The Children's Museum

An Ice Skater?

It's spring break for both of the girls this week. Carli was very excited that we were going ice skating. With swimming Carli is very happy to just watch from the sidelines. But ice skating, no way, she wanted on the ice!

They gave her a car to help at the beginning

Then they took it away and the girls thought they should hold hands.

The instructors quickly stopped that.

Carli's up!!! But that didn't last long.

Part of beginning ice skating is learning how to get yourself up once you fall. Carli mostly just yelled for AnLi to help, but the instructors did not want that. This man sat down to show Carli how to get her knee down, etc., but she was NOT listening to that. She just wanted AnLi.

AnLi gave it another try, but that didn't work so well.

So she sat...and sat...and sat.

Her tush had to have been freezing!

The instructor got Carli up and then let these two skate together. It was no use trying to keep them apart. It wasn't going to happen.

And then another little spill. She was half laughing and half cryingSo we'll give this another shot...Didn't work, so this time the instructor just came right over to help.

Thank goodness! Finally ice time was over!

Even though Carli spent the hour mostly sitting on the ice, AnLi getting frustrated that the instructors wouldn't help Carli up or let her use a car, they both really had a good time. Afterwards Carli kept saying, "Carli LIKE skate!" We celebrated their hard work with DQ afterwards.

We won't be doing that again, at least not for a while, and I'm sure the instructors will be happy about that! Maybe dance or piano for Carli instead? :)

A Day of Visits

Kim, the girls and I took a day to go see our grandparents. My grandpa (my dad's dad) looked great! He's had a rough winter, so we were pleasantly surprised to see him looking and feeling so good. He'll be 97 in July. Wow! Such a sweet picture - Kim & Grandpa

Kim got the girls some Easter presents to keep them busy in the car for the two-plus hour car trip. They REALLY enjoyed the bunny ears and kept grandpa and others entertained by hopping around pretending to be bunnies.
(my camera settings were off for the next pics)

Then it was on to my grandma's (my mom's mom). She always looks great! She still goes to the Y and swims! Grandma had a box of things to get rid of, which included a fake flower candle ring. Kim put it on Carli's head and that was that. There was no way she was taking that off. She wore that the whole time there, the next hour in the car to my mom's, and the whole time at my mom's. Unfortunately, we left it there, so she's without her halo. :)

AnLi switched preschools a few weeks ago and they take their class pictures in the spring. She did have a ponytail in her hair when she left home that morning. Hmm, I guess she decided she'd change it up. :) Even with the messy hair, I just love this picture! The photographer told me she was giving him lots of crazy poses, something like her Strawberry Shortcake pose. LOL! Ice skating has been going well. About ten minutes into her third class, she decided she didn't need the beginner's class anymore and promoted herself to center ice so she could do "tricks" with the other skaters. Her teacher told me they were planning on moving her up the next week anyway. Here they are doing swizzles. (Yes, she wears a helmet!)

Dora Live

Today was the day ...Dora Live! Carli wasn't exactly sure what she was in store for, but AnLi was overly excited. We got there early and had to wait in the car until 6:00 for the doors to open. AnLi held onto my cell phone and watched the clock tick down 15 minutes. It was a very LONG 15 minutes. :)

Once inside we still had an hour until the show. Nana bought them some spinning lights to help keep them occupied, but AnLi was ready to get to her seat ASAP! We found where our seats would be, but the doors to the theatre didn't open until 6:30. So for half an hour we stood outside the door. The girls were peeking between the doors cracks as they could see "something moving on the stage!" Once Dora came out, Carli wanted us to go down on stage and dance. She kept saying, "Come on!" We had to let her know that we could only dance in the aisles, which she did. We had seats practically on top of the stage in the loge section, which turned out not to be great seats. We couldn't see the whole left side of the stage. At intermission we asked to be moved and they moved us to the fourth row in front. Way better!

The girls sang and danced and yelled out the answers throughout the whole show. When it was over, at least 30 times AnLi would say, "I LOVE Dora Live!" Carli loved Boots. I loved Diego. :) Nana loved watching how excited the girls were. It was a great night and I'm sure we'll talk about it all day today.

It's 6:00 finally!!

(No cameras inside, so I used my cell phone.)

Lots of Accomplishments

Tuesday was a big day for everyone.
AnLi only fell once during ice skating! She was pretty excited...and not quite as sore. :)) I never thought we'd find anything that Mermaid AnLi liked as much as swimming, but ice skating is a huge hit.
Carli was SUPER excited that she was able to get a ponytail in her hair...finally! She has been wanting just ONE pony for such a long time. We were able to get about 80% back and she wanted me to take a picture right away. She kept going back and forth to the mirror saying, "Carli cute!" over and over. Yes, she was pretty dang adorable!
The last pictures are from a windy day at the park.