mommy's little ballerina

mck has been waiting a very long time to put on ballet shoes and dance in a real ballet class (something more than playing dress-up with ken). one of the highlights for her of turning three was being able to take dance!

she took a summer session of 6 ballet and tap classes. she came home the first day telling everyone, "i am mommy's little ballerina!" the happiness and sheer joy on her face was priceless! she was one happy little girl! she absolutely LOVED it. she finished up with a short (10 minute) performance at the end of her last class where the kids danced to "kung fu fighting" and "a sunshine song". now she can't wait for september to start "real ballet"! :)

fishin' and boatin'

ken and mck were thrilled when ms. b., ken's former teacher and our wonderful friend, invited us on their boat for the day. i figured the girls would last an hour or so and that would be it . . . was i wrong. the girl's had so much fun . . . kam included! they swam and caught fish for hours! mr. d. found a great little cove where the girls were able to catch one fish after the next . . . bailey couldn't bait the hooks fast enough! :) the smiles on their faces just made the day! what a great one! :)

family road trip 2008 (texas to north carolina!)

well, we survived! more than 40 hours in the car . . . more than 3000 miles . . . all 5 of us in our beloved mini-van! who knew a road trip could be so much fun! :) bailey drove the ENTIRE trip while i had "kid duty"!

we started off with a short drive to houston to see grammy and grampy! we hung out in the pool and got some relaxation in. we all headed to the red sox game . . . it was the girls' first major league game! we tattooed ourselves, wore red sox "garb" and enjoyed lot of junk food! :) it was great! we left at 4 a.m. for our next destination!

we drove to pensacola, fl for 2 nights to break up the drive and have a fun beach day! we arrived just as the skies turned black and prepared for a storm. we literally unpacked the car, changed the kids, grabbed the beach stuff and headed to the beach just to make sure we didn't miss out on beach time! the girls loved it! okay, all of them were a little hesitant about the sand/salt/not so clean feeling, but they got over it! what a fun couple of days!


we left florida and drove the long trek to north carolina for the vogt family reunion! it was wonderful to catch up with aunts, uncles, and cousins i hadn't seen in awhile. most had not met any of the girls! the girls met the other great-grandchildren - 3 boys from my cousin jonathan! they're all close in age, so that was fun! :) it was really cool to see the girls with grandpa george. he kept remarking how big kennedy had grown! kennedy and kenzie loved holding his hands to walk down the hill!

the cabin was AMAZING! what a wonderful place to be! we took a zillion walks, enjoyed the outdoors, played games, went swimming, and ate . . . a lot! :)

we enjoyed the 4th of july fireworks right from our balcony! what a treat! and not just one show, but 2! it was the best 4th ever! :)

we took kennedy white water rafting . . . it was a really slow, easy river, but she was soooooo quiet the whole time. we had to make her talk! she was pretty nervous. she did not want to swim in the river . . . everyone thought it was because she was scared . . . this is kennedy we're talking about! she didn't want to swim because she didn't have dry clothes to put on for the 30 minute ride home! :) when it was all over we couldn't get her to be quiet! she's telling everyone she had an awesome time!

bailey worked for a few days while the girls and i checked out local kids museums and had fun hanging out in the hotel pool! :) the girls were sooooo well behaved. who knew they could survive so well with no toys! :) all they needed were their imaginations! it's amazing how many games they came up with just using hotel pillows! :)

the return trip was long . . . a stop at a lovely la quinta inn for a few hours of sleep was certainly NOT among the highlights of the trip! the pool was cleaner than the hotel room . . . so we got there, ordered a pizza, swam and ate, then went to bed (going to bed was such a relief after stressing about the girls all rolling on the floor and wanting to play in the bathroom . . . correction: i was stessing, bailey was laughing! :)). we got up and headed out at 7 the next morning.

the last stretch was long. we used every possible excuse to stop. i think we stopped 3 times by 10 in the morning. no one wanted to be in the car! :) the kids were troopers! we cheered SOOOOO loudly when we reached texas . . . and treated the kids to ice cream for dinner so we could last through the last two hour stretch to the house.

it was like christmas when we pulled in the driveway! the kids were so happy to see all of the toys and dolls they missed. we were all happy to see cooper. and most of all we were happy to sleep in our own beds! :)