A BBQ, A Playground and A Kitchen Sink

Last night we had a BBQ with our neighbors.  It is so nice to live in a quiet, kid-friendly neighborhood.  Being that we moved in almost exactly a year ago, we worked on the house a lot during the first summer and being that I was enormously pregnant and didn't want to do a lot of walking out in the mid-day heat, didn't meet a lot of neighbors before October, when LittleL.G. arrived.  And then we had THE WINTER.  These neighbors I actually did meet last summer and our girls play well together and it's nice to just walk down the street to play.  Hopefully we'll meet more neighbors this year.

the babies

 Today we went to MiniM.E.'s favorite playground, West Side Rec.  She loves it all the time, but in the summer, the sprayground opens- she loves the sprinklers (even though half the time it is too cold or there are too many kids).  It is a nice option and can definitely extend our stay.  And it is especially nice for moms that get hot at playgrounds too!  Unfortunately, they aren't open yet...

the BIG slide

After a sunscreen and dirt filled day like today, the kids needed a bath, and I wanted to try LittleL.G. in the kitchen sink because sometimes it's the easiest place... Someone else was jealous:

The First Beach Day of the Summer

Somehow MiniM.E. got it in her little brain that we needed to go to the beach...

And since it was such a gorgeous day today we thought, why not?  We left late morning.  I was expecting to get there, have her play in the sand for an hour, for the water to be freezing and for us to be home in time for lunch.

We arrived and set up our blankets and beach tent (for LittleL.G.).  It was so beautiful out.  Warm, nice breeze and we had the beach almost all to ourselves.  Technically, no swimming or wading yet because the beach was "closed," but they had already mucked it out from the winter and combed the beach so the sand was clean.  The water was actually WARM NOT THAT COLD!  Had we thought to pack a lunch, (and MiniM.E.'s "seal floaty," which she insists she cannot swim without) we could have stayed all day!

First beach day: success.  I was glad Daddy came with us today so I could see how different two kids at the beach was than one.  But I think with a bit of practice we'll be able to spend lots of days at the beach.  Bring on summer!!

Hello May

Our first Saturday in May was a fun and busy one.  We went to the Saratoga Horse Show... for a little while- jumping horses only entertain a 3 year old for so long.  Then we visited the Farmer's Market which started being back outside this weekend.

I took the girls to the playground while Daddy worked on the yard

And MiniM.E. hopscotched like a champ!

Goodbye April

April ended with a visit from Gram to help while I had my second leg surgery, 

Hide and seek with friends:

A visit to Gavin Park:

A visit to the Dairy Haus:

And LittleL.G. figuring out how to drink with a straw...

 ...and stand up in her crib!

World Awareness Children's Museum

Yesterday we went to the Glens Falls World Awareness Children's Museum.  We've been meaning to test it out as an option for cold or rainy days and we finally made it there.  It was a really cute museum and MiniM.E. and her friend E. had a great time playing.  There was a cultural dance theater:

A dragon boat:

with a drum:

A Parisien cafe:

An instrument room, a Japanese tea room, a Nigerian marketplace and lots of other things to keep kids occupied for a couple hours.  It was a great place to play and offered a lot of learning opportunities, even for our little girls.  We will definitely add it to our list of fun indoor play places!

Lots of Exciting Things

Wednesday was our last gymnastics class until the fall and MiniM.E. got to hang from the rings:

The drain at the bottom of our driveway has had a huge hole since we moved in and they finally fixed it, making for a good half hour of fun watching them work while we sat in the car with LittleL.G. napping:

Our bird house has eggs:

And I finally (sort of) got a (blurry) photo of LittleL.G.'s teeth!

Trike-A-Thon

MiniM.E. had her Trike-A-Thon at school yesterday.  She was so excited about it all week.

We arrived at school in a flurry of snow(!?!? I guess my complaining about skipping spring worked!) so it was a little cold to make spectating enjoyable, but worth it to MiniM.E. and her classmates ride around the track at school on their little trikes.

MiniM.E. was so proud of herself for being one of the only kids at school that could ride all by herself and she went around twice!

I guess it made me bike crazy because while she was at school I went to a local consignment sale and picked these up...

Then I had to head to Target to pick up a baby helmet so LittleL.G. can bike with us too:

We need some extra items to install the bike seat, but even though she's about 6" too short for it, MiniM.E. got a kick out of riding the third wheel with Daddy today.