Breckenridge 2017

We didn't get much hiking in, but the girls had a good time none the less.  Kara spotted a fox on the lodge play structure and captured it on camera.  The girls thought that was awesome! 



Link to pictures

Breckenridge 2016

Breckenridge was a bit of a blur this year.  We went up the first part of the week this year, instead of the last half of the week like we usually do.  Our plan was to head up Sunday after Emily's nap.  Unfortunately, Emily decided that she wasn't going to take a nap, so at 3, we just packed everyone in the car and headed up.  We hoped that maybe she would sleep in the car (she didn't) or at least that she'd be tired and sleep when we got there (that didn't happen either).  After we got there and got unpacked, we grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant and then tried to get the girls to wind down for bed.  After a quick bath, we tried to put the girls down together in the same room (gotta give it a try).  Kara was actually pretty good and tried to go to sleep.  Emily, however, kept popping out of bed to check on Kara and everyone else in the other room.  Around 9, we gave up on the experiment and moved Emily to the other room.  Emily just didn't sleep well at all that night, tossing and turning, and waking up hysterical in the middle of the night.  So, our trip didn't get off to the best start...

Sleeping, in general, was a bit of a struggle the whole time we were up there.  Mom swears that the people in the unit above us were doing construction with power tools and work boots every night until 11 pm.  Luckily, Kara and Emily generally slept pretty well after the first night.  Mom and Dad, however, had trouble sleeping every night.

We didn't get a lot of hiking in this year.  We went on a short hike near the lodge the first morning, but that was about it.  Kara was really enthusiastic about hiking, and Emily was a trooper.  We hiked until Emily said she wanted us to carry her, and then we just headed back.  We did get a lot of pool time in.  We went just about every morning.  Kara had a great time practicing her swimming skills.  Emily mostly enjoyed just being in the water and occasionally jumping in to Dad.

We also made our annual trip up to the top of Peak 8 to check out the Breckenridge Summer Fun Park, which was a bit of a bust.  We bought the pass for Kara this year, so she could do just about anything.  She did the bungee bounce and the alpine slide (with Dad).  We also bought a limited pass for Emily.  She got up on the trampoline for the bungee bounce, but decided she just wasn't into it and backed out once they tried to put on the harness.  Unfortunately, the roller coaster they have up there and the zipline were both down, so all the kids funneled into the kids ropes course.  After waiting in line for over an hour, Kara got to go down the kids zipline (which was about a 15 second ride).  By that time, it was almost noon, and Emily was done.  We just headed back to the hotel and took it easy for the afternoon.

We ended up cutting the trip a little short.  We had planned on staying Wednesday night and heading back Thursday morning, but since Mom and Dad were sleeping so poorly, we just headed back home Wednesday afternoon.  The drive back was uneventful.

Link to pictures

Another Summer Comes to an End

We crammed some end-of-summer fun in with Grandma and Grandpa - one morning we met them at the Boulder County Fair and another we met up at the Broomfield Bay water park.

The Fair day was quite hot (you can tell by Emily's picture...), but both girls enjoyed seeing the farm animals, and even saw their first clown show!  Emily was a little apprehensive, but quickly started to enjoy herself.  And Kara was cracking up!  Kara also got to enjoy some carnival rides with Grandma and Grandpa while Emily went home for a nap.

We only got to Broomfield Bay (small local pool/water park) one day this summer (same as last summer) and both girls had a blast!  It was a bit chilly for the adults, but we powered through.  Kara couldn't get enough of the big water slides, and Emily made Dad go down the medium slide over and over and over....

August also brought lots of bounty from our little garden.  We got several rounds of beans, lots and lots....and lots of zucchini, and yummy tomatoes!  Our carrots were very sad and the watermelons were a complete no-show (maybe we should have weeded?!), but we plan to garden again next year.  The girls really enjoyed watching everything grow.

Emily went with Mom and Kara to the hair salon one day and got her first salon experience.  Ms. Rose was very nice and shampooed Emily's hair and gave her a good blow dry.  Emily just thought it was the coolest thing.

