Summer Fun, Part 2

In early June, I enrolled the kids in swim lessons. The instructors were three sisters, one of whom went to our church. Kaitlyn was thrilled with the idea of swim lessons, but the picture above shows how she felt about them once we got there. Notice her clinging to the fence :)

The main goal of the week was to get the swimmers used to the water and teach some basic pre-swimming lessons. She absolutely hated going under the water and getting water in her eyes, and she had a few crying episodes because of those experiences. But most of the other tasks were more enjoyable to her.

She learned to kick her feet...

...and "swim" with the instructor only, no flotation devices.

And her favorite was doing the "starfish" where she floated on her back.

And she loved swimming with the noodle. Swim lessons were made more bearable since Hannah was there too. The two of them had the same fear of going underwater, but at least they were able to be miserable together--although you would never know it from those big smiles in the picture below!

And just for fun, I decided to enroll Ethan in the lessons too. There was a sibling discount, and I figured it couldn't hurt to give him some water experiences at an early age. So while Kaitlyn and a couple of the bigger preschoolers did their lessons on one end of the pool, Ethan and a few of his toddler buddies hung out at the shallow end and played pool games.

I think Ethan is enjoying "swimming" more than his sister!

Lots of fun kicking and splashing in the pool.

Playing Ring Around the Rosy...we all blow bubbles in the water!

Not a fan, though, of floating on his back :)

Kaitlyn (and obviously Ethan) are still a long way from swimming independently, but maybe they're just a little less afraid of the water now and will be able to advance a little more next summer--at least that's what I'm telling myself after paying for a week's worth of lessons :)

Summer Fun, Part 1

After our fun vacation at the beach, we zoomed back to Nashville so that Kaitlyn could be at her last day of preschool. They had their traditional popsicle party, along with lots of hugs and goodbyes for the summer. Kaitlyn loved Ms. Betsy's class, and she is going to miss her BFF's terribly next year since Halle and Meredith are both moving to the MWF class :( But we're super-pumped about her pre-K class for the fall and already know several of the kids in the class.

Here's a picture of her class on the last day of school. Sniff, sniff!

By mid-May, the cicada invasion was in full force! Fortunately, we didn't have a very high concentration of the creepy creatures, so the kids were still able to enjoy our backyard while temps were still reasonably mild. Kaitlyn actually loved the cicadas--well, more specifically, she loved finding the cicada shells that were left behind by the emerging adults. True to her "collecting" nature, she reveled in trolling around the yard looking for cicada treasures to put in her cup.

Ethan was happy to tag along, although his cup contained his own treasures--rocks (pronounced "gocks").

(Speaking of cicadas, Kaitlyn and I went to Vanderbilt's campus one day which was literally crawling with the red-eyed things. Once the live ones started clumsily flying and bumping into her, she wasn't so enamored with them anymore. And she may have picked up a bit of her new fear from her momma, who may or may not have screamed a time or two when dive-bombed by the evil-looking creatures!)

Long summer days cry out for play-dates with friends to pass the time. It's always a treat when Hannah and Elanor come over. And this time, Hannah brought her dress up clothes, so there was more than enough princess attire for everyone!

And Ethan was not about to be left out :) Oh, buddy, please don't hate me when you're 16! You understandably wanted to be like your playmates and were so pleased to be included. There are plenty of years for rough-and-tough stuff, but for now, I'm treasuring your 2-year-old innocence and open heart.

And of course, we wouldn't be good parents if we didn't let the kids engage in some good ol' backyard water fun!

I love summer!

Beach Pictures

Here are some pictures that Jess took of our family on the beach. It was quite windy, as you can see...and Ethan was still having his issues with sand so he wasn't exactly the most cooperative kid in the world. But other than those two complicating factors, I think they turned out quite nicely!

Sibling shots are still tough to pull off at this age...sigh.

These next two pictures are Jess' creative ways to spice up the traditional family photo.

If you'd like to see more of her work, check her out at www.jessicarisingerphotography.com

Beach Trip to the Carolinas

In May, we went to North and South Carolina for a wedding/vacation. We started out in Wilmington, NC to attend the wedding of Jeff's cousin, Jarrie. All of Jeff's extended family (parents, grandparents, siblings + families) stayed in a (large) beach house at Carolina Beach for a few days. It was a lot of fun all being together under one roof!

All of the cousins in their pajamas one morning...except Ethan. Notice that Ethan is trying to swipe the bulldozer that Eli is holding!

Jarrie's wedding was on the beach, and all four cousins played a small role in the ceremony. They "raked" the sand in the aisle right before the bride walked down. The kids practiced during the rehearsal the night before. Kaitlyn did a great job. Ethan, on the other hand, decided that he hated the feel of sand on his feet and wanted no part of anything that required him to walk on it. Not exactly the most convenient timing, but try explaining that to a 2-year-old! So I spent most of the rehearsal trying to convince Ethan that sand could be fun, while Kaitlyn took the opportunity to dig in the sand.

Kaitlyn at the rehearsal

We forgot our camera for the actual wedding, so we didn't get any pictures of the beautiful bride. But here's a couple of pictures that Jess took before the wedding got started. And I'm happy to report that Ethan got over his annoyance with the sand long enough to rake with the other kids during the ceremony...as long as he could keep his shoes on the entire time!

