The Last 30 Days

What haven't we done in the last 30 days...
We've gone to the movie theater for the free movies and ate gobs of popcorn complete with sprinkles, we've been on numerous water park play dates, we've been fishing, and we've gone to the pool. If all those things weren't enough we also went to Grammie and Papa's for an 11 day vacation. We rode bikes, went bowling, and swam in their pool often.

Both girls can now swim the length of the pool without a life jacket.

And then we went camping in the RV and a tent for a few days...

We went on many many hikes around the lake.

Some of it was on some pretty tough terrain with a ravine on the side of us but we managed to stay alive.

Liv found a butterfly garden and spent an hour holding them and chasing them.

We fished both on and off the dock. You can't see it but Ava and I are on shore fishing while the pros are conquering the dock.

We camped in the RV the first night.

We swam in Lake Siskyou until we were tired and then Daddy chauffeured the girls around on their raft.

Some of got to drink wine while others of us weren't allowed and were very disgruntled. That would be me.

The girls really wanted to tent camp under the stars and given the good father Dave is- he obliged.

Then we fished on the boat. Everyone caught something except my dad.

At first Liv caught a dragonfly and then she shared it with Ava.

Dave caught the mammoth crawfish which was later boiled and eaten by the girls.

Liv's catch which was fried up and eaten by the fishing queen herself.

Ecstatic Ava caught herself some grub and cooked it and ate it too. Then we roasted our nightly s'mores and headed to...

watch the fireworks off the boat for the 4th of July. But like all good things we had to go home-

but the fun doesn't stop there. Once we got home we set up the projector in the backyard and watched a movie under the stars in the backyard complete with popcorn and cheesy sprinkles.

And one night for dinner we ate the beans in this picture for dinner. These beans were dried pintos that came home as part of a project in Olivia's class. What I didn't know was that she planted them in one of my house plants and Dave unknowingly was watering them. So one day when I noticed these plants growing with my palm tree Olivia told me she was performing an experiment. Dave came home that night and they replanted said experiment in the garden OUTSIDE and since then they have grown and flourished and have become part of our dinner. Way to go Olivia- you little green thumbs!!!

Here we are at the water park last week when Julie brought Yentl and the kids out. She also brought baby ducks with her so the kids and the ducks all played in the water.

Poor little ducks. They did all survive.

The girls with Hannah.

Over the weekend, the girls and I met Nick and Rachael at the park for some water play. They seemed to play more in the dirt. Go figure.

And this is a big karate week. Olivia will be testing for her Orange belt on Wednesday. She has practiced really hard and we are all really excited for her.

Playdates

A friend of Olivia's wanted to have a bike race at the park with all the classmates.

Everyone brought their bikes or scooters along with their lunches and we stayed and played for 4 hours. It rocked and the kids were worn out and ready to leave.

Then the next day Olivia went to Grace's house after school for a play date so Ava had Kaylee come over to play. This was Ava's first play date just for her with her friend. She was stoked.

They had snacks together... laughed together...

and of course they collected a menagerie of bugs together.

That was a pretty cool day but after the friends left and Olivia was picked up we had karate...and then things really picked up.

"Those People"

One day at the park near our house Dave had taken the girls for a run. After they were finished Ava begun dancing around doing the pee pee dance so Dave knowing they wouldn't make it home took her over to the grass and let her pee. That was the beginning of the end. Thank you babe, I REALLY appreciate it.

Last week, on a nice hot sunny day, the girls were playing in the backyard and I heard through the window in Ava's tiny voice, "Hey, let's go potty in the grass..." She was firmly told no and I explained that we only pee in the toilet so she ran inside and used the bathroom. I patted myself on the back feeling like I handled that issue well and got the message across clearly. Crisis averted right?

That would just be too fricken easy.

Today a friend of mine called and said she was at the park and would be there for an hour. We were already at the park near our house but the girls wanted to go to the other one so we hopped back into the truck and headed to the other park. After a few minutes another friend of ours showed up due to it being such a nice hot day and who could possibly pass up the opportunity to take their kids outside and enjoy the sunshine? Then two more people showed up that have kids in their school so now it's a bunch of us and all the kids are running around and I spy Olivia underneath the play structure. Every time we are at the park the kids go underneath the structure and we tell them to get out so they don't hit their heads and hurt themselves. So she climbs out and the other mom calls her kid and tells him to get out and then I see Ava still under there and I tell her to get out. So Olivia comes running towards me and bellows that she saw Ava's bum and her pants were pulled down. Then Ava comes running over with this huge smile and says, "Mommy, I went potty under there."