Emily is going through an independent phase.  She wants to do everything herself (including getting dressed, getting into the bath, reading books) and gets very irritated if someone tried to do something for her or makes her do something before she's ready. It has been a little tricky to get her to do things sometimes...

Kid quotes:
Emily: "No thank you, I'm playing toys" when we asked her to come to dinner one night.

Link to pictures

Summer Fun 2015

This summer has just flown by.  Between birthday parties, visitors, Grandma and Grandpa moving, classes, and camps, there was barely any time to relax!

Kara didn't have two consecutive weeks this summer without some sort of class or camp.  She did sports camp, swim lessons, Vacation Bible School, and Space Pirate Camp.  There was always something going on!

Early in June, we had a little party for Grandpa and Mommy's birthdays.  Nothing too big, but Grandpa let Emily blow out the candles on the cake, which Emily really enjoyed, especially after her candle experience for her own birthday cake...

Later in the month, we had Mimi and Papa come out to visit.  For the most part, we kept things pretty low key (except for our visit to the North Pole).

We put the girls in swim lessons during July.  Emily had been doing so well during her last swim lesson in May, so we signed her up for the next level up (without a parent in the water).  That lasted about 10 minutes or so until Emily figured out that Mommy wasn't going to get in the water with her.  She wouldn't get back in for the rest of the session.  Oh well.  Kara, on the other hand, got lucky and had a session with only one other girl (so she got a lot of personal attention).  By the end, Kara was able to jump in and swim the entire length of the pool all by herself!  Check out the video!

Early in July, Grandma and Grandpa finally closed on their new house.  They had us over one night to check out the new place.  The girls had a great time playing with bubbles in the backyard with Grandpa and Mom.

Whew, what an action-packed summer!

Pictures from Grandpa's birthday party:



Pictures from the rest of Mimi and Papa's visit:



Pictures from June:



Pictures from July



Emily playing some T-ball!

From 2015-07_1

Breckenridge 2015

At the end of July, we spent a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa S. in Breckenridge.  For the most part, we kept it pretty low key. The girls played at the pool almost every afternoon and we did outdoor activities every morning (hiking or going to the adventure park).

The sleeping arrangements were a little interesting.  We had hoped that Emily and Kara could share a room, but it didn't quite work out.  All day, Mom and Dad kept telling Kara that she was going to share a room with Emily, but she was going to have to be quiet and let Emily sleep.  Well, Kara started off all excited and we could hear her whispering things to Emily through the baby monitor.  After about an hour, however, Kara was done and just wanted to go to sleep.  Emily, on the other hand, was just getting going.  She kept asking Kara, "What's that?" To which Kara would reply, "Emily, go to sleep."  That went on for about 30 minutes before Mom and Dad saved Kara and moved Emily's crib to another room.  After the move, everyone slept very well.  Oh well, we'll try again next year. :-)

Kara has started showing quite an interest in hiking.  There's a decent hike path that runs right next to the hotel.  Thursday afternoon Kara just started walking (with Grandpa in tow) and ended up going probably a mile up the trail before getting tired (and then hiked all the way back).  The next day, Dad packed Emily in the backpack and went with Grandpa and Kara on the same hike.  Kara, of course, led the way, and hiked right up the mountain.  Emily, on the other hand, got tired of hiking and was ready to turn back after about 30 minutes of hiking.  Kara and Grandpa were going to keep going up the hill, but Kara decided she was a little tired too and headed back.  A storm moved in Friday afternoon and rained the rest of the day.

On Saturday morning, we got up early and rode the gondola up to Peak 8 to check out the Breck Summer Fun Park.  Emily is still a little too young to do most of the activities, but Kara is getting into the target audience range.  Kara started off by trying out the bouncing trampoline while Emily checked out Ripperoo's Bounce Corral.  Kara had a great time bouncing, but she didn't get to bounce for as long as she did last year (there was quite a long line this year).  After that, Kara headed over to the rock climbing wall, but she was just a little too short to really reach most of the hand-holds, so she didn't get to climb too high.  On the way out, we did a little panning for gemstones, which both girls really enjoyed.

