The Trip that Almost Wasn't

Well, it was a roller coaster of chaos, as planning things with M usually are (he gets called into court quite often on his days off and even though we can plan around most of them, there are times when he gets called in the evening to show up the next morning...and last night was one of those). We had planned to go to Sea World today with friends but we had to play it by ear. Thankfully, our friends are willing to be flexible with us, and even though the girls all missed their naps, somehow they had a blast.

We were at the Shark Encounter, which is K's favorite, and A decided she was scared so when I asked her to smile for a picture, she wouldn't do it...so K decided to help out.

K is turning into a ride junkie and I love it!

Emmy loves the spinning rides...

And she is turning into a great climber now that she is gaining confidence.

So both of the younger ones freaked out when we got to meet Zoe and Elmo...

When Em gets scared, that thumb goes straight in her mouth and her head on your shoulder while the hand you cannot see, I am sure, has a death-grip on Dad's back.

The hit of the days was the underwater viewing area for Shamu.

Em LOVES Shamu...it's not hard to see why...between that black and white and his size, he is absolutely visible to her!!

My favorite was the dolphins.  I have never had one come up to me...I was splashing water in his mouth and taking a pic with my other hand.  :)

K got wet when the dolphins splashed.  This is not usually a welcome occurrence in her life but she IS growing up and becoming much more tolerant of the fun things in life.  (Much to her mother's relief).

She is wearing K's princess hat and decided to hide under the stroller shade so K wouldn't see.

We had a good time and still managed to get back in only minimal traffic (well, for around here).  Safe in the arms of our Lord!  God Bless!

Well, hello all! Saturday was one of those days I had slotted for errands and cleaning but after we dropped off our books at the library, K started talking about making Sammy a dog house again. This time, I decided we should just do it. So, we went to Home Depot and started to look at wood when we came across a Kid's Workshop. It was totally free and they got to hammer those boxes together, paint them and put a plant in them to take home. It was really fun and the girls had a blast. I wish I had had my camera but the memories will have to do. After we got home, I took their photo and we set off to plant our plants.

This was how most of the pics turned out....K smiling nicely and Em looking at her plant...

But I did get one good one...

Then we dug a couple holes...

They brought their plants over...

Buried them...

And finally watered them...can you see that Em is actually missing her plant?  She has no depth perception whatsoever.  It is sad and humorous to watch all at the same time.  Let me clarify that...it is sad but if we don't laugh and just help her, we will get frustrated.  If I want her to keep working hard on her weaknesses, negative attitudes will get us nowhere.  Anyway, I digress.  Honestly, what is most amazing to me is the number of compensations she has made already that seems so natural when you watch her play.  A lot of the time, it just looks like she does things differently from the other kids.

I really hope these plants produce fruit since I have wanted to do some gardening with K for a long time and this might get her excited about it...which will get me off my butt and actually make me do it.  :)

Then we painted the pieces of Sammy's house.

Emmy tried a couple of times but I didn't want the entire table painted and my nerves couldn't handle her lack of coordination enough to keep letting her paint so we played games while sister finished.

After we painted, I realized that my cheapness was going to be the downfall of this project and we paused in our efforts.  (I had purchased very thin wood - it is cheaper - I left with enough wood to make a house for $10 and I thought I was so thrifty).  :)  When I tried to put nails in the wood, it split.  I didn't have clamps for glue and when I tried the nail gun, it blew the nails right through the wood.  So we came inside and it took K all of three seconds to turn their tool boxes into princess beds.

When Dad got home on Monday, he said it was impossible to make the house look good but at least we could get it together...and that is what we did.  K was very excited and she kept telling me how excited Sammy was to have his own house.  He kept climbing into it later, so I am guessing she is a much better dog whisperer than I am.

Hiding from the vacuum...under the living room table.  This is a game we play all the time.  I chase them around the house and they run.  They get exercise and I clean the carpet, it's a double bonus game.

Oh, this was just because they look SO bored.  I am a little nervous about how many of these pics I might have in the future, but for now, this makes me laugh.

It was a fun and frustrating day...why am I so cheap?  Oh well, the point, as with all things we try with kids this age, isn't how nice it looks in the end, but how much they learn along the way.  I hope they built as many memories as I did!

God Bless!!!