Time Flies!

So....I haven't touched the blog since Carys's first day of preschool, but I thought it would be fun to have a comparison of the first and last day. 

I almost cropped out Harper's photobomb, but she's just too darn cute! We had a great school year. Carys had so much fun and learned a lot. We loved her teachers and classmates, and are excited to see everyone again in the fall. But for now, we are looking forward to less running and more time chilling at home! Who knows, maybe I'll even blog more ;)

1st Day of Preschool

Carys started Preschool this week! She is going two mornings a week and I think she is going to love it. Scott and I weren't exactly sure how she would do at first, so we've been trying to prep her for her big day. We went to the open house a couple weeks ago to meet her teacher and check out her classroom. Both Carys and Harper loved playing with all the toys and Carys was excited to find cookies in the music room! She also immediately seemed comfortable with her teacher, Mrs. K, so that was reassuring.

When the big day arrived we were fortunate that Daddy was able to rearrange his schedule so he could be with us that morning to help us get ready and make breakfast! I woke Carys up that morning and like most mornings she sleepily asked, "What is today?" and I told her, "you get to go to school today." She sat right up and said, "can we go right now?" So, I think she was excited. We ate our breakfast , finished getting ready, and of course had to take some "first day" pictures on the porch. 

So, here she is with Daddy,

and being a goofball!

Next, a picture with mama and little sister peeking out!

Hi Harper!

We got to school a little early and had to wait outside to be let in, so we took a couple more pictures. 

There was a road crew working on the road near the school and Carys was watching the front end loader. When the director opened the doors for everyone to come in, we were near the front of a long line. Carys stopped right in the middle of the doorway and had to explain to Mrs. R that "there were construction workers and I saw a front end loader". Mrs. R wasn't quite listening the first time, so Carys had to repeat this a couple of times while we were trying to convince her to get moving because she was holding up the line. She wouldn't budge though until she was sure Mrs. R heard AND acknowledged her! Finally, we made it to her classroom. She found her cubby with her name on it, so we left her backpack and headed down to the music room. At this school, all the kids meet in the music room every morning and sing songs and dance before heading to their classrooms. I really like this idea and Carys seems pretty excited about it too. 

When we got to the music room, we found her teacher and Carys got her name tag. At this point, some kids were starting to lose it as parents were trying to leave and the room was full of people and loud, so Carys got a little nervous. She even scooted backward and grabbed onto another lady's pants thinking it was me. Scott got her attention and showed her where I was, and it was pretty funny when she saw me and then realized she was holding on to a stranger. She seemed to calm back down a little bit after talking to Scott, and then her teacher brought over another little girl and asked them both to sit together on the line to wait for the music to begin. Carys seemed willing to do this and Scott needed to get to work, so we thought it was a good time to make our exit. She said good-bye and that was it. It was hard for Scott and I to leave, so I was very thankful that she seemed okay with it.  

Carys and her sweet teacher, Mrs. K.

Carys only goes for a couple of hours in the morning, so by the time I ran an errand and got Harper down for her nap it seemed like no time before we needed to leave to go get her. I was really excited (and anxious) to get there and see how her day went. When I got to her classroom I waved at her from the door. Mrs. K saw me and told her she could leave. Her little smile from when she first saw me quickly faded and she sat as still as a rock doing everything she could to avoid eye contact. I walked in the classroom and was telling her it was time to go. As soon as I got close to her, she hopped up and bolted to the opposite side of the table. Mrs. K was trying to explain to her that she was going to come back, but every time I tried to get close to the little stinker, she would take off in the opposite direction! I could sense a major meltdown coming, so I did what every stellar parent does and whispered a quick bribe as soon as I was close enough for her to hear me. At the promise of a treat on the way home, her mood instantly changed and she was happy to grab her backpack and say goodbye! I'm really glad that she enjoyed her day so much that she wanted to stay, but at the same time I'm hoping it's not going to be an issue every time! I know I'm certainly not going to hit the drive thru for Tim-bits every time she needs to leave!!

Even though it's hard to believe how fast she is growing up, I'm really looking forward to this school year. I know that we still may have a period of adjustment as she gets used to this change in our routine, but I really think she is going to love school and that makes me so happy and excited for her!

Pontiac Lake

In late May, we met Uncle Hoon and Brooke at Pontiac Lake. Scott was in the market for a new mountain bike and wanted to take one for a test ride, so of course David was happy to ride along with him. Brooke had just gotten back from Jamaica and we missed her, so we all decided to go and hang out for the afternoon. The weather was a little chilly and it was drizzling on and off, so it wasn't the nicest day. We still decided to take the girls down to the lake though and hang out there while the guys went on their ride.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I thought that because it wasn't very warm Carys wouldn't want to go in the water. Yeah, dumb. I didn't put her swimsuit on, and thought she would play in the sand and maybe just get her feet wet, but of course in no time at all she was completely soaked. I finally decided to put her swimsuit on and her puddle jumper and let her get all the way in. She had a blast! It's a pretty small lake, so the water was shallow and pretty warm, so she just floated back and forth up and down the beach.

Harper just chilled in the stroller watching her sister have fun.

Carys probably would have stayed in the water all day, but not long after she got in and right after we got Harper (and everything else) laid out on the beach blanket it started pouring rain! Brooke and I gathered the girls and all our gear as fast as we could and ran for the pavilion/bath house. When we finally got there Carys was freezing! Fortunately, I did pack a spare outfit for her, so she was able to warm up. Then we hung out and had some snacks while we waited for the boys to show up.

