Happy Father's Day--Bay Beach

 

 Happy Father's Day! After snapping this picture, we headed up to Green Bay's Bay Beach. It's an amusement park just the right size for young families. It's run by the city's Parks Department, tickets are 25 cents (up from 10 cents when Ryan Keenan was a kid), and it's on the water.

Got our tickets for the train!

 After the train, we put the girls on the pond boat. We laughed to ourselves about Abigail's pouting.

 It wasn't long before we saw a hint of a smile from her on the Lady Bugs. Somewhere between the Helicopters and the Ferris Wheel, the thrill-seeker in her came out.

Had to get a picture of Giant Mountain Slide. We all went down it twice, and then we came back and rode it two more times. Our favorite!

Happy Father's Day, Ben! You are more than I ever could have asked for!

Potty Time or Party Time?

This was the scene for us the first week of June:

 A drink, a basket of reward presents, and a potty all within a couple of feet of Abigail playing in a dress. Yes, we were potty training! It was exciting and fun during the first couple of days, like a party. We had a balloon, but it got let go on the babysitter's watch. Lydia was a great model and cheerleader. Now the presents are gone and we still have accidents, but she's potty trained, yay!

 More outdoor play minimizes carpet messes:

Sometimes these sisters are too precious, holding hands!

The next week we met my mom at Possibilities Playground in Port and managed to get some playtime in between visits to the potty. ;)

 You're getting so big, Abigail!

Petting Farm

 We spent four full animal-packed hours at Green Meadows Petting Farm in Waterford.

They had the cutest little kittens. Lydia whispered to me, "Can we take him home?"

 The grey one fell asleep on my shoulder. Who wouldn't want to take one home?

The fun thing about this place is that it's so hands-on. They let you pet the darling ducklings, 

walk into the chicken coop and check for eggs,

 milk the pregnant cow, for real, 

and enter almost every pen. The signs encouraged you to "come on in," but I have to say, I felt strange and not always welcome. The turkeys gobbled real funny at me, I felt outnumbered by the bleating goats, the pigs nibbled on my shoelaces, but they were so cute and playful that I didn't mind.

Plus, they have tractor pulls, toys, sand pits, sensory bins, slides, toy duck races, cars, play farmer's market, adult tricycles, music bus, play laundry, a short maze, hayrides...

Abigail's Memorial Day fun glasses on the hayride.

Abigail loved the sound of her voice in this tunnel.

And in case that wasn't enough...Pony Rides!

Lydia rode Bunny and now she wishes she had her own horse to ride at home.

Abigail rode Lad and held on better than she usually holds on to Daddy, thankfully!

We had a nice picnic lunch in there somewhere, and before we left, Lydia wanted to stop one last time in the Kitty Barn. Reminds me of a picture of a young Ben...

Working at the "Car Wash"

These cuties worked and worked, and the bottom half of my car got clean.

At the car wash, woooh 
Talking about the car wash, yeah 
Come on y'all and sing it for me 
Car wash, woh, car wash yeah

Birthday and Mother's Day

 

 It was my big 3-0 birthday this week. For my birthday activity I picked mini-golfing with the family. Mini-golfing with three energetic little girls and a stroller really takes the game to about three new levels. The spinning windmill's got nothing on them.

After a hole or two, we got Abigail to focus on keeping track of her orange ball, instead of everyone else's. But with Lydia being the social butterfly/roamer that she is... half of the time, I didn't even know where she was. Like where was she when I took this picture?

and this picture...

Oh, she's behind Sarah.
Keeping track of that girl requires laser focus, but somehow I managed to score a hole-in-one and not completely loose Lydia. When is it not too soon to get your daughter a cell phone fully equipped with GPS tracking? Just asking.

And then on Mother's Day we were in Sheboygan and it was a beautiful day! I love being Momma to Lydia and Abigail. They are the best girls in the world. And I am so happy to be loved so well by my Moms. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Easter 2014

We dyed eggs with Stacy, Aaliyah and Violet. We like all of the pastel colors, but only the pink and purple cups had a line.

Lydia made designs with the white crayon.

 This year we went to the local grocery store's Easter Egg Hunt. It turned out to be a lot of fun for Abigail. The 2-3 year olds found their chocolate eggs in the paper products aisle.

Lydia enjoys decorating her cross cookie with care.

 We also went to our church for a kid's message, an egg hunt in the playground, and adorable cutout cookies.

 The girls found eggs in our basement among the toys, in the play tunnel, play kitchen, Barbie's car, etc.

(Hiding them in the basement made it possible to hold off the hunt till after church.) 

 Of course, the sorting of candy commenced immediately after (just like after trick-or-treating). But there were also puzzle pieces in some of the eggs (my favorite egg idea!); so putting the puzzle together was another fun activity.

 At Grandma Linda's, the girls broke out their new paints from her.

 Abigail, Lydia, Aaliyah...so cute!

Lydia "scooching" Abigail outside after a lovely brunch at Blackwolf Run with Grandma, Stacy & Greg, Sarah & Matt and his dad, step mom, brother and step brother.

After that we stopped at Aunt Debbie's house to see all the cousins and 13 second cousins all together. I think at this point we don't even try to get a group picture. What fun anyway!

Today's Craft