Holy moly, where do I begin?! Yes, I do still want to continue this blog, even though we have probably lost all readers. But I like to have a journal of sorts for our adventures, because then I turn our blog into a handy dandy book, that we can keep forever and ever and always. So. If you are reading this, YAY! Glad to still have you :) If not, ah, well. I'll just talk to myself then.
We had a busy and fun summer. Lots happened. Let's start off at the end of March when we went to Great Wolf Lodge, then proceed in chronological order from there, lest my OCD side starts to panic.
Grammie and Grampie Quinlan gave us gift cards for the Great Wolf Lodge and we had a great time! We would never go on our own due to the overwhelming cost of the place so we thank them for giving this opportunity to us! The girls loved it. Sophie went down the big water slides and they both still talk about it to this day.
In April, the girls went to a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party
for the son of our friends. They got an awesome costume to keep and I
made the cake for the party. It was fun. Sophie also got to go to a
painting birthday party where she painted a picture with friends.
We had a great Easter! We had a party at Sophie's preschool where they
met the easter bunny, we painted loads of eggs, and they went on at
least 4 easter egg hunts this year. We had our own in the backyard.
In April Cory surprised me with a really cool date. We got to go
shooting at an indoor shooting range. I haven't shot a gun since we
lived in Utah, I think, so....about 11 years ago! It was awesome.
Apparently I am a crack shot, but I jammed the gun every time. The guy
there told me I was "limp wristed," snicker snicker, meaning I let the
gun recoil too much so it couldn't reload properly. Ah well, gotta
strengthen up my wrists, I guess!
April also brought our friends to visit; my good friend Stacey who moved
away last year (sniff sniff) came to visit with her kids. And another
couple of friends of ours moved away this month. A lot of our friends
have left us in the last year. So sad.
In May, Sophie had swimming lessons which she loved. She's not very
confident in the water but she improved a bit this year, not as afraid
for her head to go under the water. She loves to swim!
May was also the end of school for Sophie. She had a hat parade and a
preschool graduation and end of school party. She was sad to leave
preschool but was excited to hear that a couple of her classmates will
be going to the same elementary school as her. Sophie is very good at
rolling with things, she goes along with change pretty well.
In May we also went to the park a lot, strawberry picking and the
Greensboro Science Center. I started going to the YMCA 3-4 times a week,
attending the group exercise classes. I am addicted. It's been 4
months now and I still love going.
May was also Sienna's 3rd birthday! We went to the mall to go on the
carousel and for her to try this jumpy thing where they harness you up
and you jump on a trampoline really high using cables. Sophie's done it
a million times and loves it, this was Sienna's first time and she got
too scared after being harnessed up. *Spoiler alert!* We went again just
this last week to celebrate her first week of school and she did it!
And she had a lot of fun :) Sienna had a My Little Pony birthday
equipped with a rainbow fruit plate and My Little Pony cake and
decorations.
By June, I'd say summer had officially started! We went to the
Greensboro Children's Museum, Chuck E Cheese and the the girls both went
to Pirates and Princesses camp at the YMCA for a week. We had fun
washing the car, going to the park and the pool. Cory was nominated to
do the Ice Bucket Challenge by my brother Adam, which he did, and we
posted the video on facebook.
In June Sienna also went to the dentist for the first time. She cried
when they were poking around in there because she was scared but she was
fine when it was all over. Hopefully she won't be as scared next time! Sophie also gave her first talk in church, with a little help from daddy :)
Because Sienna is now 3 in June we told her the "paci" fairy was going
to come take her pacifier away because she is a big girl now. She had
still been using it for sleeping only but we got rid of Sophie's when
she was 3 so we figured it was Sienna's turn. She did well without it
(with a few whimpers and whiny nights mixed in) and woke up to yet
another pile of presents from the paci fairy.
Then July rolls around and we went blueberry picking, the All-A-Flutter
butterfly farm, where the butterflies LOVED Sophie's skirt and hat and
were landing all over her, the girls had dance class once a week for a
month, and we had a lovely visit for the 4th of July from my brother
Jason and his family! It was awesome to see them since it had been a
very long time since we saw them last. The kids have grown up so much!
So we showed my Canadian brother a good American 4th of July, complete
with going to the park, grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, corn on the
cob, and a plethora of 4th of July themed desserts. They were fun to
make :) Then we went to the Lewisville Town Square for fireworks! They
were really well done and there was a gazillion people there.
