Kate's Meet & Greet

Tonight was meet & greet at Kate's new school.  She was so excited to meet her teacher and new friends.  She LOVED it!!  We walked in and the teacher came right up to her and complemented her on her dress and Vera Bradley purse that she had to bring.  And, then the teacher had a cute craft for each of them. They all sat in their little seats and did the craft.  We had to ask Kate about 15 times if she was ready to go.  Let's hope that Tuesday goes just as smoothly!

On a side note- Brynn's final molar popped through, so she has all 4 molars now- 12 teeth!

Hurricane Irene

We experienced a tornado, an earthquake and now a hurricane!  Hurricane Irene arrived in our area earlier today.  Our state is in a state of emergency. It was cloudy this morning, then drizzling.  The rain started around 11:30am.  It's 8:15 pm and it's raining hard and the wind is picking up.  We are definitely prepared for the worst- hopefully we won't have that.  Kate is asking all kinds of questions so I'm putting on a brave face trying to tell her that it's just rain. She's worried that there will be thunder.  Wish that was all we had to worry about. The governor  has declared all drivers to be off of the roads by 10 pm tonight in our area.  We have tons of big trees around us and are just praying that these trees don't fall on our house.  The beach areas are being hit very hard. They were evacuated.  Just feeling sorry for anyone that had vacation plans this week.  Thankfully everyone we know is safe so far.  I'll post again when I can.

I Feel the Earth Move= August 23, 2011

Well, we can check earthquake off of our list.  We felt the tremors of a 5.5 richter scale earthquake centered in Richmond, VA.  When we felt the shake, I just thought it was a normal ground shaking. But, when it didn't stop, I bolted from my 5th floor office building.  I tried to call the girls' school and Rich, but couldn't get anyone because we had no service.  It was crazy, but it's something I can now check off of my list. Not sure if we'll ever have another one again, but Rich, Kate, Brynn and me all felt it!  They won't remember, but Rich and I will.

Kate's last week at School

This is Kate's last week at her current school.  We had a new parent orientation at her school yesterday and she got to see her new room.  I realized this morning that this is her last week where she is, where she's been since she was 2 1/2!  So bittersweet.  Here they are this morning before school.  Kate had to pose for the camera :) Brynn was up to something in this one.

Bring a Friend to Dance

Today was Kate's last summer dance class and it was bring a friend to dance. I told her and she immediately said she wanted to ask Ashley. So, I quickly texted Bri and asked if Ashley could come.  Awesome news- she could!

We arrived at dance and Ashley came running in.  Here they are right before class started:

They had a great time in the class and did all of the moves.  I just love that these 2 are friends and love each other so much!  Thanks for coming Ashley!  Kate had a blast!!

Bethany Beach- 2011

We just got back from a week at Bethany Beach.  Our friends John and Chrissy have a beautiful home in Sea Colony there and offered it to us for the whole week. How generous!  We arrived on Saturday and unpacked our stuff.  We cooked a quick dinner and headed into "town" to walk the boardwalk and get some ice cream.  We came home and took a ride on the tram car that goes around the community.  The girls were so excited for bed time because they shared a room- Kate was so happy.

 Sunday was our first beach day and it was perfect!  Brynn did so great on the beach. Her walking has improved so much over the week so we were anxious to see how she would do on the sand, and she did great!  Kate was eager to get into the water with Rich and Brynn actually was too. We loaded up on the "sun Scream" as Kate calls it because of our fair skin. We stayed on the beach and went home for lunch and naps. We went into Bethany again that night for dinner at Mango's.  We ate overlooking the water and Kate and I shared a drink- Shark Attack. It came out in a fish bowl and had plastic fish and a shark in it.  There is sprite in there and in the shark is grenadine. Kate poured it out and had a blast drinking "her 1st soda".  We came home and rode the tram car again- you will hear lots about this tram car :)  Kate then played on the "ipatch" or ipad that we borrowed from work.

Mixing up our drink at Mango's

We had waterice or ice cream on the boardwalk each night. Kate loved seeing what color her tongue would turn.