Another successful Breckenridge visit.  Can't wait until next year!

Link to pictures

Wrapping up April and May

Other than a few big events (Easter, trip to Cancun, and Kara's Tae Kwon Do yellow belt test), April and May were pretty calm months.

Emily finished up her last swimming class.  By the end, she was getting very comfortable in the water and was letting loose with jumping into the pool (check out the video).

Kara "graduated" from Stepping Stones (her preschool class).  She's a little sad to move on from all her friends, but she's excited to start kindergarten in the fall.

One afternoon during May, Kara and Emily were having a snack at the kitchen table with Mommy.  Kara has started to become very curious about the world around her and beyond.  Mommy and Kara were discussing the universe and the possibility of aliens and robots on distant plants, not yet discovered (Kara thinks there is a high probability of this).  Emily sat there eating her strawberries and nodding.  Then, she added "Papa make big rockets!" (including hand gestures).  Not quite the same, but pretty impressive that Emily was on topic!

Link to pictures

Cancún 2015!

Every May, Grandma and Grandpa S. head down to Cancún for a nice relaxing beach vacation.  Well, this yearthe timing worked out so we could go down with them.  The girls had an absolute blast playing in the pool and playing on the beach.  The ocean was really calm, so the girls could walk around quite a ways off shore (though Emily didn't really want anything to do with the ocean after touching some seaweed).

Emily did a great job adapting to her new surrounding, which we were really worried about (especially after our Colorado Springs trip last year).  Other than a couple of meltdowns, which were caused by sunscreen in the eyes or just getting a little tired in the morning before nap, Emily was very well behaved. She also played up the cuteness for Grandma and Grandpa.  One day, she decided to tell off a bird that was chirping on the balcony.  She told the bird "no, no, no, bird" while waving her finger. "Go away."  We got a video of her reliving the experience below.  She also was quick to tell Grandma not to touch her water (in a very cute way), "don't touch Emily water, OK?" Check out the video on on that one as well.

Kara really enjoyed swimming in the pool and making new friends.  She also enjoyed making sand castles and exploring the ocean with Grandpa.

Link to pictures



Don't touch Emily's water, okay?

No, no, no, bird. Go Away!

Swimming in the pool

March 2015

First of all, yes, I know I've gotten pretty lazy with the titles.  I really need to pick up my game.  Be sure to check out the videos at the end!

Other than Emily's birthday, nothing terribly exciting happened in March.  Kara has continued her Tae Kwon Do lessons and will be testing for her yellow belt pretty soon.  Her reading has been improving as well.  We think she has memorized a ton of sight words,but still gets a little frustrated when she has to sound a word out.  She's getting pretty good though!

Emily has learned to count up to 5, consistently, though we've heard her count as high as 11.  One of Emily's favorite things is to race. She'll say, "ready set 1 2 go!"  Potty training is continuing.  Emily has figured out that the potty can be a very powerful tool in delaying bedtime.  Almost every day now, she'll say, "need potty" at some point during the night-time routine.  We want to encourage her to listen her body, so we'll get her down to the potty.  Most of the time she'll do something in the potty but is always very insistent she needs to do more when we try to wrap things up.  Emily has also learned the words "my" and "mine" and applies them to pretty much everything, even Kara's toys.  For the most part Kara is pretty okay with sharing her toys with Emily, but Emily has not learned the concept of sharing....

Near the end of the month, we got a visit from Mom's side of the family: Scot and Cassie (and their babies Amelia and Bryn), Brad and Maggie, and Uncle Randy and Aunt Tracey.  It had been a long time since we'd seen all of them.  Emily thought the babies were awesome.  She helped feed the babies, change a diaper, and pet the babies hair while saying "fuzzy".  Kara, on the other hand, was excited to have people to play with and spent most of the time playing ball with Brad and Maggie.

Kid Qutoes:
(playing a card game with Mommy)
Kara: "I got a 3-4-5."
Mom: "Kara, you're not supposed to tell us what cards you have."
Kara: "Oh, I was just kidding. I don't really have those cards."  She did.

