Enjoying Big Meadows

Sunday afternoon when the girls got up from their nap we finished packing the last minute things and headed up on Skyline Drive to Big Meadows for a picnic. You didn't have to pay to get on to the Drive, so it was the perfect time to go. It was 10 degrees cooler up there, so it was wonderful. We found a picnic area at Big Meadows and grilled some hot dogs and let the girls run around and play. After we had finished dinner the deer started to come out and about. One ended up coming very close to our tables because someone had thrown their leftover sandwich in so grass and weeds. The girls were able to get close to it while it ate. Ali decided to start calling the deer "cats". I think that they had fun and we enjoyed it. I hope they do the free weekends again next year! More pics to come soon.

Eating like a grown-up

Last weekend while we were visiting Billy's parents in Monterey Ali started

eating with a spoon. Today I finally got some pictures of her doing it. Sometimes she cheats a little bit and will use her other hand to put food on the spoon and then lift it to her mouth, but hey she's learning. I'm so proud of her!

Ali and her shoes

I can't remember when this started, but I can say for some time now Ali has been able to put on her shoes. In fact she will sit forever playing with shoes and putting them on. Sometimes they are on the right feet and sometimes they are not. I think it's pure luck which foot she gets her shoe on, but then again maybe she does now what she is doing. Here's a few pics to enjoy of her and her shoes. Just as a side note, the top picture she is actually putting her shoes on the correct feet.

What Grandma's will do!

Mom went out and got a swimming pool and 200 air filled balls to make an indoor play toy for the girls. Then we were crazy enough to go buy 100 more balls because we thought the pool could handle more. The girls LOVE it! I just never thought my mom would do something like that.

For the love of swimming

I love to swim! I always have and I hope that I always will. I want me girls to have the same joys and memories of swimming that I do. Because of those thoughts we took swimming lessons this summer for 3 weeks. We had class twice a week for the 3 weeks, which gave us a total of six classes. I wish we still had six more to go. They went by so quickly. I want them to have good experiences in the pool and not grow up being afraid. I hope by doing this every summer until they are old enough for "real" swim lessons they will have a love for the water and want to learn to swim.

I know I'm a copy cat

I saw this on Linda's blog the night before Father's Day and was so jealous of such a creative idea. I knew I would never remember until next year so I copied the idea last week with the girls. Working with two 15 month olds is a lot easier said than done. Every time I put the letter near Ali she started crying like it was some animal that was going to eat her alive. So these were the best ones I could get. I put them in a black frame, so that's why I painted the letters black. Now the only problem is finding a place to hang the frame.

Kinetic Kids

Tonight we took the girls to the open gym at Kinetic Kids. I wanted to check the place out and see if spending the money on a class would be worth it for the summer. Dumb me went and didn't think about taking a camera. Maybe I'll remember another time. When we first arrived and I saw the place I thought to myself what are we going to do for an hour, this was a waste. Well the girls had a blast! Surprisingly, Emma was the one that was running around and trying to climb and do more things then Ali. Towards the end of the hour the owner came into the gym and talked with us about the Discovery class and was helping Emma roll on one of the big tumbling cylinders. Emma just loved it and let her do it a long time. I couldn't believe my shy Emma was letting someone else work with her like that. The girls stayed busy the whole hour that we were there. In fact we were the last family out of the door at 7. They were so tried at bedtime tonight, but I know that's from all the climbing and running they did. So it looks like starting next Thursday morning we will be going a class. I can't wait and I can't wait to take them back to more open gym times.