A Fun Birthday Weekend in SC - Part II

The main reason why we spent the weekend in South Carolina was to celebrate Amelia's 4th birthday with her grandparents. We did not have anything special planned for her, just a family get together and some opening of gifts and of course cake. But Grandma wanted to do something special for Amelia and so we booked a 2 hour birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. When we told Amelia about it she was all excited and couldn't wait for the party to start. 

All dressed up and ready to go. But first we needed one more family picture: 

And then Amelia opened her gifts from her grandparents and from her aunt and uncle from California. She loves her new "computer" (Mobigo learning game system) and enjoyed playing with it on the car ride home. THANK YOU!

Finally, we arrived at Chuck E Cheese and Amelia became the birthday princess:

We had invited Derrick's great-nieces and nephews to the party. The kids were given tokens that they used to ride small carousels or play arcade games to win some tickets. These two loved riding the horses. 

After a while it was time for pizza, cupcakes, the opening of more gifts and a private meet and greet with Chuck E. 

Thank you Hunter, Nina, Laila,and Leann for coming and the thoughtful gift. 

Uncle Tony and his niece: 

And a few more games and another hug for Chuck E before it was time to leave.

Every good party has to come to an end and thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, this was a great way to celebrate my little girl. She truly enjoyed it and so did everyone else. 

A Fun Birthday Weekend in SC - Part I

This weekend we went to see my In-laws in South Carolina to celebrate Amelia's 4th birthday with them. Even though it was a short visit, it was a fun-filled and action-packed weekend. The kids loved seeing their grandparents and of course, playing with the dog. Amelia read to Grandma and Grandpa:

 Smiles and cuddles from Elliot for Grandma and Grandpa:

And an early morning walk with Marty. Both kids were fighting over who gets to walk the dog first. They love playing with him and walking him, but this mommy is not ready for a dog at home (I prefer my hardly noticeable cat).

On Saturday morning, Derrick's childhood friend, Doug, invited us on a boat trip. We planned on going to the beach that morning anyways, but this was much better. We enjoyed cruising along the creek with the boat, watching all the paddle boarders and pelicans and even saw a few dolphins, and then headed to a sandbank in the ocean. It was pure bliss. 

The sandbank was not too far from shore and we only had a couple of hours before the tide came in, but we enjoyed every single minute of it and it was just beautiful. I was surprised that no other boaters were there, only a few paddle boarders stopped by. 

 

Being in the water all morning was so much fun but also exhausting. This little guy gave up on the ride home and fell asleep.

Needless to say, we took it easy the rest of the day because on Sunday a special surprise was awaiting the birthday girl.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, AMELIA!

Dear Amelia,

Another year has passed and we are celebrating another birthday. It's already your 4th birthday and I wish I could stop time and don't let you grow up so quickly. It seems as if only yesterday you entered the world. I remember holding you for the first time. You, my little girl, were so tiny and fragile. You got hold of my finger and looked at me while I fell deeply in love with you. The memory of that moment will be etched in to my heart forever. 

And today, you are so independent and strong willed and you rarely have time to cuddle with me anymore. This past year you have grown a lot and learned so much. You always loved books but now you read them on your own and you have developed an even deeper love for learning. You are curious and absorb new stuff like a sponge. I read somewhere that a 4-year old child asks nearly 300 questions a day and I believe this is true. Maybe even more. You enjoy life to the fullest and never want to miss a beat. That means you hardly ever nap or rest and only need 10 hours of solid sleep during the night, which can be exhausting for us parents.

You are very opinionated and know what you want or don't want. It is not always easy and we often have a dispute about it (maybe because our personalities are so much alike) and so some days I wish bedtime would arrive sooner than later. Even though not every day can be all peach and cream, we are making new memories daily. You love to be silly and make funny faces or tell us jokes. And you laugh really loud when we tickle you. 

 

Your tantrums made room to the never ending backtalk and and you are acting more like a teenager lately than a toddler. But over the past few weeks, we have noticed a drastic improvement in your "threenager" behavior and you are becoming more responsible and self-sufficient every day. You are so outgoing and you can't wait till preschool starts off again in a few weeks. You loved your VBS sessions (4 in total) this summer and asked for more when they ended. You are like a social butterfly that loves being out and about and meeting new people and making friends everywhere. 

Amelia, you are a great big sister even though some days it can be tough to share. And you learned already that equal is not always fair.  But you love your little brother and you two are learning to play well with each other and make each other laugh every day. You teach him so many things and Elliot just adores you and loves to imitate anything you show him. You are his world, that's for sure. 

Despite the fact that you are now a little girl and no toddler anymore, you are and always will be my baby girl (even though you tell me otherwise when I call you that). And there are certain things you do that remind me of my little baby girl. Your best friend is still Lammie and you could not go to sleep without your beloved stuffed animal. Especially when you are sad or afraid, you always ask for him as his softness makes you feel safer and better right away. But best of all is when you crawl in to our bed every morning and we all sit there and watch some morning shows on tv before the craziness of the day begins. You cuddle up to me, hug me and tell me that you love me and I wish that moment would never end.  