"Oh boy!" Emily's new favorite expression.

"I conjured the toy behind your ear from thin air!" Kara explaining how she did a magic trick.

Link to pictures



Mom made chocolate chip cookies one day. They were a big hit. Here's what Emily had to say about them:


And here are Kara's thoughts:


Here's Kara showing some improvement in her Tae Kwon Do skills:


Emily has been practicing her tee ball skills (notice the hit right at the beginning of the video):

February 2015

A couple decent snow storms late in the month rolled through, dumping almost 2 feet of snow over two weeks, which was quite a contrast with the first half of the month with record high temperatures.  It made for some good snow fun and some warm weather for playing outside!

Kara has been really improving with her reading skills.  She's been reading through some of our books at home (we mostly figured she'd just memorized the words); however, she really impressed Mom when she picked up a book at the library (Pete the Cat at the Beach) and read through it all by herself!  Kara has started Tae Kwon Do lessons.  She seems to enjoy it and is catching on quickly (see the videos).  It's great fun!  On the less fun side, however, Kara got her first cavity.  None of us are excited about that...

Emily has been continuing her swim lessons every Saturday.  She loves getting in the water and playing. Emily is speaking in 2-3 word sentences and impresses us every once in a while with a new word or phrase ("one more book").  She has started counting and frequently counts to 2 (as in "1 2 ears" or "1 2 eyes").  She knows the words for higher numbers, but she doesn't understand the concepts yet.  Emily has regressed a bit with potty training.  She's fighting Mom and Dad when they try to remind her she should use the potty.  Although, she has been getting better about feeling she needs to go and letting us know (usually after she's already peed in her pull-up).  Ah, fun times!

Cousin Cassie and her husband Scot welcomed their twin babies (Bryn Oliver and Amelia Rose) in January.  Kara and Emily got to meet their second cousins early in February, though they were more interested in playing with the toys than they were in the newborn babies.

Kid Quotes:
- Kara loves making up jokes and songs.  Here's a joke:  Kara:  "What do you call a hairless monkey?  A cold monkey!  hahaha"
- Kara: "Thank goodness Valentine's Day only comes once a year." Why? "Because of all the work I have to do to make my Valentine's card box!"
- Kara: "Gah, I talk as much as Papa.  I'm turning into Papa!"
- "Emily do!" Emily's favorite saying.
- "Step stool!" Emily usually demands to have the step stool, so that she can help out with things in the kitchen.
- "One more time."  Emily is always asking for just one more...
- "Love you"  ahhh, Emily now says these words.  With a sweet look and a hug, Mommy just melts!

Link to pictures

The Little Potty Returns

Emily has started to show some interest in potty training.  Mommy and Daddy were a little hesitant at first, but Emily was quite insistent.  Potty training is probably the most frustrating, grossest task for a parent of a young child.  Emily has actually been doing quite well with the potty training so far.  She still hasn't gotten a good grasp on the feelings, but if Mom or Dad guide her to the toilet, she knows how to take care of business.  She's still a little inconsistent, but has been showing improvement.  She has kept her diapers mostly clean and dry (except for nap time and bedtime) for the last couple of weeks.  Maybe she'll be one of those kids that more or less train themselves. *fingers crossed*

Emily has also started swim classes, which she does every Saturday morning with Dad.  She gets really excited every time we put on her and says, "Swim diaper, go swim."  The class mostly just focuses on getting the kids comfortable in the water, but Emily especially enjoys blowing bubbles and jumping off the side to Dad.

Emily is trying to do more and more things herself.  Whether it's helping get dressed, putting on shoes, or brushing her teeth, Emily has decided she can do it herself.  One day, she even helped Dad cook up some eggs.  Dad cracked the eggs and then just let her take care of it from there (under close supervision, of course).  She was so excited to eat her eggs!

We have started the process of getting Kara registered for Kindergarten.  She's pretty excited about the prospect of going to a new school, though it won't be much of a difference from the preschool she's already attending.

Kid Quotes:

"Come on!" - Emily's favorite saying these days as she drags Mom, Dad, or Kara somewhere.

