Beach Bummin'

"Let's go to the beach, beach. Let's go get a wave."

We have been in Florida for the past week and have had a blast!  Cammie, Chris and I were invited to go to Florida with our next door neighbors and good friends, the Yanez crew.  We traveled 14 1/2 hours to Indian Shores Beach in Florida.  Surprisingly, Cammie did really well during the long drive.  She didn't sleep as much as I thought, but watched a little Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins to help ease the long drive.  She also munched on marshmallows and cheese crackers, while staring out the window and talking to mom and dad.  When we finally arrived we were so excited to see and show her the beach.  Danielle and I headed to the store for a few necessary items (milk, bread, ya know the necessities) while Chris and Joe took the girls to see the beach (Florida as the older girls called it :) for the first time.  Cammie absolutely HATED it! :/  She screamed, cried and demanded to be held the entire time.  The next consecutive days of our vacation didn't get much better.  She would tolerate it as long as she was being held or sitting on someone's lap.  If any part of her body touched the sand or got dirty she went crazy, starting to yell and cry. :(  So much for enjoying the beach this year. :/  By Thursday she started feeling a little better about the beach and would at least tolerate it in small doses as long as she didn't have to touch the sand. (Just as a mom memory...we had to lay a towel down for her to stand on and play with her sand toys on the beach.  She didn't play with sand of course..only the water :). Although the weather was a little iffy (more rain than usual) and Cammie's hatred of the sand we still had a great time!  We are so thankful our friends invited us to come along and share their vacation with them!  Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

1.  Dance Parties:  The girls loved taking a break and dancing at any given point during the vacation.  It was so, so, so cute to watch the three of them and their dancing abilities! :)

2.  Swimming in the Pool: Since Cammie wasn't a beach fan we spent ALOT of time at the pool.  Our little water bug loved "simming" with her float on and friends.  She learned to kick her feet, lay back and float like a starfish and started getting a little more comfortable jumping in the water.  The pool was definitely her spot (a little like her momma :)  Here are just a few of the MANY pictures we took of our little water bug.

Big Stuff :)

"Again, again"
(or in Cammie's words "gin, gin" with a hard g sound :) 

Starfish!

Playing her favorite game (cups) with her new friend Christopher

kick, kick, kick :)

3.  Playing in the Rain:  After dinner one night we headed to get ice cream about 1/2 a mile from our condo.  We knew rain chances were not in our favor, but we decided to chance it and tried to beat the rain.  We headed out with 3 strollers for some yummy dessert, where we unfortunately of course did not beat it. :(  The girls were having too much fun playing in the rain, while we were eating our ice cream so we decided to head back even though we were on foot and it was raining pretty good.  Cammie loved playing with the water coming out of the down spout and thought mommy running with the stroller back to our place was too funny. :) Silly girl!

4.  Baseball Game:  Tuesday night we headed to the baseball stadium to watch the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.  Although none of us are big Devil Rays fans, there was no way Chris would allow us to be so close to a Major League Baseball stadium and not attend.  Gotta love that baseball heart :)  I was actually happily surprised at how well Cammie did at the baseball game.  Our seats were VERY high up, but she really seemed to like the game, songs, chants....everything that goes along with a baseball game.  It also helped our cause that they had her favorite snack...popcorn :)  Here are a few pictures of the girls at the game.

Taking a break from our seats to let some little legs run :)
Strike a pose!

Sharing C's favorite snack :)
(Love that her mouth is packed full of popcorn :)

5.  The Beach:  Even though Cammie hated the beach...we did manage to snap a few photos of our attempts to acclimate her to the sand and salt water.  Some days were better than others, but our strong-minded girl made up her mind early that she didn't like it and had no plans of spending time there....even if some of her bestest buddies tried to show her how wonderful it could be.  Maybe next year :(

A face still trying to figure out whether to smile or cry :)

Not moving off mom's lap....sat there for about 15 minutes

Playing with the girls, moving water from bucket to bucket...while standing on a towel

Feeling a little better....but quickly changed our mind and went inside for a nap :)

6.  And a few last random, but fun pictures of our trip! These girls had a great time!

Taking it all in :) First glimpse of the pool and beach

All greased up and ready for the sun! Love her hair :)

Matching ruffle butts :)

Snuggling together with a good book (Cam's favorite...Click Clack Moo :)

Cammie and Mommy

Riley....she was definitely our swimmer!

