End of the Year Picnic

In some ways it feels like school just started yesterday.  And some days as I'm dragging the girls kicking and screaming out the door at five of nine for 9:00 school and MiniM.E. is begging me not to make her go it feels like an eternity.  But let's not focus on that.  Looking back the school year has flown by.

Last night was MiniM.E.'s "End of the Year Picnic," which was her most favorite event of her previous school year.  So we were definitely looking forward to it. 

We arrived with pot luck dish in hand (homemade bread), said hi to teachers and friends and ate some pizza and snacks.  LittleL.G. saw the cake pops and that was it.  She ate dessert for dinner.

She also caught a glimpse of the door OUT.  It being a beautiful evening and us being in a gymnasium must not have seemed fair to her, especially when there were puppies and slides out there.

Foolishly, I didn't realize that she had decided on an exit strategy and let MiniM.E. take her for a walk.  Before I knew it they were out the door.

It was a beautiful evening to be outside...

I had to coral them back in because I knew MiniM.E. would be sad to miss the music portion of the evening.  I'm sure LittleL.G. would have rather stayed outside picking flowers but MiniM.E. had a great time dancing a "square dance" with Daddy.

After the music we stayed and played and helped baby sisters to walk.  It was a really enjoyable evening.

Looking forward to another End of the Year picnic when it's LittleL.G.'s turn for school in a couple years.

Swimming and Swinging

It has been so nice out that we took out the backyard pools.  MiniM.E. would probably swim all day if I let her.

And even though LittleL.G. is my swinging girl (preferring it to all else), MiniM.E. is pretty excited to swing high enough that my heart skips a beat.

And of course all that swimming and swinging makes a girl tired.

Frozen Yogurt

Nothing says, "good job at the dentist!" like going out for frozen yogurt!

Playgrounds, Lake Local and A Day At School

After strange cold snap we enjoyed as much time as we could outside last week.  Lots of playgrounds!

This weekend we went to the Lake Local.  What a great place to hang out with your kids!  It reminded me of Germany: beer and adirondack chairs for the adults and something fun for your kids to do.  We sat and chatted on the grass while the kids played on the beach.

Today I helped out at MiniM.E.'s school and couldn't help taking a couple photos of the girls out on the playground.

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...