NSB - Beach and Pool

July 14th through July 21st was our family's annual vacation to New Smyrna Beach, Florida.  We all look forward to this trip every year.  It's a wonderful time for our family to be together, relax, catch up and, of course, eat lots of yummy food!  This year was a little more difficult though because Meme wasn't able to make it.  Her health hasn't been very good for several months now, and unfortunately, she just wasn't strong enough to make the trip.  We all missed her, but we carried on the traditions she helped put in place.

I have put in a ton of pictures from the week, and they are in no particular order other than when we happen to take them.  We took pictures on some days but not on others.  We had a great time using our waterproof camera in the pool and at the beach!  I have commented on some of the pictures, but most of them just show the fun we had.  Enjoy!

 

 Mia loved using this pool noodle.  She kept saying it was her seahorse.

 Jumping waves is always a favorite activity.

 Love this underwater picture of Olivia and Natalie!

 Molly, Madi, Lily, Francie and Mia played so well together.

 Here's the story on why I love this picture.  Can you see the expression on Mia's face?  She was using Zac's net, and she just kept saying "why won't this catch any water?"  She was getting so frustrated, and it was hilarious!  She just couldn't understand why a net wouldn't hold water for her to run back up to her castle.  She even let out an exasperated sigh at one point and said "Why does this always happen to me?"  For the record, she heard Donald Duck say that once, not Ryan or myself!

 Seashell hunting was also a big activity this year.

 Molly and Lily always have a great time together, especially when it involves taking underwater pictures.

 Molly was very sweet to help Mia dig a big hole in the sand.

 Zac and Mia always have fun together!

 Lily was doing so great with her swimming; her lessons have really been paying off.  Towards the end of the week, she saw Lisa do a cannonball into the water.  From then on, Lily wanted to practice her cannonballs!  She would stand on the side of the pool, adjust her goggles, say "cannonball!" and jump right in.  I honestly think she did this at least 200 times over a few days.  I love that this picture captured her cannonball right as she entered the water!

Mia tried to imitate as well which made us smile.  She would get herself ready, say "candonball" (she didn't quite get how to pronounce it), then sit down on the side of the pool and slide in.  Her face wouldn't go in the water which was good because I didn't want it to wipe the huge grin off of it!

Mia was very proud of her drip castle.

The girls love their Papa!

Davis was getting some serious airtime when Jason would toss him, and he would come back to the water's surface laughing and grinning from ear to ear!

Lily enjoyed being tossed too!

It took some convincing, but Mia finally let us toss her just a little bit; she didn't want to go high at all.

Another fun trip in the books!  We're already looking forward to next year!

Lily's First Sleepover

This past Monday, Lily enjoyed her first sleepover at a friend's house.  She has spent the night away before at my parents house or in Birmingham with Liz, but she has never stayed overnight with a friend before.  She was overjoyed when I told her on Monday morning that she was going to Anna Powell's house and that Anna Claire Wright would be there too.  She immediately wanted to start packing up and getting ready even though we weren't going until about 5PM.  When I got home from work, she was all ready to go. 

When we got to the Powells, we could hear the kids playing in the backyard.  Sure enough Anna and Anna Claire were in the back playing with Anna's older sister, Sophia.  Her two younger brothers and parents came out to greet us.  Mia came running behind Lily, jumped and spread her arms wide open and proudly announced, "Guess who's here?!"  Anna's eyes got really wide, and she leaned in to whisper to Lily.  I heard Lily respond "No, she's not going to stay."  All the kids played for a few minutes while I talked to Sonya and Chad.  Then I rounded up Mia so we could go on our date, and gave Lily a big hug.  She excitedly ran back to her friends.

The next day, she couldn't wait to tell me all about it.  She told me how they made their own pizzas for dinner; Sonya told me there were making English Muffin pizzas, and how she put sauce, three pepperonis and cheese on it.  She said she had the choice of watermelon or blueberries and she picked blueberries because she loves them.  She told me all about getting to wear one of Anna's bathing suits so they could go to the pool in their neighborhood, and how much fun that was.  She is really loving swimming these days!  She told me how they watched a great movie called Spy Kids, and she wondered if I had ever seen it.  When I said no, I hadn't, she said "It was great Mommy.  You have to watch it sometime soon."  She told me how she and Anna Claire slept on the bottom of the bunk bed while Sophia slept on top and Anna slept on the floor.  When they woke up they had "the most awesome Cheerios.  They were way better than ours.  More crispy."  Honestly, I don't think we have stale Cheerios, but apparently, we do.  Anna Claire's mom picked her soon thereafter, and then Sonya brought Lily home.  Liz said she went to her room and fell asleep about 10:45 and then she didn't wake up until almost 2:00!

Obviously, Lily had a blast.  I am so glad she has such sweet friends, and it's so fun to see her enjoying her time with them.  I hope we can do this again soon!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy birthday to America!  We love celebrating the 4th of July around here.  We are trying to teach the girls what it means to be proud to an American, and the 4th is the day it seems to come together.  Liz and I had fun celebrating with the girls while Ryan is in Alaska.  Here are a few pictures to show what we've been up to.  I did not put any pictures of the dessert I was very excited about but failed at.  I knew the girls would absolutely love having ice cream sandwiches that they got to dip in red, white and blue sprinkles.  Unfortunately, I accidentally purchased ice cream squares which are completed covered in chocolate instead of ice cream sandwiches which have the ice cream exposed between chocolate wafers.  I tried cutting the sides of the chocolate off, but that made a big mess as it fell to pieces.  I will say the girls still enjoyed that treat, but it totally wasn't what I pictured...oh well, can't win them all I guess!

