Twistin' the night away

Okay, so it wasn't the whole night . . . . it was only about 45 minutes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and the twists were done. This is my first "real" attempt at twists in his hair and I have to say it turned out great. One other time I did a few but they were a lot bigger and it didn't look as good and didn't last very long. Unfortunately I'm quite uncoordinated with the tool that's made specifically for twists so I have do it all by hand. But as I said, it only took about 45 minutes and it went well. These pictures were taken right after I finished so the hair is still wet.

These pictures were taken after sleeping a whole night on them. They're dry and I think they still look really good.

And then these last pictures were taken at the end of the day today . . . 24 hours after they were done. So they have been slept on twice - a full night and a long nap - and I think they still look good. I could probably touch them up a bit tomorrow but I'm impressed with how well they're lasting. I may have to teach Victoria how to do it too so she can work on one half while I do the other and it won't take as long.

Next up . . . . corn rows!

Sound asleep

When all is quiet and three of the four kids are accounted for, it often means trouble (in our house anyway!). So the other day when Denver was the one not accounted for, Austin went looking for him. What a surprise to find him sound asleep on the bottom step. All that playing just tuckered him right out! So precious. I ended up placing some pillows on the floor beside him and he just had his nap there.

(By the way, doesn't he look HUGE lying there on that step? Waaaaa . . . what happened to my baby????)

Sailing

Austin had a chance to take sailing lessons for three weeks in June and we jumped all over it! What an amazing opportunity for him to learn about something he wouldn’t normally be exposed to. He loved it and we enjoyed watching it. At first I was a little hesitant about the idea of him going out on a sailboat with another child that was also just learning. But after the first time, I realized that the instructor was right there in his motorized dingy if anything were to happen. The kids were instructed really well and also learned what to do in the case of an emergency. I have to admit that windy days still made me feel a little nervous but knowing that the little sailboats were pretty much impossible to tip, helped calm my nerves. On the last day, Austin’s sailing buddy quit a little early which left Austin all alone in his boat. I was proud of the way he maneuvered the boat all on his own . . . twice the work he was used to doing with a buddy. I never imagined one of our kids would ever take sailing lessons and I still can’t get over how cool it was. We will definitely do it again next year!

Two years ago today . . . .

Citrus Seeds

I found and purchased this book from a lady that was selling a whole bunch of used books. It's called Get Growing - Exciting Indoor Plant Projects for Kids. It's a great book that teaches kids to grow houseplants from fruits and vegetables and their seeds. I love it. So today we started the first project . . . planting a citrus seed. We bought some oranges, grapefruit and a lemon so we could use their seeds. We ate the fruit today so that we can let the seeds dry out for a week as per the instructions and then we'll plant them. I can't wait to see if it actually works! Since I obviously can't post pictures of the plants yet, here are some of the kids trying out the lemon. Ha . . . they make me laugh!

Here are the seeds we collected. As you can see, one bucket is empty. Unfortunately our grapefruit only had the teeny tiny seeds in them and nothing worth keeping. Hey Grandma Z, do you think you could save some grapefruit seeds for us from your breakfast tomorrow morning?

M@rinel@nd

This is also a long overdue post. At the beginning of June, Mike and I surprised the kids with a very fun day out. They knew Daddy was taking the day off so when they got out of bed, they asked, “what should we do today?” We told them we thought it would be a good day for a picnic. So we all got our picnic gear ready and away we went. When we had been driving for about 15 minutes, they started asking where we were going to which we kept answering, “on a picnic” They wouldn’t let up and really wanted to know exactly where this picnic was going to be. We finally told them that they weren’t allowed to ask any more questions because it was a surprise. When we got to Niagara Falls, Austin saw the sign for M@rinel@nd and said to Victoria, “hey, maybe we’re going to M@rinel@nd!” to which Victoria replied, “I doubt it!” LOL – we’ve told them in the past how expensive it is! Anyway, we were a tad early and so we took a little drive by the falls and the kids assumed we were going to picnic somewhere around there. However, when we pulled into the M@rinel@nd parking lot, they were so surprised and obviously so excited!

And we had such a good day. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed the entire day. From the shows to the rides to feeding and petting beluga whales, it really is true: “Everyone loves M@rinel@nd!”

The kids (Victoria and Austin) are finally old enough to enjoy some of the bigger rides. Austin is definitely a wild rider and was so excited to try out almost anything. I’m so excited that I finally have company on rides (Mike isn’t a fan of most rides). Victoria was a little more hesitant, but once she tried a ride she loved it and couldn’t get enough.

The best part was because everyone else was in school, the park wasn’t busy at all and so there were no line ups at all.

This is the first ride we all went on. A very small ferris wheel. It was a good warm up and Mike ended up taking Samara and Denver back on it a little later. Definitely more their speed and something to do while me and the wild ones were being thrown this way and that on some of the other rides!

The killer whales were neat to see. What amazing creatures!

Samara braved the ladybug coaster. We kept asking her "are you sure" because doesn't even like going over hills in the van. But after the first twist and turn where she grabbed her stomach (and made me very nervous!), she was fine and even went on again later in the day.

Four excited kids!

Here's Austin swinging around in the air all by himself. Not sure I enjoyed watching my baby up there alone! But after he "tested it out" for us, Victoria and I joined him on the next round.

The kids (except Denver who had fallen asleep in the stroller) all got to pet and feed a beluga whale. That was a neat experience for them.

This was the most exciting part of the day for Denver. He got to ride in a rocket ship with Daddy . . . and he told everyone he saw! He still talks about it. I captured his excited in the third photo down. He had just gotten off the ride and was running toward me to tell me all about it. So cute!

As you can see we had an awesome day. We will for sure be back since we took advantage of purchasing the Fun Pass for all of us.