Not pictured (again!)

We had a windy picnic at Stony Creek.  The girls played on the playground while Papa grilled hot dogs.  I had not planned on an evening bath, since they had a bath in the morning.  But they said their legs were dirty.  We were bringing things in from the car and before I knew it, they had begun a washing in the bathroom.  Together, they were cleaning the dirt off their feet and legs.  With toilet paper!  You can imagine the sight!  Needless to say, we moved right into a quick, unplanned bath.  No time left for bedtime stories, but at least they were clean!

Day 6 - Friday

Where to spread our picnic blanket?  The girls found the perfect shade tree.

Dipping pretzels in chocolate milk is just oh so funny!

Even little girls play sword fight games.  But stick swords easily break. . .

and sometimes little sister has to comfort big sister.

After rest time, ice cream time.  Nora chooses yellow!  (Mango pomegranate)

Carolyn chooses pink (strawberry).

Bedtime and time to brush teeth and clean ears

Strawberry picking

We went strawberry picking on Thursday.  It was very hot outside.  You might notice Nora wearing the yellow dress a lot.  Every time I wash it, she puts it on again!

After we were done, we had a picnic under a shade tree.

Day 5 - Thursday - Waffles

 Papa made waffles today, and I got to help.

Carolyn's Picture - "My Family"

Stony Creek

 It was windy and hot, and the girls could not wait to get into the water.  Obviously, the camera was unavailable, but they both had a blast swimming and splashing around.

After our swim, the girls decided to check out the playground.  Carolyn enjoyed climbing on this "spider web."

 You step out on the small platform, and it slowly lowers you to the ground.  Maybe it's powered by hydraulics or something.  It was a big hit.

 Nora was pretty nervous.  This photo is not her first try, because I had to carefully monitor that!  Once she knew she could do it, she was very proud she was so brave.  She waited patiently for the platform with a look of intense concentration (think, Olympic gymnast ready to begin routine!)

  

Day 4 - Wednesday (The Farm)

 It took us about 30 minutes to get to this farm.  Signage in the area is very poor, so once we were close, it took a while to find it.  Finally, a very nice man was able to point us in the right direction and tell us it was .7 mile that way.

 The mooing of the cows echoes quite loudly in this small building, and it was a little intimidating at first.  Also, the cows are very large and very near.

 The calves seemed more approachable.

Milking time is 10am.  It's not a very good shot, but the man is attaching the milking machine to the cow's udder, and we saw the milk go up the clear pipes and into the other room where there was a large metal vat of milk. 

This excursion was not Carolyn's favorite, because her toes were really bothering her.  She has small blisters on her toes from the pool, and they were rubbing on her shoes.

Not pictured

• Carolyn's face with sunscreen - after a mid-swim visit to the bathroom, we needed to reapply sunscreen.  While I was putting some on Nora's back, Carolyn covered her face with sunscreen so she looked like a mime!
• Nora's feet with sunscreen - while I was spreading Carolyn's generous application of sunscreen, Nora decided the tops of her feet were in serious danger of sunburn.   Completely white!  Would have been a great shot!  It begins to dawn on me that I should be in charge of sunscreen.   :)
• Me getting back in the water - over and over and over.  I was able to remember why I do not really care for swimming.  Also, was never able to forget how much I love these little girls, and how I will even go swimming with them!  Into the pool, now off to the slide, now back to the pool, now off to the slide.  Again and again and again!
• The bottoms of Carolyn's toes - little blisters (ouch!) from pushing up off the bottom of the pool over and over and over
• Nora's face the first time she went down the slide - pure joy

Standing in line

Most of the children at the slide were under 6 or 7.  I was amused watching their behavior standing in line.  On the right side of the wall by the steps, there were hand prints about 6" apart.  The children were supposed to place their right hand on a print as they moved their way through the line.

Carolyn knew right away what a line was and how to stay in it (and also, how to make sure those around her did!)

Nora had no clue at first.  She figured if there was space on the left to move closer to the slide, then she should do so.  She was so excited to slide.  But she learned to stay in line and wait for her turn.

The lifeguards would sometimes try to maintain line order, but obviously, with the ever-changing collection of children, it was a constant process, which was not always worth the effort.

Sometimes, the line would transform into a small, teeming crowd.  If someone didn't know what lines were, they moved to the front and all the smaller ones just followed.   Nora was funny because once she learned about the line, she would stay in it unless someone else got out of line.  Carolyn dutifully staying in line no matter what, though she could be seen edging someone out or hurrying to beat someone to the line.

Day 2 - Tuesday

Today, we went to the pool.  It was a very hot day.  Both girls were behind the sign, but no one could wait to get into the water, so I didn't take spend a lot of time trying to get a good picture at the entrance.  I put my purse and cell phone in a locker, so there are no pictures of our adventure.

These few pictures are from the city website.  Except they must have been taken on a day when no one was able to come.  The place was jam packed, but the girls didn't seem to mind at all.  There were no chairs available, but we spent all our time in the water anyway.  The little crowd of swimmers at the upper left pretty much covered the entire pool.  It's very shallow, starting maybe a foot deep all the way across, and I think it must go to about 3 feet deep on the other side where there were two swimming lanes.  I never saw less than three lifeguards watching this area.  Carolyn swam like a little fish and Nora bobbed up and down in the water happily.

When they wanted in a change, we wandered over to this kiddie area where they could get splashed by fountains and faucets, and best of all, slide the slide.  This area was only for children under 10 and they liked it a lot.

You can't really see the slide in the above picture, but it is on the right, behind that stone wall.  The children stand in a line, and the lifeguard makes sure only one goes down at a time.  Another lifeguard catches them at the bottom.  Nora was a little nervous the first time, but then she was proud she had been so brave.  Both girls would slide and run around to get in line again.  The line was short and fast, and they went down the slide more times than I could count.

Here they are right before we left.  Leaving was my idea.  I'm not sure they would have ever been done!

By Carolyn

Big Sister, Little Sister

 We had planned to go to the aquatic center after lunch and rest time, but there were thunderstorms.  After the rain, we had the obligatory puddle jumping and splash time outside.

After a dinner of roast beef, we settled in to watch a movie all together.  The girls chose Hook, which was a little long, but I think they enjoyed it.  They are quiet in bed now.

Day 2 - Monday

Nora awoke at 645.  Carolyn was about 730.  There were pancakes by Papa with blueberries on the side.  These girls go through blueberries!  Time to go back to the grocery store!

We went to the library this morning and added 10 books to the 20 we already had.  We found Pinkalicious and Goldilicious, which pleased Carolyn to no end.

In the parking lot, there was a tree that was perfect for climbing.  Nora was a little timid about climbing, but she enjoyed looking at small insects.