Photos finally

My mom left yesterday -- we really had a nice time and she certainly loves those kids! Here are a couple of pictures from the waterpark in Chelan. The kids really had a blast.

Kyra is now singing her ABCs as she goes about her business playing or whatever. It's her new theme song. Daniel keeps telling her its the "wrong" alphabet because she can't pronounce many of the letters but she certainly is singing it. She's also counting to ten. It's adorable. She's ALSO teething, we think... crabby, crabby, crabby... but still sleeping like a champ at night!

Daniel loves all things space. He knows the planets and a lot about them thanks to "The Magic Schoolbus" book. He said the other day that he and Luke were going to Mars so "I'll be gone for a few days." He had it all planned out: "We're going to the flight museum to get a rocket. We'll put the rocket in the street and then it will close up on the top and we'll BLAST OFF. And then we'll go to Mars and be back in a few days." Amazing.

Vacation

Yes, we took one! And it was great to have Grandma along! We spent a few days at Lake Chelan at a friend's house and enjoyed the pool, beach and water park. The lake is a bit cold and the weather a bit warm (105 degrees) but fabulous in the pool. The first day, Daniel refused to go near the pool because there was someone else in it. The second day, we went to the water park where he had a blast. The third day, we went to the community pool where he really took to the water again. He did so well in swimming lessons when he was little and then when he turned 2, it was always a battle to get him to class and after Kyra and the restaurant, it fell by the wayside, especially since Kyra HATED swimming lessons when she was little. Today at the pool, she (at 18 months) was jumping off the side of the pool and into the water along with Daniel and his new "friend" Savannah (8 years) old. Each kid was trying to keep up with the older kids! I was just trying to keep them all from jumping at the same time! It really would have made a wonderful video! My mom watched the kids at naptime so we could visit some of the local wineries -- Chelan is an up and coming region with a couple of high quality choices - we only came home with 3 cases and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Happy 4th

Yes, two postings in two days -- or maybe they were both today since it was late last night when I posted. Anyway, we had a really nice day today. We met up with friends at the parade around 10:30 this morning and walked around the park area. The kids were pretty hot and tired by the time the parade started (and I got the camera out) but we stayed until about 12:30. Attached are a couple of pictures. After naps, we played outside in the pool and on the slip n slide. It was pretty hot -- around 85 degrees so I was a bit worried about sunburn but everyone was cooperative with the sunscreen today and I was pretty diligent -- for them more than for me, of course. This evening Daniel and a friend of his down the block, along with parents, shot off fireworks in the cul de sac which Daniel just loved. He was so excited! We found that the best view of the fireworks was from our upstairs window where we could see fireworks from most of the surrounding towns. Daniel enjoyed that before getting in bed around 10:30 and falling asleep quickly!

Time Goes By - Quickly

I can't believe it's already the 4th of July! June flew by. I've been crazy busy with work and Matt's been equally busy with the restaruant. Kids are doing great and loving the great weather. We played outside in the kiddie pool yesterday afternoon which the kids loved and Daniel is so excited for fireworks. Tonight we'll shoot them off (mostly small ones) in the cul de sac and even let Daniel stay up late to see the big fireworks from our neighbor's house. In this area, fireworks don't even start until 10pm so it will be a late night for him. Today we're headed up to the parade in Kirkland.
Daniel seems to be going through an independence stage of some sort which includes not listening. It's tough to be patient with that. Kyra still throws herself on the floor when she doesn't get her way -- that's a bit easier to ignore. She has a lot of words now including "alligator", "butterfly", "no"... and many others. And she's gone peepee on the potty a few times -- typically before bathtime. We'll see how things transpire on that front... I did buy her some undies at Target yesterday.
My mom's coming in tomorrow and we're going up to Lake Chelan for a few days of R&R. It should be lots of fun with a beach, community pool, and water park.