Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy ever!  Jeremy plays with the girls when he gets home from work.  He wrestles with them, reads them stories, makes their dinners and gets them ready for bed when I'm too tired to do it.  And at the swimming pool he's the sea monster who plays games with them and lets the girls climb all over him.  We are very lucky that he is such a great guy.  Love you lots Jer, and Happy Father's Day.
The BBQ was a gift from us as a family.

And the rock was Cambrie's temporary gift to him since the plate she made him hadn't arrived yet.  Jer was definitely surprised.

The Bay

The girls are participating in the summer reading program this summer.  Cambrie was so excited to earn a prize that she finished the 5 hours of reading necessary in the first week.  We read a lot of books.  The prize for the first level was lunch at Subway, some ice-cream, and a pass to The Bay.  The Bay is a little water park down by the community center and it has water slides that are a good size for younger kids.  As soon as Jeremy had a day off we headed down to have some fun.  We spent the first half of the day on the water slides.  McKenzie was giggling down every slide.  I wish I captured it on film, she was having so much fun.  Cambrie was the same way.  As soon as we hit the splash down pool the girls were up and running to the top to go again.  After a bus full of summer camp kids showed up we decided to take a break from the slides for a bit and headed over to the little play structure that was a good size for McKenzie.  She loved turning the water valves and running away from Crocidile Jeremy. 

But it was Cambrie who was really getting into it.  With her goggles on she is fearless of the water and would run under all of the fountains on her way up to the small slide, over and over again. 

The water was a little chilly so we took quite a few warming breaks, but they never lasted too long. 

At the end of the day I wanted to get a picture of the girls together, and when I told them to smile, this is what I got:  Ya, totally goof balls.

Swimming lessons

The girls just finished a round of swimming lessons this week.  It was McKenzie's first class without me and I was a little nervous to see how she would do with an instructor, I shouldn't have worried at all.  She loved her class.  Her favorite part was when they got to ride on the giant turtle floating boards. 

There were three girls in her class, and one of them was so apprehensive about the pool that she only got in a few times the whole session, which meant that there were really just two girls in her class.  She liked her back floats and kicking on her belly but wasn't too keen on the idea of going under water or getting her face wet.  I think I blame all of the bath tub splashing by her older sister. 

Cambrie had to move up a level because of class availability but she did great too.  She can now float on her back, dive to the bottom of the pool, and swim freestyle about 8 yards.  Her backstroke could still use some help, but that's just fine.  She loved her teacher.  He was really good with all of the kids and you could tell he really enjoyed what he did.  He was patient with the kids climbing all over him and made the lesson really fun. 

On the second-to-last day of class they got to jump off the diving board.  I didn't know if Cambrie would want to do it or not, but the new brave Cambrie of this summer thought it was great.  She was so proud of herself. 

Miss "I do it!"

 McKenzie decided to potty train herself this week! 

Yes, that is her in big-girl panties. We tried in April with no success whatsoever and I put her potty away to wait a few more months.  She found her hidden potty and it has just been sitting in her bathroom for a while.  When we get ready for bed she would occasionally sit on it for fun, but with no real goal in mind.  During the last few weeks however she has been taking off her diaper to go and sit on the potty.  Nothing would happen once she was on the potty, but I was tired of the used diapers lying around.  So I finally decided to risk it and put her in panties to see what would happen.  Almost magically, yes I am serious, she figured it out.  She pulled off her panties when she needed to go potty and made it to the bathroom almost every time.  She would get out of bed to go during nap time.  She went right after she woke up in the morning.  And she would run to the bathroom in the middle of a cartoon to go.  We had a few accidents (who doesn't) but I can handle the one per day.  Today she has been accident free!  I just think it is funny that she wanted to do it by herself.  She goes when she wants to (not when I encourage her) and wants me out of the bathroom while she is going.  I just know she's had success when she comes running out of the bathroom yelling, "I did it!"

...And then asks for gummies :)  Yea McKenzie!

Backyard campout

For whatever reason we haven't made it up the canyon yet this summer to go camping.  To remedy this situation, and to calm the constant begging from Cambrie, we set up camp in our backyard for a couple of nights.  We decided to utilize Jeremy's new grill and made s'mores. 

Cute gooey smiles. 

Since McKenzie was still potty training, we brought her little potty outside near the tent to avoid any accidents.  It brings a brand new meaning to the word, "camping potty." 

Cambrie slept great, but McKenzie was up and about all night long.  Around 3:00 I decided to call it quits and left Jeremy with the girls while I slept inside.  I woke up fairly refreshed, but Jeremy was exhausted.  The next night we put the girls in their beds and Jeremy and I enjoyed a very peaceful campout in the backyard by ourselves.   Yes, we locked doors and had the baby monitor on.  The cool night air was just too tempting to resist.  We really need to get up to the mountains!

Sun Lions

Cambrie had her first T-ball game today.  Her team has yellow shirts (yea!) and are named the Sun Lions.  Jeremy took her and said it was the most entertaining game of ball he has ever watched.  The kids chased after hit balls in flocks and would pile on top of the loose balls.  Batters ran around clueless as they tried to remember where they were supposed to go after they hit the balls.  Cambrie's outfield position was on the pitcher's mound and she so valiantly tried to keep it clean that she occasionally missed the ball rolling right passed her.  But in her defense, she also managed to snag five or six other balls that came to her.  She said she had a great time and is so excited to play again next week.  I can't wait to see her in action!  I will let the videos speak for themselves.

Streaking Beauty

Miss McKenzie...oh Miss McKenzie.  As I was calming sitting at the computer reading emails this afternoon, Cambrie comes running in telling me that her sister is running outside...with no clothes or diaper!  Sure enough, this is what I see. 

I wonder what our neighbors think of our streaking beauty?