We're baaaack....

Check out the view from my mom and mema's deck!



Sorry for the absence folks. I took the girls to my mom's on Thursday and returned Saturday. My mom's birthday was Sunday. Of course, it was also Father's Day so we returned early.

We had a great trip thanks in part to my little friend Elianna. If you remember, Abby is named after her - Abigail Elianna. My sister started babysitting for her family just before she was born, and then I picked it up when Kimberly moved to DC. That was over 11 years ago. Elianna and her family have been very special to us through all these years.

It was Elianna's first trip with me to the mountains, and we had a great time. We had a great time. She was an AMAZING help. She could sit in the backseat between the girls and distract them when they were crying. She could also sit in the car with them when I stopped to go to the bathroom which was FANTASTIC. (That's probably the hardest thing about traveling alone with the girls. Every time I have to go (which is a lot), I have to haul both car seats out. It's really a pain.) She learned how to change a diaper and had nearly miraculous success feeding them. In fact, we made amazing time on the way back because she figured out how to feed them in the car - while they were in their car seats. Even more amazing - they both ate about 130mls that way!

She was so helpful with watching the girls, but I did let her have a little fun:-) After a nice dinner for my mom's birthday, we stayed at the Fun Factory and played putt-putt, rode go-carts, and played tons of video games - including "Deal or No Deal". We also went Ruby Mining Saturday morning. We had fun, but didn't really find anything. We still have a huge bag of "gravel" to look through. My cousin used to have a ruby mine and my mom is going to see if he can come over and look through the rocks to see if we missed anything.

Elianna and Natalie
Fun on the Putt-putt course
Trying to strike it rich!

Elianna and her feeding magic! The girls ate so well for her!

The girls had fun too. Grammy bought a little pool and the girls had there first swimming lesson! It was so cute. They splashed and splashed. We put a few toys in the pool too, but Abby kept trying to drink water from them (and chocking herself), so we had to take those away. In addition to playing in the pool, the girls played with Mema and Grammy. We met Grammy for lunch one day and then went to dinner to celebrate her birthday. Natalie and Abby also went for their first Merry-Go-Round ride at the Fun Factory. My mom and I each held them on a horse. They actually did very well. I was afraid they might get upset but they did great. They didn't appear stressed or tense at all. Hopefully, they liked it!





All in all it was a good trip. It's just very tiring to travel. The girls are good fro the first few hours in the car. After that it gets tough. I can't blame them. I wouldn't want to be strapped in a car seat either! Later this week the traveling continues...our first airplane ride to a family reunion in Ohio!

(cue music) "I've been everywhere man, I've been everywhere..."