"Tinkle, Tinkle, Toot!  Yay, I did it! Undies!" - Emily quoting the potty book after successfully using the potty.

"What are you going to do about it?" - Kara when Dad told her clean up her mess.  Oh, they start early these days...

Link to pictures

Fall 2014

Happy fall, everyone! The girls had a very eventful fall.  We had so much going on, we had to split it into two blogs (see the other blog for Halloween).

The weather most of the month was quite mild with no snow at all.  That made for some good leaf fun!  There was also a fun visit to the Butterfly Pavilion with Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Amy.

Kara started the month with her last couple of soccer practices for the fall.  She's still not 100% clear on the rules (she thinks it more fun just to chase after people than to actually kick the ball), but it's a great way for her to burn off some energy.

Daddy and Emily took advantage of the extra time Daddy had by going to the rec center on Fridays to swim.  Emily is very fearless.  She'll climb out of the pool and jump off the side, whether Daddy is ready or not!  Emily has also figured out running and jumping, mostly.  She can now run at a pretty good clip (she can't quite keep up with Kara yet, but she's working on it), and she has also figured out how to jump, kinda (check out the videos below).  She is also becoming much more opinionated.  We're in the phase now where she knows what she wants, but doesn't really know enough words to communicate what she wants.  Ah, good fun.

Link to pictures

Breckenridge 2014

During the weekend of September 11th, we took our second family road trip up to visit Breckenridge with Grandma and Grandpa S.  Compared to our first road trip, this one was a wild success!  The big difference was that this time we headed up first thing in the morning instead of trying to head out in the afternoon.  Emily was able to take her nap up there and get a little acclimated before bedtime.  We also took it pretty easy that first day, mostly hanging around the hotel room and visiting the pool.

The second day, Friday, we took a gondola ride up to the Summer Fun Park at the top of Peak 8.  They have all kinds of fun activities like an alpine slide, putt putt golf, and a zip line.  Emily was a little too young to do most of the activities, but Kara was just old enough to try out the Bungee Trampoline.  Kara was a little tentative at first, but once she got the hang of it, she was shooting 20+ feet up into the air.  Next year, I think she'll try out the flips.  After the trampoline, Kara played a bit in an inflatable castle, but we didn't stay up there too long.

After quiet time for the girls, we headed down to town to check out their annual Oktoberfest.  The adults tried out the vast selection of beers, while the girls munched on sausages and pretzels.  Kara also got a hummingbird painted on her face.

We took things pretty easy on Saturday.  Kara, Daddy, and Grandpa went for a short hike in the morning, and we just hung out at the pool for the afternoon.  We headed home early in the morning Sunday.  Unfortunately, Emily picked up a little cold the last night and didn't sleep well.

We're already looking forward to Breckenridge again next year!

Link to pictures

Is Summer Over Yet?

The Colorado weather, for the most part, was great this summer.  The highs were mostly in the upper 80's, which is a little cooler than normal this time of year.  We took advantage of the nice weather with several fun outings.  We made a family trip to a nearby park that has water fountains.  Kara, of course, jumped right in, but Emily was a little more cautious.  She eventually warmed up to the fountains and had a good time.  The next weekend, we ventured to Broomfield Bay Aquatic Park, which is awesome for little kids.  They have a huge baby pool (deepest part is about 18 inches deep), which Emily had a great time just walking around.  They also had some decent water slides, which Mommy and Kara checked out.  They also had a small water slide in the baby pool.  After Emily's first time down, she couldn't get enough.  As soon as she got to the bottom, she'd climb right back out of the pool and up the ramp (see the video).

Kara's farm camp at Sunflower Farms ended at the beginning of August.  Her swim lessons also ended the first week.  Kara improved a lot during the summer.  She can now swim by herself (doing a form of elementary backstroke) and even jump off the diving board and swim to the side without any help!  Mommy has been spending the last couple of weeks trying to figure out how to occupy Kara's time.  Only two more weeks until Kara's preschool starts...

