Fun With Friends

-Just a few shots of our kids having fun with some of our great friends:

Beach Day

We're leaving to go see Gramma and Papa tomorrow, so the girls and I squeezed in a day trip to the beach. It was a bit windy and chilly, but still sunny, so we didn't mind. The ocean was beautiful, and I couldn't keep them out of it, so I just joined them!

Heading out to sea...
I love Lila's two dimples on her back (just above her bottom) - one of my favorite parts of her!

The lifeguards wouldn't allow the boogie board because of the wind, so we body-surfed instead.

Pretty beach bums:

We had a fun day in the sand, and then Ryan met us at the boardwalk after work. Yum! Pizza, ice cream and a few rides - what could be better?!

14 Years

Since this photo got such an overwhelming response on Facebook, I thought I'd better post it here as well...


Can you believe that: a. I've been married to this handsome man for 14 years?!?! b. We have a daughter old enough to take such a nice picture of us?

Happy Anniversary Ryan!

July 4th!

What a super day with no agenda! We did tons of yardwork and relaxed with homemade pizza for dinner. Ryan cut the heck out of my herbs to clean out a path once again. We freshened things up with a bit of new mulch and then had a dance party on the patio. ...Videos to follow...

Fireworks

We went to our traditional fireworks display last night, and it was fantastic as usual! Lila still covered her ears for half of them, but watched all of them. Emma apparently knew 2/3 of the 3,000 people there, "Oh, there's the so and so's, etc." I guess that's what happens when you're 9!

Blueberrylicious

We celebrated the 3rd of July by riding our bikes to a local farm and picking blueberries. It was way fun, and I didn't even feel guilty for tasting the girls' blueberry-vanilla twist ice cream cones after the bike ride! It was great to do something like this with Daddy! The girls loved having him there too!

How did such beautiful girls come from these two?!?!

Reward

Lila has sucked her two fingers pretty much since birth. She's such a strong-willed child, I had no idea how to get her to stop. I knew it had to be her decision or it wouldn't work. She'd find some way around whatever strategy I tried. We decided to play on her love of animals. She always wants new pets, but the only one I was willing to cave in to at this time was a fish. So I told her a month ago that she needed to stop sucking her fingers by the time she started Pre-K in the fall. And, when she did, we'd get her a fish tank to keep in her room! I was thining this would hopefully happen by mid-August, but in her always-surprising Lila style, it took about a week! We waited out the month to make sure she wasn't sneaking a suck here and there. Now that the callouses on her fingers are gone, I know she's not bluffing!
So we bought a fancy tank at Walmart - with a filter, so I don't have to deal with the slimy fish bowl as often. We selected lovely items to decorate said tank, and we filled it with water last week. Lila said it looked great, but she wished it had real fish in it. :) Did she really think that was it?! As luck would have it, my friend Melynie's (who we visited over the weekend) fish recently had babies! She was quite surprised to find 18 fish habitating her 5 gallon tank, and didn't know what to do with them, so we came to the rescue. We drove 4 hours home on Sunday with a very large vase full of 8 tiny fish between my feet. I assumed most would not survive the first 24 hours, but 3 days later - all 8 are still swimming! Oh well! Lila is thrilled with her new pets. It's helped her to want to sleep in her room with the tank light on instead of with Emma all the time. She feeds them every morning and night, and she shows them to anyone who walks in the door. Ahh, the responsibility and pride of fish ownership!

The tank is on her dresser, in front of her mirror. This is a pretty confusing reflection shot!

Our fish are Dalmation Mollies - which means they are white with black spots. Emma and Lila claim to be able to tell them apart - I have my doubts. Their names are: Johnny, Sally, Mrs. Kit, Sput, Oreo, Marina, Vernon, and Nelson. Lila names the first 5, Ryan and liked "Marina", and Emma named the last two.