 Brynn's walking improved so much while we were away. It was fun to watch her walk up and down the boardwalk

Monday we got breakfast from the Fractured Prune. They have the best donuts- we had peanut butter cup, cereal donut (with fruity pebbles on it), french toast donuts, sand donuts and a blueberry hill donut.  After breakfast, we rode the tram car to one of the 10 pools in the community.  They had a little baby pool which was perfect for the girls to play in.  Kate and Rich went over to the big pool and swam a little.  That evening, we went back into town for some dessert and then back home to ride the tram cars.  We became very familiar with the different drivers.

Tuesday was one of Kate's favorite days.  We went to breakfast at the Frog House and then to the beach. Uncle Scott and Bryce came and met us.  Kate had a blast playing with Bryce in the sand and water.  We got showered and headed into Rehoboth to meet Jane and Michael for dinner at Grottos.  We rode some rides- Brynn LOVED her 1st time on the rides. She was a pro at the boats and firetrucks.  We played some games, then had dinner and played some more games.  While at dinner, Rich gave Brynn a fork and she ate her pizza with her fork! She did such a great job!!  Kate won a whale for herself, Brynn and Bryce.  Bryce won her a squirrel.  Scott, Bryce, Jane and Michael headed home and we headed back to Sea Colony.

Brynn's 1st ride- she LOVED it!

Kate went on this ride that was for "older" kids. She HATED every second of it. But, she was so brave and did it!

Wednesday was another favorite day for Kate. It was a little cloudy, but we still went to the beach.  We came home and Namma and Pop Pop met us!  What a fun treat to have our families come 2 days in a row to meet us!  We all napped then headed back into Rehoboth again.  Our good friends met us and we rode the rides again, played games and had dinner. We headed back to Bethany, knowing we'd return the next day to Rehoboth.

One of Kate's friends from school, Adrian, and his family were down the beach as well. We ran into each other so they went on a few rides together.

This was right before they stopped the ride because Brynn was trying to climb out :)

Thursday was cloudy also and the waves were really rough.  We knew it was our last beach day so we headed to the beach for a little.  After the beach, we came home and rode the tram and then had some lunch. After naps, we went back into Rehoboth and met one of Rich's friends from college and 3 of her kids. We had a great time catching up with them.  After, we headed back into Bethany and went to bed.  Our time is winding down :(

Friday was a girls' day.  Rich had a golf tournament with work so he drove to that, while we hung back.  We had breakfast and rode the tram car a few times around. We went to the pool and then went back to the house for lunch.  Rich came back just as the girls woke up from nap and we headed into Bethany again for dinner at Bethany Blues.  After dinner, we walked the boardwalk.  Every time Kate passed the hermit crab cages, she would ask to see them and ask for one.  When she asked on Friday night, we told her yes.  Oh my gosh! She was so excited.  She picked out one with sequins and glitter and at first, it was a boy, but we decided with the shells, it was more of a girl.  So, Kate named her "Crabbily Bethany Beach".  She held her the whole ride home, brought her on the tram car. Brynn is so funny- she tries to grab at it. Kate held Crabbiliy all evening, gave her some water and then we all went to bed.

Kate loved this frog in front of the restaurant. She wanted to get her picture taken with it.

One tired little Sleeping Beauty- notice all of her stuffed animals

And our other Sleeping Beauty- not sure what is going on with this sleeping position, but hey, she was comfortable!

Saturday came too quickly.  We packed everything up, went to breakfast and did a once over of the house.  We came home and went down for naps while Rich picked up Molly.  We had such a great vacation. It was so nice to spend time together and make so many memories.  Brynn said "no" and shook her head all week when she didn't want something, she's walking- no crawling at all, she ate with a fork, and when you ask her where your nose is, she points to your nose, same with eyes and mouth.  And, if you ask her what a dog says, she'll say "ugh ugh".  Kate got to share a room with her sister, play in the ocean with one of her cousins and  turned 4 1/2.  She rode all kinds of rides too and won at the games and even won the grand prize at the game where you throw the balls- she hit the 1 silver cup!  What a great week we had with our babies!!!  Thank you so much, John and Chrissy! We had a blast!!!