Emily's language skills are developing very quickly these days.  It feels like she comes up with a new word every day, such as: milk, wall, door, no (and she also wags her finger for emphasis), water, hug, bug, boo-boo (probably her favorite word), go, out, dog (which is usually followed by the sound of a dog panting), hop (which is usually preceded with a bunny or frog sighting).  She also has picked up an assortment of animal noises, which she enjoys sharing.  Emily also seems to really enjoy music (watch the video).  It has become tougher to catch these things on camera, though, since Emily has realized cameras can also play back videos.  Now, as soon as we take a picture, she'll grab for the camera (the dance video was actually 3 minutes long, but the last 2:51 of it was Emily grabbing for he camera).

Link to pictures

Summer Fun 2014

This summer has just flown by!  Unfortunately, Daddy hasn't been great at keeping up with the blog, so we'll just hit some of the highlights from the first half of the summer.

The last weekend in June and the first couple of weekends of July were spent picking cherries from our sour cherry tree.  They're not great to eat right off the tree (Emily and Kara would both disagree with that statement), but they make great pies.  We collected enough cherries to make about 4 pies.  Kara got into the action for the first time this year and helped pick a lot of cherries.  Emily grabbed every one she could grab (didn't matter if it was half eaten by a bird and rotting on the ground) and stuck it in her mouth, so picking cherries was a little tricky with her around.

Kara had Vacation Bible School (VBS) the week of June 16th through June 20th.  She had an absolute blast interacting with the other kids and learning new songs.  Mommy and Kara went to the church the Sunday after the camp, so Kara could participate in the "concert" the kids had.  All the other kids stood up with their age group and sang their songs, except for Kara.  She was up there singing with every age group.  Wish we'd gotten that one on video.  Kara had Farm Camp every Tuesday, which was the highlight of every week.  She talked non-stop about the zipline and the goats. She also got to interact with pigs, horses, peacocks, cows, and chickens.  Kara also started swim lessons every Wednesday and Thursday.  She improved a little bit every class.  As if that wasn't enough, Kara took ice skating lessons at a nearby rink every Thursday.  It was mostly just learning how to fall and get back up on your skates without getting hurt, but she enjoyed it!

Emily's summer was much more mellow than Kara's.  She's been working on running (which is currently a fairly quick walk).  She's also been working on talking.  She surprised Daddy one day when he took her to get the mail and she started saying, "Happy, happy" over and over with a big grin on her face.  She's such a sweet girl!

Link to pictures

September Blur

The month of September just seemed to fly by.  We had a steady stream of visitors while we tried to get the most out of our last days in Florida.  It started the last week of August when Mimi and Uncle Trey came down to visit.  They spent a lot of time hitting the sites of Cape Canaveral with Kara.  The highlights included: a visit to Kennedy Space Center, kayaking in the Indian River with the manatees, checking out the dinosaur museum, a trip to Downtown Disney, and visiting Disney's Animal Kingdom (it was a busy week). Mommy and Daddy took advantage of the babysitters and spent the weekend at Universal Studios, which was a lot of fun (pictures).

On September 12th, Grandma and Grandpa S. came down from Colorado to visit us as well.  They took Kara to Jungle Adventures, Kennedy Space Center (which was pretty much Kara's favorite place to go down in Florida), and back to Downtown Disney.  Emily is still pretty shy around new people, but she warmed up to them after a couple of days.

Shortly after Grandma and Grandpa left, Mimi flew down to help get everybody packed up for the long trip back home.  Trey came down the following weekend with his girlfriend, Mary Beth.  Everyone except Daddy and Emily headed to Disney World for the last excitement of the summer.  Whew, I get tired just thinking about it all!

Mommy and Mimi bravely drove the girls back to Alabama in one day (Tuesday, Sept 24th).  The trip went fairly smoothly other than a couple meltdowns from Kara and frequent diaper changes and feedings for Emily.  Unfortunately, Mommy and Emily came down with colds as soon as they got to Mimi and Papa's house, so they were fairly miserable.  Daddy arrived on Saturday to get everyone ready for the last push home (more on that the next post).

