Little E

Yes, I have two children. This time of year is very busy for Hannah, but Little E is always there to lend a helping hand. Today she helped dad find his shoes, waited at the door and told stories with Hannah and above all, looked beautiful as ever waiting to leave. She is developing at a rapid rate. Although smaller than Hannah was, she is equivalently as smart. She is up to 20 understandable words and seems to be learning new ones regulary. Her newest word/s is Thank You. Although not enunciated perfectly, it is quite obvious she is attempting the phrase. I am very proud of her as well. We are very lucky parents to have such beautiful daughters.

First Day of School 2010

Well, Hannah started her second year of school today. She is in Pre-Kindergarten. Last night we spent thirty minutes trying on all the uniforms she had outgrown. ARG! Luckily we have enough dresses and shorts to last through the school year, we just need to replace her brand new pants with a bigger size. Who knew she was going to jump two sizes in six months. We took her out to dinner at Cafe' Rio aka Rainbow Chairs. She loves it there. After trying to get anything out of her on the day, we put her to bed knowing she had spaghetti for lunch (mainly due to the newly stained uniform shirt) and that she had her picture taken. Otherwise, I can only guess what she did. My overly talkative four year old had very little to say...? I am proud of her.

Fishing at Roberts Gravel Pond

A week ago we went to Roberts Gravel Pond. Ed has a new goal to catch every sport fish in the state of Idaho. When we arrived it started raining and blowing! Being the prepared mom, I had a sweatshirt for Hannah, but forgot one for me. Before we could get the lines in the water, there was a "hook tying meeting" for the boys. Luckily for Ed, he caught the Yellow Perch, might I say MASSIVE. Even Hannah was able to haul one of the beasts in. All-in-all it was a great day, cold, but none-the-less memorable.

BTW, we have caught many of the Idaho sport fish already, but Ed wants to start over with a picture proof to go along with the chart. This Massive Yellow Perch is a perfect way to start the pictoral representation!!!

Swimming Lessons

Hannah finished her summer of swimming lessons. She moved up the ranks quickly. She started the summer unable to swim effectively to being able to swim halfway across the deep end. She also successfully jumped off the diving board, and swam to the edge without assistant. When I saw her approach the edge I was on edge. As she jumped off I felt my eyes water, I can't believe she is doing all this at 4.

Lagoon

August 14 we took the girls to Lagoon for their first time. We spent most of the day swimming. However, we were able to take Hannah on some rides and she is FEARLESS!!! She would ride everything if we would let her!!! As the day wound down, we headed back to the hotel where I took Hannah swimming...she is swimming so well! After the weekend I realized how big my little girl is getting! Not to mention Elayna who rode her first solo ride...the carousel.

Reunion

Well, Hannah and Darius were finally able to play again! It has been almost a year since the two of them played with each other. Hannah and Darius have been friends since they were 6 months old. Yesterday we invited them over for a pool party. This pool, quite amazing if you ask me, has two separate sections, a deep and shallow side as well as a slide in between. The rainbow on the top has a sprinkle that squirts everywhere when a hose is hooked up to it. Aunt Amy and Uncle Ryan gave it to the girls for their birthday's. There were very few incidents, Hannah only dunked Darius once! All three kids (Elayna thought it was too cold) were freezing at the end of three hours, so we brought them in and watched Aladdin, a nice rest time from a very exhausting day! We finished the day with chicken kabobs, rice and salad. By 7:00 my kids were turning into pumpkins. A nice warm bath and a drink of water and they crashed.

Learning To Ride

Hannah was no stranger to bikes, she just hated them! Finally, two weeks ago we decided it was time to face our fears and learn to ride! Big grandma and Grr bought Hannah a new "big kids bike". Hannah was very excited...at first. She started out hesitant, but slowly started peddling. As you can see in many of the pictures, she didn't look at the road as much as she looked at her feet. This proved tragic when she started turning unexpectedly and over corrected landing in the middle of the street. Her knee was scraped up pretty bad and she refused to get back on. We managed to convince her to at least ride the bike back home, where she promptly parked it. The next day, Ed and I knew we had to get her back on it, or her fear would remain. We rode around to my in-laws house (approximately 8 houses away) and it took us almost 30 minutes. Never-the-less, we made it without any accidents. With a successful ride behind her, she was starting to enjoy being on her bike. She is getting faster and faster. She has had another crash, the handle bars came down on her chest leaving a bruise, but she picked herself back up and got back on without incident. She now understands that everyone falls once and a while, but we should keep trying and never give up. I am so proud of her!

