Sunday is Bath Night...

After our fun Sunday at the zoo, we played outside for the rest of the day in the sprinklers.

Beach Beauties...

Emma-Grace didn't understand why her baby sing wasn't working.

Super Model... it is very difficult to get a nice picture of Anna. Usually she squints in anticipation of a flash, or her eyes are half open and what not... But this one nailed it!

Silly face!

Since Sunday is bath night, I am quite liberal with the level of dirtiness allowed... Wait, who is kidding, I LOVE dirty kids and I would let them do this even if it wasn't bath night. There is nothing better than dirty kids from having too much fun!

As I have said before, Crayola chalk paints and the coolest toy ever. No kid can resist making a giant mess on themselves and every where else.

Emma-Grace was quite liberal with her body art.

Anna was slightly more reserved, but was in to it nonetheless...

Yes, that is a 24" diameter ADS corrugated pipe... you shouldn't be surprised that we have this... it is in fact a terrific toy... check the winter snow fort posts... Budry Snow Fort 3.0 is currently under design as we speak. All we need is snow.

Hand and feet trails are the best part.

All the single ladies (all the single ladies), All the single ladies (all the single ladies), All the single ladies (all the single ladies) Now put your hands up....

All clean!

A Day at the Detroit Zoo

On Friday, the girls and I woke up about 8:30 am and I was really hating the fact that I had a TON of laundry to do, a severely messy house and other chores. While the girls were eating breakfast, I jumped on line really quick and saw a video on the Detroit Zoo. Being the awesome mom I am, we dropped everything, left breakfast plates on the table and beds unmade and ran to the zoo.

The seals were playing in the Artic Circle of Life.

Waiting for the train... we went ALL OUT for girls day out at the zoo.

Sister picture at the prairie dogs.

Since Emma-Grace stated about 357 times since Friday that she wanted to "go back to zoo" we returned on Sunday for a family day at the zoo. We focused on the things that are not for an out numbered parent... like the butterfly house (see last picture as to why I couldn't take both girls in by myself), the prairie dog holes for kids, and other stuff...

Despite loving all things pink, purple. Barbie, and princess, the girls' favorite places in the zoo are the reptile house and amphibiville. Go figure that one out. And then while you are at it, check out below what is Emma-Grace's biggest fear. Makes no sense.

Hello Otter! We never get to see you because you are always sleeping! But today, you were swimming and showing off for us.

The things nightmares are made of... BUTTERFLIES!!!!!!! Emma-Grace is terrified of butterflies. Yes, butterflies. In fact, last week she woke up in the middle of the night crying about the butterfly on her arm. So here is Emma-Grace clinging to Ken for dear life in the Butterfly House. Terrifying.

Pathetic Baby (and Mommy)

Yesterday, I was telling a coworker how great the girls sleep through the night because I sleep through the night. Of course, I jinxed myself. The girls started the night off sleeping in Anna's bed.

Around 3:00 am, I wake up to Emma-Grace's panicked scream and find her in the hallway crying that the "kitty on arm." I assume that Gus slept on her. When I scooped her up, she was burning up with a fever of 102 degrees. I put her on my bed and went to get some Motrin for her. While digging out the Motrin, I hear the wonderful sounds of throw up and the panic scream of baby afterwards. Since Ken and I are potty trained, we do not have a plastic cover on our mattress to deflect baby vomit or pee pee. So once again I rescue her, administer the medicine and then we cuddle until 5:00 am. At which point, I just stay up since my alarm for work is going to go off in 30 mins.

Vomiting appears to be an isolated incident, so Grammy watches her. After all, Grammies are good at cuddling. Grammy, being the lifesaver that she is, brings me a giant Diet Coke to keep me going. While on my way to work at 6:45 am, with lots of anti-eye puffiness makeup on, I pull through a turn around and the Diet Coke goes flying out of the cup holder and all over the floor of the passenger seat. Yes, I am relieved that it didn't land on me, but mostly I am upset that my Diet Coke is being sucked up into the van's floor mat. I arrive at work and decide to leave Diet Coke exactly where it landed in the Van... it is after all, Ken's car, not mine and I can't be held responsible for my actions after a night like that.

So work begins and Emma-Grace seems to be herself most of the day based on phone calls with Grammy. I arrive home to find Grammy cuddled up with a listless Emma-Grace who once again has a 102 degree fever. You know she is sick when she doesn't spaz out when a wet towel with an ice pack is placed on her head. After some serious Mommy cuddling, she falls asleep and I place her on the couch with the ice pack on her head. See below.

After a few hours of this, she seems to return to normal or the Motrin once again kicked in. She lucks out with a Popsicle for dinner and is now sleeping in her crib... hopefully through the night. However, the night is still young.

Oh, and the best part is, is that Ken is out of town for all of this...

Mackinac Island and Mackinaw City

We took a family vacation to Mackinaw City and spend two days on Mackinaw Island. It was a blast. The girls had a lot of fun and Ken and I walked 20 Miles in 4 days and biked 20 miles. Despite all my walking and biking I still brought home 10 pounds as a souvenir. Seriously, I am limited on the amount of work pants I can fit into!

Anyway, when I asked Anna what her favorite part about the vacation was she listed the following three items in this order:

1. Playing in the lake

2. Playing in the pool

3. Eating at "Anna's Country Buffet" in Mackinaw City.

Good thing we spent a ton of money on the boat rides, carriage rides, butterfly house, and bikes... It clearly had a lasting impression on her.

Super Model

Emma-Grace was pretty apprehensive about the lake... but she started to get into it. After all, if Anna does it, then as Emma-Grace states "ikendoit".

The hotel we stayed at was located between two of the ferry companies. So of course, every half hour the ships came in and so did the waves.

Anna loved the waves.

Twiggy

Emma-Grace was terrified of them. And, being the good parent that I am, I took the time to snap a few pictures of her absolutely terrified face before I rescued her.

Oh yeah, being the great parents we are, we set the whole thing up again the next day to get it on video since I didn't have my video camera when I took the picture above. So here is the video:

Of course they spent a lot of time playing in the sand. What kid doesn't love sand?

Finally, the first day, the girls didn't go into the lake until almost 9:00 pm. So I just threw Emma-Grace in her bathing suit without a swim diaper because I knew we wouldn't be out too long. Check it out: It is amazing what diapers can hold. I think most of Lake Huron was absorbed into her diaper...There is no #2 in the diaper, only Lake Huron. If you are wondering about the brand, it was either a Luvs or Target diaper. They only get this big after they have absorbed the better part of a Great Lake in them.

Baby Got Back!

OK, it is late and I need to get to bed. I will post more of our vacation later!