Swim, Sing and Girlfriends

We have had a busy week. The girls have been in swimming lessons this week and Rachel was in a music camp.

   Before lessons.

                              Don't they look so excited? Both girls did great in their classes.

The lighting is the worst inside the swimming place and they don't let the parents close to the kids during lessons, so these pictures are not good. But I wanted a shot of the girls in their class.

Friday evening, we went to see Rachel's music camp put on a show about Daniel and the lion's den. Rachel was one of the many lions.

The black arrow is pointing to Rachel. She isn't the tallest girl and got a little lost in the crowd.

After the musical, the girls went home and I went to my MOMS club summer party. My friend Meredith lives in the country and has a big house perfect for parties. I had a nice night talking with all my girlfriends from the club.

                                           I can't believe that June is over already!

Alphabet Summer- Letter C

This past Saturday the girls and I set up our tent to for a backyard campout. Last summer Rachel and I camped in the yard and it was a lot of fun.

My little helpers! Raphael was in Panama, so we had to get the tent set up by ourselves. I knew that we could do it and we did.

We ended up not being able to camp Saturday night because of a thunder storm, so we tried it again on Sunday evening.

Per Rachel's request, we roasted hot dogs for dinner and then smores for dessert. The girls had so much fun playing in the tent and going in and out. Rachel settled down and did a little reading.

  Bedtime!

It started raining not longer after we went to bed and I was worried the tent might leak, but it never did.  I loved listening to the rain and hearing all the nighttime sounds. Unfortunately, Rebecca decided that she didn't want to sleep in the tent :)  So, we packed up and headed inside for the night.
It was fun while it lasted!

Letters we have done already M, T and I.

Lately

Raphael has been in Panama visiting his family this past week, so it has just been us girls. A few pictures of what we have been up to lately.....

Saturday morning I took the girls to see the new Disney movie- Brave. I liked it and so did Rachel. Rebecca was up and down and ate most of the popcorn. I don't think I will be taking her to the movies again any time soon :)

Saturday evening we went to a birthday party. The girls gave the pinata a try and Rachel had her face painted.

Sunday we went to church and then to Lake Lanier for a couple of hours.

                     We came home and got ready for some camping in the backyard fun.

Both of the girls are in church camp this week! I am grateful for a few hours of alone time and the girls are learning about Jesus and making new friends, so it seems to be working out well. We are looking forward to Raphael being back home and a good week!

Alphabet Summer- Letter T

Back in April, Rachel and her classmates went on a fieldtrip to Gwinnett Enviromental & Heritage Center. They toured the exhibits and learned all about water and conservation. The last part of the fieldtrip, the class went outside to see a new adventure course called Treetop Quest. It is an adventure course with suspension bridges, zip lines, etc... Rachel talked and talked about it for days. So yesterday we stopped in and she tried out the course.

First, everyone is fitted with a harness and gloves and you go through a safety and instructional area. Our instructor was really nice. He was saying words like "harness, laynard, tweetzil"-- Rachel was looking at him like he was talking a foreign language. And I guess he kind of was, but once he showed her how to work all the locks, carabineers and pulley she caught on really quick and was ready to go.

Since it is summer, I was nervous that there might be lots of kids there from local daycares and summercamps. Ended up we were the only people there! It was very peaceful and nice to hear birds chirping and see squirrels running around.

The course has five different levels and which level you can go on is determined by age and height. Rachel was able to complete both level one and two.

She loved it and did great! I was confident in her skills, but was saying some serious prayers the whole time she was up in the trees.

                                                          Zip lining!
Our instructor told me it took eight months for the course to be built. They brought over two builders from France to build the course. There are no nail or screws into any of the trees. It is all very enviromentally friendly.

This bridge was the trickiest one for her and she got a little panicky, but managed to get across.

Rachel had a little trouble getting the pulley on the line correctly, so our instructor zipped up to help her.

Rachel is already talking about going back and wants to have her birthday party there next year. It turned out to be a great day for her and I think I might try it out next time.

Alphabet summer Letter I and Letter M.

Alphabet Summer- Letter M

Rebecca is in Sonshine Camp this week for a few hours each day, so that has given Rachel and me a little time by ourselves.  We decided to cross the letter M off our alphabet summer list and make a stop at the mall.

Each week the mall offers a movie for kids and it only costs a dollar! So we went to see the Yogi Bear movie. Then we made a quick stop at Build-a-Bear and had some lunch too.

And of course, a  trip to the mall is not complete without a ride on the merry-go-round. Rachel asks to have a ride every time we are at the mall.

                                 Rachel and her new bunny from Build-a-Bear.

              It was a good morning with Rachel. And I think she enjoyed her time with me too.

You can see the Letter I here.

My Sister, A Party and Father's Day

We had a busy and fun weekend. My sister, Amy, flew to Georgia to spend a few days with us. Friday we did a little shopping and went out for lunch at P.F. Changs. Saturday we went swimming at Lake Lanier and then that evening we went to our neighbors for a party.

                                                             My sister Amy and me.

                                   Daniella and Rachel had a lot of fun playing in the hammock

.

                                                           Best friends!
There was a lot of salsa dancing at the party. Everyone had a great time dancing and socializing.

                           Amy learning how to salsa dance.

                                                    Rebecca was dancing too!

Sunday we celebrated Father's Day. We went to church and in Rachel's Sunday school class they drew pictures of why their Dad is the best.

This picture ended up winning Raphael a $100 gift card from the church! We were so excited when they announced that Raphael was a winner. I took a picture of Raphael up on stage getting his gift.

                After church we had lunch, opened up gifts and went to the pool for  awhile.

      Raphael and his girls. They love their Daddy! And I couldn't ask for a better father for the girls.

                                                                        Amy and I.
                                               We have the best Dad ever! Love you Dad!

And that about sums up the past few days. We loved having my sister visit and hope she will be back soon.

                                      

Alphabet Summer-Letter I

There is a blog that I read sometimes called These are the Days. The blogger is a stay at home mom of four kids and has lots of great ideas. One of her suggestions is called "Alphabet Summer" and she takes her kids through the alphabet and does an activity to go with each letter.

I thought it sounded like a great idea and I am always looking for ways to have fun with the girls.

This past Saturday we were in Atlanta with the girls for the day. We went to see a movie and then had lunch. We had about a hour before going to the airport to pick up Ivy, so we took the girls to the kids museum- Imagine It!

Saturday was a rainy and dreary day, so this was perfect for the girls and there weren't too many kids there. We stayed until it closed and the girls had a fun afternoon.

One letter down, only twenty five more to go!