Happy 4th birthday to the one who made me a mama! Not sure how it's been already 4 years... You make our life better: a little bit crazy, a lot louder and grey hair inducing at times (or in daddy's case hair loosing), but we could not imagine a day in this world without you. 

Love you, 

Mommy and Daddy

Lazy Hazy Days of Summer...no more

I feel like I had a writer's block lately as I found myself struggling with keeping up the blog posts or finding time and energy to write updates. It's almost like the lazy hazy days of summer took over me and I wanted to do nothing other than enjoy the outdoors and the laziness that comes with that season. But this week my energy came flowing back and my thoughts are pouring in to my brain. I keep making notes everywhere about topics I want to write and things I want to do. I feel like my old self again. I guess seeing everyone get ready and excited for school, got me inspired to do something else than just hang out in the backyard. So in anticipation of Amelia's 4th birthday next week, I took out my wooden pegs and finally made my first peg dolls: 2 princess dolls for her and 2 animal dolls for her little brother. And since I truly enjoyed this creative activity, I can't wait to make more peg dolls this week. 

I also started to work on Elliot's scrapbook and our family book. For Elliot's 1st album I will go the traditional scrapbooking route but for our family album and the fact that scrapbooking is very time consuming, I decided to use the Project Life design options. I can't wait to show you all the finished albums (but be patient it may take a couple of month). 

Other than doing arts and crafts projects, we have been quite busy this week. Amelia finished her fourth (and last) vacation bible study on Thursday and enjoyed this one no less than all the others. This kid loves to dance and sing. So all those different songs during the camps were right up her alley. This week's theme was Everest: Conquering Challenges with God's Mighty Power.  

During the summer, lots of movie theaters offer kids' flicks once or twice a week. So on Wednesday, Amelia and I had a mommy-daughter-date and we went to see Shrek. Amelia was very excited, especially since the ticket included popcorn and a drink. She lasted almost thru the entire movie before we decided to head home. 

And while we had fun at the movies, the boys stayed home and played. Lately, Elliot's favorite past time is coloring. He is very particular and does as good or an even better job of coloring in the lines than his sister does. 

Even though it is still very hot here and we have drought like conditions, it rained very heavy on Wednesday afternoon. Since it wasn't cold and the kids were kind of stir crazy, we decided to put our rain gear on and head out in the backyard, where they had lots of fun. 

The rain didn't last too long and soon it was warm and sunny again. So on Saturday the kids enjoyed cooling off in the pool again. 

Between volunteering, a trip to the zoo, VBS, a movie date, splashing around, and a lunch date with my little girl yesterday, we had a packed but fun-filled week. This summer is one of the best I had in a long time and even though I'm looking forward to an exciting fall season, I don't want this summer to end. Luckily, we have at least another month before it starts getting cooler. 

A Visit to Zootastic

Once a month (during the summer only) our church organizes a Friday fun trip and since yesterday the destination was Zootastic, the kids and I joined in on the fun. Zootastic is a local and interactive animal park that features lots of different animals and offers fun learning activities throughout the park. 

A Unicorn at the entrance of the park

There is a Western Town, where we learned about different animals during the animal encounter show. We met and touched a kangaroo, a corn snake, a gray fox, a coatimundi and a ferret. 

Petting Sammy, the kangaroo

After the show we went on a wagon ride, where we took a tour around the "serengeti" part of the zoo. 

We were given cups filled with food to feed and pet all the animals that came up to the wagon. There were alpacas, bison, yaks, zebras, goats, donkeys, ostriches, pigs, wildebeests, watusi and camels. 

Can you find the pig?

The ride took at least 40 minutes and was very interactive and fun. 

Because we had some feed left over after the ride, we headed over to see the goats.

And then it was time for our picnic lunch. And while we sat at the Western Town and ate, the staff walked one of their 3 tiger cubs by. He was so cute and playful.

So we finished off our lunch and watched the tiger cub being bottle fed.

Next we visited the giraffe baby and another giraffe. Out of all the animals, my two kids loved feeding the giraffes the best (Did you know giraffes like to eat graham crackers?).

Here is what happens when Elliot likes the same food as the giraffes:

After that we went to visit the Barnyard Petting Zoo, where we fed and petted some farm animals such as goats (I loved the baby goat), kangaroos, alpacas, singing dogs, mini ponies, and a camel.

Amelia and the alpaca were best friends and she loved feeding him strands of hay.

Our new family portrait???

Lastly, we wandered over to the Safari Trail to have a look at the gibbons, hyenas, lions, lemurs and a lynx. Even though it was hot, the visit was bearable since there were shaded areas all around. But the lion cubs decided that it was too hot to play and rather napped when we stopped by.

And since we were pretty exhausted too after almost 4 hours, we decided to head home to take a shower and a nap too. It was a great visit and since it is only 15 minutes away from us, we definitely will be back soon.