Bethany Beach 2011

What a week! The girls had such a fun time with their cousins. They learned to dive waves and Doug boogy boarded and skimboarded to his hearts content! I read 3 books and relaxed. I love that my girls love the beach like we do.

Naps on the beach!

Fun with Daddy!



Being silly!

Superstars!

Family!

First Beach Weekend of 2011

The girls and I had an opportunity to spend the weekend in OC, NJ with some of our favorite friends. We had a blast!! My girls are water babies with no fear of the waves. They were body surfing and boogy boarding for 2 straight days (when they didn't take small breaks to dig for sand crabs). The weather couldn't have been better.

Boardwalk!

Love them!


Molly in position waiting to ride a wave!

SMILES!

Nice ride!

End of Kindergarten

I cried on the last day as much as I cried on the first! But we had some big stuff happen the last week of school. Aubrey performed in the Kindergarten show (C, C, Clicking Camera, cah, cah, cah), she had her investiture ceremony for Daisy's and she found out who her First Grade teacher will be. Photographic evidence that I can't stop time, no matter how hard I try:

Overheard

Snuggled up with Aubrey I whisper in her ear, "you will never know how much I love you", she looks up at me and smiles and says, "all the way to heaven and back?"
I say, "More than that"
She says, "All the way to Pluto even though it isn't a planet and back?"
I say, "more than that"
We do this back and forth 5 or 6 times until, exasperated, she says: "FINE, do you love me more than your boobs?"
I say, "Yup, and I have the scars to prove it!"
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In the car driving to gymanstics, I have both girls with me:
Aubrey: "Mommy, what number do you die"
Molly pipes up, "It isn't a number, it is when you go 16 weeks without food or water or some taking care of you then you die"
I say, "Hey, want to listen to Lady Gaga?"
Subject officially changed

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In the car on the way home, just Aubrey with me:
Aubrey: "Mommy how do babies come out of your tummy"
I say: "God makes sure there is a hole big enough"
Aubrey says: "But where"
I say, "Hey, want to listen to Lady Gaga?"
Subject officially changed

Graduation Celebration

Memorial Day weekend was spent with family celebraing my nephew's graduation from high school. Kids had a blast!

So happy to be surrounded by people that let her boss them around :)

Ole!


Cheese!

Cousins!

Family Adventure to Watermans Crabhouse!

Mother's Day

Girls Planting Flowers

with Daddy!

Poser

Bubble Popper

Crazy Girl

Good Morning GTaw!

Good Morning GTaw!

Look at our Daffodils about to bloom!

Cape May

The girls and I were invited on a trip with another mom and her 2 year old daughter. We all packed into the minivan on a Friday afternoon and headed to Cape May, NJ. Took about 4 hours and was an easy drive.

We stayed at the Grand Hotel and the reason - INDOOR POOL! We hit the Cape May Zoo (awesome), we swam, we hit a Chinese all you can eat buffet (Aubrey may have put them out of business), and we swam. Aubrey, Molly, and I hit the pool on Saturday afternoon for 3 hours. My girls are part fish.

My phone died and I was completely disconnected for the weekend. The girls had my full attention and we all needed it.

They crack me up!

Awesome Zoo!

Goat Tongue

Black Swan

Disney Prep and Small Details

OK, so probably not "tricks"... but things I think helped us out.

1) I purchased on sale t-shirts from Disneystore.com for the girls and I, this helped tell them where we were going, and we wore them on our first day there.

2) I also picked up autograph books (for cheaper than they sell in the parks, for the same book).

3) And Princess PJ's... all on sale and free shipping

4) And I handed these out over the course of the trip, so the kids got stuff and I didn't go poor.

5) I packed individual packs of goldfish, pretzels, and nutragrain bars knowing we may have to wait or be out and about when one of the girls (or I) was run down.

6) I also brought Tinkerbell Tupperware cups with lids that I kept stocked with water for the girls.

We did splurge on Princess dresses and accessories at the park. Lots of folks had mentioned packing your Disney dresses to take with you - ours were all beat up and in fact none fit Aubrey anymore so getting news for dinner with Cinderella make it that much more magical. The girls really took their time and looked at everything in the store over and over and over again.

We all want to go back and it really was amazing how well run the parks and resorts are.

Disney - Our Last Day!

Edge of the seat aren't ya. We packed up, went to the Grand Floridian, had breakfast at 1900 Park Fair with Mary Poppins, Alice, Mad Hatter, Pooh, and Tigger. We then headed to Hollywood Studios. We hit up Toy Story - AWESOME! (it was raining, we had a 5pm flight, and we were there a bit later than we hoped, we were running to get to Fast Pass at Toy Story. I asked a lady in a suit with a name tag if we were going the right way, she asked why the hurry, I explained, she handed us 4 fast passes for 9am hour!!!). We were able to hit Tower of Terror - which Aubrey and I will never forgive Doug for making us do. Walked around the different sets, saw a parade, saw a street show - which the girls loved, and then headed out!

Disney Day 4 - POOL Day!

After all the excitement of the past few days, we laid low at the pool on Saturday. We swam, played in sand, relaxed, napped, and then headed to Mickey's Back Yard Bar B Que - one of the highlights of the trip. The girls loved dancing with Mickey, Minnie, and other characters and we loved that they served beer!

Disney Day 3

Are you exhausted yet? I am! But up early we headed to Epcot for the Princess Breakfast in Norway! The girls loved it. And wow, tons of food! One of the best values we found there. After that we did Soarin' and can't say enough good things about this ride. Girls loved it too. We walked around all of Epcot, had lunch at the Japanese Steak House, did Test Track, met Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Daisey and Donald! Then, home for a nap... a much much needed nap! We got gussied up and headed to the Very Merry Christmas Party and Parade! We met Repunzel and Flynn Rider, we road Splash Mountain 3 more times (or they did, it was too cold for me), Thunder Mountain, Fireworks, SNOW!, and a fabulous parade.

During the parade Aubrey was called out to by SANTA! Woody, and other various characters. It was so cool!

Disney Day 2

We started early with the Magic Kingdom "magic hours" for guests staying on property. We went right to It's A Small World and rode it twice with no wait. We got fancy Mouse Ears, went on the Snow White ride, enjoyed walking through the castle, and then headed over to Splash Mountain.

It was 40 degrees and cold, and we road Splash Mountain twice, without having to get out of the boat... did I mention it was cold? We also road Thunder Mountain and the girls will tell you that is their favorite favorite!

We road Pirates, Jungle Cruise, met Pirate Goofy, hit up the fancy dress store and the girls picked up Disney Dresses for our very exciting and super fantastic Royal Ballroom Dinner! It was amazing. We loved it. Can't say enough about the service and magicalness of that dinner!