Soaking Up Summer

So far, our summer has been very fun and very busy! There has been lots of swimming, a few trips to Sesame Place, lots of birthday parties and plenty of playground time. We're also trying to fit in some one-on-one time with Charlie and Lily, which is something we're rarely able to do. This past Friday was one of those days, however, and it was a lot of fun! The morning kicked off with some monster cookie pancakes (mix from Target!) that Joe whipped up for us. Charlie approved :)
After breakfast, Joe and I headed out with our dates - me and Charlie and Joe and Lily. Charlie and I made our first stop at Crackers' office for a quick visit. After greeting everyone in the office and mooching cookies off my mom's co-workers, Charlie and I were off again. We went to Barnes & Noble to read some books (and pick out a few new truck books for Charlie) , then to PetSmart to see the animals. Then it was lunch at Chick-fil-a. Friday was "Dress Like a Cow Day", and while we weren't dressed like cows ourselves we did enjoy watching all the other patrons in their get-ups. Plus the Chick-fil-a cow made an appearance and visited Charlie at our table, which he loved. We also discovered that Charlie likes ketchup - he had a great time dunking his waffle fries in it.

Lily and Joe made their way to the mall. Lily rode the escalators, which she loves to do, and went on a carousel ride. Then she and Joe hit Build-a-Bear (thanks for the gift card, Aunt Rhea and Uncle Larry!) and made her very own, wonderfully tacky, monkey. She chose Monkey all by herself and also chose Monkey's outfit of black spandex pants and sparkly pink t-shirt. After the mall, Lily and Daddy hit Wendy's for a kids' meal and a Frosty.
Between all our activities, we try to spend a little time at home. Apparently we need to invest in a second pink princess ride-on toy.
I've put our weekly lessons on hold for the summer since we have so many other things going on. Still, Charlie and Lily have been excelling! They are talking up a storm - they repeat everything and say words that we had no idea they knew. Lily even said her first sentence the other day - "I in the pool!" Charlie can identify all of the letters up to "J" and when we sing the ABCs and stop at random points he can fill in the next letter. If we ask Lily how many of something there are, she can count them...well, up to 2! And they both know all their colors. We're so proud of them! (As a side note, I highly recommend the Pre-School Prep DVDs. After just two viewings of Meet the Colors, Charlie and Lily could identify all the colors and spent an afternoon walking around the living room pointing to various things and calling out their color.)

We've also done a few art projects, including letting Charlie and Lily paint for the first time. Messy, but fun!

And of course, we've been to Sesame Place! On this trip we spent our time in the Teeny Tiny Tidal Wave Pool, which Charlie and Lily adored. Lily and I also went on the tube slide (Charlie freaked when we tried to put the life vest on him). She LOVED it! We also saw the Elmo Rocks show. When the characters came on stage Lily started yelling and shrieking and waving her arms around and screaming out their names...apparently she's a groupie ;)