Weekend at the Lake

Last weekend was a great one in our family!  We started out by going to see Brave at its first showing on Friday morning.  It was a very sweet story though Lily is quick to point out there are a few scary parts.  Overall though, both girls loved it.

 After the movie, lunch and packing up, we all headed over to Lake Logan Martin in Alabama.  John's family has a house on the lake, and they had extended an invitation for all of us to come over for the weekend.  So, the four of us and Bama drove over and met up with Kendall and Josh, who had arrived the day before.  John, Amy and Amy's parents arrived later in the evening.  We were expecting beautiful weather, we had tons of great food and we were all looking forward to lots of fun together.

The girls couldn't wait to get out on the boat, so John drove us around the lake for awhile before dinner.  Mia loved the breeze in her face!

 Lily thoroughaly enjoyed riding along.

 Both girls thought it fun to see Kendall ride on the tube behind the boat.

 Taking it all in as we drove along.

 Loving it!

 When we got back to the dock, the girls wanted to go for a swim in the lake.  Kendall and Josh were happy to go with them.

 The girls don't usually wear full life vests while they are swimming, so that took some getting used to, but they quickly adjusted and had tons of fun.

 Go Kendall!

On Saturday, the girls couldn't wait to head back out.  They were very excited to ride in the "big bowl" float with Amy.

 Once we started going though, that excitement quickly faded and was replaced with tears.  Neither girl enjoyed this, so we stopped to let them back in the boat.

 Mia calmed down quickly when John said she could drive the boat.  She loved it!  She has said several times this was her favorite part of the weekend.

 Lily enjoyed relaxing on the boat with Kendall.

 Soon it was Lily's turn to drive and she loved it too.

 The girls were so glad when Josh's best friend, Jimmy Musso, arrived early Saturday afternoon.  They adore him, and we were all excited to have him spend the rest of the weekend with us.

 The best part of the whole weekend happened early Saturday afternoon when Josh proposed to Amy!  We were all in on the suprise, and just couldn't wait for the big moment.  Under Kendall's scheming, the two of them took the boat out.  As soon as they left, we all gathered signs, cookies and champagne and waited on the docks.  They came back a short time later to much cheering and happiness.  We're so excited for this sweet couple!

 Liz with the happy couple.

 Our family with Josh and Amy.

 We of course waited until the boat left the dock with them inside of it before telling the girls.  I wasn't about to risk one of them spilling the beans to Amy and ruining this wonderful surprise.  As we walked out to the docks, Lily exclaimed "Yea! It's wedding day!"  We have been getting them excited about being flower girls in Kendall and John's upcoming wedding, so that was on her mind.  After the initial celebration was over, Mia said "I thought I was gonna throw flowers."  We had to have a couple of conversations on the difference between a wedding and an engagement!

Saturday evening was spent relaxing.  The girls couldn't get enough of Kendall, John, Josh, Amy and Jimmy.  They were stuck to them.

 Before bedtime on Saturday night, the girls couldn't wait to go fishing.  They had never been before, so they were very excited to try.  Here's Josh giving them a few pointers.

 Lily gave it her best, and we saw a few get away; unfortunately, she didn't actually catch anything which led her to sigh "Fishing is boring."  It may be awhile before we try again.

 Amy helped Mia out with her line.  Mia really enjoyed reeling in the line, so as soon as it was cast, she would ask "Should it come in?" and reel it in a little.  Kept her entertained for quite awhile!

 Fishing together off the back of the boat.

This was such a wonderful weekend!  We are so excited for Josh and Amy as they begin this new phase of their life together.  We're so grateful that we were able to share in this happy occassion with them.  A big thank you to the Bingham family for sharing your wonderful lake home with us!

Mia's Prayer

Mia's prayer tonight: "Dear God, thank you for Mommy and Daddy. Help Daddy to feel better so he can have a great day tomorrow. My name is Superhero Mia. Amen."  Love this girl!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

 Ryan is such an amazing dad.  He loves these two, and they light up his world.  We decided to go to Fernbank for the afternoon since it was Superhero Day to celebrate dads.  It was a lot of fun!

We started by making popcycle stick superheros.

 Next up, a little hula-hooping.

 Little archaeologists.

 My three favorite dinosaurs.

 Little cuties.

