Interim Post

I've been working on a different post, but since I'm obviously not done with it yet, here are some pictures in the meantime :)

[With her collection of "babies"]

[After the Fourth of July parade at school...]

[...which was followed directly by this disaster, where I had upset the Audra in some way and so we needed to wait for her to stop crying before I could buckle her in and go home - I call this "being held hostage at school... again"]

[Immediately before BOTH CHILDREN somehow burned themselves with sparklers, despite adult supervision]

[Josie added "sparklers" -- just after "flat irons" -- to her list of things she now understands will burn her]

[Proud about learning how to draw a circle :) ]

[King and Queen day at school - meanwhile, Audra decidedly did not dress up since she sensed I was trying to influence her clothing choices for the day when I suggested perhaps she'd like to wear one of her (more Queen-like) dresses ;) ]

[Going for a walk... on a treadmill... with Elsa... wearing water shoes... on the wrong feet]

 

[My children found a nook at a restaurant and decided to fill it]

[I guess I wasn't specific enough when I asked her to put on her pants]

County Fair

After reading "Charlotte's Web" (where a fair is quite significant to the plot), I thought Josie should perhaps experience a county fair in person... also, she really likes rides, and I had misread the website and thought we just paid a flat fee to get in and all the rides were included. That was not the case, so I'm feeling even more gouged than normal, but ah well.

[Doing what I can to protect her scalp from the sun]
So we went to our county fair, which was supposed to be a whole family outing but then dwindled down to just Josie and me. Audra is going through an especially volatile time lately, and so we thought it might be better if she sat this one out (also, we had to abandon going out to lunch earlier that day because she was screaming so much just trying to get her in the car, so our appetite for screaming was already depleted by the time we were leaving for the fair).

Our first stop was the petting zoo, where Josie pet a tortoise, llama, camel, and bunny, but I was probably most excited about the cavies, since I've never seen one in person before.
We then walked through the beef barn on our way to the midway, where Josie decided to cash in her one allotted sweet early, and she chose ($4 each) sno-cones. It was still pretty hot out at that point -- and the sno-cones so refreshing and cool -- that I complimented Josie enough on her selection that she hazarded an attempt at a second sweet when she asked if we could each get another sno-cone. Nice try, kid.

It was starting to cloud over (with thunderstorms in the forecast), so we couldn't go up in the Ferris wheel, which is what Josie had been most excited about. She rode a little ladybug ride instead, though, which she claimed was her favorite for the day, so it all worked out anyway.
Next up was a fun house, then... bumper cars. This is what I think was actually her favorite, given the squeals of delight that were coming from next to me each time we hit another car. Then she went through another fun house, and that was the end of our tickets. Amazing how quickly they go!

I was still on the search for horses, so we then continued our way through the fairgrounds, including going through the pig barn. Josie was fascinated by all the pigs, even though she thought they were all dirty since they had some shavings on them. Meanwhile, I don't think I had ever seen such clean pigs in my life. We found a faintly glowing pink one that reminded us of Wilbur (after he had been scrubbed clean in a buttermilk bath), so that was exciting.

We finally found the "horse barn", which was really just eight stalls with what I'm guessing were just representative horses. There wasn't a big enough ring for a horse show at the fairgrounds, so I imagine that was (or will be) done elsewhere. But we took a peek at all the horses, and then I fell in love with one of the yearlings that were there, and I fawned over it and rhapsodized to Josie about how horses are the best smell in the world (as she looked rather doubtful about that opinion).

It had started to rain by that time, so we started heading back to the car, except I thought we should probably take a detour to a port-a-potty just to be on the safe side before we got back on the road. So Josie had her first experience in a port-a-potty, and while I won't get into the details of that, it was also notable that it starting pouring while we were in there. So then I had the fun experience of trying to decide if it would be worse waiting out the worst of the storm while stuck in a port-a-potty, or going for a (long) run back to the car in a downpour. Luckily, I was doing this thinking out loud, and Josie piped up that she wanted to make a run for it, so we did. We ran most of the way back to the parking lot, with both of us laughing and shrieking as we jumped over the puddles. We then caught a ride in a (mostly) covered wagon through the parking lot, so we were only mildly drenched by time we got back to the car. All in all (except for the price gouging), we had a great time at the fair, and Josie has already put in her request to go back next year :)

Lake Anna

We did our annual vacation to a lake a little differently this year: a month earlier than normal, for only four days instead of the usual seven, to a new (to us) lake, and with just my mom for company for part of it. Everything worked out really well, though, and we had a really nice vacation!

