Ghetto Pool Party

We have a new tradition. We call it Family Fun Night or FFN for short. Every Friday night we do something fun together at home. For a few of out FFNs Julie's cousin Christy has come over with her son Cameron. We call Christy Aunt for the girls just cause of the age difference.

Last Friday Aunt Christy came over with Cameron and we grilled chicken. The last few times that Chris has come over we have let the kids all play in the kiddie pool while we cooked. This week I had the genius idea to add the kiddie slide to the kiddie pool. OMG! did they have a great time with the slide.

The only problem with the ghetto pool what I felt like all I did was yell at the kids the whole time, "No jumping off the slide!" "Wait till everyone's out of the pool before going down the slide." "Avery wait your turn." "Emerson don't cut in line." etc. etc.

I keep finding panties in the back yard. If Avery wants to get in the pool she strips down naked. Emerson takes her undies and puts them in play house. If Avery goes into the house and sees a pair in there she throws them out a window...

On Sunday Julie took the day off and we had a great relaxing day in our ghetto pool. Julie got in with the girls. The LGs loved having mom in the pool. So much so that they kept trying to baptise her.

Birthdays and Beaches

So I'm a week behind...don't ask!

The girls friend Graham had is birthday party last Saturday. It was a pirate theme, aaaarg! There were water balloons for a fight, pirate decor and a really cool pirate cake that Graham and one of his mommies (Katy) made together. I am in awe. I cant imagine making a cake with one or both of the girls without them eating it as we iced it.

Within minutes of getting there Avery broke a water balloon on her self and insisted on getting naked. Here she is while I waited for her outfit to dry. Notice she still has her shoes on? That's cause I didn't want anyone that came to think I let my kid run around naked at other peoples houses all the time....

The Birthday boy Graham:

Check out this awesome cake!

Yes, this is Emerson trying to blow out the candle...

And her trying to OPEN G's presents...

Ok, at least she is being cute here:

Sunday Katy and Pam called and asked if we would like to meet them at the beach. The LGs and G had a blast playing in the sand and water.

Here I am trying not to get burned:

The LGs and G headed out to sea:

A few of Avery being sweet and cute!

Emerson was the only one willing to wear the hat.

Swimming, Swimming, Swimming...

Said in a sing song voice. This is what the LGs say when they are practicing kicking in any body of water. It can be a pool, bathtub, kiddie pool or puddle for that matter.

We have been taking swim lessons for the last few months. The girls are doing GREAT! They love the water. For a while they were going back and forth as to who would be brave and who would be scared. It seems as if every other lesson they would switch. Then one lesson it was Emerson and since then it has been Emerson. Avery is no longer scared but Emerson has surpassed her in the swimming capabilities.

They both can swim (not very far) under water. They both know how to "monkey crawl" around the edge to get to the steps. Emerson can jump into the pool and swim to me or the edge. Avery could do this but she is a little scared so she will ask you to stand right up against the wall below her and then she has you hold her hands and she kind of slides in. It cracks me up cause I always think of her as the carefree one, but she is very cautious. Emerson is starting to figure out how to come up for air and tread water. Avery is the master of the "noodle". She will swim around with the noodle for what feels like hours! She also really loves the kick-boards and tells you, "no touching." when she is on one. She wants to do it by herself. Emerson really just wants nothing between her and the water...except maybe the air she is catching when she jumps in!

We have 3 sets of neighbors with pools that have told us we can use their pools anytime we want. But, one set is out of town EVERY weekend ;-) They have practically begged us to use their pool on the weekends. Today we decided to go for it.

After naps we packed up our waggon with snacks, swim gear, Cooper and headed over there.

We had a great time. Watch Emerson jump into the pool and notice how Julie is keeping her eye on everyone (even Cooper):

Yesterday afternoon I let the girls play in their little kiddie pool while I was cooking on the grill. They told me, "mommy, swimming lessons!" I look over and they had one of their dolls in the pool with them giving her swim lessons. I thought 'how cute'. Then a few hours later I went to the pool to dump it and found this:

Dont think they are ready to teach swimming just yet.

Universal Truths... Land of the Mouse

We took our first family vacation to Disney World last weekend. Julie worked for Disney for about 10 years so I have been there quite a few times pre-LGs. Some of these I already knew, like #4 if you are ever have body image issues head to WDW and you will feel like the skinniest hottest person on the planet. Some of these truths I learn, unfortunately while I was at WDW.