 The highlight of the day was when the superheros came out!  Wonder Woman, Captain America, Thor and a few others were there.  The girls were captivated.  Mia was especially in awe.  She said she liked Captain America's shield, so I walked up with her to meet him.  He knelt down and said "Hi, I'm Captain America.  What's your name?"  Mia paused for just a moment before saying "Superhero Mia."  I told him that Superhero Mia liked his shield, so he put it down in front of her so she could see it better.  Then we had the chance to take this picture.

After we walked away Lily asked me if that was the real Captain America, and I said yes.  She said "Did you hear that Mia?  He was the real Captain America.  He wasn't just dressing up.  He was the real superhero."  Mia wants nothing more than a Captain America costume now!

Our Superheros

Superhero Mia to the rescue!

Mia is obsessed with superheros these days, so we took some sidewalk chalk out front and had a little fun (thanks to Pinterest for this idea).  I drew some buildings, Mia made the sun and Lily colored in the cape.  They thought this was awesome!

White Water!

We decided to have some extra fun with the girls on Monday, so Ryan and I took the day off from work, and the four of us headed to White Water.  We thought the girls might like it, but they absolutely loved it.  They did not want to leave!  The kids' area was a lot of fun, and they played for hours.  We also enjoyed the wave pool and the lazy river.  We even talked the girls into riding the Bahama Bobslide with us in a huge raft.  Mia looked pretty upset when we first got off of it and said she didn't like it.  About 20 minutes later though, she was asking to ride it again.  We didn't think to bring our waterproof camera with us, so we only snapped a couple of pictures with our phones.

What a fun day; we can't wait to go back!

Miscellaneous Happenings

All sorts of miscellaneous things going on around our house:

Playing at Whittier Mill Park.  We had a great time playing soccer together on the huge field, and then the girls had fun scooting around the playground; they both enjoyed flipping over these bars.

 Lily dictated this note to me the other day when she wasn't feeling very well.  She insisted she stay in bed all day.  She set up a table right next to her bed that had books, coloring books, crayons, markers and snacks.  She stayed in bed for about...oh, 10 minutes before deciding she felt better.

 We had fun visiting Samford when we went to Birmingham to pick up the girls; they loved the fountain in front of the business school.

 She couldn't wait to climb a tree!

 Lovin' it!

 Showing off her new frog pajamas.  She was very excited about these.

 Lily's new pajamas say "Pop Star" on them.  When Lily saw them, she was very excited and then when she read what it says, she said "Why doesn't it say Rock Star?"

 Last Saturday was Meme's 91st birthday.  A lot of our family were able to go visit her at Presbyterian where she is in rehab recovering from her stroke.  We all love her and were happy to celebrate with her!

 Lily really wants to learn how to wash and dry dishes.  No complaints here. 

 Chuck E Cheese always provides lots of fun.

 The girls had fun making and eating their Cheerio necklaces.

In the waiting room before her first dentist appointment.  Silly girl keeps me laughing!

Our Superhero

Mia has been obsessed with being a superhero lately.  In fact, at swim lessons last night (the first one of summer), the instructor asked the girls their names.  Lily replied "I'm Lily" while Mia said "I'm Superhero Mia."  If you say "Mia," she will usually correct you to say "Superhero Mia."  She will "fly" over to me and say "I'm Superhero Mia, and I'm here to save the day!  What can I do to help you?"  This actually works quiet nicely because when I reply something like "Thanks Superhero Mia.  I need you to pick up your toys over there," she replies "Okay, I will go and do it" and then she does it without a single fuss.  Love it!  When I have asked what her superpowers are, she has told me "I'm strong," "I'm fast," and "I can save the day."  For the record, she still loves The Grinch too.  Love the imagination on this little one!

Peace and Quiet

Last week, Liz took the girls to Birmingham so they could attend and she could work Vacation Bible School at Shades Mountain Baptist.  Ryan and I enjoyed a very quiet and peaceful 5 days at home which was so wonderful and greatly appreciated.  The three of them left on Sunday afternoon.  Ryan and I left about 30 minutes later and headed down to the Georgia Dome for the incredible Kenny Chesney / Tim McGraw concert.  It was fantastic!  Even though they both have new CD's coming out this summer, they played mostly classic hits of theirs; it was great and we had a blast! 