Playing

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Stevie and Lily's house for a BBQ. While there we were able to eat some fresh fruit and vegetables out of the garden, harass a couple of chickens, and play with their pet duck Lucy (who may actually be a Lou). The girls loved playing with Stevie and Lily and running around with all the animals! We finished the evening with a BBQ shrimp dinner...YUM!

Summer Fun

Well, as many of you know, we took our longest road trip yet! Many called us crazy, but none-the-less, we made it with most of our sanity still in tact. The trip started in Idaho Falls on June 24 at 3 pm. We decided for the first leg of the trip we would drive through the night, hoping that the kids would sleep most of it. We made it into Nebraska, but at 3:00am we decided to pull off at a rest area for a couple hours of sleep. We probably could have gone on, but it seems the deer in Nebraska have a suicide wish! After almost hitting 3, one of which I am sure lost its tail, we decided it was time to stop until it was lighter. Shortly after 5, we started out again. We stopped for breakfast at a local restaurant and changed for the day. Once finished, we started on the road again. We made it to Evansville, IN at around 9:30pm (our first stop).

We had nothing special planned for Indiana. We just wanted to catch up with friends and relax. While there we ate at many good restaurants, played some poker with friends, watched the world cup, ran through a down pour, and melted in the humidity. As we were packing up to leave, I was saddened to realize that it may be a while before we return. Three days later we started leg two of the trip.

This one was much shorter. We left about noon on June 28, and pulled into Grovetown, GA at 10pm. It was a bittersweet arrival as I saw my nieces run down the stairs. Where did the past year go! They grew entirely too much and I missed it!!! Hannah, Adrea, and Abby went straight up and started playing as if they had never been apart. They were inseperable for the entire week! All three slept in the same room sharing beds back and forth! We kept busy the entire time. We went back to Atlanta and saw the Georgia Aquarium and ate at The Varsity. Shortly after, we headed toward the Atlantic coast. It would have been a crime to drive all that way and not see it. We went to Hilton Head, SC, where the ocean was very warm. After playing for several hours we drove further up the point and ate at The Salty Dog Restaurant (yum yum)! The end of the week was July 4. We danced around with sparklers and lit a few fireworks. The following day we started the third leg of the trip.

We left the Georgia close to 8:00am on July 5th and started for San Antonio, TX. As much as we wanted to get there, we didn't want to pull another all-nighter! We made it as far as the Louisiana/Texas border and stopped for the night. With a leisurely start the following morning, we arrived in Converse, Tx around 2:00pm. With the sweltering heat...we promptly set up the kids pool and all jumped in. (You can see Ed sitting in it on a previous post.) The four days we spent in San Antonio were very relaxing. Everything we did revolved around the kids' naps and were activities that would keep them occupied. A couple of attractions we stopped at were the San Antonio River Walk and, of course, The Alamo. We ate at two fabulous restaurants, The Rainforest Cafe and The Salt Lick, I highly recommend both! As the week ended, we were saddened that we had to leave. July 10, we started for home!

Again, we didn't want to pull another all-nighter, and being in the car was started to wear on us, we made it as far as the New Mexico/Colorado border. We tried to push through as quickly as possible, but we did make a couple of unscheduled stops. We made sure to buy a shot glass from Roswell, NM, (now we can say we've been there) and one from the Four Corners. I was disappointed at the Four Corners. It was under construction and the closest we could get was 25 ft away. The whole thing was blocked off! We never did stand in four states at once. Oh well, maybe on the next cross-country trip...YEAH RIGHT!

Finally, 19 states and 2.5 weeks later, we were back home. It was close to 8:00pm on July 11. The girls were exhausted and Ed and I were worn out! We needed one more day to chill, but that wasn't meant to be. 8:00 the next morning we were back at work.

All-in-all it was a great trip. We saw many old friends and family and lots of new sites. Here are a handful of pics that were never posted previously. For the specifics of the trip check out my earlier posts.