Liz helped the girls make hand print flags.  I love hand print art!  It makes me smile to see their sweet little hands.  Here is Mia's flag.

 Lily did a great job with her flag too.

 On the morning of the 4th, we headed over to the Marietta Square to watch the parade.  Last year, we all really enjoyed this parade, so we were excited to go back.  Thankfully, the weather started out nice and in the mid-80s; that was a relief from the 108 we experienced less than a week ago!  The girls were given balloons and small flags by different groups walking around which made them very happy.

 I always love to see the flags come in.  It may sound corny, but I feel so proud to see the American flag!  Of course, I like seeing the Georgia one as well; the third is the City of Marietta flag, and since we don't live there, I never really think about it.

 Just behind the flags was a Scottish band playing bagpipes and drums.  The girls were in awe of the bagpipes.  They sounded great too; what a treat to hear and see them.

 Of course, the many different fire trucks and police cars are fun to see.

 What a welcome surprise to see Santa Claus!  The girls couldn't believe he came all the way down from the North Pole to be in this parade.

 We watched the parade for about 1.5 hours before deciding to leave.  In all honesty, it started to get pretty boring after awhile.  We were excited to see the different public service vehicles, bands and soldiers, but then it was just one political candidate or group after another as we have several elections coming up in just a few weeks.  It was neat that near the beginning our Georgia Senior Senator, Johnny Isakson, stopped and talked to Lily for a moment.  I knew I liked him!  Anyway, the girls were obviously bored and starting to get hungry, so we headed out before the parade ended.  Moes was running a 4th special, so we enjoyed a little lunch there before heading home.

After nap time the girls helped me make some patriotic cupcakes.  The batter was of course supposed to be red and blue.  Well, it turned out a little more dark pink and turquoise, but they, they tasted good and the girls thought it was hilarious.

 A little white frosting, some red, white and blue sprinkles and viola!  (Yummy) patriotic cupcakes!

 I think it's safe to say Mia enjoyed hers!

Dress Up Day

We couldn't help but get Mia a Captain America costume.

 The girl loves this particular Superhero because she met him on Father's Day; she has no idea of the storyline.  When she asked what his superpowers are, we tell her that he is very brave, fast and courageous.  We say that he helps people.  And (thanks to Wikipedia for this one) that he is really good at gymnastics; she really likes that.  She was beyond THRILLED to get this costume!  She added the cape Mom and Dad brought her back from Chicago, and she made a shield out of a paper plate that she defends our home with.  Since Vacation Bible School in Birmingham a few weeks ago, she will come running up and say "I see Satan!  You know what I say?  Get back Satan!  Get back!" You tell him Mia!

This past Sunday, my parents church had a patriotic parade for kids to participate in during the church service.  Mom and Dad took the girls, Lily's bike and Mia's scooter so they could join in.  I went to our church because I had nursery duty and wanted to hear a friend give a report on their recent mission trip during Sunday School.  The girls had a great time and told me all about it!  Of course, Mia insisted on wearing her Captain America costume.  She told me she was going to wear her mask too so no one would know it was really Superhero Mia there.  She cracks me up.

The mask goes nicely with her blue eyes.

 We also bought Lily this Ariel mermaid costume.  She has outgrown all of her other dress up clothes, so she was in need of a new one.  She is thoroughly enjoying it.  She loves to hop around in it because it makes the tail fins look like she is swimming.

I love seeing their imaginations at work, and these costumes only help foster that.  They are so much fun to watch!

Mia's First Braves Game

Last week, we took Mia to her first Braves game.  She was so excited!  She has been asking to go for quite awhile now, so we decided to get some cheap seats and head on down to Turner Field.  Here are the girls just before we left; Lily was showing Mia how to do the chop!

 We loved that the great pitcher Phil Niekro's number is outside the stadium so each girl could pose by her age.

 We had to get in and get Mia a hat.  We had purchased one for Lily when we went with Mr. and Mrs. Worrell in May, and Mia really wanted her own hat.  It has a little "a" on it and several flowers; she loves it.

 We had to stop for face painting too.  The girls always love this.  Lily choose a "baseball girl."

 Mia picked a baseball.  They both looked so cute!

 Guest Relations gave us this certificate for Mia's first visit to Braves County.  I couldn't get the picture to rotate but notice in the bottom right of the certificate, it says the name is "Superhero Mia."  She once again introduced herself that way!

 We were all glad Bama was able to come too!

 Ready for the game to get started.

 No Braves game is complete without lemonade soft serve.

 We hung around in our seats until the end of the 7th, and then we headed over to the back of the stadium to get a birds-eye view of the field and let the girls see a few more fun parts of Turner Field.  They loved these huge Coke Adirondack chairs!

 We convinced the girls to go run the base too.  Mia loved it and wanted to do it again even though Lily wouldn't go with her.  Here she is crossing the base.  She has said multiple times "running the bases" was her favorite part of the game.

 Ryan took this picture at some point during the game, and then played with it with his phone's software.  We both love it!  It seems to truly capture the sheer happiness of the girls which is something I will always treasure.