C getting kisses from Gram :)  It was so sweet the way she just warmed right up to her :)

Deep in thought....she loved those darn cups!

Stingrays!  They were so close!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE little Luci!

I think she's got enough sunscreen for the day lol :)
Gotta love that independence :)

Love this munchkin!

Best Buddies :)

Silly face :)

Cheese!!!

Pool Time

Cammie has been soaking up the sun and loving some pool time this summer. She has been quite the water bug and has been swimming anywhere and everywhere including The Aquatic Center with "Mammy," Chrissie's clubhouse pool, Grandma's house, Riley and Luci's Gram's house and small pools in ours or the neighbor's backyard.  Recently, we filled up her little pool at home and she and Zoey had so much fun together!  

I could listen to her belly laugh forever....love the memories we are making this summer!

Updated...Finally!

I think I FINALLY have the blog completely updated.  This summer has just been too busy to keep the blog as up to date as I would have liked.  :/ I always seem to have an excuse, but at the same time always seem to get it done sooner or later. :)  Thanks to my handy blog list that I continued to add to each week, we are finally completely updated all the way back to April. :) Happy Reading!

Monkeys

Cammie has found a love for these pajamas this summer....

Yes...we even brought "the monkeys" to the beach. :)

She wears them EVERYWHERE and every.single.time.they.are.clean!!! I guess Chris and I are so shocked because she is so hot-natured, even when she sleeps that this new found love for footed pajamas in the dead middle of summer seems unexplainable. :)  She will throw a fit when she is wearing them when you tell her it is time to get dressed.  She yells, "No, monkeys, monkeys" to tell you she does NOT to take them off.  I guess that's the mind of a two year old. :)

Bounce Time

Although Camryn goes to SIGS weekly for gymnastics, we had never tried the open bounce time they offer during the day.  This summer has been so busy that making it there once a week has been a big enough commitment for us.  Friday morning we were planning to have a pool day to wear the kiddos out before making the long drive we had ahead of us to Florida the next day.  After watching the weather a few days before, I realized that we may not have great weather for a pool day and decided to have a second plan just in case.  As much as C loves gymnastics I knew she would love Bounce Time.  Her friends Riley and Luci went too and she had so much fun!  She loved the inflatables, climbing over, under, up and down all of the obstacles they offered.  She also loved the freedom to jump (or run) down the trampoline without having to wait her turn or follow specific directions.  Running around with her friends, swinging on the bars and playing in the cheese pit were probably her favorite activities of the day.  She loved it so much I am a little worried about her ability to follow directions when we return to gymnastics class next week.... :)

Taking it all in

1..2..3..GO!!

Look how big I am! :) (We have the start to a full ponytail, but it's hard to see in this picture and it fell out almost immediately :)

Can't get over how much strength she has gained from gymnastics ...she can swing on her own and pull her feet almost to the top of the bars!

Whoa!!! (In her words :)

Pushing Luci in the barrel

Oops! She fell out :)

Being silly :)

Ultimate bliss of a two year old!

Love Luci's face....shows how much she loved it! :)

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today we celebrated my 28th birthday!  Hard to believe how fast my 20's are starting to slip away! :(  I know it is so cliche, but having Cammie has made each year since go faster and faster!  She fills every day with so much love that we seem to pack them full and they go by so very fast.  Anyway....for my birthday all I wanted to do was spend the day with some of my favorite people.  We started the day with a trip to the zoo.  Chrissie and Ellie joined us for E's first trip to the zoo, along with Danielle, Luci and Riley.  We had a great day for the zoo and made sure to see all of C's favorite animals including the giraffes, elephants and monkeys.  I don't think I will ever forget that zoo trip as we saw the tortoises "hugging" and one of them burped on the other one...according to Riley.  :) 

Cheese!

