Rockport, MA

So I booked a last minute trip to go see my sister out in Rockport, MA.  She insisted on me bringing the girls so we took off on a 5 hour plane ride, ugh, the not so fun part.  My niece, Lydia was turning 1 and Erin had a very beautiful elaborate party all planned out.  The theme was ladybugs and she used every detail to transform her backyard into a ladybug garden, and a huge bounce house for the kids.  My parents and Megan were also there so it was nice to spend time with everyone.  Riley saw her first fireworks show on the coast of Gloucester and loved every minute.   She even stopped covering her ears after the first 5 minutes.  The rest of the week we went on their boat and went swimming in the ocean.  This was Ella's first time at the beach and she loved running in and out and making sandcastles with Riley.  It was beautiful and very hot weather (90s) so we got lots of sun, I even got a little tan.  Now we're back and I'm already thinking of where we could go next ;)

Daddy's girls

Dear Jarom,

    If the girls could express their emotions with lots of words this is what they'd say.  We have the silliest dad who always makes us laugh, tickles us, dances, teaches us chants to every sporting event, tells stories with dolls, reads stories in funny voices, gives us hugs and kisses, and loves us with all his heart.  

 Happy Father's Day! 

You are an amazing dad to these two lucky girls.  I love you.

Disneyland!

After a week at Disneyland the girls are trying to get back to normal from the excitement.  We met up with Jarom's brother and their 7 kids and his parents.  Riley loved every minute of it and Ella couldn't get enough of meeting the princesses.  We walked through the Princess and Fairy walk and they got pictures with Tinkerbell, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Jasmine.  Ella was waving hi to them and then when it was time to take the picture she backed up right next to them and said "Cheese."  Then she proceeded to scream when it was time to go.   Riley wanted to ride all the rides except for Snow White's Scary Adventure, Ella was tough and went on everything ;)  I think the best part for me was seeing their faces when we rode It's a Small World.  It was just priceless, Ella was dancing to the music and pointing out everything and Riley just had a big smile.  So despite the tantrums, stress, and sleeplessness it was worth every minute to see that.   (Oh yeah, we also saw Jamie Lee Curtis (my sister in-law talked with her) and we saw the Bachelor, Jake who was with Vienna.  We almost got on the same boat with them on the Jungle Cruise ride!)

For all the pictures from our trip click here: Kodakgallery album

Sounders (sounds of the game)

Sounders and such

A couple weekends ago Jarom and I went with our friends Mindi and Chris to our first Sounders game.  It was quite the experience.  The last professional soccer game I saw was when I lived in Europe and saw England vs Luxembourg (which was beyond insane), so I was expecting quite less.  We sat in general admission which was right by the field and where the "dedicated" fans are.  They chanted and sang to the beat of a drum and got the entire stadium going, it was really fun!  The other pictures are just the girls posing for the camera as usual!

Shoe Fettish

No, it's not me, or even Jarom...surprisingly.  We have discovered that our little munchkin Ella is obsessed with shoes.  She rummages through the house looking for shoes to try on.  She brings them over to her little chair in the living room and with the most concentrated look on her face she carefully tries to put them on.  Just the other day she found a Barbie doll and was painstakingly trying to put the tiny shoe onto the doll's feet.  She gets frustrated a lot when the shoe falls off and cries out "Shooooeee!"   When we go to Riley's preschool or the daycare at the gym she runs straight for all the kids shoes lined up at the door like it was a valuable treasure!  It's hilarious...hopefully this obsession of hers will go away by the time she's a teenager ;)

Spring

I finally got the girls in their Easter dresses and Riley especially loves looking just like Ella. If I do Ella's hair a certain way, Riley wants her to be the same too. I thought it was the younger siblings that wanted to be like their older ones?