Dev jumping in

J swimming lessons week 2

Busy Bees water Day

See the face here? The little girl behind her was demanding that Dev move back, she insisted she had cut in front of her. BUT Dev hadn't. She was the line leader and the same girl had been behind her right from the start. Dev wasn't budging she knew she was right. I was actually quite proud of her because she kept her temper in check and stayed calm, though she did tell her friend "Fine, I not your friend anymore" to which the friend replied the same, I told them both to stop being ugly and move on, thankfully they did. Oy, years of drama ahead with girls! LOL
Think she had fun?? Ummmm yeah. You could say that. She slid and slid and slid until her tummy told the rest of us it was lunch time. Literally. They had taken a break for a slushy and she barely stopped then but come lunch, she went and got her lunch box and sat herself down at the picnic table and waited on the rest of us. LOL. Well, she knows what she wants.

She had an awesome day. Conner's mom and I stayed all day to help set up and take down the water slide, the picnic area, corral kids and basically anything else her teachers needed. Whew it was a long morning but the kids all were really good and had so much fun. It was a good day. Tomorrow will be her last day as a Busy Bee. It's been a long year. But she's grown a lot, had some great teachers and learned so much. She is my more frustrating child, but at least she is over things fairly quickly. It's just that extreme reaction we still need to work on. She really is funny and I adore her, frustrations and all. Just don't tell HER she is funny, trust me, she is already sure that she is. This morning loading up for school she says "I think I'm goin' crazy" My reply? "Oh honey you are already there" . Yep that is just how we are.

Universal Studios Orlando

We decided to turn our little trip to the concert into a mini vacation. Since I am such a Harry Potter fan and we have always done Disney on every trip to Orlando we decided to switch it up a little and spend the afternoon at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Mostly we spent the day in Dr. Suess land with a trip into Hogsmeade to check it out, shop and for Julia and I to ride the Flight of the Hippogriff. It may be a small roller coaster but let's just say that once was enough for both of us. Whew what a minute and a half that was!! It went much faster than I thought it would, I think both of us were screaming so much that we didn't hear the other one. At least I don't remember hearing her and she asked me why I wasn't. I so was! LOL. It was fun and I'm glad we were both brave enough to go but I'm also really glad she was ready to go back to the smaller rides. haha.

All in all it was a really good afternoon. Both girls were super good at the park and handled all the walking and the heat pretty well. We went through a lot of water. But it wasn't as bad as I had been afraid of as far as the heat went. Maybe because J soaked me on the One Fish Two Fish ride. I let her operate the functions for the up and down part and she couldn't have timed them any better for getting wet! I think Daddy got off easier with Dev on that one!! But it was really hot so it did feel pretty good and we dried fairly fast.

So that's it. That was our weekend, Sunday we drove home, today Julia is back at school having a PJ and book day (she took One Fish Two Fish as her favorite book, and she read it to me last night. All 63 pages of it!!). Tomorrow she has Puzzle day, and Wednesday is Game day. Thursday will be a 1/2 day and that's it! Out for Summer!! AMEN! We are ready for Summer, for 1st grade I'm not so sure yet. Academically she is more than ready, I'm just not so sure I am. lol.

Devyn and I are just chilling today as we recover from our crazy weekend. Tomorrow she has water day that I got roped into staying to help with. So I'll be sure to have my camera for that one. This time I am taking the GOOD one! LOL I'm not sure what her last two days will hold yet but I am sure they will be fun. :)

For the next couple of weeks look for us at the Y. It is my plan to do some hanging out there and the girls will have swimming lessons. Ah summer. If only it meant slowing down. Maybe I can convince the girls to at sleep past 7 AM. haha

Old friends, great times

Remember these guys?? Well, we have never forgotten them. Bradon was Julia's best friend in TX and we are so so glad that they are at least a little closer now that we are all in the same state again. So hopefully we will get to see them at least a couple of times a year. We had an awesomely relaxing day and evening with them, going to the pool, grilling out and just basically letting the kids run and play. Oh we have missed them!

Bradon and Julia are so much alike even after all this time. He saw her swimming without a float (she was practicing and doing some swimming underwater. She can barely keep her head up to swim above water but relaxes and go several strokes underwater, I don't get it. lol). Well he wasn't about to be outdone so he started practicing too and the next day he was good enough to go down the slide and off the diving board!! She is the same way, last year she couldn't swim at all but spent one day with her friends that could swim a bit underwater and came home doing the same thing. When she finds out that her friend can go off the slide up here too I know that determination is going to kick in for her too. I could already see the wheels turning when she saw the video of Bradon going down the slide. It was like "well if HE can then so can I". So much alike! They both get very focused on what they want and work for it. I hope that it serves them well when they are older and that we can keep them from putting too much pressure on themselves to succeed. What a balance beam to walk.

Anyway we are all ready to go back down and spend more time with them first chance we get!! One afternoon and evening was just not enough. :)

Wow..

That is pretty much all I can say. Wow. Taylor Swift most definitely knows how to put on a show! The girls, especially Julia, are HUGE fans so it was great to be able to do this for them. Originally it was supposed to be just her and I, but then Dev started singing along so much that we felt she should go too. So her and Daddy got some seats in the nose bleeds (though their position was actually better than ours) and we all went. So glad we did. What an awesome first concert experience for the girls! After they got over the initial shock over how loud it was they both had a blast. I believe they both sang their little hearts out a long with her and even I left with a sore throat. Haha. This won't be happening often but it was nice to know they could both handle the late night out! Though we did have two very tired little girls when we got back to our hotel which was only 10 minutes away from the venue. I think we actually had to wake them both up just to get them into the room. But hey at least they slept til 9 AM the next morning, maybe I'll rethink our summer schedule a little bit! LOL

I didn't take my "good" camera, I was thinking space and weight but oh how I wished I had it after all. I was not happy with this one at all and haven't been for awhile. It made for a frustrating evening attempting to get any good shots. But at least I was able to give you a sampling of what it was like. We love Taylor so this was the ONE concert that was worth it for all of us! :)

Just a few more random pics. Enjoy

Turning 4 years old. :)
A day at the beach back in March, yes, it was that warm then, it cooled back off.
Mismatched sock day.
Rare moment of sisterly love.
Taylor Swift tickets= one very happy girl.