Girls weekend (me and the little ones) and other stuff.

This past weekend I was able to meet up with 2 of my favorite gals, Amber and Christie, in good ol', um, Kansas!  It may not sound like quite the "girls weekend" destination, but we make do with what the Air Force gives us.  We actually ventured to Kansas City (okay, not sure if Missouri fits that definition either) for two nights at a hotel in the Country Club Plaza and we ate, shopped, got pedicures, facials and massages.  We stayed up late watching girlie TV, slept in, and began each morning with Starbucks.

 Freedom!!

 Getting pretty toes!

Of course with me gone, Jonathan had the girls with him all weekend.  I had no worries, in fact, I'm always jealous when the girls have daddy time because they get to have fun all weekend!  Jonathan took the girls to work all day on Friday and they colored pictures and made paper jets for the guys he works with.  He also pinned on Major (bad timing on my part) so I missed this milestone in his career, but the girls did get to "pin on" his rank for him.  I have no pictures from the day, just the memories the girls have of ripping off daddy's old Captain rank.  Can you say "pay raise"...

Saturday fun included the pool and a birthday party for a friend, then an evening of chocolate fondue and Cinderella....see, nothing but fun!!

On Sunday after church, Jonathan took the girls to Home Depot to pick out paint colors to paint and old desk that I had as a kid.  Its been in our garage for over a year and has been low on the priority list!  The girls each got to pick a color from the Disney collection of colors.  They chose "Cinderella's Ball Gown" (blue), "Sleeping Beauty Pink" (obviously pink), and "True Loves Kiss" (red, from Snow White).

Jonathan even made sure the house was CLEAN when I came home Sunday evening!  Everyone benefits when mommy goes out of town.  Us girls spoke about and are hoping for New York City in spring 2013!!

I'm also pledging to use my camera in "manual" mode more often.  I don't have fancy schmancy computer software to enhance my photos...not yet anyway.  But I know I can get the desired effects (mostly not having to use the flash) with my camera's settings.  Amber has the same camera as me and showed me a few things when I was in town, but it looks like I will need another lens to get exactly what I want, but until then I'll work with the 2 I have.

Here's what I've got so far...

On that note, school is going well.  We keep on keepin' on during the summer.  The girls don't know any different, plus its so hot outside, why not?  I had a list of things I wanted to complete for Juliet this summer and she knows more than I realized!

Kylie continues to impress with her piano lessons.  She taught herself "Happy Birthday" and we helped her learn "The Star Spangled Banner" on the 4th of July.

And gymnastics is going great too!  Juliet will start in September.  She's dying to do it!

Speaking of dying, the girls were doing this last night....

Its never a dull moment!

Whirlwind CA Trip

A couple weekends ago, we traveled home to California to celebrate my grandma's 75th birthday and decided to throw in a night at the Del Mar Fair and a day at Sea World-2 places Jonathan and I went to growing up (I'm still trying to convince him of a Disneyland trip..."Its too expensive honey" is his mantra).  The big girls absolutely loved the fair!  Nama, Bopa and Aunt Heather tagged along too.  The girls couldn't have been less interested in the farm animals.  They enjoyed them for maybe 10 minutes, then asked about the rides.  Of course that was the main reason we went, and to splurge on some super unhealthy, nasty fair food!

 My goofy sister and I in the mirror.

 Of course the carousel is the first choice ride!

 Next we tried a roller coaster.  Juliet was NOT happy!  She was SCREAMING!!

 So were they, but with delight.

 Onto something a little calmer.

 I love this!

 Here the girls are waiting for their next ride.  It took some convincing for Ava.  I was hoping they'd get on it before they could actually watch it.  I knew Ava would have some reservations, but she was brave and said she'd go.

 Nothing makes a mommy happier than when her kids are having so much fun!

 Juliet's pick...Jonathan took her on this ride last year and he threw up the "NOT IT" finger on his nose.  Its super jerky, so I did it this time.

 If you look closely, you can see that Juliet popped a bubble!

 My beautiful Ava.

 Another roller coaster.

 My beautiful Kylie.

 Aunt Heather getting in on the action.

 This ride was hysterical!  The kids screamed every time it dropped them.  All the parents were laughing uncontrollably.

 My beautiful Juliet.  

 Juliet was begin silly and not looking at us.  With every rotation we'd try to get her attention and she thought she was a little comedian ignoring us.

 Sweetness on another ride.

How special.

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Saturday morning we headed to Sea World with Grammy and Granka.

 Look, a dolphin!

 Hoping to touch one.

M-"Why are you sad, baby?" J-"Because I want to touch a dolphin!"

 The dolphins stay just far enough away if you aren't holding a juicy fish!

 Grammy and Ava watching.

 Playing with Sea Stars.

 Look Granka, its Shamu!

 Cool treats on a HOT day-that means they MELT!

 That would be mommy feeding Juliet what remains of her ice cream.

Not too bad!

On Sunday morning, we had lunch with Grandma (white shirt and sun glasses) as it was her 75th birthday.  We then headed to Fort Rosecrans Cemetery where my grandpa resides.  This was part of her birthday wish since she doesn't make the trip down to Point Loma too often.  My grandpa was a Sergeant Major in the Marine Corp and died when I was in college.  His crypt is to the left of my grandmas head as you look at the photo.  As we stood chatting loudly with his great grand children running around, we joked that he was watching us and thinking "things never change!" and he wasn't resting in peace at the moment.  :)