the great outdoors

Olivia, Violet and I went camping with my parents this past weekend. My parents have their camper parked for the summer in a campground area of a resort. The resort was really nice and had a lot of things to do. The weather was pretty hot, so we spent a lot of time at the beach. The girls loved going down the waterslide. Olivia also loved collecting shells and Violet had a blast making a big pile of seaweed. They also played a lot at the playground, in the sand, in the camper, and we also went on a hayride Saturday night put on by the resort owners. Violet loved the hayride and didn’t want to get off the trailer! The girls made some new friends that they played with which seemed so weird. Hard to believe they are old enough to introduce themselves and meet new kids. They have become a little braver, but they still had plenty of fears and worries (afraid of rain and campfire just to name a few). We all had a great time, and the girls loved spending time with Granny & Grandpa. All weekend Olivia kept saying, "I am going to stay here forever and ever."

Last night, we told the girls about our upcoming trip to Orlando. We bought some wheeled Cinderella suitcases with the girls’ names on it, so Jamie sneaked out the garage and put those outside the front door along with a printed invitation from “Cinderella” inviting them to have breakfast at her castle. He rang the doorbell and ran back into the house through the garage. The girls looked out the front window and said, “Somebody left their backpack!” When they opened the door, they were thrilled that the backpacks were for them and shouted, “They have our names on them!” They were so excited about the backpacks that they didn’t really listen fully to Daddy reading the invitation telling them we are going to the castle. Violet finally realized what was going on and got pretty excited. She started shoving stuff in her backpack right away. I asked her what she thought she should pack for the trip and she said quite frankly: “Animals and art stuff.” Once Olivia realized what was happening, she got pretty excited too. I asked her what she was going to do when she meets the princesses and she said: “Give them all a hug and a kiss!” Then they were really concerned about how Cinderella got away so fast without us seeing her. Must have been Fairy Godmother magic! We leave at the end of August, so we have some time to prepare them for the things we are going to see and do. We made a paper chain calendar where we will tear off one chain per day, and the last chain left is the day we leave! It should be a lot of fun to hear their excitement grow.

Violet & Olivia with their suitcases from Cinderella: Olivia playing at the resort playground:
Violet burying her feet in the sand: Playing on the beach with Grandpa: Going down the waterslide: Olivia: "Catch me Grandpa before my head goes under the water!"Violet going down the slide: Violet riding in her own little boat: Olivia collecting shells: