August 10, 2015 ~ Dive! Dive! Dive!

She can run through a sprinkler, AND dive!

This one got brave enough to figure out how to use my hand to get to the bottom of the pool to get a dive toy.  Up until today, she was too scared to even try, even though she already could jump off the diving board, do a cannonball, hold her breath underwater.

She would take a big breath, reach for my hand and pull herself underwater and then down to the floor of the pool.  We started at the three foot part and worked to just about four feet.  Once she got it, she decided it was fun and we had to do it again, and again, and again.

My thrill seeker.

Of course, I don’t have a picture.  :)

 

July 25, 2014 ~ We Had a Great Day!

On C.P. Huntington Train

It was a super way to spend some time together!

Lake Compounce with Teagan was excellent.  She was so well behaved, even for being so excited.  We packed a lunch and got there just after opening.

I suggested we go on a few rides – the first I requested was the train ride.  Ashlin and I had done the trolley, which was fine, but we hadn’t done the train.  At first, Teagan didn’t want to, but after hearing that it would probably be the only ride I asked for, she agreed.  And, she really enjoyed it, a lovely and picturesque ride on the lakeside.

After the train, I suggested the carousel, which she was a bit resistant to as well, but then asked to stay on.  Then we walked to the far side of the park so I could show her the American Flyer and the Gas n’ Go car rides.

American Flyer

The Flyer ride made her a bit nervous – not scared – at first.  But by the time it was our turn – a very short wait – she was ready to go.  This turned into one of the favorite rides of the day.  A giant swing shaped vaguely like an airplane.  I don’t even know how many times we rode that, we just kept going back.

The cars were also a big hit, and these she asked to go on all by herself.  It was a bit bittersweet watching her drive away, she’s getting so big, so grown up.

We ate a packed lunch watching one of the shows – the singers – and I clapped for them.  They didn’t have a big audience, but it was still early in the day.

Rock star!

After lunch, Teagan  went back to the flyers, and then back to the kid area.  She asked to ride on the roller coaster alone.  Such a rock star, she sat in the front seat several times, holding her hands up.  This was the first trip to Lake Compounce that I haven’t ridden the roller coaster.

We also went on the Drop Zone at least three times.  If I laugh, it’s not so bad.  She’s lucky I have the stomach for all these rides!  She did the Pirate Ship (hands up!), Elephants, Caterpillar train and motorcycles a few times too.

After hearing a bit from Ashlin’s trip Tuesday, she wanted to be sure to see the acrobats – trampoline artists – Cirque en Vol. And she loved them.  She asked that we watch a second show, and also some of the practice.  She was so enthralled that she stopped talking for about 10 minutes.  This is big.  She giggled at practice, watching them get things better than the first show – they did drop a few of the juggling pins, over-rotate after a long trampoline run or make an impressive landing.  Although the show was very good, watching her watch the show made it so much better.

She was so good, all day, that we shared a treat – churros! – and ended up leaving much later than I was hoping.

I’m very glad we were given season passes this year.  I have a feeling we’re going to be spending a lot of time there this summer.

Hands up!

So big

Teagan and Cirque En Vol

Success!

 

July 23, 2014 ~ Dye! Dye! Dye!

Now to wait…

Today we had a tie-dye play-date!  It was fun.  Well, once we got stuff set up and prepped and then stopped the girls from jumping on furniture and throwing dress-up jewelry.  To be fair, they were excited for both the play date and to tie-dye.  They haven’t seen their friends from day care in a few weeks.

I thought it would be easier to have one girl go at a time, so took Ashlin first, leaving Teagan to play with her friend.  Ash didn’t like the gloves, but did ok putting the dye on her shirt.  Teagan was very eager, starting to squeeze the bottles before turning them over and aiming on the shirt.

Still.

It was chaotic fun.  With popcorn.

I even got a chance to try to make a sunflower shirt.  I can’t wait till tomorrow to see how they turned out!

Purple!

Rainbow of potential!

June 7, 2014 ~ Watch Out For the Polliwog!

Tadpoles!

We found tadpoles!

Lots and lots of tadpoles!

The girls were excited as we ate a quick lunch, gathered some snacks, put on old and tatty sneakers, and packed them in the car.  Though Ashlin did succumb to her no-nap protest and studied the inside of her eyelids on the drive out.  She ended up with a decent 25 minute or so nap.  Teagan, Stu and I played punch-buggy.  She is getting better at it.

We took the swamp walk, a meandering wood pathway through some wetlands with stinky water.  There were some pretty purple flowers, red and yellow birds and lots of green stuff.  No polliwogs.  Also, no water access.

After a little bit we arrived at the south shore of the lake.  As we crossed the dam we could see shallows and reeds.  Muddy shore, but tadpoles!  Teagan came right up with me to look at them.  Ashlin hung back a bit.

Lesson on catching tadpoles

Teagan always jumps in with both feet – literally today – when learning something new.  She doesn’t always slow down enough to take in instructions.  It took her a few attempts, and shoes full of mud, before she caught any with the net.  A few more to catch them with her hands.  But she did it!  And had so much fun.

Ashlin went up with Stu, but she’s always a bit more hesitant with new things.  She preferred using the net, but did get ankle deep in mud and caught a good bunch of polliwogs.

Teamwork

Stu caught some too – with the canister lids! – but didn’t get his feet wet.  I had squishy shoes.

We took a few of them home, we do need some frogs in our fish pond.  They didn’t survive that super cold winder two years ago.  It was a quiet summer last year without any.

It was a very good day.

http://instagram.com/p/o9BaJvHWto/

Ashlin was giggling so much she got hiccups.

 

PS.  Album is here for more pictures.

June 6, 2014 ~ Beach

Meig’s Point

Today I was out by where we used to live, so went to one of my favorite places. We needed a parking pass for the summer.  It makes no sense to go there, buy the pass and go home.  Crazy.  I took a little time to wander around and dip my feet into the water. Brrrr!  It was cold!

I grabbed a few shells to bring to the girls – they’ll be so excited to see them.  It will reinforce the idea that good behavior will get them good things.  Other than Ashlin waking up at stupid 5am, they were both very good today.  And continued to be good tonight, even though Ashlin was so tired everything made her cry.

The shells did their job.  They each picked a few then sat at the table describing their shells to each other. The girls are so excited about the possibility of going to the beach.  And to the zoo, and to the amusement park.  If they’re good and behave.  These trips may be the days only one of them is home with me – so I’ll do two trips a week – or maybe if we have company, on the day I have them both.  We’ll need to see.  Somehow I think the beach will not be the day I have them both.

Tomorrow, we’re going to go catch tadpoles and maybe hike a little.

I know we’ll have a great – and fun – summer.

Looking to the Jetty

Jetty

Cold Ripples

Shells

January 21, 2014 ~ Oops Zoo!

Trying to pick up the cow

So, yesterday Stu and I had off from work. Somehow, I thought day care was also closed. So, we had a little lie-in, as much as Ashlin can be talked into, anyway. Watched some Blues Clues, Peg + Cat, Dinosaur Train. Had some lunch – Teagan ate a Bologna sandwich! – and a nap/quiet time.

After naps, we bundled up the girls in some layers – sweaters! and hats, scarves, mittens (on a string!) – and headed to the zoo. We met up with E and her dad, and the girls had fun wandering the zoo. Looking for tigers and pigs. Trying to look at the prairie dogs through the tunnels – Ashlin is still a bit too short! We even had a carousel ride, though only one, as it was closing time. I think the operator ran us a little longer than normal. She was very nice. Although Teagan understood why we only had one ride, neither Ashlin nor E did. There were some tears then.

Too short

Driving home, we got stuck in a bit of traffic. Enough that the possible short afternoon nap did not get to happen. We ate dinner, snuggled on the sofa and then put the girls up a tinsy bit early – to compensate for the lack of nap.

This morning, Ashlin was up at her usual not-quite-as-stupid early, though Teagan slept in! Late! Thinking her light was on, I went into her room to have her join Ash and I for breakfast.  But instead, ended up waking her up. By mistake. Oops.  We try very hard to have them sleep as long as possible.

There were some tears this morning as we bundled them up for day care.  They wanted to go back to the zoo.  With E.  And have cookies in the car.  And ride the carousel, because this time, it wouldn’t be closing time, it would be open.  According to Teagan.  Being the mean parents we are, they ended up going to day care.  When Stu dropped them off, the caregivers asked why the girls weren’t in yesterday.  They were open.

Three monkeys eating cookies

Oops!

Well, we did have a fun day.  A good day.

PS.  We’re getting more snow.  There’s at least four inches so far, with another possible six to eight to fall over night.  Fun!

Snow is Blue

September 27, 2013 ~ Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Too excited to stand still

We took Teagan to see “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2” today.  Her first movie in a movie theater! As young as 13 months or so, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” was able to pull her in.  She would stop dead and watch the movie every time it came on TV.  She would sit in Stu’s lap and watch the entire thing.  We decided to wait for this release to take her. Needless to say, she was a little excited, as you can see, and also a bit nervous.  She had no idea what to expect.

Stu and I picked her up after lunch at day care and told her we had a treat.  As we drove to the theater she asked all sorts of questions, why Ashlin wasn’t coming, what were we going to see, was she allowed to talk, dance, would there be a princess? She was excited as we walked in, barely able to stand still while we waited to buy the tickets.

