Staycation Day 1

Well the first 1/2 of day 1.  It was a busy fun filled day.  Mark and I were hoping to get out of town this weekend, but nothing seemed to work out.  So I suggested we stay in town and hit some things around town we never seem to have time to go to.  There is so much to do and see in KC, but when you live here you just don't seem to get to all the cool places. 

Friday morning we headed over to Little Monkey Business.  It is an indoor play area for little kids.  It is in Shawnee and about 40 minutes away, so there is no way we would just go over there on a random Saturday morning.  The weekends just seem to fill up with so many other things.  This was a great activity for the girls, and a pretty packed place on a Friday morning (we were in Johnson County you know!) 

The girls had a blast running, jumping, climbing, sliding, snacking, swinging, coloring, reading, riding, building, chasing, throwing, falling, and screaming because they had so much fun.  That pretty much sums up the play time. 

For lunch we headed to Fritz's, which is the choo choo train restaurant.  There is one located in Crown Center, and one in Shawnee.  It is a great restaurant for kids and families and the girls love it! 

LOVE this picture of Addison watching one of the trains deliver food to the tables.  She loves trains!

She actually kept the hat on for a while this time. 

If you can not tell Lauren had a blast too!  It was so great to spend a Friday with Mark and the girls doing fun stuff like this.  What a great morning.  Addison fell asleep in the car almost instantly.  Lauren rested, but never fell asleep.  For the afternoon, we headed down to Union Station to see the dinosaur exhibit.  More on that later. 

Sleepy Time

So lately each night when Addison goes to bed she takes several things to bed with her.  Stuffed animals, barbies, blankets, skillets, etc...you name it she will find it.  She is so easy to put to bed.  After she rounds up the items that she needs in her crib with her we usually rock for a few minutes and then I just put her in her crib and don't hear another sound out of her until morning.  She is such a great baby. 

One night I took the skillet out of the bed so she would not hit her head on it overnight since it is a hard toy.  In the morning she was looking for it all over her bed.  When I realized what she was doing and I gave it back to her she was so happy!  Silly girl...

Sweet Lauren.  We got this penguin in San Diego when we went to Sea World a few years back.  She likes to sleep with penguin, Shamu, or the fuzzy monkey we got at the San Diego Zoo. 

Pool Party

This is Lauren swimming....all by herself...we are SO PROUD of her...She has come a long way this summer.  So she has floaties on and 2 more floaty devices...but this is a HUGE accomplishment!  We have made great strides this summer. 

She is pretty excited too...and so happy that Mommy and Daddy are so proud of her.  You see, Lauren hates swim lessons, before this summer had a huge fear of the water..did not want to get her hair wet...did not want to put her face under water....did not want to wear floaty things or a life jacket.  She always wanted Mark and I to hold her in the water and not let go. 

Friday night we had a pool party at Mrs. Kellie's house (Lauren's pre school teacher.)  When we arrived there were several kids in the pool (no parents) with life jackets or floaty things.  They were having a blast.  Mark was the first Daddy to get in the pool (he is such a good daddy.)  After just a few minutes Lauren was "swimming" by herself just like her friends and loving it! 

This is Seth, another one of her little buddies. 

This is my favorite smile on Lauren (you can also see it here) when you know she is having a blast with something and truly having a great time. 

And then there is Addison.  That little worm managed to get out of the tube floaty that she was in when Mark and not looking, but still holding her.  She has NO desire to he held in the water.  She just wants to squirm out of your arms and "swim" which she obviously has no idea how at 21 months old. 

A sweet boy from Lauren's class (Logan) said Addison could borrow his floaty things so she could swim.  They were way too big for her, but she loved them.  Mark still held on tightly, but Addison thought she had a little more freedom to "swim." 

The pool party was a lot of fun.  There were tons of kids there and all the parents.  The kids had a blast and the parents had fun visiting and hanging out too.  Lauren can't wait to go back to Mrs. Kellie's house and swim (Mrs. Kellie has 2 daughters that would love to watch the girls so she just might get to go back real soon!)  Addison did not want to leave either.  Mrs. Kellie used to be the infant teacher in Addison's room so Addison knows her very well.  Mrs. Kellie was actually holding Addison for a long time and Addison was not ready to leave when it was time to head home.  Made me a little bit sad, but actually it was a good feeling to know that Addison was well taken care of as an infant while in daycare. 

Good times and great memories.  Can't wait to get back to the pool and see Lauren swimming.  She has come a long way this summer. 

The Sweetest Little Face

Is this not the cutest little face in the world..I love it!! 

Wordless Wednesday

Pool Time

Saturday was an awesome day to be at the pool!  We did some work around the house in the morning, then after naps headed to the Lee's Summit Pool. 

