Phone Photo Friday

Okay - I took the pictures Thursday night, but if I took them off the camera Friday it counts, right?

We told the girls that if they went underwater at swim lessons that we'd take them out for a special treat. Thursday night Lily went under, but totally by accident. Madeleine spent a good portion of the lesson getting her hair and face wet so that it looked like she went under.

They wanted to go to Maggie Moo's. Lily had the blue cotton candy ice cream, and Madeleine had pink bubble gum.

Tea Party

Lily wanted to have a tea party with her dollies/animals, so I helped her set one up. She was very excited.

After a bit, she turned to me and and said, "Why are they not drinking?"

Madeleine, who was drawing over on her art table, said, "Because they're dolls!"

Swimming Lessons

We had our first swimming lesson today. The girls have been super excited and were very cooperative getting there. We were ready about 10 minutes early and sat by the side of the pool to watch others finish up.

About 4:30 a bunch of teenage instructors came out of the office, got in the water and started teaching. I had no idea where to go or who to talk to. Another mom and I were in the same boat, so we finally flagged somebody down, and she directed us to our instructor who was already working with another kid. When we walked up to the instructor with three more kids, she looked like she was going to lose it. But she asked their names, and they got in with her. The other mom and I sat down nearby.

The little boy in their class was a MUCH better swimmer, so we were wondering if we'd signed up for the wrong level It's 201 - right above infant swimming, so I didn't expect much. The other girl in the class was 5, but she wasn't that comfortable in the water.

They did a bunch of trials on different floats while the instructor held them. They blew bubbles. They went down to the end an jumped to her a bunch (with the boy doing cannonballs). Then they went to the shallow end to dive for rings.

Madeleine got in over her head once. She was on her tiptoes, lost her balance, and kept getting deeper. But she recovered okay.

They didn't go underwater to get any rings, but did good anyway. When the lesson was over, they came to the edge to hop out. Lily lost her balance and went under. The mom in me freaked out, but she recovered on her own and got out, very proud of herself. She told everyone she went under the water.

The instructor told the mom of the boy that he was too advanced for that level and should probably be in another class. She seemed pretty annoyed, but I hope she follows through and gets him in the right level.

The girls are excited to go back on Thursday.

Late post on the weekend

Saturday morning we went to Pullen Park since it was relatively cool and not that humid for a Saturday in July. We hadn't been in about a year, so I knew the girls wouldn't remember it.

We hit the playground first, then the train and kiddie boats. The girls still loved the baby/toddler area best. I think they like just climbing rather than swings/slides. We also rode the carousel. Eric took the girls around the side to watch while I held our place in line. Madeleine wanted to ride in the "sleigh," while Lily chose a goat. She changed her mind and moved to an ostrich shortly after the ride started.

I had some leftover crackers, so we went to feed the geese/ducks in the pond. The girls had A LOT of fun with this. It was fun to watch the ducks fight over the larger pieces. Then we went to the fish pond and fed them as well. They would jump right out of the water and scare the girls.

Feeding the ducks

Fans of the Fourth

This was the girls fourth 4th of July, so we thought it was finally time they get to see some fireworks. They'd seen pictures of them in books and such, and we'd talked to them about how loud they'd be, but I don't think either of them knew totally what to expect.

Lily the American Cutie

We prepped them for a late bedtime by delaying nap until 3 pm and waking them up around 5.

Madeleine and the soccer ball.

We went to the celebration at the NC State Fairgrounds. I hadn't been in probably 15 years, so I didn't know what to expect either. We put some food together for a picnic. Back when I was in school, they set off the fireworks from the grandstand, but now they do it out by the lake in back. We turned in by the lake off Youth Center Rd. I would have driven farther down, but Eric pointed out the the further down in we went, the longer it would take to get out.

So we parked across the way from some college-age kids playing drinking games. Excellent. The girls kept asking why one guy didn't have a shirt on and what game were they playing (who could drink the fastest). We played some with the balls we bought and then walked up to the main fairgrounds to see what kind of activities were going on. We took a bathroom break over there and then headed back to our car around 8:30 pm or so.

The fireworks started abruptly at 9:15, and Madeleine just about jumped in my lap. She and Lily cowered at my side. Madeleine asked, "When can we go home?"

But I took her up on my lap and helped cover her ears. She got used to the noise after a while and begain to enjoy herself. Lily sat on Eric's lap, and we started talking about what shapes and colors we saw. It made it bearable, and they were excited about them again.

It took about 40 minutes to get out with the traffic the way it was, so the girls didn't hit bed until almost 11 pm. They were beyond exhausted, but I'm glad the crying didn't start until we got home.