Chicago!

Summer in the city! Gotta play in a fountain!

This is a statue at the Pier. You can see the giant ferris wheel in the background.

We took a water taxi over to the Navy Pier. The girls rode the subway, bus, taxi and then water taxi. They were travelers!

Here we are at the Navy Pier. Kelsey is saying "too much sun" She kept yelling at me to get her out of the sun and find the shade! I tried! I guess our summer weather in PA has been good for her, since it hasn't been all that hot around here. She couldn't stand being stuck in the sun. Kaitlyn is looking at her like she's crazy.

American Girl

Kathy got Kaitlyn and Kelsey the girl of the year (Chrissa) and her best friend (Gwen)! They were so happy - me too! Now Kelsey wants the pet camel, pink table set, bed, and all of the other accessories that Chrissa and Gwen have - of course So Do I!!
We had the special American Girl Cafe Lunch with the girls and their bitty babies. It was fun. Kelsey really got into the whole day. Kaitlyn had fun just having her baby beside her. They fed the dolls sips of tea. The lunch was 4 courses with very good food! I stole the menu for scrapbooking! They made everything very pretty -even chicken tenders! They had little flower shaped fruit and dessert with flowers growing out of it. I would have taken a million pictures but I wanted to enjoy it too!

The girls loved the bitty baby area. There was so much to see.

Kelsey posed the bitty babies with the store dolls. I asked her if Bitty had fun and she said "She had fun mommy because she got to see all of her brothers and sisters!" I told her that Chicago is where Bitty was born and showed her the doll hospital in the store.

American Girl Place in Chicago!

Shedd Aquarium

They advertised an "animal exploration" time at the "polar play zone" - I envisioned Kelsey and Kaitlyn being handed their own penguin to play with but it was just 2 little hermit crabs! They just won't pass those penguins around! The girls liked touching the hermit crabs.
They had a play area with penguin costumes across from the penguin exhibit. Kelsey went right over and got into it. Kaitlyn got in trouble for trying to climb over the play area - she's a monkey not a penguin!

Here's Kaitlyn checking out a crab.

This is a picture outside of the aquarium. The Navy Pier is way behind Bob and the girls. We had a fun trip to Chicago!

Fun in the Summertime!

Here's Kaitlyn playing on the ledge area of the new pool. She would walk and then just belly flop in to the water. She did this for almost 30 minutes - while I enjoyed a delicious cold beer! It was amazing to be able to just sit by the edge of the pool and watch the girls play for awhile - and relaxing!

Breakfast together! The girls loved the buffet breakfast and all of the doughnut selections!

Snack time. All we did was play and eat. Good times

Asleep together - first time they all shared a room. Ryan had to sleep in the pack n play but he'll be in the crowd next year!

Fun Stuff

Air Hockey in the game room is a Seven Springs tradition.
Kaitlyn let go and swam/floated around the pool on her own for the first time! She jumped in the pool about 50 times on Saturday Night.

Here's Bob showing off his Alpine Slide injury - my Dad had one just like it many years ago! Kelsey said "TOO FAST Daddy" Bob's sled flipped over and he got a pretty bad brush burn on his arm. Thank goodness that was all he got! TOO FAST

Paddleboats

We took the girls out in the paddleboats at the Lake on top of the mountain.

Seven Springs - Euro Bungy Time

Kaitlyn watching Kelsey take her turn on the Euro Bungy. Kelsey bounced pretty high!
Kaitlyn was really trying to bounce high. Every now and then the girl would take her waist belt and push her down so that she popped up high in the air. It was like a giant jumperoo!

Kelsey's reaction to Kaitlyn getting to go first! Kaitlyn needs to go first sometimes too!

The new outdoor pool at Seven Springs. It was so nice and warm! Kaitlyn loved the big ledge on the one end where she could stand, walk and jump all around. Kelsey did great with her floaties.

Pictures!

The girls had pictures taken today. It was their first time back since Christmas. They were about 1,000 times better for the photographer. It was so much better to go when we were the only customers in the store. Aren't they adorable? I love this picture.

Children's Day at Arts Fest!

The kids (and Aunt Kirstin) all enjoyed walking back and forth through this pretty misting garden. It was nice to have a day that wasn't too crowded for the kids to check this out.

Here are the girls - sitting in the center of the world - in front of Old Main.

Don't they look ready to march in the children's parade? Too bad they didn't want to do after they walked about 50 feet. Kirstin and I ended up giving away their animals and streamer sticks so that we could quit walking in the parade and just watch the fun.

Kaitlyn Cupcake

Kelsey went over to a friend's house to play on Saturday, so Kaitlyn and I had some alone time. We made funfetti cupcakes. It was nice to hear all that Kaitlyn had to say. She was a little talker. She wanted to sit her babies at the table in the booster seats to help us out. She seemed to enjoy our alone time too! Of course we shared the cupcakes with Kelsey as soon as she got home!

So Happy Together

Kelsey let Kaitlyn ride on her lap for the train ride tonight.

wagon ride to the park

This week, I took the girls on a wagon ride to the park. We went through some woods and down past my old senior high and jr. high school. We went down a big hill, so I knew there was no way that I could to the return trip, so Bob came to pick us up at the park!
little monkey!

big monkey!

Garden

Nate is our garden guard dog. He likes to run over and sniff around to see if any bunnies have been to visit the plants.
Kelsey likes to help water the plants. Here she is misting them. It's a little hard for her to understand to spray them gently - she sprayed the "jet" setting on them one day and almost wiped out a pepper plant - so I keep the hose on "mist" when she does her watering.

4th of July

Kelsey like the sparklers. She liked hanging out with the boys.

This is the only way Kaitlyn will watch fireworks.

Little fire starter.

Maureen and Lilly!

Fun with friends on the fourth of July! Kelsey and Kaitlyn had a great time at Maureen's. Excellent food and fun. Kaitlyn tackled a 6 month old to the ground, but otherwise it was good times for all!

Happy 4th of July!

They had a great fireworks show! Kelsey, Kaitlyn and David loved running around with their glow stick necklaces.
cute. Kelsey learned all about the Transformers from Parker.

Gator rides!

Maybe next year for Ryan!

Kelsey, Kaitlyn and I had a great time ata friend's 4th of July party! Air hockey, golf, swingset, gator rides, cupckes, cookies and cheesecake - all of their favorite things at the party!

Delgrosso's Night

Kelsey and David rode the tilt-a-whirl a lot at Delgrosso's park. They kept getting off chanting "I Want To Go again!!" Kaitlyn had a big night! The attendant let her ride the wacky worm for the first time ever. The attendant was a little relaxed and didn't notice that Kaitlyn wasn't really 36 inches tall. She was elated and smiled and said "I not scared" to me the whole ride. She loved being able to ride on the big girl ride! - no picture (I was on it with her!).

Movie Day

Kirstin invited us up to go to dollar movie day! Kaitlyn saw her first movie. We were going to see Hannah Montana while David and Ryan went to see Monsters vs. Aliens, but, as soon as Kelsey heard that David wasn't going with us to Hannah, we all ended up see Monsters vs. Aliens. It was pretty funny. They loved "Bob" monster - he's pretty funny. Popcorn and sodas were only a dollar too! Kaitlyn kept saying "I scared mommy" until about 20 minutes into the movie and then she settled down into the seat beside me with her popcorn and soda! We all saw a movie, had popcorn and sodas for 11.00! Fun!