We stayed at the Fort Wilderness Cabins. It was really nice and different then what we have done in the past. The "cabin" is a fleetwood RV converted into a cabin. So we had a separate bedroom, kitchen, living room and it really reminded me of a single wide trailer. As a child most of my life was spent living in a trailer. A trailer makes a distinct sound when you walk down the hall and the cabin made that sound. It was kind of cool and creepy. The "resort" camp grounds had a lot of stuff there to do. The first day there we played at the water park area and rented a golf cart to get around in cause you cant drive in the grounds. You have to take a bus, ride bikes, skateboard, cart, walk or anything that is not a car. The girls (and I) really enjoyed driving around in the cart. We also went to the camp fire sing along. Chip and Dale were there and both girls got to meet Chip and both gave him hugs and got his autograph.

Universal truth #1: Even if your kid/s has no idea who a character is, once they are excited about characters (not scared to death of them) they will be over the moon to meet them. I know the girls have no idea who Chip and Dale are, yet they couldn't wait to meet them. Gave them hugs and kisses.

I had ordered the girls a plush Minnie and Mickey with 2 autograph books to have waiting for them when we got to the cabin. They were a HUGE hit and they traveled almost EVERYwhere with their Minnie and Mickey dolls. And they were VERY into getting autographs as well.

This is when we first got there and they discovered their present:

notice the mice that they HAD to have sit with them while they ate their snack:

Our second day we went to the Magic Kingdom.

Our goal was to meet Mickey Mouse. We did! Avery was way excited to meet him and Minnie. Emerson despite her excitement to meet Chip the night before was a little scared of them. I think she was a bit overwhelmed though. Disney can do that to a person!

I decided I really wanted to see the fireworks and found out that we could see them from the beach at our resort. I didn't want the girls to be scared of them so I thought I would prepare them for how loud it was going to be. The night before when I was trying to get them to sleep. We heard the fireworks and told them that's what it was. So, while telling them what we were going to do I said, "remember when we were trying to go to sleep last night and we heard the fireworks? Tonight we are going to go see them. It will be loud but very pretty." Emerson seemed to listen and take it in. Avery started telling the story of, "we sleep (hands to face) then boom boom boom!" We heard this story retold all weekend.

Julie almost deleted this photo! I love it. Not sure why....

Universal Truth #2: You are going to yell at your kids at Disney. I remember going to Disney pre-LGs and seeing moms yell at their kids and thinking, "jeez, you spent all this money on a vacation that is centered around your kid and now you are yelling at them. Give the kid a break..." Well, guess what I found myself doing...yelling! I think its a perfect storm of sorts. You want your kid/s to have a good time, you have to keep them safe, your HOT, you and the kid/s are in sensory over-load. If you get through going to Disney without yelling at your kid/s at least once then you must be a robot. Don't get me wrong I felt bad (although they could careless, I mean really, they were at Disney!) I just must apologize for judging all those moms of years past.

The third day we went to Epcot. We had wanted to go to Animal Kingdom, but Epcot was the only place we could get in that we would be able to meet princesses. Universal Truth #3: All little girls love princesses. Doesn't matter if they know who they are or not. Doesn't even matter if they know WHAT a princess is, they love them... If you are looking for a great place to meet princesses and cant get into the Castle do Norway!! Lots of food, ALL the princesses come to your table, before you are seated you get to meet Belle and they take a picture (8X10 and 2 4X6s)that are free with your meal!

Another story Avery told, told and retold was her version of Snow White. "She ate apop (hands to mouth with munching noises), go to seep (hands to face like she is sleeping), kiss (hand to nose), she woked up (hand gesture like no big deal)."

The princess lunch made quite the impression on them. When we got back to grandma's house they were pretending they were princesses coming around posing for pictures with grandma, Julie and I. They would come up to us say hi, pose for a picture and then give us a hug.

Our last day (check out day) we had one more quick service meal left on our dining plan. And I refuse to not use everything we paid for! We went to the Polynesian and ate breakfast before heading to Grandma's house. We ate out side and there baby ducks, along with mama and papa duck and a white ibis hanging around. I saw him try to take a piece of sausage off a little boys fork. A few minutes later I turn around and he jumped on our table and grabbed a piece of sausage off of Emerson's plate. I shooed him away, but Avery told this story again and again, "pink beak took sister's sausage." then Emerson would yell, "NOOOOO pink beak!"

Emerson was about the best behaved two and a half year old I have ever seen the whole trip. I was/am so proud of her.

I have tried to get some of Avery's story telling on video, but she has a tendency to clam up when she sees the camera.