Legoland, Playground, & Water Park fun!

We had a fun filled week for sure this week, and loved every minute of it!  I love summer and just getting to do all sorts of fun things with the girls.  We usually stay busy at least 3 days and will enjoy some down time at home as well.  This week we started our week by going to Legoland on Monday with Dawn, Grace, Keyes, and Elliott.  We had never been and I've wanted to take Cohen in the past but never have.  Keyes and Cohen both love Legos so Dawn and I thought this would be right up their alley.  I think they all enjoyed it too.   I'm not sure it was everything I had expected it to be but it was still fun and the kids really liked it.  They loved the rides, the 4D movie, and the big playground!  Even Kate had a play area she liked!  They all had fun looking at the Lego buildings of the city of Atlanta, especially the football and baseball fields.  We covered it all in a couple of hours then finished up in the gift shop.  We finished just in time for lunch too so we had lunch, did a little shopping and finished up with frozen yogurt.  Dawn & I even made a stop at the Container Store.  We had a fun day!  On the way home we met Kelly and then made our way to Gainesville to celebrate Grannie and Aunt Vicki's birthdays.  I would say we had a fun filled day for sure!

On Tuesday we went to see Cohen's friend Mya.  These girls twirl together and Cohen has missed seeing Mya since we haven't had a competition since Savannah.   Mya just had a birthday too so we had a gift for her.  When we got there the girls enjoyed some pool time together then went inside to play.  They had so much fun seeing each other and I was glad to get them together.  I didn't get a picture of them but they were busy playing hard!
On Wednesday the playground that Bebe had bought for the girls was being installed.  She had wrapped up a picture of it for Kate's birthday but it wasn't officially installed until Wednesday.  They both could not wait to get out there and try it out.  I know we will spend lots of time on it.  Cohen, Keyes and Elliott actually found out that wetting the slide made for a very fast water slide!  In this picture the girls have on their bathing suits because we were about to head to the swimming pool.  We enjoy pool time every chance we can get!   Savannah & Addison came by for a little bit that afternoon to play on the playground.  Cohen ended up going home with Savannah for a sleepover.

Thursday morning Cohen came home and we laid low here at home.  The girls had fun painting on the porch and we played games together in between cleaning.  There's always a day for cleaning, that just isn't near as fun :)
Yesterday we continued our fun week by going with LeAnne, Baylor, Kinsley, and Kaylee to the water park.  Cohen has been looking forward to going back this summer and it is a great place for the kids.  We got there at a great time too because it wasn't too crowded yet and no day camps had come. It did start to get crowded just after lunch but after we ate lunch we let the girls play for a little bit longer and then we were ready to go.  We did take them by Chic-Fil-A for their free ice creams they had got coupons for.  I had fun watching Kate eat hers.  It took her forever and I just knew it was going to be the biggest mess ever, but she managed to eat it pretty well and thank goodness for baby wipes!  Cohen went down the big waterslide this time and I was very proud of her.  She can be pretty hesitant about things but she went right up there and slid right down.   When we got ready to leave she wanted to go again but it was a much longer line so I told her she would have to wait for our next trip.

Last Weekend-Waifs, Runs, and Frogs!

I got so busy this week that I forgot to do my short post about our weekend last weekend!  We had lots of fun with friends!  On Friday Jessica came down from Charlotte for a quick visit.   We always love a visit and we had fun catching up with her.  We are on the countdown to her wedding next month in the Bahamas!  Friday we just hung out and went out to dinner.  Saturday we kept her busy until she left :)  I had a 5K that Saturday morning with my running girls and since Stacey was in the middle of moving she wasn't going to be able to run after all.  Since she had already signed up I asked Jessica if she would like to do it and she said she would...so Jessica (aka Stacey) ran her first 5K in the big city of Lavonia!  I'm glad I got to run with her!  It was a hot one too.  This girl is on the slow down with this hot weather and the ever growing baby bump.  It was a fun morning though and we felt very accomplished when it was over!

After we ran we got ready and loaded up to go to Athens.  Us and the Harbin's had a fun lunch at the Mellow Mushroom then went to celebrate Sam's 5th birthday at Aerofit in Athens.  I think we gave Jessica her kid fill for the day :)  The kids loved having a yummy pizza lunch then had a blast jumping it off at the party.  It was a lot of fun.  When we got back home Jessica had to head on back to NC.  We all loved our visit though!  That night we had another fun birthday party to go to.  It was a surprise birthday for our friend Natalie.  We also were enjoying our annual frog party too!  The party was at Alan & Jennifer's and we had so much fun.  The kids all ran and played while the adults got some time in to ourselves too.  Kate of course was all excited to catch frogs once it got dark.  It is crazy how this girl loves frogs!  By the time we let the frogs race she had squeezed hers to death, and it was too bad because she and Kelly had found a real bullfrog who could have really jumped.  Oh well, she loved it regardless!  Cohen who isn't as into frogs wanted her picture made holding one and held the frog for a split second.  Funny girls!