C and her favorite animal...the giraffe...she is looking at them in amazement! :)

Love this picture of the two girls....holding hands while Luci points out the warthog to Cammie :)

Next we had to head to the vet to pick up Zoey's medicine.  I accidentally spilled all of Zoey's liquid medicine down the sink when I knocked the bottle over the previous day. Talk about literally throwing (or in my case pouring) money down the drain. :( Although I had planned to head over there and refill everything before we left for vacation, I certainly did not want to spend my birthday there.  Thank goodness they were super speedy and we were in and out in a matter of 15 minutes!  Camryn even weaseled a trip to McDonald's out of the trip, since there is one located right across the street from the vet.  


After spending a little girl time with my bestest friend, I met Chris and Camryn at SIGS for gymnastics. I love watching my girlie during her class! She has learned so many neat things and her coordination and strength continue to improve!  She can hop from one object to another, pull her feet up to the uneven bars, do a forward roll all by herself, is working on her backwards roll and climbs a ladder just to name a few.  


***Sidenote: While I was at Chrissie's, Chris and Camryn tried to sneak out and get me a birthday card and cake.  He says they were gone maybe 15 minutes and in that short time Brohdi got on the counters and ate all of the cupcakes I had made yesterday. :(  He completely demolished 2 storage containers filled with 13-15 cupcakes wrappers included....Crazy dog!  I don't know why we love him..must be his underbite. :)

Once gymnastics was over, we headed to the store to get Chris a new phone.  His Blackberry completely died the day before. :(  He had just told me how great his phone had been and how he never had any problems a few days before....I told him we were doomed from that day on.  My dad kept teasing us about Chris getting a new iPhone on MY birthday.  Go figure!

Finally, it was time to head home and celebrate my birthday.  My mom met us at our house with pizza, cupcakes and a Coke Zero from Chick-Fil-A....she sure knows me and always knows how to ensure I am taken care of on my birthday! :)  Chrissie, Nick, Ellie, Danielle, Joe, Riley and Luci came over to celebrate with us...ensuring my day ended absolutely perfect.  :)

Summer Fun

Our little C has been loving every thing there is to love about summertime!  Moving in and getting the house organized is just not coming together as I planned because our little girl LOVES to be outside.  We spend SO much time outside playing with Riley and Luci, on our "borrowed" swing set, blowing bubbles, riding her Jeep (which means mommy has to walk along, steering the car and making sure her toes don't get ran over...we have learned why Power Wheels are meant for kids over 2 a few too many times this summer :).  She loves to play with our bigger next door neighbors, Molly and Brady when they are out practicing basketball, go to the zoo, take walks or push pink car up and down the sidewalks.  We usually don't make it inside until at least 9:30 and sometimes get treated to a bath with Riley and Luci before saying good night.  Although things are not exactly in order or as I pictured them inside our house, I wouldn't trade the fun times and memories our family is making for anything!  Here are just a few pictures of a few of our fun adventures this summer (I have to admit I have been terrible about taking pictures, because I am usually pushing a swing, sliding down a slide or driving a Power Wheel :).

Wow! What a neat pool my friends have!

Pushing pink car...one of her favorite things to do :)

Climbing the ladder up to the slide. (Yes, that is Brohdi you see up in the play set.  He loves to be in it just as much as Camryn!)
Sidenote: Camryn as you can see is playing in her pajamas....I literally couldn't get her to come back inside that morning to get her dressed. :)

"Wheee!"

And back up...until mom says no to climbing up the slide :)

Love that face!

More pool time!

Friends, s'mores dip and stroller time....life as a kid doesn't get much better :)

Climbing up to the slide....couldn't believe she was able to climb up with just those holes for her feet!

Snack break at the zoo!

Look at the gorillas!

Driving the truck by the bears....love that shy smile on her face :)

And after going, going, going....she sometimes completely passes out by herself for a nap :)