Sea World 1,2! Sea World 3,4! Sea World 5, 6, 7, 8.... it's GREAT!!!!

So... Sea World Adventure Camps came and went... we made it through the week, well almost ;) On the last day Luca and Aurora and I went our on ways and just met up with the group for "graduation". Maria had a great time (see pictures) and we saw and touched and fed more marine animals than we've ever done in our lives. It was

HOT, very very HOT. The 10 second drinking rule was implemented quite often (drink for a count of 10 secs) which was quite alright with us as we drank more water than ever. We made crafts, rode the bus, went behind the scenes quite a bit and just had a lot of fun all week through (except for the day when I forgot my stroller because I had to wash it). One of the days it POURED and it got very wet by the time we exited the Sharks exhibit.

Maria can't wait for next year, I think it is her favorite of all the camps. You will see more pictures of Aurora because I was with her for the whole camp and Maria went with other campers and some instructors.

Tennis Camp

Maria finished tennis camp today, she got a beautiful trophy and she was very excited because it was her first trophy ever. She said we need to put up a shelf for all of the other trophies she will get in the years to come!

Aurora was very excited to see her sister and she was happy to be able to be out and about after being stuck in the house with a fever and a sore throat.

That's all for now.

Swimming through the summer!

Maria has figured out that if she jumps in with a kicking board, her ears are pretty much safe from getting too wet, so she has been jumping that way.

This was one giant grasshopper that greeted us at Aurora's new school for next year must have been at least 5 inches long!

For those of you who haven't heard... Aurora is now swimming her way across the pool! we didn't do much over the weekend, just stayed in and did a bit of swimming. Maria's ear is infected AGAIN! so... I just put her plugs in so that we could go swimming . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz-WRgfJ4GY

Splashing into summer!

We've been busy with all summer related activities. Aurora is continuing her swimming lessons and yesterday had a breakthrough... she got on her back and started swimming on her back all over the pool which is something she had been resisting for the past couple of weeks. It is amazing how children absorb info and then when they apply it they feel so empowered and sure of themselves. She had been swimming in the upright position, hopefully she will transition onto her stomach which is how I usually taught swimming way back in the days when I was teaching. Maria has also become more brave around the pool, I got them both doc plugs (special plugs for swimming) they really make a difference in her confidence as she swims.

We visited downtown disney one day when we went to get Maria's ears checked at Celebration. They played for HOURS at the my little pony workshop area, so much so that we just had to fill one of those boxes with junk (yes junk!) anything and everything that you can think of for dressing and playing princess with the My Little Ponies, we really needed more small pieces in the house... HA! oh well, they are only children once and one day we'll get rid of all the toys when they grow up. After playing we went to get a delicous nutritious Happy Meal at the Mc D's play area there in downtown. They are building a nice Dinosaurs play area for kids there.

Maria is very set on having long hair, last time she cut it we were in San Diego and she was only 4 so she thought that you could go to the salon and make your hair "long again". I guess she got that idea from the Dora princess episode where she brushes her hair and it grows, an episode we've seen MANY times. She has been growing her hair for the past year and now she gets very excited everytime she notices her hair. I haven't been able to get her to go and get the tips trimmed, she refuses every time! She also likes striking a pose when I take her pictures, I guess I've been taking her pic for so long that she is now so used to it and happy to pose for the camera. Aurora on the other hand is a bit camera shy. She likes to throw that big Aurora smile at me sometimes and when she smiles she closes her eyes. Parenting is so challenging, so exciting and just so much fun! I love my girls, they are so nice and are growing so fast.

In other news, we received a phone call from Maria's shcool telling us that she had to be tested again for 1st grade because she is 10 days shy of the cutoff. We went, they tested and then they told us that she was a bit behind on her writing and drawing skills! Oh no she is NOT! you can say many things about Maria but two of her best attributes are her writing AND drawing skills.

Yesterday I got a phone call and it seemed that they are going to go ahead and keep her (gee thanks!) in 1st grade and want us to check in every so often to see how she is doing. There is not doubt in my mind that she will do great. It puzzles me how they would wait until almost the beginning of the year to RE-TEST her. Well, it seems everything worked out and as long as she is in we are happy, we were very stressed the past days about that but luckily everything got resolved.

Waiting for visitors to come!

Until the next blog~