Disney Magic

Last week we took our second family trip to Disney World.  It was Camille's first time in the land of Magic, and the old pros, Harper and Sophie, couldn't wait to show her around.   You know those days at home where you are SO tired, everyone is cranky, and you just want to stop and go to bed?  Through the magic of Disney, they kinda disappear the week you are there!  After a super busy week before we headed down, and some changes of plans with our traveling buddies before we even left the driveway, we needed an escape.  And we got it!

For some reason, these two developed "poses" in many of our pictures!

My girls were by no means perfect, but we had very minor breakdowns,  very little naps but no losses of tempers, and very late nights with smiles still on our faces.  Camille amazed us all.  She LOVED characters.  And by loved, I mean she could spot Mickey or Minnie in any parade or meet and greet and latch on to them and kiss and hug.  It really was the cutest thing.  Sophie and Harper were ride daredevils, riding any ride their height would allow.   Harper got a little skiddish after Splash Mountain, just because she wasn't a fan of getting wet.

Making her "wish" at Cinderella's Royal Table

I hope we never get too old to have that smile when a Princess is around!

My favorite family picture!

Chef Mickey's breakfast was our favorite meal!

We did a few new restaurants this time around and stayed at a new hotel.  We learned we are BIG fans of Ohana.  And the Polynesian.  We stayed at Pop Century Resort.  And after trekking on those busses so many times, and just riding the monorail to the Polynesian for that fabulous meal and watching the fireworks, we almost camped out there.  Nothing is wrong with Pop Century, but I must admit it got a little crowded with five people for six days.  Next time we will try a monorail hotel, and hope it doesn't break our budget.

Harper is FOUR!

Better late than never... but about a month ago my sweet middle girl turned FOUR!!  I still can't believe she has hit her fourth year.  She is the one among my three that can still snuggle, and has the funniest personality.

 

 

ALL she wanted for her birthday was Caroline Abbott, the new American Girl, so she could play dolls with Sophie. We obliged, and that doll has rarely left her side!

 

 

 

For her birthday she wanted to eat peanut butter sandwiches at the park and swing with friends.  Mission accomplished.  We added a cake for our benefit, because Harper was okay without one.  

 

 

 

Harper has matured a ton in the past few months.  She is the momma of her preschool class, starting to read a little, and is your best pal if she wants to be.  We love having Harper in our family!

Walking on Sunshine

 

 

 

 

The last couple of weeks Camille has been in the WORST mood.  Hated eating, hated sitting still, hated moving, you get the idea.  And, if you are a mom, you know that means something BIG is about to happen.  We finally have a walker!! And our happy smile is back!

 

 

Happy Girl at yet another school function for big sister
 

 

 

Camille is the latest walker of our three.  Sophie took a step on her first birthday, but took off on Lee's birthday, at 12 1/2 months.  Harper walked on Halloween, at 13 months.  Camille is a week shy of 15 months.  I blame it on a summer of two sisters at home waiting on her every need.  Why should she have learned to walk?  Since school has taken up much of her servants' time,  she has been grumpy.  Her little mind had to decide it needed to figure out the walking thing herself.  So, on Labor Day, she stoop up and walked.  And walked everywhere the whole day.  The next day she wouldn't let me put her down, but the next day we were back on the walking track.  And our mood is drastically better!

 



Here is the video of her second long walk (excuse the dirty floors):

Back to School!

See this sleeping baby?  This means it's school time!



 We are off to another busy fun year of school!  The girls are starting back activities, bedtime is a little more strict, snacks are a little heartier, and as seen by the picture above, Camille is back in the land of carpooling and cat naps!  Monday Sophie started us off by entering First Grade.  Her teacher is Mrs. Smart, and we are hoping for a great year!  Her sweet little class from last year was all split up, leaving Sophie with just two boys from her Kindergarten class.  Her best little friends wave at each other during lunch and sneak to play during PE, but she has some sweet girls in her class I hope she becomes fast friends with soon.  Last week I asked her our annual school time questions.