Excellent. Just what I want to hear- from my daughter.

Never mind the fact we mom's were all sitting on the bench RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE RESTROOMS. So I explained to Ava again that we only pee in the restrooms and that she knew it was right behind me and that that was not okay. Afterward she had to do a timeout. Then one of my friends walks over and I told her what happened and why Ava was doing a timeout and she said, "I wondered where that puddle came from under the structure. Then when I saw Olivia down there smelling it I told her to move and get out of there. I guess she was smelling the pee." ... Because that's what people do... right?

And there it is folks. We have become THOSE PEOPLE whose kids act like hillbillies on the playground teaching all the other kids what not to do and who pee in public. Just can't wait for kindergarten.

Playdate

I took the girls on their play date yesterday to hang out with their friend Nick. We brought our skates and he had his plasma car. Olivia burned rubber on her skates showing him all the new tricks she has learned and he looked impressed. Ava ran in her skates. She has not learned the art of gliding but she skates as fast as she can anyway. Nick demonstrated how his plasma car drove and let the girls take turns for awhile but then he jumped on the front and started giving them rides. It was so funny to see him chauffeur his women around. Cute. Very cute.

So although skating and riding were cool the best part of the whole day came later. Olivia finally worked up the nerve to go slide down the fireman's pole. Ava, the dare devil, has been showing her every time we are at the park but Olivia always shied away saying she was scared. Not anymore. Now that she had mastered the task, she spent the rest of the day going up- sliding down. It was awesome. Almost as good as watching her take her first step. Almost.

Okay, so then on one attempt down the pole a bee landed on her leg and she shrieked in fear but all in all it was her best day ever. She now has a coveted secret from daddy that we cannot tell him until she shows him at the park the next time they go. Won't that be fun.

Sun v. Rain

Finally a nice sunny day to play outside and that's exactly what we did. We walked to the park, ran a few laps, and met two nice girls who we will be meeting next week to play with again. Liv has another scheduled playdate on Thursday with Hunter and a bowling birthday party for Spencer on Saturday. Last week the two of them had 3 different playdates throughout the week. Here's one of the dates with Grace.

Our girls have better social lives than Dave and I. It's sad. They aren't even teenagers.

On our rainy days we have done a lot of art projects and HD build-it projects. One of the favorites has been the bottle cap kit Nick gave the girls for Christmas. Here's a picture of some of the caps.
Okay so I have to admit the rainy days haven't been all bad. There's been a lot of lounging around. If it weren't for school some of those days we wouldn't have even seen the great outdoors. And last weekend Dave and I actually spent most of the day laying in bed while the girls played in the house due to the rain. It was like we were dating again. It was awesome. He's awesome.

Olivia's 5th Birthday Party

We decided to move Olivia's party up a few weeks since the weather has been changing so frequently and we wanted to have it at the park. Plus with her birthday so close to Thanksgiving it's always been a struggle to find a good weekend. This time we planned it for yesterday, Wednesday, after school and the weather was perfect. Not too hot, not too cold. And the kids- well there was a lot. Almost 30 I think.
Ava ate lunch while I prepared the table. Olivia had to run home with Papa to potty. She arrived shortly after the picture was taken.

This is probably the best picture ever. Although you can only see Liv's face it is both of my girls with both of their best friends. Playing together. Enough said.

Ava on the move with her buddy in route. They're jamming to the other play structure. This park has 5 or 6 different age range structures so everyone had a place to play.

Singing happy birthday to the star of the show. My big 5 year old.... almost!

All the kids sang their little cute hearts out.

My queen.

I didn't realise how much the kids LOVE party hats. Even the boys ran over and made requests. I never thought they'd wear pink flowered hats. I was wrong.

The unveiling of the gifts.

The loot.

This is just some of her loot. She made out like a bandit. I almost want to re-wrap this stuff for X-mas and save myself some dough.

All in all this was the best party we've had yet. In total I spent maybe $40 and the kids had the best time ever. No pizza, no bouncy house, no Pump It Up. Just the good ol' outdoors and some cupcakes.

Happy Birthday my Queen!!!!

Grandma B

Grandma B came to visit. We went to CL for swimming, on walks, to hip hop class, and B&N for reading. We barbecued, made a pie, ate like we were famished and had a lot of swing time in the back yard.

We can't wait until she comes back again. We miss you Grandma B!