Sort of Like the Zoo...

We were supposed to go to an evening at the zoo with Aunt Marion. but she cancelled on us at the last minute, due to some last minute rescheduling of Nick's baseball game. Unfortunately I didn't get her voicemail (next time please send a text) so Kayli had been talking about it ALL day, (we weren't meeting until 4:00) counting down the hours/minutes, and was soo disappointed! After some frustrating circular discussions, I convinced her that we could still have fun and she could still wear her zebra shirt and we would stick with the animal theme and go to dinner at the Rainforest C*afe. Woohoo, what a plan! We hopped in the car and headed for the restaurant that we discovered had shut down a couple years ago, when the A*merican Girl Store moved in! Sheesh, we just can't seem to win here! All the way to the parking lot, Kayli is trying to engage me in a totally illogical conversation, and I am racking my brain for a plan, and getting more and more frustrated by the minute...and hungry!
Then, suddenly, it popped into my head, as if by magic (angels? my mom?) it's the next "perfect plan!" It's almost as entertaining as our zoo, has more animals per square foot than our zoo, less walking, air conditioned, no entrance fee, no crowd, waterfalls, bridges, bears, campgrounds, scenic elevators, animal footprints to follow, and a restaurant that brought us to the depths of the ocean  where we were surrounded by huge man-eating sharks and swordfish, where I  savored a juicy cheesy patty melt with crispy fries, and Kayli did the same for a big bowl of Mac 'n Cheese, followed by "dirt pudding with gummy worms!"  Anybody know where we are??? Whew! What a save!

 Plan "C" was a WINNER!!!

Working on it...

Kayli is so good about saying "please," "excuse me," and "thank-you." She has even recently taken on my challenge to use a little more expression with her "thank-you's", and has done a fabulous job with this!
But, just when I thought the going was good, I was recently reminded that the teaching is never done... this morning, a service man was at my house, and it was already 80 degrees by 8:00 a.m., and he was sweating quite a bit, and Kayli looked up from the table and announced to him "Whew! You smell like an old goat!" I nearly spewed out the coffee I was sipping!
Luckily he was quite a good sport and split a gut laughing! He assured Kayli that he took a shower this morning, and grabbed his shirt to smell it. Well, he finished his work, and on his way out the door, he was still laughing and shaking his head saying "old goat, huh?"

Swimming Lessons

I signed Kayli up for a two-week stint of daily swimming lessons, 45 minutes per day. On the last day, they invited parents to stay and witness the new skills our children had aquired...
"Ok, Miss Kayli, are you ready?"

 "I'm ready!"

...and she's off!

doing great... keep that tummy up...

whoops...starting to sink...

Teacher says: "Ok, Kayli, you need to pretend you have a big round belly like Santa, then lean back and let your round tummy just float like a ball!"

Kayli laughs: "Ha,ha, that is hilarious, I can't stop laughing!"

"Ok, I think I'm ready now..."

and, now the scissor kick, NICE...

thanks for the help, Mrs. J., but I'm so ticklish, and uh, you're tickling me, and I'm about to curl up with laugher...

Ok, everyone down at the end of the pool to finish with a dive. 

First, the kneeling dive...

and she "slices through the water like a hot knife through butter" er sort of...

and, now she prepares for the standing dive...arms up...

and...she's in...

a whole lot of learning took place in 8 swim sessions! Way to go Kayli!!!

Dragonboat Festival

What a busy, fun, hot day on the plaza, participating in the "Dragonboat Festival!"

Kayli and I had really been looking forward to this day. Not only did we have a lot of fun at this festival last year, but this year, we had the additional excitement of Kayli performing on stage! Miss Lily, Kayli's Chinese dance teacher, had all the girls and their parents meet in the Plaza garage to have a snack and prepare to perform. I was in charge of the red ribbons that needed to be tied in all the girls' pigtails. "Smile, girls..."

Ok, it's time to head to the stage."Dance your hearts out girls..."

Way to go girls! Now, Kayli is scheduled to sing with the Children's Choir from "Families Blessed with the World's Children" towards the end of the program, so we decided this would be a good time to check out the dragonboat races taking place right behind us, on the creek. Marion, Jake, Suzanne, Kayli, and I headed over there to check them out...

well, there we were, standing with the crowd, watching the boats, when all of a sudden, one of them  capsized...yikes! They had to postpone the race while they got everyone out of the water, then bailed out the boat!

we walked around, checking out the vendors, ducked into a department store to shop/cool off a bit, then headed back to the stage area for Kayli's second debut. We had all the kids lined up, ready to go on stage, when the chairperson of the festival entertainment decided to insert a "magic act" before our number. I heard that it was quite good, but the problem for us was that it was already 12:30, we had a bunch of sweaty, hot, hungry kids, ranging in age from 3-7, who had already been waiting a long time, and the littlest ones were starting to show their impatience (if you know what I mean?!) Now, take a look at this line up below and NOTE the little boy sitting next to Kayli and the wall behind him...

 ...so, right before we were to go on stage, we were all standing in a bunch, by this wall, (right stage entrance) next to a small tent, intermixed with a crowd of adults. Well, all of a sudden, I see an older lady lose her footing on the uneven surface, and start to fall backwards and a few people scrambled to catch her. They managed to break her fall, but in the process, they knocked little 4-yr-old-Tai off the edge of the wall, and he went tumbling down the hill toward the creek, brushing the edge of the tree, which slowed him down but added a few scrapes. Then, with the help of his guardian angel, he managed to roll straight into a small family picnic, which stopped his descent, thank goodness! He was quite scared and upset, and after refusing to go up on stage, he eventually pulled it together, and joined in on the part of the program where the kids used Chinese words to tell the audience their names and ages...

one of the songs they sang was about tigers, which is why you see the tiger ears and tails...

we had a leisurely lunch on the plaza, then Kayli and I walked over to Halls to buy some special candy, from their candy counter, that I had promised her we would get before going home. She and I stayed with the theme of the day, stopping at the International Mkt on the way home and getting some Chinese food for dinner, and a box of their yummiest fortune cookies! Once, we got home, of course I had to take a few more pictures of Kayli in her costume, which was already losing it's feathers, the hem was coming out, the decal was coming loose, but my sweet pea still looked like a shining star!

Sun, Sand, Water...

and we didn't even have to leave home! Kayli and Lily had a ball together in the backyard today, while they went from swingset to sand box to water table and then back to the sand box carrying bottles of water from the water table, for the perfect sandcastle!

while Baby Graeme and I just hung out and watched from the sidelines...(yes, I was babysitting, and thoroughly enjoying this laid back, happy baby!)
Kayli yells "take a picture, Mom!" "Just look at this mountain we built!"

it was getting really hot out, and judging from the girls' flushed cheeks, I decided it was time to get the hose and the water table out, and, oh boy, was that a hit!

Oh YEAH, there's nothing like "wild water spray" to bring out the squeals!

yep, this is what summer is all about...