie said she was through with the rides and wanted to go swimming. So, we went to the swim area. It was way beyond my thoughts and was really the highlight of the trip. Definitely made it worthwhile. We started at the wave pool. Everybody liked that, including Nicole. It was well done and great!

There were some kiddy areas too with playground like structures, spraying structures, and slides or rides. Anything you could think of... we moved from the "beach" to the mountain stream innertubing ride. That was our only catastrophe of the trip, as we vouched for a zip bag instead of paying for $10 locker...the cellphone was toast as the bag leaked a little.

After spending a few hours there, we wanted to find ice cream. It took several times to find ice cream as there were some water problems in the entrance area and several stores were closed. Including Chic-fil-A, so we didn't get lunch there. But, we did get lunch in Snoopy land, where the kids got a cute lunchbox souvenir for their kids meal. But, Nicole took a nap before we found the ice cream...

so Natalie ate all the ice cream by herself!

We then got dressed out of the swimsuits and went back to ride some rides. The kid rollercoaster was much more tame, and I rode it with Natalie (Woody had earlier). We then went on every kind of spinning vehicle ride you could think of for kids, and also the train and elevated helicopters. It was great, and we were ready to leave for a late dinner off the park!

The next day we didn't rest but went straight to Grandma & Grandpa's to spend time in their pool and eat lunch with them. Nicole liked jumping into Grandpa's or Daddy's arms! Natalie was doing great swimming by herself without a jacket. Swim lessons should go much better this year!