Sophie- Age 6
Favorite Color- Purple
Favorite Food- S'mores
Favorite Movie- American Girl: McKenna (It's all about gymnastics which is great during Olympics!)
Favorite Friend- Caroline
Favorite Activity- playing Barbies
Ambition- Vet
Favorite Part of School- PE
Least Favorite Part of School- none, she likes it all!


So the day after Sophie started Harper began 3K!  She was so excited to see her teacher Mrs. Maggie.  She picked out her outfit for her first day and couldn't wait to began her year.  Her cousin William is in her class again, as well as one friend from her last year's class continuing on their days.   I asked her a few questions too....

Harper- Age 3
Favorite Color- Pink
Favorite Food- Cheese Sticks
Favorite Show-  The Disney Documentary that follows Lady and the Tramp
Favorite Friend- William
Favorite Activity- Hugging Mommy
Amobitition- Nurse

Sophie turns Six!

In the midst of the back to school rush, we had a birthday to celebrate!  Sophie is now a big six year old.  Saturday, before classes began, we had all the little girls from her Kindergarten class, plus a few extra friends, at a  local make your own yogurt bar for some birthday fun.

Sophie and her sisters waiting for her guests!

Most of the party guests, getting ready to enjoy ice cream!

  A little blurry, but our one shot with the birthday girl!

A little unsure about all the sparklers on her candle!

Sophie and her best friend from Kindergarten, Caroline.

Charlie filling his bowl with gummy worms!

So besides being the easiest birthday party ever to throw, we had a great time watching Sophie play with old friends, talk about new teachers, and catching up with other moms and dads.  Sophie being six makes her seem a little older, a little more mature, and ready to face a new year in school!  She is still tiny, but her voice and actions seem mature beyond her few years.  She is a people pleaser, sometimes silly, rarely moody, and wants to always do the best she can at whatever she is doing.  She is such a fun little spirit to raise!

Reality.....

As I put the girls to bed at 9:00 tonight, it hit me that reality is closing in so much faster than I want.  All summer we have played hard, napped hard, travelled, swam, and sucked out all of the fun we could on our first official summer.  With the Olympics ending tomorrow, so does the last free week of summer. Next week we meet our first grade teacher, celebrate a special 6 year olds birthday, throw a back to school lunch for teachers, and learn to wake up consistently at 6:30 again.  Ugh.

Today was an unseasonably cooler day, so we cleaned up our garden plots and planted some pumpkin seeds, spinach, and fall tomatoes.  I straightened the garage and got our shoe holders and closets ready for a new year of business( not really sure why the garage and closets must be clean before life gets busy, but they do, so I did it).

However, we won't lot our last week get us down.  We are getting ready for Sophie's ice cream birthday party.  The girls have one last sleepover planned, and I fully expect a few friends over to destroy the playroom one more morning.

Our Pirate Adventure

This weekend we had some friends come into town and they wanted to do some fun stuff at the beach. We thought about a dolphin cruise, but with those being at night, and taking tired kids on one sounding horrible, I was so pumped to hear about a pirate cruise offered in the morning!  It was soooo much fun. Our girls got to get faces painted, hats, guns, and treasure.  They learned the difference between bow and stern, and port and starboard.  They attacked other boats with water balloons, and sent scallywag dads (including ours) to the dungeon.  

Here is Sophie driving the ship.  Everyone got a chance to go to the top of the boat, hang out with a peg leg captain, and feel the great breeze.   

They had games on the boat, like water balloon fights, limbo, and the freeze dance.  The adults had just as much fun with the water balloons as the kids.  Lee and a few other dads really liked the sling shots they had on the sides.

Harper really got in to using her water pistol to attack other boats.  Anytime they yelled PORT or STARBOARD she went running to that side to use her "shoot gun". 

Camille surprised us all and loved the trip.  At first she screamed because of sunscreen and that massive life jacket, but we finally chucked all of that and she had a great time.  I think feeling the cool breeze and getting to watch all the crazy kids was fun to her.