Not Something You See Everyday

On our way out to Destin this morning we spotted a family of Peacocks....... Seriously. This is something I never thought I'd see, more or less blog about, but sometimes life just gives you these perfect moments. This is probably number three on my list right now. The birth of my first two children. The peacock. Then anything that involves Will. By the way, number 8,945 on the list: The time I stuck that ragweed up my nose. Just above the time I ate the mothballs.

I have no idea why they were were there. It was right in the middle of town. Just bizarre.

Looking Forward To..

I asked the girls what they were most excited about doing in Maine. Here are their answers.

"Nanny's garden and baking. Looking for things like little lizards, snakes, butterflies and frogs. I can't wait to bring our bird books so we can look for humming birds and I can't wait to learn about plants. I can't wait to play in the snow when it's winter there." -Abigail

"Cooking with Robin. Picking the eggs out the nests. I want to swim too. Do they have a pool? I want to sew with Tammy. I want to make marshmallows with Grampa, don't forget a fire." -Amelia

Seeing the fam and seeing Dawnie pregnant. :) -Gina

"Waaaitttt!!!!! I forgot something. I love Tammy." -Amelia

A Dollar Well Spent

Colton invited the girls over to play with water balloons. Abigail and Colton had so much fun. Amelia was less than enthused with the idea of a balloon hitting/splashing her. She threw a few but sat out for most of it. Abigail and Colton didn't seem to mind at all. They were both soaked and smiling by the end of it.

Our first Amelia Tomato

A Walk On A Beach

Butterfly House, Reinstated

"We were very happy and delighted that Daddy came. We saw lots of pretty butterflies and flowers. We saw Zebra striped ones, and Queen ones, bright yellow ones and a really bright white one. We saw some caterpillars too. " -Abigail

"I love butterflies. I love to look at butterflies. I wish the butterfly landed on my finger. I like to see how many butterflies there are. Can you suck juice, butterflies?" -Amelia

"The Barber"

She raised me
She looked after me
She taught me
She built me
She showed me
She is my sister

She welcomed me
She listened to me
She laughed with me
She shared with me
She helped me
She is my sister-in-law

She loves us
She is silly for us
She watches us
She gives to us
She means the world to us
She is our aunt

She trims our hair
Before she should
When she should
After she should
We love her

* For a little explanation, the 'Before' is referring to the times Kellie cut William's hair before she probably should have. He was a bit of a guinea pig. 'When' she should is everywhere in between. And the times she did it 'After', those were all of the times she stayed late, taking care of us in the night hours.

A Good Night

The weather was perfect this evening so after dinner we decided to walk to the park. The girls are getting so big. We've been going to the little park down the road for a long time but instead of pulling them in the wagon like we used to, they now ride their own bikes. At the park, Amelia has gotten brave enough to climb the "tricky" stairs to the slide, and Abigail is working on the monkey bars. We stayed there for awhile and then rode back home. Abigail rode her bike the whole way (1 mile)! Amelia made it most of the way until the road that runs behind our house. She ditched her bike and ran the rest of the day. Telling me "see I told you I was a better runner than you." A tasty chocolate cake that the girls help make for Daddy was waiting for us when we got home.

Counting Down The Days

I came up to Abigail's room today to find this. This is everything she thought she would need for our upcoming trip. She is so ready to go to Maine. She asks everyday if today is the day we will leave for Maine.

"Today?"

No, not today.

"Tomorrow?"

No, not tomorrow.

"The day after tomorrow tomorrow?"

Just 12 more days Abigail. I'm glad you look forward to going to Maine as much as I do.

Sleepless Sleepover

The girls had a "sleepover" today. They normally do this with their stuffed animals, but today Guinness was the lucky guest. He let them cover him up with a blanket, but try as they may, they could not get him to put his head on the pillow they laid out for him. Abigail thinks stuffed animals are much more cooperative.

Dirty Dog Wash

We were at the new doggy boutique (just what we needed, right?) getting Guinness cookies the other day and the girls found some mango scented dog bath that we had to get. They have been asking to wash him everyday since then and today was the perfect day for it. The sun was out and the girls were already wet from being in the turtle pool. They did an excellent job washing him and Guinness was very patient with them. He smells just like a tropical fruit. Well, not really, but still better then he did before.

Cause For Celebration!

