Summer Pictures

While we were in Ohio I scheduled family pictures to be taken, but the day we had it scheduled Joey couldn't even walk because of his back, so we cancelled them.  I did get just pictures of the kids with my camera and here they are.  I have so many pictures of the kids I wish Joey and I could be in them more.  Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I got of the kids...

 

 

 

Ohio-Part 2

We celebrated the girls 5.5 birthday with the family while we there.  We actually celebrated on June 17th, and uncles and grandmas were all able to make it so it was nice!
Celebrating these two pretty girls.

 In my last post I mentioned that the Josie wanted Unicorns and Ella wanted super heroes for their birthday.  Well my mom had pulled out old birthday decorations when we were little and sure enough, there was a bat man cake topper.  No unicorn so Josie settled for a bugs bunny that was mine when I little.  Both on top of a #5 cake! :)

Have I mentioned that Eli likes parties!  The cake might be why.



 

I'd say the girls had a good birthday and I would maybe say a little spoiled!  Here they are with all their loot.

We even continued the camping theme with their new dolls as well!

 

June 17th also happened to be Fathers Day!  Although we celebrated the girls, we celebrated this guy too.  He got some new brewing stuff so he can brew his own beer.  When he came home the girls had a card and also painted some rocks that said 'my dad ROCKS" which he has taken to work and placed on his desk.  HFD to a great dad and husband!  I'm not sure where we would be with out you!

Ohio Part 1

So I had planned to go to Ohio for 2 weeks this summer to put the girls in Safety Town and it is a 2 week program.  With it being 2 weeks I was planning to take the 3 kids my self.  And we did a lot when we were there, we also had some not so fun times that I will run thru first and end with the positive...

So the bad: Eli was a terrible traveler and cried quite a bit.  He also figured out he could climb out of the pack n play and we were all in the same room together so the first week was AWFUL with him.  And then his behavior and giant sized temper tantrums practically ruined the first week for me.  I broke out om a full body rash and have no idea why or what from.  Joey joined us on Saturday and on Monday had thrown his back out and couldn't walk on Tuesday so we had to take him to the doctor, which meant he was out of commission the rest of the trip.  And then on the way home we couldn't catch a break and it was raining and we had Joeys truck there to take a big boy bed home for Eli but stuck in my van cause of the rain and also stuck Eli in my van (I wanted to dump him on dad in his truck because he cries so much in the car) because dad couldn't lift him with his back. 

 

Now on with the positives.

 

When we first got there was a rain storm with no lighting and a pretty good rain so the girls were out playing in the rain.  They loved it.

We had plenty of park time

 

 

Got some cool new things from grandma like this dress that fit PERFECTLY

Played on grandmas phone which was a cool toy because we only have cell phones at our house.  Generations divide, right there.

 

When Eli FINALLY would go to sleep, he looked so cute :)

Eli got to play in this rain storm this time. 

We all particiapated in a relay 5k.  I ran the first mile by myself and then Grandma, Eli and Ella had the 2nd mile and then Josie and I ran the 3rd mile

We came in 3rd!  We got a ribbon and everything.  Too bad their were only 3 teams...

It was this race that I PR'd (personal record) my mile!  I couldn't believe I ran it in under 7 minutes!

I didn't catch Ella's time but I know she did good.  She did say she walked quite a bit, but I told her a mile is a very long way.   I did time Josie and she ROCKED it!  I am very impressed that at 5yo she ran a mile in 12;16. 


And the whole reason why were there....Safety Town.  It was every morning for 2 weeks.  They had police officer there and multiple speakers to talk about safety things with them.  They had stranger danger, fire safety, electrical safety, sun safety (they made a bracelet that would change colors when UV lights would hit it.  It was cool) just to name a few.


They even did some other things like shoot the fire hose.

 
 

They rode a school bus to the local fire station and police station for a field trip

At the fire station a fire fighter gets into the complete gear including the oxygen mask so they can hear and see what they look like if they are in fire so they won't be scared of them. 

And they got to sit in a fire truck too!

Eli got in on that action!! :)

Here is their group picture.

Also during the weeks, the kids would go out to the "town" and ride around learning how the flow of traffic goes, how to use cross walks and cross the street and about street lights (when to walk and when cars get to go). 

Josie cruising!

And Ella

Here are the girls on graduation day with officer Robin.  She was the officer that was there almost every day.  They got to get in her patrol car.

The girls were in the class with their cousin Sophia.  This was great opportunity for them to get to spend sometime together since we live so far apart its hard.  I was glad we were able to make this work and they could play and have fun!

Safety Town has been around for a long time and me taking this class (and later volunteering to help at it) when I was little is how I knew about it.  Here I am at my Safety Town graduation 33 years before the girls graduated :)

I also had the girls signed up for swim lessons while we were there.  I loaded them up with activities to keep them busy and take advantage of what was offered in our home town.  We also had more park time, eating at our local favorite restaurants, lunch in the park, wacky family Olympics and family birthday party in a separate post.  :)

 

Friends Party

This year the girls had their first friends party and to say they were excited is an understatement!  They asked me about every day for a month when their party was.  So the excitement was high for that long.  I made the mistake of asking what they wanted their party theme to be and Josie said she wanted unicorns and Ella wanted superheroes.  Well, mom fail there.  I thought about combining the two themes for a hot second, but instead did a camping a theme.  They were happy with it and I think it turned out pretty cute.

 

Josie and Ella's campfire cake I made for them.

I also had treat bags made for their friends and they were filled with all the goodies to make S'mores including a Reece's peanut butter cup.  If you haven't tried a S'more with one of those then you are missing out.  Also, we had a backyard scavenger hunt for them to do and camping mad libs

We popped up our camper in the back yard for all the kids to play in and pre-tend they were camping.

Eli enjoyed it too!

And here we are being SUPER cool with our camping shirts.  If the kids were older, this would for sure embarrass them ;)

Eli was super excited for their party.  He wanted a piece of cake so bad.

And what camping party wouldn't have a campfire! 

All the friends having fun in the camper

Present time!  They were so fast this is the only picture I got!

Cake and ice cream time!

The kids had a great time and really think everything turned out good!  I thought my cake and scavenger hunt ideas turned out good too!  Now they are talking about their party for next year already....