Saturday, August 27, 2011

Family Vacation - Wisconsin Dells 2011!

This past August, my mom took our family and my sister's family on vacation to Wisconsin Dells - home of the biggest waterpark in the U.S.!
The start of the trip: Grandma was a TROOPER and rode in the backseat nearly the entire way (which ended up being like 7 hours)...
 Here is a picture of Caitlin and I during the hour I spent in the back seat.
Mom wanted to do the "Oregon Ducks," which I assumed was watching ducks from a boat.  In all actuality, it's a tour of the area in this boat/road rider thing - a huge attraction for those vacationing in the Dells.  The kids thought it was a blast - especially SPLASHING into the river! 
Talia and Macy posing for pix - they're so good at it.
In the "party room," as my mom called it - Kelly and Brian and the kids relaxing before we went to our second waterpark.
The kids - ready for bed - and pouncing on Grandma...again, what a TROOPER!
While Jon golfed one morning and Grandma went to her time share meeting, Brian, Kelly and I took the girls to an indoor amusement and game arcade.  Macy LOVED the airplanes, Caitlin was thrilled to ride the bungee shoot and roller coaster and Talia wanted to ride EVERYTHING!  She kept saying, "I'm brave!"
I think Kelly gets the TROOPER award at this game playin' Extravaganza!

I'm pretty sure Caitlin's favorite part of every waterpark was the wave pool.  She did karate against the waves.  Dad through her in the waves.  She dove in the waves, got carried like a mermaid through the waves.  She rode the tube with Grandma in the waves.  She just loves waves, I guess.
We had a great time.  The girls loved seeing Grandma, their aunt and uncle and cousin.  They loved waking up and going next door and eating breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Fights were rare, but fun was abundant!  It was a great time and we are so thankful Grandma took us on this trip! :)  Wonder what we're doing next year????

"Bake Sale!"

 Not your typical bake sale...the girls decided they wanted to "bake cookies" with play-doh - they are big fans of creativity and of play-doh.  Jon - not a fan of the play-doh.  Sometimes I just let them go for it, though, and I even let them set up their "kitchen" on their dresser top because, of course, play-doh is much easier to vacuum up than sweep off the dining room floor, right?
 They had an absolute blast.  I let them use whatever cookie cutters they wanted.  They only charged a quarter a cookie, too!  That is, until dad got home.  When he arrived, they named their price, and when he said he only had dollar bills, they said they'd accept those.  He handed Caitlin a dollar and she gave him one cookie.  He said, "What about the other 3?"  She said, "3 dollars!"  He reminded her that if he paid her a dollar, that was actually worth 4 quarters; the price of 4 cookies."  She looked at him quizically and said, "Price went up, dad, since you only had a dollar."  What a business woman.
I got off the hook and left Jon with clean up.  Maybe I'm the smart business woman.  :)

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Great Wolf Lodge Mini Vacation 2011

Last year, we went to Great Wolf Lodge, courtesy of gift cards from Grandma Dawn, and Grandma and Grandpa Rudy & Tootie.  When we went there, the Triple Twist Slide was "out of commission," so they gave us 4 free day passes to come back and enjoy on this random super hot summer Tuesday!
Our girls were not the daredevil go down every slide as many times as you can kinda kids here.  They liked the safe staples...the 1000 gallon bucket (Caitlin stood almost completely under it...a safe distance away),

the water contraption that they played with for hours last time, and again, raced to start and stop the water in this intriguing, safe stationary toy,
and the spouting fountains that mezmorized Macy...

We did convince Macy to go down a small Frog slide outside, and we forced Caitlin to go down one of the large fast major slides of Great Wolf Lodge.  In fact, I took Caitlin up, she started crying, and I told her there was no other way down except to go down the slide.  Then, Jon took her up, crying all the way, and he said a lady behind gave him an "Awww," look, and he said, "It's okay, she cries each time and we just keep on forcing her to go down," and supposedly the lady said, "Good for you."  It's possible we are damaging her fear level, but we just KNEW she'd love it!  (those were the only 2 times she went down any slide today, by the way)...

We played from 9:30am-4:00pm, and had a great time.  After missing the Triple Twist Slide the first time, Jon was able to brave it with a 7 year old kid who had been ditched by his tube buddy, too, so he finally got to ride it.  Not worth it, he said.  In fact, the funny thing is, the slide we forced Caitlin to go on was probably the fastest and scariest.  No wonder she denied us the rest of the day!
After Macy fell asleep on the way home, and after Jon and the kids watched a movie together, the kids talked about their favorite parts of the day.  They listed every activity and moment and prayed at the end of the night their thanks for a day with family - what it's all about.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

4th Of July 2011

 
The girls showing off their specially chosen barbie dresses (Grandma chose them from Suzanne Kelly's Barbie Museum - her own handcrafted creations!) Mom and the girls after a day of play!
Jon and Talia on the swingset.  Talia is showing Jon the "Spider."  He had no idea what she was talking about. :)
This year, my mom, Kelly, Brian and Talia came to visit us the week of the 4th of July.  At first, I tried to think of many activities around the KC area to entertain us, and that we might have a lot of down time.  In fact, we didn't even get to all of our activities!

 Some pictures before the fireworks display...

 There were bounce houses, train rides, rock climbing walls, and FOOD!