 Carys kept wanting to hold Harper's hand, so cute!

Thankfully, we didn't have to wait too long for the guys to finish, and right after they showed up the rain stopped!  We were able to grill up some hot dogs for lunch, and had a great time hanging out and catching up. 

It's always fun to hang out with Uncle Hoon and Brooke, so we were happy they made the drive to meet up with us.

Catching Up

So, it's almost September and my last post was from May. We have had a very busy, fun summer, so I have A LOT of catching up to do! Last summer I missed blogging about quite a bit because I was either very pregnant or I had a sweet newborn that was demanding most of my time and when she wasn't her big sister was!  I still regret not blogging about a lot of our adventures from last summer, and missing having those "stories" on the blog is really motivating me to catch up now before it gets too late for this summer. I know the grandparents will appreciate it, and I will love looking back on these sweet memories that seem to be flying by faster than I can keep up. 

So, to start us off I have a just a couple of funny photos from May to share of Harper. This day really stands out in my mind as one of the first times the three of us had fun playing together. Before this Harper was mostly content to just play with her own toys, but on this particular day Carys and I were coloring and she wanted nothing to do with sitting on the sidelines. Harper had been digging around in the crayons for quite awhile before I realized that they were definitely leaving their mark! 

Yes, that's a purple tongue! Silly girl - she was having so much fun!

Next up, June 2012!  

Zoo De Mackinac!

In May, we rode in the annual Zoo de Mack bike ride with Scott's parents and his brother. Scott and I started this ride together while we were dating, and since then it's become an annual family trip. I blogged about our first ride with Carys here. Last year, I was pregnant with Harper and we thought that Carys would be too antsy to ride, so the two of us skipped it while everyone else rode.  This year was exciting because we were going to do the second half of the ride with Carys and Harper. The first half is pretty hilly and it's a long bike ride (51 miles!), so we don't want to push the girls too much. We also decided to simplify things and not go to Mackinac Island this year. I love the island, so I really missed going, but it was SO much easier to stay both nights in the same place and not have to take the ferry after our long ride.

On Friday night we arrived at Boyne Highlands to check-in. The weather was absolutely beautiful all weekend. You never know what you are going to get in May in Michigan. Some years we've been freezing - riding in rain/sleet, but thankfully not this year!

The girls were really happy to get out and stretch their legs after the long car ride. And speaking of legs, check out H's - love those rolls!

We hung out at the resort while Scott and David took care of the logistics of getting everything set up for Saturday's ride. This is Scott's specialty and weeks before the ride, we all get emails from him detailing our plan for the trip. Usually this involves the guys driving our cars up to Mackinaw City and then riding back on Friday night. This works really well because then we don't have to worry about taking a shuttle back to the resort. When we finish the ride on Saturday, our cars are ready and we can head back whenever we want. It's more complicated then it sounds though to figure out what gear needs to stay and what goes, so this year it helped make things a little easier to stay in the same place.

When the guys got back we made dinner and just hung out for the night. David needed to run out to his car to get something and Carys wanted to go with him. Not long after that we heard some yelling and looked out our balcony to see this... 

Apparently Carys saw the luggage rack and wanted to go for a ride. Uncle Hoon was halfway through his explanation on why they couldn't take it when he thought, "what the heck," and let her hop on. He pushed her down the hill, along the road to the parking lot and back. Of course she loved every minute! 

On Saturday morning, we started with the amazing breakfast buffet at Boyne Highlands and then Grandma and Grandpa hit the road. 

Not long after that Scott and David took off. Our plan was to all meet at the halfway stop, the Legs Inn, for lunch. We packed a lunch and stretched out for a nice picnic at the Legs.

After a fun picnic, the girls and I joined everyone for the second half of the ride. I'm upset that I didn't get any pictures of us on our bikes. Carys has a bike seat that she loves, so instead of putting her in the Burley with Harper, Uncle Hoon agreed to ride with her. That allowed us to use Harper's car seat in the Burley and that worked out great. Harper never made a peep the entire ride. She is used to her car seat and sleeps really well in there, so it was perfect that it strapped right into the Burley. Carys on the other hand, never stopped talking the whole ride. She was telling Uncle Hoon to catch up to other riders and go faster.  Then she learned to announce traffic and was shouting, "Car back" or Car up" to the other riders. I think she also went through every snack that David was able to carry, so she definitely kept him busy! I know Carys loved every minute of the ride though, and certainly enjoyed her time spent with Uncle Hoon. Thanks David for being an amazing uncle!

We finally all arrived in Mackinaw City feeling pretty good. It was a really fun ride. The route follows Lake Michigan and is just beautiful. It always reminds me how much I love living in Pure Michigan! The weather could not have been more perfect either.

  

  We absolutely love this weekend and look forward to it every year. It's so great that we are able to do it as a family too. Grandma and Grandpa are pretty amazing to take on this challenge each year and we couldn't be more proud of them!

On Sunday, we weren't in a hurry to head home and since the weather was so nice we decided to hit the pool with the girls. It was the perfect wrap up to a fun weekend.

Harper also started crawling while we were there. I've never been a big fan of letting the kids play on the carpet in a hotel, but since there's not much I can do I just try not to think about it too much. Of course, Harper thought she was big stuff! 

 After the pool, we loaded everything up, hopped back on the luggage racks, and headed home!

Can't wait for next year!