MiniM.E.'s First Parade

MiniM.E. is just a few weeks away from finishing her first year of dance.  It's a pretty big deal- dance was the first solo class she ever took.  Not only does she love the weekly classes, but she has been anticipating her next recital since I dragged her off the stage in December.  Another unexpected perk, we got to march in the Veteran's Day Parade with her dance class yesterday.

I haven't marched in a parade since high school marching band, and to be honest, parades were never something I really looked forward to.  MiniM.E. was so excited that I just couldn't persuade her not to go so we painted some T-shirts (red and blue are not colors we have in our closets) and headed out early Saturday morning.

MiniM.E. was even more excited once we got there and saw all the uniformed service men and women and the firetrucks and marching bands.  Even though her two best friends from dance class couldn't make it, she buddied up with two other girls and had a blast marching down the street.

LittleL.G. was a trooper and watched everyone line up and made it about five minutes into the parade before she passed out.

Since LittleL.G. took her nap so early, we decided to make the most of the afternoon by heading back up to the Great Escape.  We tried to do some new things this time.  Most impressively, MiniM.E. went on her first roller coaster, a huge one, and all four of us rode the condor!

Of course we had to make sure to spend time in the kiddie area where MiniM.E. rode all the rides this time and LittleL.G. made me take her on the swings about seven more times than my stomach thought was reasonable.  Still we had a great time and MiniM.E. is already asking when we can go again.

Too Cute

Sometimes I just can't stand how cute these two are.  LittleL.G. asked to play baby and MiniM.E. savored every moment of it.

Later she asked me if I would "please save that photo forever so when LittleL.G. is big and [MiniM.E] feels sad that she isn't a baby anymore [she] can look at it and remember how nice it was to hold LittleL.G. like a baby."  *heart melting*

The Great Escape: Opening Weekend

Hard to believe that we were at a beach on Thursday since it barely hit 50 yesterday.

We were in need of something exciting to do yesterday and crazily, even with the forecast of not so warm temps and high winds, we decided to drive up to the Great Escape for their opening weekend since we have season passes this year.  We figured it would be a great first trip since there were bound to be fewer people because of the weather.  And other than being a bit chilly, it was a blast- no lines and lots of fun! And so nice that we could just go for a couple hours!

Both girls loved driving the cars.  We actually had to wait for this ride due to the slow loading nature, and even with the 15 minute wait as soon as we were off we had to drag the girls away because they both wanted to wait again!

The next favorite for both the girls was the tandem swing. MiniM.E. almost didn't ride because kids 36" and over had to ride alone, but she was so glad that she put on her brave face because it was a ton of fun - we rode it at least six times.  A couple times we got to stay on for a second ride and being a grown up two times in a row is just about all I could handle.

MiniM.E. enjoyed a few other rides in the kiddie area- the train, the planes and the kiddie cars.  We almost had LittleL.G. go up in a plane too, but the rules announcement took too long and she chickened out.

We all rode the carousel and took a trip on the swan boats.

And by the time we drove the cars and hit up the kiddie area one more time the park was closing. The girls can't wait to go again.  Hopefully it is still fun when there are more people because the weather is nice...

A Slice of Life

Since I am trying to use my DSLR camera more often to take better photos of the girls, I've started taking some online photo classes and participating in weekly photo challenges.  This week's challenge was a slice of life photo: any photo where the subject isn't looking.

This was the photo I chose.

These were the contenders.

A Lazy Outside Saturday

Yesterday we ventured out to a kite festival in the morning.  MiniM.E. is really into kite flying, so she was eagerly anticipating making and flying her own kite.  However, to our disappointment, there were no kites to be made, only purchased.  Our frugal decision to buy a cheap kite (as we left ours at home because we thought we would be making one) left us disappointed.  In what little wind there was the kite broke twice before we really got it flying and we gave up in favor of playing on some wooden structures that I believe were supposed to be some sort of "low ropes course".

It was fun for a bit but after a disappointing kite flying, a $5 ice cream that no one liked and a lack of grilled cheese, which LittleL.G. demanded after the inedible ice cream, we headed home for an afternoon of water play and a BBQ with friends.

Just A Rainy Morning

LittleL.G. and I had big plans for the time we were going to spend together while MiniM.E. was at school today.  We were going to take a long walk downtown, see the ducks, throw rocks in the stream and enjoy the nice weather.  But as we pulled out of the parking lot at school, it started drizzling.  And by the time we drove downtown it was pouring.  Oh well.  LittleL.G. makes a great Starbucks date.  She adorably orders her snack, "CAAAY- POHH" (cake pop) and drink, "FO-MEE" (foamy milk) and then alerts everyone in the coffee shop whenever a "BIH-TRUH!!" (big truck) drives by.

First Beach Trip of the Year

Yesterday was over 80 degrees! What a taste of summer. MiniM.E. has been begging to go to the lake since the snow melted, and it was the perfect day.  

The beach Moreau Lake isn't open for wading or swimming until Memorial Day, but we figured we could dip our toes in without getting in too much trouble!

The girls had a blast digging holes, catching salamanders and making a salamander castle.  MiniM.E. even went for a quick dip and got all the way wet!

It really was a perfect beach day.  Not too hot that we couldn't sit out in the sun all day, warm enough to get our legs wet, and we were practically the only ones there, so there was plenty of room for running and digging and yelling without bothering anyone.

Looking forward to many more summer days at the beach!