Sadly, our blender has been broken for a few weeks now. Amelia calls it "the cruncher". Will ordered the new piece for it and it finally came yesterday. Amelia was very excited. She LOVES smoothies. She knows how to make them all by herself. I put the yogurt in and pour them into glasses when they are done, but she does the rest. She brings over her own chair to the counter so she can reach. She goes to the fridge to get the yogurt, and the freezer for the fruit. She gets the straws out for everyone's glass. She loves dropping the fruit in but I think her favorite part is pushing the buttons on the blender. She makes a great smoothie.

This Could Be A Bad Thing

The girls have known for the last few days that Will was going away on a trip for work. Abigail started asking a little bit more questions about it today. She wanted to know how long was he going to be gone, where he going to stay and what was he going to drive. It wasn't until dinner tonight that I figured out why she was asking so many questions. She wanted to make sure he didn't forget anything and she wanted to help him pack. Abigail is very much like me when it comes to organizing and I think she is also a little bit mothering, wanting to take care of Daddy. (We all know he needs a little help). Abigail picked out his ties, got him t-shirts, socks and boxers. She got a bag out for his toothbrush. She reminded him that he needed his dress shoes and asked if he would need his running shoes, in case he had to run from one airport to another. Lastly, she colored him a picture to put in his hotel room to remind him of us.
I'm afraid she might be turning into me, as these are all the things that I normally would have done.

Happy Father's Day

I can spin with my Dad
and swim with my Dad
on weekend afternoons

I can run with my Dad
and have fun with my Dad
then relax and watch cartoons

I can watch the game with my Dad
and learn their names with my Dad
like Apple Crisp* and Papelbon

I can play Hide and Seek with my Dad
and leap to my Dad
He's there to depend upon

I can sing songs with my Dad
all day long with my Dad
Shipping up to Boston and Sweet Caroline

I can give hugs to my Dad

because I love my Dad
and I'm glad that he is mine

love Abigail and Amelia (words by Mom)

* Amelia calls Coco Crisp Apple Crisp

The Accident

We started the day groggy
Then headed to Destin
We took the girls to The Donut Hole
Our goal: To impress them

At first, the rain stopped us
Pushed us to house browsing
But the lightning did clear
Dad's fear gone: The spouse loss thing

We got to Big Kahuna's
"Just cooling off", Abigail slipped in
Mom froze, the girls slid
Amelia's fall: Made my head spin

She slipped behind the slide
Smacked her face and split her lip
Good thing for Baskin Robbins
A little ice cream: It fixed it

Almost home and she slept soundly
A tough day was nearly done
But don't worry, she will heal
In the end: Still our crazy one

The story sans poetic license and a few liberal rhymes -

We went to Destin for lunch and Big Kahuna's, but got sidetracked by a thunderstorm. So we looked at a bunch of houses in Destin for the eight millionth time. The punchline in the second stanza is Dad being scared of Mom getting hit by lightning. By the way, Gina was not hit by lightning. I'm not sure what caused what's wrong with her.

Abigail dipped her toe in a couple of kiddie pools on the way to our normal spot, but she misjudged the depth of one of them and slipped into the pool, over her head. When we fished her out, she calmly replied that she was "just cooling off" and waved it off cooly. I have a sixteen year old four year old. (I imagine that one day I might write that I have a four year old sixteen year old.)

They played and played from there until the accident. Amelia slipped and busted her lip pretty bad. You can see in the fist picture her puffy lip. She obviously wasn't in the mood for pictures. A little bit of ice cream did the trick and she was soon back to normal, after a quick nap that is.

"The Nice Blogging About Vegetables" by Abigail

The Amelia tomatoes are turning yellow. They are really funny tomatoes and they are getting big. We have a thousand of them. The eggplant is growing big and the cucumber, the zucchini are almost ready to eat. Daddy and Amelia and me are really exciting, mommy too. Our bell peppers are getting too much sun and they are turning red and have lots of seeds. A thousand of seeds too. We like our vegetables a lot and I like our vegetable garden. I like doing gardens.

What Goes Around, Comes Around

We've been at the beach in Destin for the last two days with Jane and three of the boys. The girls look forward to seeing them as much as I do now. I got to sit back on the beach and chat with Jane while the boys swam in the ocean (and pool), dug holes in the sand and searched for seashells with the girls. It's neat to see the kids I watched, watch my kids.