No summer trip to Florida can be complete without a stop in Orlando to play. We spent a little less time this year because of the kids being sick. The sickness gave us only one pool day with all the kids so they made the most of it. On one of the play days we went to Downtown Disney to explore a little. All the kids had a blast checking out the Lego store and riding the train along with the carousel. After lunch we went back to play at the house. They had the most fun just being silly with each other and playing! Good memories!

We went to Gatlinburg to celebrate Emily’s birthday. Some of Emily’s favorite things include staying in hotels and swimming, and we were able to make both of these happen. The weather was amazing for January and we enjoyed being outside despite a few rain showers that moved through. In addition to swimming, we played putt-putt, visited the aquarium, rode the trolley, walked the strip, shopped, discovered our way through a mirror maze, and rode the skylift. Emily loved discovering that the hotel had hot chocolate and cookies every night. The trip was fun and it was a delight to share the time with Emily and Julia.

Our little swimmers before they made their big leap in. The water was a bit cold so once we got out we didn’t want to get back in.

Daddy was a great sport and swam with the girls until Julia’s lips turned blue.

During the break in the rain shower we got a game of putt-putt in. The girls wanted us to take turns in the order we played. We only got one ball stuck and didn’t lose any of them. We consider this progress with our young golfers. The rules were treated as suggestions and more than once the hole was bracketed with feet to give a sense of success.

Despite our rule bending both girls successfully made hole-in-ones all on their own. This is Julia celebrating her successful hole-in-one. Quite proud! She hit the ball without looking and was holding the putter backwards, but gravity and some good luck was in her favor on the hole. Emily was not to be out done and made a hole-in-one on a later hole.

The six-year-old has some game and some attitude. Funny!

This was how we traveled this weekend. When Julia got tired of walking we gave her a push. Not a bad plan because one afternoon she gave out and slept for over an hour while Emily kept exploring.

Emily’s first visit to the aquarium had a similar photo to this one, but the fish was bigger than she was. She has now grown longer than the fish!

Dude!! We found Crush!

Mama and her birthday girl!

The girls love the fish bowl and Emily still fits in there. I think the only reason they looked at the camera was that the fish swam away.

While Julia napped Robby took Emily up to the top of the mountain on the skylift. Emily was so brave and the heights didn’t faze her in the least.

Checking out! Emily took charge of all of her and Julia’s clothes and special things. Mama loves the efficiency of giving the stuffed animals a ride on the backpack with a view.

What is a birthday without celebrating it with ice cream for dinner? We did offer other food later, but up to this point it was dinner. Yum! We had enough fun we might do this every year.

We stopped on the way home and celebrated a weekend at Jolie’s house. Grandma rode up with us and got to visit a bit longer. Mikayla was sweet to share her room with us. All the girls wanted to do was to play with Natalie and Dylan and swim in the pool. They got to do all of these things a lot. On Saturday Uncle Ken and Aunt Cindy came over for the evening and it was great to visit.

It is great when peer pressure pushes the right way. We had used this visit as motivation for the girls’ swimming class and now swimming with Natalie and Dylan wasn’t just a reward, but more inspiration. Emily enjoyed being able to jump into the pool at any point with Natalie. Julie refused to be left out of the fun and continued to build her confidence at swimming so she could jump in the deep part too. Dylan, being the lovable rambunctious boy he is, was a bit rougher in the pool and would push off of other people. The girls never seemed to mind his pushing and it seemed to make them better swimmers too. One of Mama’s favorite thing from the pool was watching Dylan and Julia swim underwater and be nose-to-nose looking at each other. Just a cute side note – Julia took to calling Nichole, Coaly. It is just her own special name.

Emily, Natalie, and Dylan – pool buddies. It has been so much fun to watch Dylan over the years become more interested in playing with the girls. It is a little tough being the only boy in the gaggle of girls, but he is doing great with them!

Uncle Ken started a game of throwing the little kids into the pool, for which they all lined up to take turns. The game evolved into Jennifer and Brett swinging the kids into the pool in turn. They loved that game too.

This is Julia’s favorite pool game . . . jumping in, getting out, and doing it all over again!

Dylan and Emily bonding over a little tablet movie watching. He was pleased to show Emily a Dragon movie (one of his favorite topics). They sat together enjoying it for quite a while.

Remarkably, Julia has decided that she likes dogs now. It was like some switch was changed and instead of worrying about if Max was in his cage, she was now wanting to know where he was. She liked to go and speak to him in his cage. She even would seek Max out to pet him. She has asked for a dog and has requested two boy dogs. She is quite insistent on the matter too. We will see, but Mama is pretty sure that when a dog comes into our family there will only be one.

The girls are taking swim class every morning, but they don’t seem to have their fill of water yet. Today we spent the evening out in our plastic yard pool playing in more water. Both girls took their turns at "cleaning" with the sprayer. Emily was proud that it was her turn to clean

Two very happy girls in their small water world!

Julia loved playing with the little duck. There is something about this photo that shows what a pre-teen Julia is going to look like. Both girls have a tell to predict when they are about to grow – they get dimples in their cheeks. Check out what Julia has . . .

This is definitely one way to say cool in the summer. After our swimming lessons the girls are more likely to get all of themselves into water. Moments after this photo they were flipped over putting their faces into the pool. There is so much fun that can be found in six inches of water.

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit. We spent a while out with our kids and the kiddie pool. They enjoyed pouring water out of the pool, pouring water on themselves, watering our feet, writing on the sidewalk with water, and jumping into the water. Emily figured out that she could jump into the pool and splash the water. Sure enough she did fall, but loved doing it. Everything is more fun with grandparents around!

Emily is fascinated with watching videos. She insists that Grandma video everything she does and then wants to watch it immediately. Too funny!

Julia was not interested in looking at the camera. She wasn’t feeling well this day and wanted to cuddle more than usual. Mama doesn’t like for her little girl to be sick, but the mama enjoyed the extra holding time and nap with her little girl.

Emily jumping into the pool and loved it. She did it over and over.