While Dad is Away...

Roy went to Malaysia for about a week (more on that later) and we missed him, but made sure to have fun while he was gone.  My mom even came out to play for a few days and brought her cousin, Chrissy.  My kids still "very miss" them.  Thanks for coming, Mom and Chrissy!  Of course the week that Roy left was disgustingly hot and humid so our outdoor time was severely limited.  I am so grateful for our backyard pool and popsicles!

We went out to Frying Pan Farm to visit the animals.  If you look closely, you can see Chrissy's red-flowered shirt (hi, Chrissy!) and my mom's feet and hand (hi, Mom!).  Too bad I didn't take any pictures with them in it this week...ooops!  

Please note that Sam is in his doggy costume.  It was 100 degrees and yet he wore the costume for a lot of the morning. 

Lydia just had to get a tractor picture after seeing Sam pose for his.

If you have been around Abby and any animal, you will know what a huge deal it is that she leaned over to pet this sheep.  She's usually backing away in horror...and that's for the tame animals that can't hurt her whatsoever.

Sam lives and breathes Angry Birds right now.  He loves to build towers and knock them down.  With all the heat, he got really creative with his creations, even enhancing his towers with play-doh.

Reading is so much fun!  The kids love reading.  Sometime soon I'll have to post a video of Abby reading.  She is doing great with her reading practice and is so focused when she reads.  I'm so proud!

Okay, so this is obviously after Roy got home, but look at that contented smile.  Lydia has pretty much been in his arms since he got back.  She does call him "Mama" now, which sort of makes me feel good. :)

After a sad drop-off of my mom at the airport, we made a stop at Krispy Kreme to enjoy some doughnuts.  Abby loved them and I enjoyed Sam's and the other half of Lydia's (shhh...).

All of the sudden, objects are coming to life for Lydia.  Cars make vroom sounds, Little People go on rides in cars and tractors, and babies need to be fed.  So exciting to see her imagination coming to life!

There are no words for these pictures.  LOVE!!!

Sam-isms

• Sam was hiding in the bedroom curtains.  When he burst out, he yelled, "Wonder Woman!"
• When we were getting dressed the other night, Sam picked out footie pajamas.  I told him that it was really hot and suggested he pick out different pajamas.  He shook his head and, smiling, said, "We don't live in the desert, Mom!"
• But my favorite moments are when he comes over just to give me a kiss and hug and say, "I love you so much!"  

Luray

We decided to be "spontaneous" a few weekends ago and go on a little trip.  By spontaneous, I mean we decided a few days ahead of time, booked a hotel, did research on the area, and were packed and prepared to go before the day of.  For Roy and I, that's more spontaneous that we've been for a long time! :)  We went out to Luray, VA (by the way, it's more fun if you say Luray V-A) on the 4th of July after our ward patriotic breakfast.

After the breakfast, we switched out scooters and the wagon for luggage and jumped in the van to Luray.  The kids were so excited and the drive was beautiful!  We drove through these tiny towns tucked around the mountains of Virginia and enjoyed the perfect weather and gorgeous green scenery.  Our first stop was the Luray Zoo.  Honestly, we're sort of zoo snobs since we have the National Zoo close by.  While we enjoyed the Luray Zoo, especially the alligator feeding, we were a little disappointed that there were no giraffes, especially since I called ahead and they told me they had giraffes and could even feed them.  But we swallowed our disappointment and enjoyed the up-close encounters we had with the animals there.

After we were done at the zoo, we headed out for the hotel.  We had to go around windy mountain roads and a few small towns before we got there and it was another beautiful drive.  The kids were excited to find out the hotel had a swimming pool and they were excited to practice some of their swimming lesson skills.  Both Abby and Sam were brave enough to try out the pool with only one floaty each, which is a big improvement from 2 floatation devices and holding desperately to whichever adult is nearby. :)  We also had a great night out for dinner at Denny's, ice cream cones and cookies at the Burger King play place for dessert, and running around playing with the cannons on the lawn of the hotel.

But my favorite part of our day was when everyone was clean and in pajamas, we got tucked into our beds and turned on the Capital Fourth on PBS.  The girls stayed awake for the whole show and loved the fireworks.  Sam fell asleep curled next to Roy when the fireworks countdown clock said 1:22 minutes left.  But if you asked him the next morning, the fireworks were awesome!

The real reason for our trip was to see the Luray Caverns.  They were impressive!  We were so lucky that Catherine brought her kids out to enjoy them with us.  It made the caverns so much cooler for our kids!  The pictures don't even do the cavern justice--it was amazingly big!

After lunch, we all went to the Garden Maze and the Antique Car Museum.  We had a great time together and really enjoyed the fun and the relaxing time spent on our quick couple days of a stay-vacation (because, really, can you call it a vacation if it's not even 2 hours away?)

It was nice to have a quick getaway before Roy leaves (tomorrow) for Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia for a week.  He gets to go to the coolest places!  Luckily, I get to stay here with these cool people! :)

Little Bit o' Lydia

Lydia is at the point where she keeps surprising us with what she understands and how she communicates with us.  She is having the best time with her siblings too.  

The kids love the pool and water table! 

Bubble Queen.  Lately, she has requested "bubbas" every night. 

Snoopy makes everything better!

Do you see how cute this cuddlebug is? 

Lydia really enjoyed 7-11's free slurpee day!

And then I went to India

I uploaded this pictures forever ago for Roy to put in commentary, but since that's not going to happen, here are his pictures from his week in India back in March.  (Side note: He went for a work thing, but got to enjoy some sight-seeing while he was there.  Next stop: Malaysia in a week!)

Blankets!

When Abby was about 1-1/2, she loved all things Tinker Bell.  My mom will now be remembering that Abby always called her "Aurabell" and it was so cute.  When we lived in Wise, we got her a Tink blanket that she cuddles up with all the time.

When Sam was just over 1, it seems like all we talked about was Cars.  He loves to get wrapped up in his blanket to watch a movie, curl up with it when he's sad or angry, and whenever Abby is using hers.

We got Lydia her blanket this last week.  She got a princess blanket, not because she loves princesses, but because Abby decided that was what Lydia needed.  And she loves it!  She was so happy to get it out and be just like the big kids today.

She had to stand because Abby was standing...

and then when she saw Sam cover himself up... 

...she had to do it too.  Love it!

Busy

Roy's work had a family day at the zoo.  It was so fun (even if it did take just over an hour to drive each way).  The kids were really excited to see the lion and the seals.  Of course we saw other animals too, but those were the big ones. :)

 Lydia loved the seal tank.  They would swim right by and she was fascinated.

I love these busy little feet! 

This week was our much-anticipated swim lesson week.  The kids were excited to learn to swim.  There were some moments when there was a lack of compliance (like Abby when it came to going under water and she basically popped a blood vessel in her absolute refusal to even consider going under and her fit of horror when her terrible mother gave the swim teacher permission to dunk her...and Sam about every 7 minutes), but they learned a lot.  The swim teacher was awesome and will probably be talked about for years to come.  I'm really glad they have the whole summer to practice their new skills and gain more confidence in the process.

We took the kids on a wagon ride this morning, as per Sunday tradition, and couldn't resist getting a picture of these two sisters giggling and playing together.  I love that they have each other.