Emily is doing great these days.  She can sit on her own and really seems to enjoy exploring things by herself (she'll just sit there and play with some rubber blocks for 15 minutes or more), which Mommy and Daddy are excited about.  She sleeps from about 6:30-6:30 most nights, though she occasionally will wake up at 4 am, and takes 2-3 naps per day (usually at 9 am, noon, and 3 pm).  Emily is going through a phase of stranger anxiety.  In general, she seems to prefer to just hang out at home and take things easy, so that's what we do with her whenever we can.

Kara has gotten pretty good at entertaining herself, which is really good since Mommy and Daddy have to spend a lot of time taking care of Emily.  Kara has developed quite an affinity for comic books.  In particular, she seems to really enjoy Spider Man.  She'll sit an read comic books to herself for long stretches of time.  Kara has become quite an artist.  I'll post some of her pictures in a blog soon!

Link to pictures
 

Florida Heat

It's been a struggle every day to keep Kara entertained and Emily comfortable.  It's been quite warm this whole month (low to mid-90's for a high, every day) with no real cool-down at night.  The heat and the lack of visitors has led to a fairly boring month.  We went to Kennedy Space Center a few times (we have season passes, so it's cheap entertainment), and that's about it.  Kara and Daddy did get to watch a Delta IV rocket launch, which was pretty cool (see video below - sorry it's a little shaky, Kara was on Daddy's shoulders and wouldn't sit still!).

Kara Quote:
- (A sign that Kara has watched a bit too much TV this month) "Go to dot com disney junior backslash Spiderman for more information."

Happy Baby!

During July, Mimi and Papa came down for a weekend.  We hit Kennedy Space Center.  Kara enjoyed the space center as much the second time as she did the first.  Now she talks about rockets blasting off and crew capsules all the time.  In addition to the space center, there was an Atlas V launch, which is the rocket Daddy used to work on, while Mimi and Papa were visiting.

Emily is getting very strong these days.  She has figured out how to roll from her back to her front.  This was giving her some trouble at night, but she's now figured out how to sleep on her stomach.  Emily has recently started sitting up by herself.  She was unsteady for the first day, but can now sit up, play and reach for things.  Pretty cool!  She's sleeping very well these days.  Bedtime is around 6:30-7:00 at night, and she stays asleep until almost 7:00 am every day.  She loves it when Mommy and Daddy read her books.  In particular, she seems to enjoy Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Goodnight Moon.  In general, Emily is a very happy, quiet baby.

Kara is enjoying her time down at the beach.  She just wrapped up the fourth (and final) session of Sports Camp.  Kara had a ton of fun playing soccer, tennis, hockey, lacrosse, and just running around!  Mommy will certainly miss it!  Kara's also improving a lot with her swimming.  She can tool all around the pool while wearing her vest (check out the video of her butterfly!).  We're hoping to get her in some swim lessons this fall when we get back home.

On a not-so-good note, Emily is in the middle of her first cold.  Everyone has it, but this is her first time being sick.  So far, she's being a big trooper and trying to sleep it off.  Yay, Emily!

And some Kara quotes that Mommy reminds herself of when Kara is screaming her head off.....

To Mommy: "I love to stay in your hugs!"
                    "I love you.  We are the best of friends.  When I grow up, we'll REALLY be best friends!"

Link to pictures

Mid-Summer Visitors

The last week of June and the first week of July were kept busy with visitors to our condo. On June 28th, Grandma and Grandpa S. flew in from Colorado. They hadn't seen Emily since she was about 6 weeks old, so they were very excited to see how much bigger she'd gotten. While they were here, we went to check out the Brevard Zoo. Kara enjoyed feeding the giraffe and checking out the alligators.  Another day, Grandma and Grandpa took Kara to SeaWorld. She had a blast watching the sea lion and orca whale shows. We also hit the beach (of course) and went swimming in the pool. While they were here, Grandma had her birthday. We took her to port side restaurant called Grills. Kara made sure to tell the waitress that it was Grandma's birthday and that she needed some cake. :-)

On Thursday, July 4th, Patrick, Akila, and Amara (who was born 13 days after Emily) headed down from Atlanta for a visit. While they were here, we all headed to Kennedy Space Center to check out the new Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit.  Daddy thought that was pretty cool, but Kara really enjoyed the movie on the Space Station development. She leaned over to Daddy at least twice and said, "I want to go to space." Maybe someday, Kara. On Saturday, we all headed down to the beach to check it out. Emily seemed to really enjoy putting her feet in the ocean, but Amara seemed to enjoy just hanging on the beach more. Both Emily and Amara are awesome babies (obviously), but it was interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two. It was great to see our family and friends!

