A Day Flying....well waiting mostly!

Margaret and I started hard core packing on Thurday and decided to head up to visit her Daddy after we finished. I ran around and did some last minute things and we left for the airport on Saturday morning. We arrived in a very timely manner ~90 minutes before our flight was to leave, and made it to the check in with the help of a very nice bus driver. I was nervous about parking and getting us and our stuff to the baggage check without lots of difficulty. It was actually very easy. The trouble began just as we were supposed to board.....the flight had been postponed 4 hours due to mechanical trouble. This would cause us to miss our connecting flight! YIKES--excitement! But we handled it in stride. Margaret played very patiently in the "bag of fun" that we had packed while I stood in line to get some answers about how we would get to our intended destination in a reasonalby timely manner. Well, after 5 extra hours of waiting we were put on a direct flight across the country. YEAH!! It was a LONG but nice flight. The only rough spot was the landing.....Margaret was asleep and it hurt her ears so badly that she woke up in pain. Not fun! We arrived FINALLY around 9pm west coast time (our bodies felt like it was midnight) to find that our luggage, including Margaret's car seat had not arrived. UUUGGGGG! This was just about the end of my zen that I had managed to hold onto all day. After some paperwork and a nice man assuring me that our luggage would be found and delivered, Michael picked us up from the airport. Emily was sweet enough to have clean PJs and a toothbrush ready for us to use! Pictures will be added when I get home!

Playing with Cousins

Maybe it is starting to be a trend to get a shot and then going to the spray park to play with a cousin or two! This past week after, being at Folly with fun people and fun stuff to do, we were a little lost to be home again. We did really enjoy unpacking and preparing for our trip across the country but the highlight of the week was meeting up with Lucia and Olivia at the spray park! The girls had a great time and the mamas had fun visiting! Pictures will be added later.

Folly Beach 2008

Margaret and I were very excited to join the Springs ladies along with the rest of the usual group for a few days at Folly again this year. We are very lucky to have such good friends who like to play at the beach! Margaret always loves playing with Allison who is Fran's daughter. Margaret and Allison are very close in age and have played well at the beach together for the past 3 years! This year we were delighted to get to know Allison's brother Patrick. His is adorable! Thanks Emily, Dave, Miss MaryJo, Miss Kathy, Miss Linda, Fran, Michael, Allison, Patrick, Auntie EO, Olivia, and Gug for a great few days at the beach!! Hope we can do it again next year!

We Love to Learn!

Here are some things we have been working on....cutting, creating pictures out of paper scraps, gluing, and on the bottom some pipe cleaner letters that I worked on while Margaret was away this weekend. I have now finished the capital and lower case letters and have them all glued to flash cards. Margaret can't wait to play with them.

A GREAT Day with Cousin Jule!

Margaret and I were delighted to play with Jule this week! After getting a shot (we need to take Jule to get all shots--it was toooo easy) we went to the Spray Park. The girls had a blast, despite MANY big kids who totally ran over them several times. After lots of play, we had a nice lunch with Mimi, Aunt Cathy, Jaycee, and Jule. We hope to play with Jule again soon!!

Cold Soups

OK, the other day at Sam's I could not pass up the HUGE bag of carrots that I found---they were cheap and oh so beautiful!! Anyway, Margaret and I decided to peel them and create cold carrot soup on this VERY hot past Monday. We peeled and processed 5 pounds of carrots and then my mom helped us tweek some recipes and create some DELICIOUS cool soup!
On Tuesday, we created Cool Cucumber Avacado soup. It was also delicious and VERY pretty in color. There are no pictures but here is the recipe. It is a MUST TRY if you like avacado and want a refreshing and healthy meal.
2 avacados peeled and processed
1 large cucumber peeled and processed
1 can of 98% fat free cream of celery soup
a little bit of 2% milk
a splash or more of V-8 juice
garlic and cumin to taste
We blended all the ingredients up and then mixed together and chilled. Yummy!

Cold soups are really great on a hot day and we look forward to trying more recipes soon!!

Building quiet concentration and fine motor skills....

I have been taking some lessons from my sister and stalking some blogs of some GREATLY creative moms. I am trying to come up with neat and educational activites for summer that will build Margaret's skills. She had a great time with this activity and it was so quick and easy to put together! More to come.....

FUN in the SUN!

We really enjoyed our vacation with Miss Celestia, Stacie, and Blakley! Thanks SOOOO much Miss Celestia...we will come back anytime!!!! We ended our very nice visit by stopping by to visit with Tall Margaret and the twins. They are growing up so fast!! Both girls were a little under the weather but did not let that stop some fun at the playground. All three girls are regular MONKEYS!!

Tuesday at the Beach

The girls are really enjoying the pool and the beach. Margaret is starting to put her face in the water like it is no big deal! This is a huge step for her. Both girls have had a great time jumping off the side of the pool and going under before mommy gets them! I have been amazed and very proud....I think swimming lessons really made a difference for us!

We are at the beach......

Margaret and I are lucky enough to have really generous friends that like to have us around! Miss Celestia, Stacie, and Blakley invited us to join them at our absolute favorite beach spot for the beginning of the week. We came down yesterday afternoon and will be here until Wednesday morning when we go to visit the Collins twins and tall Marg for the day. Here are some pictures from our first full day at the beach this summer. Note all of the heavy machinery because some really smart scientists have figured out how to rework the tides and increase the beach....a BIG pipe sprung a leak today. These pictures are of some of the fixing that was happening this afternoon. Margaret was intrigued.

Toward the end of the morning, we went to the park and Margaret had a very controlled melt down. She was very upset but handled it pretty well. She went over to another side of the park to be alone. I had to take a picture.

Play Date with Megan