Kate & Autumn were having fun with the cat

Cohen was spending the night with Josie so these girls went on to bed.  We stayed just talking forever and when we finally were leaving, the last 2 kids standing were Kate & Autumn...these 2 are a mess.  I think this was well after 12:30!

Kate's 3 Year Check-up & a 23 Week Check-up for Me!

This week was check-up week at our house.  Kate had her 3 year check-up and I had my own doctor's appointment.   This week marked my 23 week...over halfway now!  Cohen has had baton camp this week so we dropped her off at camp and then headed to Athens to my appointment.  Everything is looking great.  Baby's heartbeat was 144.  This is just a little bit slower than what Kate's was at this very same appointment so who knows?!?  I realized that I never posted anything about our big ultrasound so I'll post the picture we got of the baby's face...let the guessing games begin :)  I'm still not a fan of 3D pictures so we only have the one.  We did stand firm on not finding out at the ultrasound though so that was good.  Funny story...on the cruise we were discussing some names at dinner one night and we are stumped more on a boys name so we asked Kate what she would want to name her brother.  She said..."Its not a boy, its a gurl."  So we then asked what she wanted to name her sister, and she replied "Hey boy".  She is so funny sometimes with what she says.   Kate has been to every doctor's appointment with me so far so we have started taking a picture together at them...I want to remember these special moments.

20 weeks...what will it be??

We had plenty of time to run some errands between my appointment and Kate's, and one of them was a stop at Old Navy.  What does Kate love at Old Navy, and any store for that matter...Mannequins!  And Old Navy has the little ones she really likes.

At Kate's appointment she was "perfect"!  She even had the vision test at this appointment and it was so cute watching her call out the shapes.  Here are a few of her stats...we definitely have a bigger girl than what Cohen was, but we knew that already.
Height-37 inches (50-75%)
Weight-35 pounds (75-90%) for BMI she is actually 90-95%

Dr. Setia was not concerned about anything even being in those higher percentiles.  Its such a good example of 2 kids being built so different.  I love it!  We did have a good discussion on potty training pointers.  This is still frustrating.  Kate will go pee pee for you on the potty but its with me putting her on it and keeping up with when to take her which is not fun at all.  To me a child isn't potty trained until they realize they need to go.  I'm really over it to be quite honest.  I've always heard not to push them that they will get it on their own when something clicks.  That is basically what happened with Cohen but its still frustrating.  A friend of mine put it best to me though...she said there are so many things that will frustrate you when they get older, things you do have to worry about, so you will look back and only wish potty training was all you were worried about!  I love that!  Here is my happy, sweet girl at her check-up.  I do hope this new baby will get a little of Kate's personality.  She is so easy going and happy!

I mentioned Cohen had camp this week.  She has loved every minute of her baton, dance, and tumble camp.  She has learned a lot and I know she can hardly wait to be back every week.  She is sad that she doesn't have a competition soon.  We both miss it!  haha!  Here is a silly picture that Ms. Amy took at camp of everyone.  I wish I could post Cohen's performance video that Suzy was so sweet to take for me since I was at the doctor.  Its a little longer so I'll save it.  She did an awesome job though!   She has had a fun fun week.  On top of camp we had a movie day seeing Malificent.  She really loved the movie...just not the loudness of it which is typical Cohen.  She is not big on loud noises!  We are now in full summer mode!

Cruising to the Bahamas

We have just got back from a cruise with my family to the Bahamas.  My sweet mama took us and my sister and Brock on a cruise.  Mama has been on several cruises, but this was our first and it was actually her first on the cruise line Carnival.  It was a neat experience and I'm glad we got to see what it was like.  We learned a lot and saw several pros and cons to being on a cruise.  We do always enjoys spending time with our family though no matter where we are.  We left last Saturday morning and drove to Jacksonville where we got on the boat.  Since we had never been on a cruise, I was anxious to find out if I would be aware of the boat's movement but when we did set sail you barely knew you were moving and we did have good weather so it was smooth sailing the entire time.  We were ready for lunch when we got on board, so we had lunch then decided to let the girls play on the water slides.  One big complaint we had was how small the pool was on the boat.  I don't think we swam the entire time which I couldn't believe, but you could not get in that small pool even if you wanted too.  That hurt the girls because after so many trips down the slides they were ready for new entertainment.  Kate loved going down the one slide she could do so that was plus.

splash 

Going to the big slide

The next day was a day at sea so we did more water slides.  There is an on board babysitting called Camp Carnival where the kids can do activities with other kids their age.  We let the girls go for just a little bit so we could take advantage of the adults only deck and some reading time.  It was a nice little break.