We tried out Lake Anna this year, which was just perfect for us with the girls the ages they are right now. Two hours each way made for much easier travel than the usual four+ hours (well, except for poor Josie, who got sick on the way home), and the house we rented was really nice with great amenities.


[The first bunkbed that Josie ever got to sleep in]


As soon as we got there, we let the girls loose to run around in the yard to stretch their legs and get their sillies out. It was dinnertime when we got there so we couldn't go swimming straightaway, but we at least went down to the dock and stuck our hands in the water.


My vacation goals were to: 1) go in the water every day, and 2) not get in the car again until it was time to leave. Although we briefly thought about going out to get ice cream at one point, we managed to hold out and meet both goals ;)

Lake Anna is known for being pretty warm, and while it seemed like (almost too warm) bath water when we stuck our hands in the first night, it turned out to just be a perfect temperature when we actually got in: none of the normal shock from the cold water, but not so warm that it felt gross on a hot day. And going in June probably helped with that too, since while it was definitely hot out, it wasn't sweltering enough to make the water even warmer.


Our rental house was at the end of a cove, and the water was so shallow that the girls could basically play in the entire cove without too much danger of them going under with minimal floaties on. So with Audra, we experimented with a lifejacket, swimsuit with floaties built in, and a puddle jumper. She handled everything well, swam by herself a bit with the puddle jumper on, and even consented to wear a sun hat... most of the time ;)


Meanwhile, Josie was able to go without floaties as long as she was in the super shallow water, but she tooled around on a boogie board and/or some noodles when she went into the deeper water (where she could still touch, just not flat-footed). She apparently remembered her time at the pool from April well enough, since she was able to swim around on her own some too, although the big deal for the week was Josie jumping off the dock. So while most of the time she talked herself right out of jumping, she did manage to jump off several times into Ryan's or my arms, with us edging out a bit more each time ;)

As I mentioned, the amenities were really great at this house. We took the kayaks and paddle boat out on the lake, although I just realized we didn't use the canoe at all. I especially liked the double row of lifejackets of different sizes that were available, all neatly numbered so that they could be hung up on the appropriately-numbered hook (the owners of the house were very organized. I loved it.). Watching the beautiful sunsets every night was great though too, particularly from nestled within a hammock with a passel of children piled on top of oneself. I'd imagine, at least.

We also made use of the firepit to make s'mores one night, which (as expected) was a big hit ;)





Really, the biggest disappointment for me was... Chinese acrobatics. There was a basket full of DVDs there, and for whatever reason, I was absolutely intrigued by the "Best of Chinese Acrobatics" DVD, and touted it all that day as our special after-dinner treat. And then? IT WASN'T IN THE CASE. I was gutted, and after checking just about all of the other cases in the basket, I eventually had to admit defeat and we watched "Wall-E" instead... and reminisced about the time Ryan and I first watched it and made it about 20 minutes in before we released we were watching the French version. There isn't that much talking in the movie anyway, and I had somehow convinced myself that perhaps the humans of the future had come up with a different language in the intervening 800 years, although I didn't understand why this made-up language wasn't subtitled. Sigh.

[Josie's TV-watching face; I'm pretty sure she did not blink or breathe the entire movie]

Anyway! Vacation was great, and we got to spend lots of quality time together. I think we'll do it again sometime :)

Josie is FIVE!

Five years ago, on another rainy afternoon, this crazy, silly, wonderful child entered our lives. I'm glad we get to be her parents - she makes the world a better place. Happy birthday to my favorite daughter named Josie :)

[Hugging one of her super-exciting birthday presents: a towel]

CARDIBAL!

The girls had been asking to go to the carnival just about every day (well, Josie asked "When can we go to the caaaarnivaaaal?" and Audra demanded "Wanna go CARDIBAL!"), so we finally made it out there a couple of days before it moved on. They had certainly seen it from the road, but they momentarily seemed shocked at seeing it in such close proximity once we got out of the car, since they just kind of stood there... until Josie made a run for the midway, and then it was on ;)

First up was dinner - the girls had hot dogs, which they appear to love most of all (I don't understand this). I briefly considered getting funnel cake too, which, although a poor substitute for elephant ears, is still quintessential "carnival food" to me... but then I only needed to remember the time Ryan and I had funnel cake a few years back and got horribly sick afterwards to provide enough incentive to pass on it this time ;)

