Mini Vacation

Yesterday, we kidnapped Johnny away from his job (he worked 70 hours last week, he deserved it!) and went up the hill a little bit to Heritage Square.  It was a break from the constant question on if he has to go in or not and from the projects yet to get done around here.  And truth be told, it was a lot of fun.

Myla got to ride a few rides that she was barely tall enough for and a few others with her man of the hour.  She thought that it was all just for her.  Kinsley didn’t get to ride on as many things, but she had a lot of fun watching Myla and the other kids run around.  She did get to spend some time with her big sister in the jumpy castle, which, can I just say, was just about the cutest thing.

We spent some time before coming home eating ice cream and deciding what was the best part about the day.  Was it the rides?  The train?  The ice cream?  Johnny and I think it was just being together and happy, but Myla thought it was the swings. 

Both of the girls fell asleep on the way home and so we knew that there was no way they were going to bed at the “normal” bed time.  Instead, they wrapped up the day running in circles with their daddy’s shirts on their heads, laughing.  And right then, I changed my mind as to the best part of the day.

Kinsley, Meet Chair

Today, Kinsley tried to climb up a high stool at my parents house and it, in turn, decided to fall on her.  I know you can’t see it really well in this picture, but she has a nice goose egg right in the middle of her little forehead and a bruise on her nose.  She didn’t let it bother her though, she seems to not even notice, except when you want to wash her face, or take of her shirt.  Really though, she’s pretty happy.  (Reminds me of the time when Myla ran into a swing and got a shiner.)  Kinsley seems to be growing each day she wakes up and has finally gotten the fourth tooth in the front bottom to poke through.  She has gotten them in such a strange order, but still eats like its going out of style.  Teeth, schmeeth.  She is learning so much every day and is a very good mommy to her babies.  If you ask her where they are, she’ll go and find one and hug it or hold it.  Its very sweet.

Last week, the girls and I went on a tour of Hammonds Candy Factory here in Denver.  The wait to get in for a tour was long, the tour itself was short, but the candy!  Myla would have had one of everything if she could.  We finally settled on a pretty big cherry sucker that she’s still working on.  Then they gave us a “sample” on the way out – a full size wintergreen candy cane that she was so excited to give to her daddy.  Myla’s been doing a ballet class that she is really enjoying and this week is going to another mini-school learning about things under the sea.  I love to hear her imagination going – lately its about “somebody is in trouble” and she has to go save her.  Its kind of cute to see her in her princess crown and flying off to save someone.  Who says that princesses can’t be superheros?

Last week, we got a visit from some cousins that had Myla so excited she couldn’t stand it.  Kinsley held her own while they were playing, but Myla got to have a sleepover in the basement with them and thought that was pretty cool.  She was bummed when they had to leave, and she still asks when she can sleep with her cousins again.  I think she loves them…

Our Miss Independences

Happy Fourth of July!  Here we are, smack dab in the middle of summer and haven’t melted yet, even though we’ve been through some really hot days.  Johnny has been trying to get the swamp cooler going for the upstairs bedrooms mostly but to no avail.  I suppose since we’re already half way there, we’ll just keep truckin’ along without it!  We’ve been busy enough that even though it makes it hard for the girls to fall asleep, once they do, they fall hard.

Myla has been busy riding her bike with my dad and swimming as much as she can convince us to.  Today, she decorated her bike for the parade before a day at the pool.  She also spent a week at a little day camp learning about fairy tale magic.  In the mean time, she’s been practicing writing her letters – especially her name, its everywhere! – and her cutting skills.  She tells us every night that she wants to do something exciting, although we aren’t sure what she thinks is exciting.  I’m pretty safe with guessing concerts in the park, or the pool, but after that I’m stuck.  Next week she starts a little dance camp that I hope she will like.  She seems to be getting taller too, but when I measured her last night, she came up to the mark made in May.  Maybe I’m just going crazy.

Kinsley has been practicing her stair climbing and is very interested in what’s cooking for dinner.  She loves to be up and watching us stir or cook, even though it makes us really nervous for her to be up there.  We don’t bother much with putting the ottomans in front of the stairs anymore except to slow her down from climbing over them.  She also loves to play hide-and-seek with Myla and will bend down to look under tables or couches and will even do a version of counting with her hands over her eyes while she’s walking.  She’s a real good eater and has developed a liking for blueberries – something she got from her dad.

Johnny has almost got the sprinkler system in and in a short while, we should have some grass in our dirt backyard.  It will be nice as we transition into the late days of summer to be back on the deck while the girls run crazy on the grass.  Its fun to see them play and the backyard is slowly transitioning into a good place for it.