Hot days make for fun backyard pool days. The girls were being sweet with each other. The thing they seemed to enjoy most this day in the pool was the freedom to splash and pour water outside of the pool. In the bathtub they get in trouble for making a big water mess, but it was actually encouraged this day. They loved it!

I know this is not your typical photo from a day at a water park, but it is the only photo I have. We spent most of a day last week at the local waterpark called Splash Country. We went last year and this year we got season tickets again. The day we went it was over 90 degrees and sunny. It was the perfect way to enjoy the hot day. We went with our friends Elena and Maeve.

It was fun to see the difference in the girls between the two years. Both are much more confident in themselves. Last year Julia wouldn’t go off by herself much at all and had to be held a lot of the time. This year she wore her lifevest without a complaint and didn’t need to be held unless she was tired or walked slower than Mama wanted. She still needs to work on the idea of standing in line for a slide. Emily loved being there with her friends. She loved sliding by herself and I found that I had to watch her more closely because she would just take off to go and slide. She didn’t have any trouble with standing in line and taking her turn at the slides. That was quite a relief for the Mama. Emily’s favorite play area is the same as it was last year, but she played a lot more at the firetower area than last year. Having water splash her in the face wasn’t her favorite thing, but the slides were enticing enough to get her up in it. They enjoyed the lazy river more this year. We are all looking forward to our next trip. We found that there are several rides the big girls can ride with an adult. It will be fun to explore these rides with them.

We stayed at the park until Julia had absolutely given out. Emily never slowed down with her playing and did very well playing by herself (with supervision, of course) while Julia rested in a chair. Julia fell asleep in Mama’s arms as we walked out of the park. Emily took a while to fall asleep in the car, but when she went out she was gone. After getting home Mama put them on the couch so they would be easier to wake up. They didn’t wake up until forced and when Emily did get up she wasn’t much fun. Maybe next time, I will put her in bed for the night when we get home.

We got some new chairs for our big girls. The are designed to look like dinning room chairs, but have the seat heights adjusted so that a child can sit at the table like the adults. Emily is so fidgety in her chair at the table. Some of that stems from sitting on a chair that is bigger than she is. Emily has loved her new chair. She gets to sit up high at the table without having to sit in a booster seat. Julia was very pleased with her new chair, but she struggled with getting in and out of it. Even with the stepstool she didn’t want to get down safely. After she slid off it it twice trying to get off, we let her choose if she wanted to keep practicing with it or if she wanted to go back to the booster seat. She chose the booster seat. We will try it again later. 

Our local aquarium has a preschooler program once a month. We try to go once a year to one with our friends. We just got back from one of these programs. This year the class we attended had only our kids in it. The girls didn’t seem to mind the specialized attention. The class was about coral and the animals found in it. They got to color a seahorse craft, hear a story about a clown fish, have a snack, and touch a live starfish. It was fun. After the class we spent time exploring the aquarium. We caught two dive shows and while it was fun to watch the feeding it was really hard to understand the commentary that went with it. I asked the three of the four girls what their favorite thing to do in the aquarium was. Elena said touching the starfish and Emily and Julia both loved the penguin tunnel.

Some other fun things from the day –

• I had told Julia the night before what we were going to do, but told her it was a secret and not to tell Emily. In the morning I asked her if she had told Emily, she put her finger to her lips and said “shhhhh”. She had kept the secret.
• The girls loved loving on McKenzie and Kenzie seemed to like the attention.
• The glass floor in the penguin area and tunnel took some getting used to for Julia. She didn’t want to walk on it at first. Then she had to master crawling on it. She loved standing above a swimming area and watching them swim by.
• Watching the little girls watch the Nemo fish tank. They tried to grab the very recognizable Nemo and Dory fish.
• Going shopping after the aquarium with a bunch of little girls.

Emily touching the starfish. A lot of times she chickens out of things like this when she actually has to do it, but this time she even asked to do it a second (brief) time.

Julia touching the starfish. She was so excited to get to do this like the other girls.

Ms. Jessica teaching the Sea Squirt class.

Little girls discovering the “Nemo” fish tank. I love Maeve’s face of delight.

Big girl friends hanging out in the fish tank.

Julia watching the penguins swimming with McKenzie and Ms. Heather.

We attended the Thursday School Graduation celebration Thursday night. While our girls didn’t graduate, they did get to preform in the celebration, got a year-in-review scrapbook, and walk across the stage by themselves. Both girls did very well with their evening activities and we were so proud. We shared the evening with Grammy and Granddaddy.

Julia was in the two-year-old class this year. Her teacher was out of town and the kids were unwilling to learn any songs to preform for the concert. I am not surprised given how non-verbal/shy the class is in general. Julia definitely wasn’t going to sing a song. So, to simplify the evening for this class they presented them at the beginning and they spent the rest of the performance with their families. Julia bravely walked across the stage and gave a big smile to her family. She didn’t stand long for her photo op, but was pleased with herself.

Emily was in the older three-year-old class this year. They participated in a song with all the other classes. It was a silly Hippo song where everyone sang the song progressively faster and faster. They all seemed to enjoy themselves. Then her class preformed three songs with only their class. For part of the performance Emily alternated spinning and jumping with one of the Zoe’s in her class. It was pretty funny. My favorite action associated with a song was a knee slap. Something about this action just made me realize that we were raising a “country” girl.

Julia being presented her roll of paper from Ms. Kelly. She seemed to like being on the stage.

Emily being presented her roll of paper. She is sporting her new-to-her shoes. When I had given them to her this week, I had explained that they were only to be warn to church for a while because they still looked nice. When we were getting dressed for the performance she explained to me that the school was a “church” school so she should be allowed to wear them. I just chuckled at her argument and agreed.

Emily at her onstage photo-op. I think I can see a much older Emily in this photo. Time will tell, but we are starting to see the school girl Emily coming out.

Emily’s whole class preforming on stage. From the left the kids are: Zoe, Olive, Emily, Elena, Zoe, Danielle, Maggie, and Patrick. The photo taking Mama in the photo is Maggie’s mama. Interestingly, this mom and her kids also went to BSF with us. She had kids paired with mine every Wednesday and Thursday. She and I also share the same small group. This is one small world.

Emily and Elena singing “Be Careful, Little Eyes”

The girls had their last day of Thursday School for the year. Both will be returning next year. The day went well for them. Julia had a substitute in her class and she adjusted amazingly well. One funny thing that she did at pickup time, she accompanied the Mamas to get the big girls from class. They place the lunch boxes and any take home papers on the floor outside of the door. Julia fetched both Emily’s lunchbox and artwork, but also took Elena’s lunch bag to Ashley. I guess, I underestimated her memory and recognition again. Emily was her usual happy-and-hyper self in class.

After school we took our girls out for celebration ice cream. Emily proudly picked Smurf ice cream (it turns your mouth blue as you eat it) and Julia picked strawberry. Everyone finished their ice cream before Emily. Emily was too busy playing and not eating. She offered to let the other little girls share her ice cream to finish it. As they did, I never heard any fussing over it. I thought that amazing for four little girls to sample blue ice cream and not get in each other’s way.

Emily and Julia ready to go into school on their last day before summer break. It was a hot day!

Just a perspective photo from their first day of school last September. It is hard to see how much taller they are, but they both look bigger.

Emily with Ms. Kathy, her teacher.

Emily with Ms. Louise, the class helper (and fun toy provider)

A little after-school celebration ice cream