Then it was on to the rides. Audra met the height requirement for the little roller coaster there, so although I had some misgivings with sending her off on a ride without an adult, she sat nicely with Josie and they both laughed and squealed with glee ;)

Next, the girls wanted to go on the spinning swings, so Ryan went on that with them. Luckily, Josie is big enough now that she was fine sitting on her own, since Audra would not be deterred from riding too... and there is no way I was going to join them, given my motion sickness issues. I felt nauseated just watching them going around... and around... and around :(

We headed over to the giant slide next (the kind with the accompanying burlap sacks to ride down on). The girls loved it so much the first time down that they immediately wanted to go on it again... meanwhile, Ryan and I started hand-wringing over them "wasting" their meager tickets on the same ride, but hey. I guess if they liked it, then it was worth it to them :)

The last thing they chose was an obstacle course, so I went through that with them to make sure Audra made it through to the finish. Although I felt a little ridiculous crawling through the tunnels, I think it still ended up being a good idea that I went with them, since I almost lost Audra (and my shoes) in the ball pit that turned out to be just a little too deep for her.

Apparently, we had bought only enough tickets to whet their appetites for the rides and lead to eventual tears when we ran out of tickets. All good things still seem to end in tears for the girls... sigh. But then they had ice cream, which seemed to be an acceptable consolation prize... at least momentarily, since as soon as we started walking back to the car, the plaintive wails to go back to the CARDIBAL started up again, and I'm not sure if they quite comprehended when I said, sure, when it comes back next year ;)

School

At last, the day Ryan and I had been looking forward to for over two years finally arrived: both girls are now attending the same school. Audra had been going to the same in-home daycare as Josie did for the first couple of years, but - as happened with Josie too - she started sending the message that she was ready to transition... mainly by biting. We had been looking to transition Audra in the fall, but that timeline moved up a bit when Audra bit another of the babies on her face. So the next day, after Josie's school first told us that they wouldn't have space until September (which prompted a flurry of research and discussion of moving them both to a different school), they ended up being able to have Audra start there on June 8th.

[Not too auspicious a start...]

[... since this was the best I could get out of Audra for a "first day of school" picture]

I was very worried about Audra's transition (since Josie's was so rough - weeks of screaming, kicking fits at dropoff, and Audra tends to be even more dramatic), but she has actually been doing pretty well. She does get upset when Ryan drops her off, and whimpered and cried for the first half hour or so of the first few days, but her teachers are saying that she's bouncing back quicker now and doing really well... no longer comforting herself with finger sucking and hand washing (since she loves to play in the just-her-size sinks there), and now she's participating in circle time and playing with her new friends. She's even napping really well there, which was unexpected ;)

Josie also had a change at school this month, since she graduated from Pre-Kindergarten :) She was so excited, and insisted upon singing (or at least doing the hand motions) for the "surprise" graduation song she performed with her class during the ceremony. Besides that, it was a little anti-climactic, since she's still going to be in the same class through the rest of the summer, and will officially move into Kindergarten in the fall instead. And it doesn't really feel like that big of a transition, since while she will be commencing her years of formal schooling then, it will still be at the same school she's been for the last 2.5 years. Ah well... perhaps baby steps for her growing up is better for all of us anyway ;)

[Waiting her turn to line up]

[Singing]




[Audra impatiently waiting for the picture-taking to be done]

So after that busy week (with Audra starting at school and Josie graduating), we took a short trip to a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. It was perhaps a bit more rustic than we should have done with little kids (read: there were a lot of rather large bugs inside the cabin), and hiking is probably also not the best activity with little kids, but Josie got to go in a hot tub and we did step foot on the Appalachian Trail, so I guess we met our goals ;)

So yes, although it kind of seemed like a celebration for the end of the school year, given the timing, this was actually my 10-year anniversary present to Ryan, since he likes to hike. And so hike we did - we were out on the trail for probably about 45 minutes, and we spent probably 30 arduous minutes of that time cajoling the children to place each foot in front of the other. But it was beautiful out there, the girls got to climb a GIANT ROCK (so exciting!), we apparently turned around just in time to miss the dead fawn on the trail, and I got a good workout by swinging 35-lb weights (i.e., children) uphill, over rocks. So while it wasn't the most fun vacation I've ever been on, it really could have been worse :)

[Appalachian Trail!]

[Looking for poplar flowers is apparently scarier than I give it credit for]

[Found one!]