....and we're off and riding.....
He did a great job. Starting and stopping will need some practice, but he's got the balance down! Whoa...now I have two kids with the freedom of their bikes....YIKES! Say a little prayer!!
I have a great giveaway for you. A friend, Amy, of my sis, Kim, at http://amysfinerthings.wordpress.com is giving away a Creative Memories paper album kit. It's perfect to make for yourself as a memory of a special occasion or give away as a gift. If you want to be entered into the drawing, visit the blog site listed above, visit the post entitled "My First Bloggy Giveaway!", and follow the directions. Good luck!
One of my favorite things about summer is all the fresh produce! I was a little hesitant and skeptical 4 years ago when Chad encouraged me to start a garden. His parents have a fabulous garden and we got our produce from them. But we were up for the challenge and thought it would be fun to have a few things of our own and see what we could do. This afternoon, the children helped me hunt for cucumbers and tomatoes in our jungle!! They were great helpers.
Well, actually Emily turned out to be the photographer instead of a harvester, when she wasn't busy taking excellent care of her baby!
Here's our jungle of tomatoes and cucumbers. We have 5 tomato plants, 6 cucumber plants, 2 green peppers, cilantro and a strawberry patch.
Chase found a cucumber!!
And I did too!!
Here's our "done-for-this-year" strawberry patch that Emily said we needed a picture of!
The best part is the end result.....fresh produce! We are feasting on cucumbers, green peppers and tomatoes!
We've had a full, fun day! Chase started the day at daycare, Emily spent the night with a friend and I was at work! I picked both of them up before lunch and gave them a sandwich in the van. We then drove to a local theatre that has free kids' movies during the summer. We had looked at the list at the beginning of summer and this weeks movie, Surf's Up, was the choice. We got to the theatre 20 minutes before opening and got settled in with our popcorn and drinks. The movie was very cute, but after Emily's popcorn was gone, she was asking when the movie would be over and Chase was laying on my shoulder.....he was ready for a nap. Oh well....it was fun anyway.
After the movie we were off to get haircuts! Emily once again looks adorable with her made famous by Victoria Beckham haircut! She wanted it shorter last month and wanted it like mine. I wasn't so sure but she insisted. I loved it afterward and complimented her A LOT and she looked at me and said, "Mom, see? I told you it would be cute!" Guess she told me! Anyway, we ran a few errands before and after haircuts and both of the kids had done really well while we were shopping, so we got McDonald's as our treat for supper! When we got home, they were full of energy so we went to the pool and they swam hard for over an hour. Needless to say, when I put them in bed, it didn't take more than 2 minutes for them to fall asleep.
What a great summer day! Not sure I'm ready for school to start, but only 3 more weeks to go!
We took advantage of a hot day and headed to the pool. Emily is really enjoying her babysitter for the summer which is our neighbor, Madison. Today, Madison took a friend to the pool and Emily thought it was so cool to hang out with the big girls. They were great at playing with and including the kids in games and what they were doing!
Madison helps Chase dive for rings at the bottom of the pool!
Another summer of swim lessons gone by the wayside...and we have something to show for it! The kids have been taking lessons at a private pool and have done great! They have one more session tomorrow and they'll be done. One of the biggest tricks or secrets they both learned this year is that if you hum while you are under water, you automatically blow the air out your nose and make bubbles, preventing water from going up your nose! Wow - what a deal. It's helped them both tremendously!
Emily mastering her backfloat......
...and working on backstroke kicks.
Ms. Linda shows Emily how to get a push-off from the side to help get going fast!
Chase is ready to go - quite a change from last year when he cried all the way through his lessons!
He always comes out of the water with a smile!
Chase has come so far getting his arms out of the water and you can tell he's really doing a front crawl!
Look at that backfloat - perfect relaxation!
We take every opportunity we get to go to the pool and enjoy - and even more so now so we can keep practicing all the things we have learned!
Grandma Pankratz spent a night with us last week and bought the kids some water balloons. It was rainy the next night and nothing else to do so we filled some of the balloons and let the fun begin. The kids had a ball once they found out how it all worked!
Emily gets ready to slam it on the driveway!
Daddy even got into the fun!
Thanks for a night of fun Grandma!
Welcome to Carlsbad! We were able to stay in a condo that belongs to one of my dad's cousins. You could see the ocean from the deck and we drove between 1-2 miles to get to the beach. It was a perfect 2 bedroom-2 bath place. Our family stayed with Brian's family and we all fit perfectly - it was just what we needed.
This was the usual scene....lots of beach time. Several blankets, chairs, umbrella and we were ready to go! My aunt Karen and aunt Arlene came down our first day to beach with us. They also stayed for dinner out at a Mexican restaurant. It was so nice to have that time with them. On Thursday, my cousin John and his family came to beach with us again and the kids had a blast playing together in the sand. Cousin time was at the top of the FUN list!