Link to pictures from Grandma and Grandpa's visit

Link to pictures from Patrick, Akila, and Amara's visit

Terrible Two's? More like Trying Three's!

The Terrible Two's were a breeze compared to the Trying Three's (trademark pending).  Kara is constantly testing her boundaries. Whether it's seeing how many times she can get out of her room after we've put her down or waking Daddy up at 2 am to find her stuffed animal, Kara seems to always be pushing Mommy and Daddy to the limits (and occasionally past them).  Of course, she can also be the sweetest little girl sometimes, giving Mommy and Daddy hugs and kisses or cleaning up after herself without being asked.  Ah, the joys of the three-year-old.  Hopefully this is just a phase, and she'll grow out of it tomorrow.  It could happen, right?

Emily is doing great.  Getting bigger and stronger all the time.  She weighed in at 11 lbs, 2 oz at her 3-month check-up (up almost 3 pounds from her 2-month appointment).  She stares at Kara most of the day, entranced in what her big sister is doing.  She doesn't have as much hair as Kara, but she kinda has the same hair style.  Emily is not much of a fan of tummy time, which has resulted in a fairly flat head.

Overall, life is pretty good down in Florida. Lots of beach time and pool time (and sunscreen).  It is getting to be a little hot (low 90's most days), but at least there's a pretty good breeze from the ocean.

Kara Quotes:
Kara - "Daddy, you and I are best friends."

Mommy - "Kara, please clean up your toys."
Kara - "Sure thing, babe."

Link to pictures

More Florida Summer Fun

We have been keeping ourselves very busy down here in Florida.  We made it down to the beach one day as a family (Emily's not a big fan of the sun and heat).  We also made it out to EPCOT one last time before the summer crowds start (which was a surprise visit for Kara).  Here's how the talk went on the drive into the park:

Mommy - Kara, do you see the sign in front of us? [it was the entrance sign for Disney World]
Kara - It's a sign for Disney World!  Are we going to Disney World?
Mommy - You'll have to wait and see.
Kara, talking to herself - I think we're going to Disney World.  We seem to be following the signs.  It would be fun to go to Disney World, and I think we're going.  But Mommy says she doesn't know where we're going.  I hope it's Disney World!
Mommy - Kara, do you see what's in front of us? [it was EPCOT]
Kara - EPCOT! (throwing her hands up in triumph)

Kara is getting adjusted to her new surroundings.  We signed her up for a sports camp, so on Tuesday and Thursday mornings she runs around playing soccer with other kids.  She seems to have a great time with that.  Kara has also taken to putting on productions for Mommy during the day at the condo.  In one show Kara was pretending to be a dinosaur.  When Mommy was pretending to be scared, Kara replied, "It's just make-believe, nothing's going to happen to you."  And then later said, "It's all controlled, don't worry."  Sometimes she will pretend to be the animals and act out their parts.  Other times she will be the ring master - "Introducing Cecil the Dolphin and Cecil the Octopus" (for some reason she seems to like the name Cecil).

Emily is becoming a very talkative and happy baby.  She often times will chat up the caterpillar toy on her bouncy seat.  She's also taken to giggling while playing with Mommy and Daddy.  She is getting stronger all the time.  She rolled over for the first time at 11 weeks old.  She also can stand on her legs (with lots of support from either Mommy or Daddy).  It really is amazing how fast they grow!

Speaking of babies, congratulations to Justin, Heather, and Sean on your newest addition!  We cannot wait to meet Robin.

Link to pictures