 Kelly painted some toes, Grandma played some "Have you ever ever ever..." with Caitlin and by the end of the night...
We were all spent.  The fireworks were fantastic, as usual, and the kids LOVED it!  The anticipation was long lasting, though.  The rest of the week consisted of Dave & Busters, shopping, playing at Jon's gym, a date for Kelly and Brian, and trips to local boutiques.  A fun time was had by all! :)  We hope to do it again soon!

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Our Girls Right Now

 Caitlin & Macy have been spending almost 100% of the summer together.  We moved Caitlin's full size bed out and bought a new twin size bed for her.  We also moved Macy's twin size bed in to Caitlin's room - making it Caitlin & Macy's room.  Caitlin reads umpteen books to Macy and they giggle for quite awhile before settling down for the night.
 They play lots of dress-up and a game they call "mama-baby."  We go to the pool when it's over 80 degrees, and they play with barbies together, mostly with their fashion dresses that no other kid seems to have! (Thanks, Mrs. Kelly!)
 They are so close.  When Macy gets hurt, Caitlin instantly cries and helps her sister.  She looks out for her, and insists when friends come over that they all play together, so as not to leave Macy out.  Macy cannot sleep without her sister in the same room, and screams out for "sissy" all day long. 
 Caitlin is growing up so fast.  This picture is so beautiful, but so grown up it wells up a tear in my eye.  She loves dance class (hip hop and cheer/pom pom), and is growing more independent every day.  She is extremely sensitive and worries about other people, people dying, and what other people think.  She reminds me soooo much of myself when I was young, and I try to allow her to have fun and not worry about scores as much as she does, or about things we cannot control.  She has lots of questions about God and Jesus, but has so much faith.  Her prayers are so honest and caring, and I can tell she works very hard at them.  She looks out for her little sister, but gets annoyed easily by her 3 year old nuisances.  Her current career goals are nurse or daycare worker.  She absolutely adores little kids and they seek her out.  She's usually a rule follower, but can be convinced by her sister to be ornary.  She can go 100 miles a minute, but tires out fast (especially after a day at the pool).  She is a fish in the water and constantly wants to do handstands, strokes and sommersaults in the water.  Her sensitivity allows her to be friends with girls who tell her what to do and threaten to not be her friend anymore on any given day and this upsets her so much.  I hope she will gain confidence and the ability to stand up for herself and be able to turn down a friend if it means giving in.  She is extremely moral and often tells on herself when she has done something she knows is wrong.  Her reading is coming along, but math she still likes to just "get through."  She likes to play basketball, but soccer is still her strongest sport, although she doesn't LOVE it.  She'll play it, but she wouldn't choose to do it all day long.  She plays hard, together, and competitive, and does get frustrated easily, especially if she doesn't win something.  She's sweet, sensitive, and has an incredible imagination that she shares with her sister when she listens...
Macy isn't what you would call a follower, except in the case of her sister.  She copies her, wants to play whatever she's playing, and likes what she likes.  Macy is certainly her own person, though, and likes things done routinely.  Her favorite games are Memory and the Glob game (a computer game).  She has picked up on Caitlin's DS game, "Smart Girls."  She is definitely ready for her own, which is scary!  She can be one extreme or the other - extremely sweet and caring, or snotty and mouthy.  She can scream "NO!" to her parents and not blink an eye, but snuggles up to all of us after bath, if she has an owwie, or when you read her a book.  Books are a favorite of hers and she can listen to them for an afternoon.  She loves the library and will start preschool in the fall.  She still throws fits, but they are becoming less and less lengthy and she is beginning to understand consequences.  At night, she tends to get her giggly, goofy, defiant personality and may get up and ask for OJ, a hug, or a random item just to put off bed.  Her blanky is still ever present for nap and bedtime, and the pool is a favorite place, but she trusts less than a handful of people to hold her.  Swimming lessons were not a hit, but ballet was fun for her.  Odd as it sounds, she declined a second class.  She is still very small for her age in weight, but has gained some inches.  She still wears 18 month pj's and skirts b/c otherwise they will fall off of her.  You never know if she'll say hi, have a conversation, or shy away or yell no.  She's our little pistol, though, and we're thankful she's the way she is!

Waitin' for the baby!

 Aunt Traci came to Wichita a couple of weeks ago to see family before the baby comes!  We are anxiously awaiting the baby's arrival and the girls were so thrilled to pick out presents for her and the baby!  We had a baby shower for her and had fun with friends and family that weekend while Grandpa and Dad participated in the annual family golf tournament for Don's side of the family.  Fun was had by all, and we can't wait until the baby comes in August! 

 
 Father's Day 2011 was full of fun, laughs and low key downtime for the girls and I.  Jon was focusing on the deck, so we let him choose what he wanted to do - although we interrupted it with a water balloon fight!  (which I did not have the camera ready for)

Caitlin and Macy each made a card; both of which are hanging in the house as I write.  Some things Caitlin thought up on her own:

"My dad is as strong as a lion."
"My dad is really good at teaching players."
"My dad is really fun and tickles me."
"I like to go to the gym with my dad."
"I love my daddy with all my heart and soul."

Macy said, "My daddy is my best friend!"

We are so thankful for such a great day!  We love you! :)