This is Addison's huge cheesy smile.  I just love it!  She had a lot of fun in the kids pool, and is more daring than Lauren ever was at this age.  She will be our little fish and swimming on her own by age 3 I predict! 

Snack time!  When we first arrived to the pool we hit the lazy river.  We love the lazy river, and the girls have a blast hanging out with us on the rafts. 

Addison is still not really into me snapping a lot of pictures of her these days.  She is usually screaming NO, but this one is still cute! 

After snacks Lauren decided to join in the madness of the kids pool.  She took off and started climbing all around and going down the slides.  The first time we were here this summer Lauren did not want to go on the slides, but today was a different story. 

That is Lauren, but Addison loved this slide too.  I would be at the top with her and Mark at the bottom to catch her.  She laughed and laughed and went down it several times.  I would have loved pictures, but that just could not happen. 

Lauren got really brave at the end and decided to do the big slide on the kiddie area.  It is a tunnel slide that makes you go under water each time.  Each time Lauren is in the water she gets more and more comfortable and daring.  She was very careful and made sure all the kids were gone from the bottom before taking off down the slide.  Too bad all the other kids weren't as well behaved as her!  The poor life guard guarding this area probably wondered where the parents were.  It was crazy on this slide, but Lauren loved it!  And I loved watching her having so much fun! 

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend in Columbia

Saturday morning Lauren, my Mom and Sister and I headed down to Columbia for the day to visit my cousin Lora and her son Luke.  If  you remember, Lauren and Luke adore each other.  It was just going to be a "big girls" trip, but once Lauren found out where I was going there was no way I could keep her home.  I am so glad I took her along for the day.  Her and Luke had a blast together.  Luke had a huge play set in the backyard, a sandbox, and a water slide. 

In the afternoon the "big girls" went shopping for a little while and Luke and Lauren stayed back at the house to play (Bill was home of course.)  I was a little worried about leaving Lauren to play with Luke without me there because she was still being a little bit shy (even though she adores Luke it still takes her some time to warm up to him.)  Well, when Luke and his Daddy started wrestling around on the floor Lauren grabbed a pillow and the fun began!

When we got back from shopping the house was very quiet and it took us a few minutes to find them.  Lauren and Luke were downstairs playing Library and Bank.  It was so cute.  They had Luke's piggy bank down there, several note cards written on with several rules, and prices on the books.  Very creative and very sweet. 

This water slide was a huge hit (even though I did not have a swim suit for Lauren.)  We might have to get one when Addison gets a little bigger. 

Lora had a sno cone maker which Lauren loved.  She loves sno cones. 

Going across the monkey bars (with some help from Mommy.) 

Though they are not really asleep it was pretty late when they were laying on the swing.  I think they were both very tired and probably could have gone to sleep out there.  They had a great time playing all day. 

And this is our little Addison screaming "NO" each time I even attempt to get a picture of her these days.  I LOVE that hat and I really want to get some pictures of her in that hat, but not this weekend.  If I even pick up the camera she starts yelling "NO!" 

Her and Mark had a great day on Saturday.  They went to Paradise Park in the morning, after running to WalMart and the bank.  In the afternoon they hung out at the house and went out for ice cream after dinner. 

Now it is time for me to get an Addison day, and for Lauren to hang out with her Daddy. 

Happy Birthday Mark

I think Mark had a great birthday.  He is like a little kid when it comes to birthdays.  He loves the anticipation of the big day and the countdown to his birthday.  Last weekend I took the girls shopping to get him a gift.  Lauren's ideas included socks, underwear, shoes, a new daddy (not sure why or what that really means!) or a shirt.  We ended up getting him a shirt.  He found out about this gift a few days before his birthday since Lauren can not keep a secret about anything! 

We enjoyed going out to dinner at Salty Iguanas tonight and then some cake when we got home.  Some of Mark's co-workers got him a Costco cake for his birthday-- his favorite. 

Lauren is awesome about posing for pictures these days, which I LOVE.  Such great pictures of Lauren and Mark.  When Addison saw the camera she screamed "NO" (in the restaurant mind you) so I just put it away.  Who wants to hear a child screaming "NO?"  Which she does multiple times a day, screams, very loud.  But tonight it was so sweet when I asked her if she wanted a piece of cake.  In a little quite sweet voice she said "yes."  I looked at Mark and said "did you hear that?  She can say yes!" 

So I got these pictures when Addison was not looking.  They are much cuter than any posed picture anyway.  She was laughing like crazy when Mark was giving her kisses.  She loved it!

Happy Birthday Mark.  Hope you had a great day!