We spent most of Monday through Friday sleeping, relaxing and cleaning.  On Tuesday evening though, we went to Kevin Rathbun's Steakhouse.  Oh my goodness.  This very quickly became my new favorite restaurant.  Why?  Because our appetizer was bacon.  You read that right...bacon.  Very thick cut (almost an inch), cooked up and covered in a srichacha molasses.  Wow.  The perfectly cooked steaks and sides were amazing.  Throw in two delicious desserts (white chocolate raspberry brulee for me, blueberry cake for Ryan), and you can see why this is now my favorite place.  Worth every penny.

On Thursday evening, we had an early birthday dinner for my parents.  Their birthdays are June 10th and 19th, so we combined them into one dinner.  We started with an antipasti plate where I roasted our own garlic.  That was my first time to do that, and boy was it good.  For dinner we enjoyed a prosciutto wrapped chicken, tomato and shallot salad, freshly made cream corn and a fruit salad.  For dessert, I tried out my new kitchen torch and made creme brulee.  Lots of good wine and conversation was shared too.  This was a wonderful evening!  Happy birthday Mom and Dad!

On Friday afternoon, we headed over to Birmingham.  We enjoyed a fun dinner at Slice with the girls, Liz, Josh, Kendall and John.  We just had a great time catching up and being together.  Saturday we visited Samford for a little while which was a lot of fun; so many great memories there.  The girls had fun with the little fountains, walking through the bookstore and climbing in the trees outside Vail (my freshman dorm).  It was a beautiful day and nice to be out.  We ate lunch outside at the Summit, went back to Margie's house for naps (the girls LOVED staying at Mrs. Margie's house this week!), a quick dinner at Milo's and then the four of us headed on home while Liz, Margie and some other friends prepared to head to the beach.

This was a great week for all of us.  Thank you for the break Liz!  It's nice to have some quiet around the house and feel so productive in cleaning and such, but we do miss the girls when we're apart.  Those "welcome back" hugs are the best!

Chicago - Tuesday and Wednesday

Tuesday was our last full day in Chicago, and we wanted to make the best of it.  Thankfully it was another beautiful day; we couldn't have asked for better weather the entire trip.  We headed out in the morning for Millennium Park.  We stopped at this little fountain along the way; the girls always love a good water fountain.

 On the bridge over the Chicago River.

The girls thought "the bean" at the park was pretty awesome.  We love the skyline reflections you can see in it.

 These were our favorite reflections to see!

 Just down from the bean are the faces fountains.  The girls couldn't resist taking off their shoes and socks to get a feel for themselves.

 That didn't last long!  Pretty soon, they were soaked to the core!

 It was a pretty big surprise to them when water came out from the front of the fountain through the face's mouth!

 Having a blast!

 Silly happy girls.

 How big of a splash can we make?

 Funny faces drying out.

 They were truly soaked, so we headed the few blocks back to the hotel to change clothes and enjoy my favorite meal anywhere...room service!

 We took a short, early nap on Tuesday because Grandpops and Grandma Jan had something special planned for the girls: a visit to the American Girls store!  They do not yet have any of these dolls, but when I told them what we were doing, Lily sat straight up in bed and said "I know about those dolls!  Lauren brought one in for show and tell."  She was very excited about this outing which in turn made Mia excited.  I was excited because I had three of these dolls growing up; I was looking forward to seeing all the new dolls.

Things were a little overwhelming at the store, and we totally forgot to take a couple of pictures.  The girls though were excited that Grandpops and Grandma Jan bought them each a doll (McKenna for Lily, Ruthie for Mia), an extra outfit and a hairbrush.  We surprised the girls by buying them an accessory that they each really wanted.  Lily was beside herself to get the cast and crutches set for McKenna while Mia was sold on a little guitar set.  We gave it to them after we returned to the hotel after dinner and time with family. The only picture we got was off Mia with her guitar.  When she opened it, she just kept saying "I can't believe it!"  I wish you could have seen the precious look on her face!

 Finally, it was time for bed.  You can see Rainbow the gorilla right by Mia, and Lincoln the sea lion is snuggled next to Lily.  They would have loved to sleep with their dolls too, but we decided it was best to leave them packed in their boxes to get them back to Atlanta.  It had been an exciting few days, so these two slept well.

 On Wednesday morning, David picked us up and drove us back to the airport for our flight home.  The girls loved these statues of the Blues Brothers.

 Just waiting on the flight home...

 Good bye Chicago!

We all had a wonderful trip.  Chicago with David, Jan, Nick and Brock was so much fun.  When we asked Lily if she wanted to come back and visit again, she replied "Yes on Friday."  While we can't make it back that quickly, we'll look forward to returning soon!