When not attending various wedding functions, we took advantage of our beachfront accommodations. As I mentioned earlier, Ethan was not crazy about the sand. He eventually learned to tolerate it, but I wouldn't say that he ever liked it. The picture below sums up his wary attitude about the beach in general. Grainy sand, intimidating ocean waves, wet clothes--to a toddler, these are not fun things!

But he did like the idea of digging in the sand. So he relented for a while and played with the toys we had brought. Notice that he's not actually sitting in the sand--that would have been too much :)

We finally figured out that he was much happier with his shoes on walking on the packed sand. We tried to coax him to the water--we were not successful.

He was much happier hanging out with Aunt Lindsey who so graciously entertained him for a long time by building sand castles with him. He didn't move from that spot for quite some time. I love how he is sitting right next to her on the towel, as far away as possible from the evil sand.

Kaitlyn, on the other hand, was able to appreciate the joys of the sand. She played and played and played in the sand, finding endless joy in all the fun things that the beach had to offer.

And of course, playing is much more fun with a friend. She and Noah were best buds for the whole trip.

While Kaitlyn loved the sand, she wasn't quite so sure about the water. She liked running in the surf, but she hated the unpredictable waves. So she usually stayed a safe distance away from them. I like this time-lapsed sequence...

Oh no, here comes a wave! Run!

Didn't quite make it...notice the shocked expression on her face!

Whew! Everything's fine now!

And while Aunt Lindsey was building dry sand castles with Ethan, Uncle Andrew was showing Kaitlyn the power of mixing water and sand together to build things.

After the wedding, we headed down to Myrtle Beach, SC to continue the second part of our vacation. The weather turned a little cooler there, so we didn't spend as much time on the beach. We did spend a good amount of time at the pool, but apparently I forgot to take any pictures. On one of the cooler days, we explored the non-beach areas of Myrtle Beach and found this interesting airplane exhibit featuring old warplanes.

And we found a place where the kids could ride things. Apparently all four cousins really love each other because they all insisted on riding in the same car.

Other highlights included riding a ferryboat across the Cape Fear River, celebrating Papa's birthday with cake and ice cream, seeing dolphins at the rehearsal dinner and dancing at the wedding reception. What fun times to spend with family!

Kaitlyn is FOUR!

My little baby is now four years old. For some reason, four sounds SO much older than 3. It's only one year away from 5, which is halfway to 10. Which is halfway to 20 when she'll be off in college. I can already tell that I'm going to be a gooey mess when she starts kindergarten in a little over a year.

But enough premature sadness...we celebrated her birthday with a princess party! There was lots and lots of pink. I let her pick out a cake from a local bakery. I was certain that she would pick out a Disney princess one, but she surprised me with this choice. I guess a real, sparkly tiara and wand outweigh Cinderella and Belle.

But the princesses did make an appearance in the tableware.

It was a very low key kind of party. There were no party games--just a chance to play with girlfriends, have lunch, eat cake and open presents.

When it was time to eat, Ethan dutifully put on a princess tiara (albeit backwards). All the girls giggled, and he enjoyed being the center of their attention.

Blowing out the candles...no help needed this year!

And her favorite present of all was her big girl bike from Gran!

And for some comedic relief, my little goofball sporting the sparkly tiara and flashing his cheesy camera grin. I really could just eat him up sometimes.

Happy Birthday sweet Kaitlyn!

Trains! and Cheekwood

On Kaitlyn's birthday, we decided to do something fun as a family. I had heard about a train exhibit at Cheekwood that I knew the kids would love. It was a gorgeous day of sunshine and mild temps, so we packed ourselves a picnic lunch, grabbed our buy-one-get-one-free-admission coupon (kids are free here too!), and headed out for a new adventure.

As expected, the kids loved the Trains! exhibit. They were mesmerized by all the tracks and trains. There was even a Thomas engine--a big hit! I think they could have stayed there for hours, but we had more of Cheekwood that we wanted them to see, so we finally prodded them along.

Ethan loves waterfalls and eagerly shouts out "wawafah!" everytime we see one. So he was all too happy to sit by one and have his picture taken.

A nice posed picture of the siblings at the mansion. Ordinarily I would not have let her wear a princess t-shirt when I knew there would be possible "nice picture" ops, but it was her birthday, so I felt obligated to let her wear what made her happy. Even if I secretly despise character shirts. And princesses make her very happy these days. Sigh.

Two cooperative, happy, smiley children--a rare sight, indeed!

*By the way, according to Blogger, this is my 200th post. I feel like I've reached some sort of milestone!

Music City Star

Given our kids' love of trains, we decided to take another ride on the Music City Star (you may remember our first ride when Ethan was still a baby). They were all smiles as they eagerly awaited the train.

And then the train arrived in all of its loud, horn-blowing glory...and Kaitlyn did not appreciate that at all. Fortunately the drama eventually subsided and we boarded the train with no further meltdowns.

Ethan is all smiles on his first real train ride (not counting the one I'm sure he doesn't remember when he was only 6 months old).

We timed it so that we had a chance to explore the riverfront before catching the last train out for the evening. Downtown exploration doesn't get much easier. The train pulls right into the heart of the city, you don't have to find or pay for parking, train tickets are cheap (and free for kids), and there's 30 - 45 minutes in between trains--a perfect amount of time to entertain two small children. The kids loved running up and down the hills at Riverfront Park.

Our little nature lover always has to stop and pick the flowers.

We explored the old fort. And then we hopped back on the train for the ride back.