My ocean babies!
Chase enjoyed paddle ball even if he hit after it bounced off the sand....
Emily really enjoyed jumping the waves.......
Daddy even took each of the kids "boogie boarding"......
Chase tried to stand up......
Then the big boys enjoyed some time in the waves......they did so well!
We did lots of digging....really deep holes and then putting sandcastles together.....
Here was the best one...but we never got water to stay in the moat!
Grandpa had fun burying all of the kids in the sand.....Emily got it good!
We spent a beautiful evening at Seaport Village in San Diego!
Brian, Kim, Chad and I were able to go out for an adults night while grandpa and grandma took over with the kiddos! It was a beautiful night to sit outside and we were extremely gracious for the time out together!
On Sunday morning, we were all able to sleep in a little and then had a great breakfast with John and family. We then got packed up and drove to Hollywood to see Chad's cousin Jeremy. We were so excited that he lives in the same area we were visiting and it worked out to visit together. We went to Universal Citywalk and ate lunch and played some arcade games. Jeremy is helping Chase drive his car as Chad watches.
Chase also tries his hand at air hockey. He also loved playing!!
The beach and waves from up above!
Here is a picture of the ferris wheel we had ridden on.
We had eaten a late lunch so weren't overly hungry but visited the Mexican restaurant on the end of the pier for some appetizers and drinks.
We were even serenaded by a mariachi band!
On the way back to the car, we visited an ice cream shop. We had a great day with Jeremy and Brandon. We only get to see him every few years so we cherished the time together. Thanks for the time together Jeremy! We put pj's on the kiddos and began the short drive to Carlsbad for the rest of our vacation.What a perfect day! We're finally here and the weather is gorgeous. It was overcast in the morning with no rain so the temps were down a little. In the afternoon, it was in the low 80s with a little breeze. Couldn't have asked for anything better. We had been talking about going to Disney for quite some time and we entered the park (and it looked just like I had remembered from many years ago) and started with a picture of the kids with Downtown Disney and the princess castle in the background. Brian and family were already here and my cousin John and his girls came with us. We jumped on the horse drawn trolley and rode downtown.
We found Brian and Kim by some of the smaller rides, including the carousel, Dumbo and Fantasyland rides. We did some of the smaller rides in the morning and then it was off to see the Princesses. There was a special show at 10am and the kids got to have a special photo shoot with three of the princesses. Here is Aubrey, Emily and Chase with Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
After the Princess show, we moved on to Mickey's Toontown. We were able to see Mickey, Minny and Goofy. The kids even got to sit on Goofy's firetruck. There was a small rollercoaster that the kids decided to go on 2 times. It was pretty fast and they absolutely loved it. I think it might have been because there wasn't a long line. After this, we rode the bobsleds through the Matterhorn mountain. This was Emily's favorite ride of the morning. She actually rode it twice in a row!!
Just before lunch, we were able to meet Mary Poppins and Bert. They were very kind and Mary Poppins spent time prepping the kids for pictures and making sure their clothes looked perfect, just like she did for the kiddos in her movie!
My aunt Karen was so kind to pack us a fabulous picnic lunch for the day. My dad and Jan came and met us right outside the main gate and we found a shady picnic area. We enjoyed lunch together as a group and then dad and Jan took Abigail (who is 15 months) for the rest of the day. That gave Brian & Kim a little more freedom in riding!! After lunch we decided to get down to business. We rode a spaceship ride and also a Star Wars flight simulator. After that we went on to Space Mountain. I think this is the biggest roller coaster at Disneyland. It is inside, completely dark, and VERY VERY fast! Chad is not a roller coaster rider, but he was talked into trying it. I can't say he came out loving it, but he was a sport in trying it and didn't get sick (I'm pretty sure the people behind him were glad of that!!).
Throughout the afternoon, we rode the Monorail, the train, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, drove Autopia cars and had a few snacks. Here are Chad, Chase, Emily and cousin Sonya on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
Another favorite ride of the afternoon was Pirates of the Caribbean, which we rode 2 times. The kids were a little scared the first time with so many skeleton bones and Pirates that looked so real, but they loved sitting in the front row of the boat!! Here is Aubrey, cousin Ana, Emily and cousin Sonya together - basically 4 girls scrunched in one side of the boat.
After the parade, we thought we better organize which rides we wanted to go on. We visited Space Mountain again, but Chad decided to sit out this time. And then went on to Splash Mountain. This is water ride in which you ride in a log, that has seats, and at the end you go down a pretty steep drop into the water. I was in front, followed by Chase, Aubrey, Kim and Brian. I got pretty wet through the ride, but I think Chase got the bulk of the water on the drop! We got off the ride and he said (with a few tears), "I got wet - SOAKIN' WET!" He was a big sport and dried off rather quickly. They have a camera that takes your picture on the drop, so here we are going down!!!!!