That night was the captain's dinner.  Dinners were always nice and the food was good.  Cohen had been looking forward to wearing her "long" dress so she was excited about that.  While we were getting ready the girls were taking advantage of having a pillow fight in our tiny room.  It always amazed me how they had fun no matter what and did not complain.

This picture of Kate cracks me up.  Right before I took it she was doing the same thing with her hamburger patty.  We are all just talking and we look over and see her with this piece of meat hanging out just waiting for us to laugh at her.  We start talking about what a mess she is and then I look over at this!  This girl is always good for a laugh!

Monday was the day I was looking forward to the most!  We were stopping at Nassau, Bahamas and doing an excursion at the Atlantis.  I have always wanted to interact with dolphins so that was on the agenda.  We were spending time at the water park first but our time was cut short on doing the slides because a storm came up and everyone had to get out of the water.  The Atlantis was beautiful though and we did check out the aquarium while we waited for the rain to stop.  I would definitely recommend staying there especially for families.  After we ate lunch we did get on the "not so" lazy river.  It was very long but it was fun.  We had to run to make our dolphin interaction!  Cohen and Kate rode in tubes with me and Kelly and loved it.  This river has waves and rapids all through it but they both loved it!

Cohen held a live starfish in the aquarium...not sure if she was supposed to!

The dolphin shallow water interaction was next and we LOVED this.  They were so cute!  We each got to kiss and hug Naia the dolphin and then had family pics made as well.  She showed us all kinds of tricks.  This was probably my favorite part of the entire trip.  Cohen & Kate were both so cute in their little wet suits!  I loved it.  Being 5 months pregnant in one was not my greatest feeling but it was worth it!

It was time to head back to the ship after this which was disappointing because we could have spent a few more hours in the water park.  The girls had enjoyed the kids area for a while earlier but we would have loved to go down some bigger slides.  Maybe another time!  It was a great excursion for sure.

Once back on the ship we had to get ready for dinner.  We also saw a couple of fun shows that night, Hasbro the gameshow and we watched the Newlywed game.  There were several laughs that night!  We also saw a beautiful sunset!

I loved Cohen's smile showing off her new gap where she had lost a tooth before we left on our trip

Tuesday was our second stop on the trip.  We went to Half Moon Cay which is the island owned by the cruise company.  We spent the day just enjoying the beach and the beautiful blue water!  Kelly and Cohen actually went on a sting ray snorkel trip.  They had quite the adventure.  Everything went great until Cohen fed the stingray and had too much of a grip on her squid and the stingray actually sucked her finger while getting it and it made a small cut.  Kelly said everything went downhill from there but she seemed to have recovered by the time she got back to me and Kate.  We told her it would be a good story to tell!  He said she did so good snorkeling too and they saw all kinds of stingrays, starfish, and fish.  It was quite hot if you weren't in the water so it felt good to get back to the ship to cool off!

 Cohen wanted to visit camp Carnival that evening before dinner so she could do the face painting.  She couldn't wait to show off her girl pirate face!

Our last day was spent at sea.  This was actually our 9th anniversary!  After letting the girls play on the water slides that morning, we let them hang out with Bebe and Auntie P so that we could have some time to ourselves.  We went back to the adults deck and since it rained just a bit and cooled things off, we actually got in the hot tub.  It was relaxing for sure.  This was the only night we all didn't eat dinner together because we weren't quite ready when Mama and Paula went so we got an anniversary dinner alone too.  Or alone plus Kate :)  Cohen wanted to go eat with Brock...she loves Brock!  I am so lucky to have such a sweet hubby and these last 9 years have flown by for sure.  I love doing this adventure called life with him!  He is truly my best friend, and is the best husband and father a girl could ask for.
Thursday it was time to get off the boat and head home.  I think we all had a fun time but it was nice to be off the boat too.  A big thank  you to Mama for the trip!!  We definitely made some great memories!
On our way home we stopped for lunch in Swainsboro at a bed and breakfast.   When Kate was just 1 month old we had ate at this restaurant on our way to the beach.  I took a picture of Cohen in front of the house because it was such a pretty place.  This time I took the same picture with both girls.  My how time does fly!