"We better remember this"

On Sunday afternoon we took the girls conoeing on the Harpeth River for the first time. Eric has been saying for a while that he wanted to do this with the girls. He wanted to go right here by our house though. We couldn't find a place to rent a conoe from near our house so we ended up in Kingston Springs where there are several conoe rental places. It was supposed to be a 2 hour ride. Our ride took a little more than 2 1/2 hours. I was nervous that they would tip us over because they wouldn't be able to sit still for that long. They did pretty good about not rocking the boat, which I was pleased with. They did, however, continually ask to get out and swim. They seemed to be more interested in getting in the water than riding in the boat. I think Eric and I decided it's a better bet to just walk them down the sidewalk to the river by our house and let them play in the water and save the 1.5 hour round trip+$29. The weather was great but the girls were cold once they got wet. They had fun and Grace said right at the beginning of our ride that "we're going to have to remember this". Yes, Grace, I think you're right!

O-4 Reunion

Today my old college roommates and I finally got all of our kids together for a little family reunion. We girls make it a point to have girl reunions a couple of times a year but we've never brought all of the kids along with us. As Cindy said today, "It's more taxing than relaxing!" I have too agree. It's fun to just be with the girls. But we decided our kids need to know each other. So everyone met at my house today just to hang out, eat lots of Cindy's yummy chocolate chip cookie bars and play. The weather was a little wet but we did get outside for a little while. The kids seemed to get along well and they had fun going through all of Grace and Lyla's toys. I took a few pictures to remember the day. I have just found Picasa and used it for the first time to edit my pictures. I think they look pretty good. If anyone has any advice or comments on the pictures I'd love to hear them. Anyway, girls, it was so good to see you! Let's do this more often!!! (By the way, O-4 was the apartment number we lived at together while in college.) (One more fun fact...Lyla and Trent, Cindy's 3 year old, have the exact same birthday, just a year apart.)

4th of July

So, we didn't have many plans for the 4th of July this year. We had Joni and Larry over for dinner the night before. Our neighbors surprised us when they started shooting fireworks in their backyard. They were actually pretty good ones too. The girls got really excited and were yelling and screaming. At one point they asked if the girls were OK because they couldn't tell if they were having fun or were scared. It was nice to just sit outside and enjoy the nice weather and hang out. No pressure. Then the next day we didn't really do anything in particular. I think I went to the grocery store. I can't even remember at this point. But we wanted to do something so we decided to go to downtown Franklin and get ice cream at Baskin Robbins and then take it to the Rec. Center. The girls could play on the playground and we would be able to see the Franklin fireworks from there. Well, when we got to Baskin Robbins our plans changed. They were having "Franklin on the 4th" in downtown. They have venders on the main street downtown and other attractions going on too. The petting zoo, pony rides and bungee jumping were all right in front of Baskin Robbins. That is not where they were last year. So, as soon as the girls saw that they started begging. We let them feed the petting zoo animals and then they each did the bungee jumping thing. I actually would have liked to do the bungee. It looked really fun. It was a little expensive though. By the time we got into Baskin Robins it was 8:20pm. We thought fireworks would start at 9pm. I'm positive that is when they were last year. But this year the rain was coming. At 8:25pm the fireworks started. We couldn't really see them from where we were so we hopped in the car and headed for the Rec. Center. Grace started realizing that we weren't going to play on the playground and then see the fireworks and she started crying. We pulled into a bank parking lot to see about the last 3 minutes of the fireworks and to get rained on. Grace cried the whole time! What a lovely way for finish the evening. At least the ice cream was good!

Father's Day Gifts

For Father's Day this year I bought a kit to make stepping stones. The girls love crafts and I couldn't think of anything else that didn't cost a lot of money but would be worth keeping. It was a little tricky though. The stuff sets really fast. I ruined the first one but figured it out after that. I gave them all kinds of little beads and things to decorate with and then they also put their handprint in the stone. They are pretty small and I don't think they would actually hold up to being stepped on but they are sweet. They show their creativity and their sweet little hands. We also made one for Papaw Gardner and Papoo Wade. They also made homemade cards for them too.

Still working...

The playhouse is coming along. It's been a bigger project than I anticipated. We're in the painting phase now. For some reason, I was thinking I would paint the house in a an afteroon. I guess I didn't think it through very well. We started painting last week and we're still not done. I let the girls start first. We started with the white trim. I let them paint until they got tired of it and then I took over. They made a huge mess but I wanted them to be a part of "building" it. They also painted some of the interior. I finished the interior and I've also painted the outside and the ceiling on the inside. We still need to finish the floors but it's almost done!

They love the diving board!

Last Sunday the boys in Eric's Wednesday night church class had a swim party at someone's house. He let Grace and Lyla go too though. They had a diving board and the girls loved it! Lyla is working on her swimming. She started out with a life jacket on. Then she took it off and practiced jumping from the board and swimming to the ladder. Eric was right there in the water, of course. They had a great time.

"Jenny's Pizza Place"

Last Saturday morning Grace and Lyla worked hard to make a restaurant for us in Lyla's bedroom. It was called "Jenny's Pizza Place." They made a sign for the door, two different places to sit and eat, and a "cabinet" for the food. They took Eric and me in for lunch and fed us whatever we chose. They were the waitresses. Very Creative!