Summer Synopsis

What a busy summer we have had!  And our vacations are only just getting started.  I am gearing up for my first half marathon.  Kevin and I get to go to Disneyland BY OURSELVES to run it.  It will be a quick trip, but it has been years since we've gone by ourselves, and I am really looking forward to it.  And I can't wait to run my first big race! Next on the vacation list will be a trip to Maui with Nana and both uncles (and all significant others, too), and a few weeks following that we are vacationing at the Olympic National Forest.  Woohoo!

So, what have we been up to this summer....lots of park playdates, playing in the kiddy pool and water table, going for a lot of runs, berry picking, drinking our share of smoothies, and staying cool at the mall.

Mud Mountain Dam Park with Paige

We take our Jamba Juice very seriously!

Berry picking with "my boys" as Grace calls them :)

Sisters on the swings

Les Gove Park with Keza

One of my favorite recent mall excursions still has me laughing.  A couple weeks back when we were reaching hellish temps of 93 degrees and up, I took the girls to the Supermall to get some Orange Julius and ride the carousel..and stay cool! Well, we took a little detour through Nordstrom Rack and suddenly Grace started screaming at the top of her lungs.  I calmed her down and she shakily pointed to a faux fur vest hanging at her eye level.  "What happened to that dog and why is it on a hanger?" she asked.  Oh my! I was not prepared to deal with such serious matters, but luckily one rack over displayed some lovely sparkly pink sweaters that quickly caught her princess eyes, and she was over the pup.  This, followed shortly by her first (and dreadfully unsuccessful) honey bucket experience have been the most traumatic events all summer, so I guess we're doing all right. Grace starts preschool next week, and she is so excited (so am I!!).  She also just graduated to a twin size bed...isn't she just all grown up?! Oh, and her favorite new food is "chicken on the bone" aka drumsticks...with hot sauce of course!

Can't get enough of that adorable little face

Chicken on the bone

New bed complete with princess sheets

Emma is growing leaps and bounds, too.  It won't be long before the girls are sharing clothes for a bit, before Emma outgrows her sister (I think!).  She is much less prissy or particular about her clothes, but maybe that's because she just can't articulate her feelings on the matter as well as Grace.  Emma loves to be naked, and insists on wearing shoes (you may remember my past blog on her insistence on no socks or shoes, in the dead of winter...complete 180 in the summer!).  Her hair is growing into adorable little curls and falls straight into her face, so she is forced to wear cutie patootie bows or pixie pony tails.  Her vocabulary is booming, and she is the most polite tike you'll ever meet, never forgetting her please and thank yous.  This morning, in fact, as we were leaving the gym, Emma threw a little tantrum because she didn't want to go (I may have forgotten to mention how strong-willed and stubborn she is, too.).  As she lay on the floor kicking and screaming yelling "no thanks, no thanks," I asked if she wanted to go home and have a smoothie.  "Yes please, yes please" she replied as she continued to scream and cry. And if she is around when you cough or sneeze, you can expect her to immediately ask if you are ok.  And she will keep asking until you answer!  "I do" means "I want" and we hear it a lot.  It's cute, but I will be glad when she has a new phrase :)

Naked baby!

I do shoes!

Loves corn on the cob!

So big!

I love that the girls are at an age now where they play together, and actually enjoy each other for the most part.  One of their favorite things to do is ring-around-the-rosie.  Neither one of them gets the words completely right, and they are almost always off beat from each other, but it always comes together when they "all fall down." And what better place to practice than in the middle of the aisle at Target?!