She was so good.  We got her a popcorn – only a medium! – even though she wanted a large.  We joked that the bag would have been as tall as she was, a large is just too big!  Walking into the theater, she was a bit nervous, not really scared, as the sound was so loud.  She was speechless when she saw how big the screen was.  During the movie, there were times it was so loud, she’d put her hands over (or in) her ears.  And coming from a kid who rushes the stage for bagpipes, it says something to the volume in the theater.

Tickets! To a movie!

The movie was pretty good, especially for a sequel, and mostly appropriate for little kids.  It lagged a few times, and could have been trimed down a little.  And there were a few times that Teagan was scared by what was happening on the food island, but mostly, she loved the movie.  We all laughed at the foodimals – flamangos, eggplanatee, shrimpanzee, watermelophant.  Although at first Teagan was scared of both the tacodile and the cheespider.  I don’t like spiders much, and all the red eyes were a bit creepy, and french fries shouldn’t move like that.  I think Stu’s favorites were the butter frogs and the mosquitoasts.  So wonderful.  The berries and fruit cockatiels were sweet.

All in all, the movie was fun, surprising Teagan with a treat was fun.  She’s looking forward to seeing another one soon, maybe with her sister, maybe not..

popcorn almost as tall as she is

She wanted to bring the rest of the popcorn – just crumbs and kernels – into day care! Silly goose! There wasn’t enough to share :o

August 12, 2013 ~ Amusement Park!

Sea Serpent

While we were on vacation we went to Morey’s Pier one afternoon.  Stu had to stay back and work, so thankfully, my friends and their awesome (!) kids helped out with the girls.  Ashlin is still a bit too short – two inches!  boo! – for a lot of the rides, but she decided she wanted to go on the Waltzer ride, a sort of tilt-a-whirl.  K said she’d go on, as Teagan wanted to go and the worker said she’d need a “responsible adult” too.

I’m not sure either girl really enjoyed the ride, but no one complained during the ride.  Ashlin would occasionally smile, but she’s a hard nut.  She has one expression on all the rides, one of deep concentration and you’re not really sure if she likes any of it.  As our car was slowing down, Ashlin signed “all done” and said no more, but as we were walking back to our friends, she asked to go on again.  Go figure.

Waltzer

Teagan asked to go on a roller coaster.  We had to go to a different pier to find one for her.  Her roller coaster, the Doo Wopper, was a bit bigger than she was ready for.  But I’m so proud of her! She was a bit scared, it did go up three stories, and had very sharp turns. But she never freaked out, never even asked to hold my hand. I started a game for the hard corners, “woaaaaahhhhhh,” warned her about the up and down bits, and she ended up doing ok. Granted, she didn’t want to go on again, but still, ran to tell dada all about it and give him a high five!

Jeep!

On a carousel

Other than the Carousel, we were able to get Ashlin on the Crazy Bus and some small car ride.  They wouldn’t let her go on the swings!  Crazy!  She can at our local park.  Not sure why they were so strict on the height, but whatever.  I think we could have gotten them both on the Ferris wheel, but neither of them wanted that.

I got to go on a roller coaster too – the Sea Serpent.

Awesome!

Though the backwards bit wasn’t quite as fun as the forwards bit.

August 11, 2013

Vacation!  We went on vacation!  To Wildwood, New Jersey, and it was awesome!

We rented a condo for the week with friends of mine from college.  Friends that we haven’t seen in much too, too long.  Her kids were just wonderful with the girls.  It took a little time for Teagan to warm up, a bit longer for Ashlin, but soon enough, there were pig piles and giggles.

The girls loved the beach, and we went just about every single day.  Ashlin was a bit unsure about the surf, but she eventually found her bravery and decided that she would kick the waves!  Teagan also needed just a bit of warming up to the surf too.  Maybe getting slammed by a wave the first day out while trying to build a sand castle put her off a little.  But there were these lovely tidal pools that they romped in.  They had such a great time.  Teagan even found a hermit crab!

One week away wasn’t any where near long enough.  The girls didn’t want to leave the beach, their new friends.  It was nice to spend so much time with my friends too, and their kids.  Who were wonderful with my kids.  And who have grown up so much.  My girls miss K & T.  They have asked if we could have dinner with them.  Soon.  I hope.  Very soon.

Funny face!

Don’t choke your sister!

Look! A bird!

July 7, 3013 ~ Echinacea

The early cone flowers are in bloom. Maybe two or three, but there are lots more to follow! And the the Black-eyed Susan’s will open soon, too.

Love this time in the garden