In July we also took a trip to Canada to visit home. Basically, the day
after the 4th of July, only a few hours after Jason's family left to
drive home to Canada themselves, we left too! We took 2 days to drive up
to my mom and dad's place. The girls do great in the car and the drive
is not too long, and we don't go through any major cities. We had a
great time in Canada. We went to the new Ripley's Aquarium right next
to the CN Tower, took a ferry boat to Toronto Island where there is an
Adventure place for kids. The girls got to go on a ferris wheel, the tea
cups (all by themselves!) and the carousel. We also went to the Ajax
beach, and the Cobourg beach, and took many trips to the park that had a
little wading pool, and to another park where the girls could feed the
chipmunks. They would come right up to you and take peanuts right out
of your hand. It was neat. We also got to see my Aunt Joy and Uncle
Eric who came to visit us, and have a BBQ at my Uncle Dave's house. It
was nice to see family! Then we took 2 days to drive home again. We had a
good time.
Now to August. We went to many pools and parks, went to the famous Krispy Kreme donut shop for a tour and some donuts, Sophie had some play
dates with some friends, and Sienna made yet another leap in development
and became potty-trained! YAY! So she loses her pacifier, goes to the
dentist, gets potty trained and starts school, all this summer. What a
big girl. She picked up the peeing on the potty thing a lot quicker than
Sophie did, but not the pooping. That took a bit of coaxing. She has
ever since the beginning of the year had constipation issues, so she is
on Miralax and it took a while for her to be comfortable pooping. She's
doing much better but still has a few poopy accidents in her underwear.
Fun times for us! She got to have a Big Girl Party as incentive for
going on the potty. It worked and she got YET another pile of presents
this summer!
In August we also went camping for 2 nights at Dan Nicholas park. It
rained the whole time but God was smiling on us because it only ever
rained when we weren't doing something. It didn't rain when we were
actually at the park doing all the activities (like carousel, train
ride, mini-zoo, mini-golf, playground, gem-mining) or when we were
setting up/taking down the tent. It rained when we were sleeping or
driving and never when it was inconvenient. So we were grateful. Cory
made awesome fires and the girls loved playing with glowsticks in the
dark.
In August I also got to go on a Girls Day/Night Out! My friend Stacey
came down and gave her kids to her mother-in-law and we went down to
Charlotte for the day, and went the the US National Whitewater Center to
do some ropes courses and ziplines. Cory and I had done it a couple
years ago for an anniversary trip and it was awesome. This time, Stacey
and I did the 2nd hardest ropes course in the whole place. It was
awesome. Again. Awesome. Then we went shopping at IKEA and went out to
eat and then stayed at a hotel for the night before coming home to
reality again. It was a nice break and I needed it, after the long, busy
summer we had!
Just last week Cory did a triathalon! He hadn't done one in about 8
years or so, and he did great! He beat his goal time and didn't die, so
that's a plus. Then after he did that, we went straight to the NC Zoo,
which is literally 5 miles of walking. I don't know how he was standing
after that. We walked for so long but saw some cool animals. The girls
loved it.
Finally, this past week was the first week of school!! Sophie started
Kindergarten. I can't believe it. She did so well. She did tell me
she got in trouble for talking a few times, but that's no surprise! She
told us, "I tried so hard, but I couldn't help myself, I just HAVE to
talk!" Anyway, she is enjoying school and it's weird to make lunches
everyday, and come up with more than PB&J everyday.
Sienna
started preschool too! Her first time in school ever. She also had a
great day and loved it. Her teacher said she already has a boyfriend and
they were holding hands. hee hee. My girls are growing up! She will go 3
days a week in the mornings. I will actually have a few hours to myself
3 days a week! That'll be nice. We took the girls to the jumpy thing in the mall to celebrate a good first week of school :)
I think that brings us up to today. A few other things, I have been
getting things prepared for applying to school. I am applying to PhD
programs in 3 schools. The deadline is December 6th but I will probably
send everything by October. We need to know as soon as possible if I'm
accepted because if so, we will be selling the house and moving next
year! I am applying to one PhD program here though, so if I don't get in
to the one I really want, we could still stay here. Anyway, that's on
the horizon.
And Cory has been losing weight the last couple months. He has lost 20 lbs now. Way to go Cory!
I must end. This is long. And I'm tired. Hopefully it won't be 5 months until my next post. Bye for now!
