The Thain Family Visits

CK's cousins visited us from Georgia for the long weekend and we had such a fun time together. Ruel, Melanie, Devin and Haley arrived on Saturday morning and the boys went flying in the Bluebird while the girls walked around Grapevine and had lunch together. We all met back at the house and BBQed and swam.

On Sunday, after Meeting we went to our favorite place for brunch, Uncle Julio's for breakfast burritos. Devin even tried the frog legs since there wasn't a lot to eat on the menu due to his allergies. He said they were pretty good, although I'm not sure I'll be trying them anytime soon. We spent the rest of the day in the pool and Sofia was in Heaven with two kids to play with in the water. They must have spent 5 hours in the water together!

On Monday, CK made his famous Pasqual's Honey Whole Wheat pancakes and eggs, which were divine! This time he used almond milk so Devin could have them, which he was very excited about and they tasted exactly the same to me - delicious! After breakfast we broke up in two cars and headed to Fossil Rim to drive through the wild animal park and feed the animals. We got a bit later start than we expected so it was pretty hot by the time we arrived and a LOT of folks decided to do the same on Memorial Day. So, we literally got stuck in "traffic" on the dirt road through the park. It was fun though and we stopped for a picnic at the overlook. It was a good break before getting back into the car and finishing up our visit. The kids were most excited to see the giraffes and feed them through the sunroof since we'd talked it up so much. However, I think they were all full from the previous visitors, so they just looked at us, although one was very close. The kids (and adults) were exhausted after the long day so we went home, cooled off in the pool and napped before dinner.

On Tuesday the Thains had to fly home, so we said our goodbyes and can't wait to see them again - this time at their house! We had such a fun visit and wish we lived closer to each other.

Sofia with "Nurse" Melanie - She loves that she's a nurse!

Cousin Ruel was Sofia's favorite this time since, as she put it "he's super silly." She loved being with him and laughed at all of his silliness. It was cute to watch them together.

After brunch on Sunday

The three fish!

CK making his pancakes

Sofia and Haley at Fossil Rim - very excited to see some animals.

One of the first animals we saw

A close encounter with a deer!

Our picnic

The deer were very happy to eat any food pellets we had

One of the giraffes resting

Haley and Olivia enjoying the pool

Sofia's Last Day of Preschool

Today was Sofia's last day of preschool and her last day at Spanish Schoolhouse. I really have mixed emotions about saying goodbye to Sofia's teachers and all the lovely ladies at her school since they are so loving and sweet. We are excited for Sofia to start kindergarden in the fall and think she'll really excel, but the past two years at Spanish Schoolhouse have been such a great mixture of fun, learning, kindness and introduction to a new language and culture. I know she'll miss it too.

It was a bit strange for Sofia's last day to be a random Wednesday after having Monday off for Memorial Day and having spent the prior week at the beach. She carried the thank you gifts (a rosemary plant with a tag that read "Thank you for helping me grow!" along with a gift certificate to Target or Starbucks) to each of her teachers and gave them hugs when I dropped her off. Then, when I picked her up from school we said our goodbyes one final time and wished them each a very happy summer....they will all be missed!

Just two years ago Sofia was entering these doors for the first time

Saying goodbye to sweet Ms. Lynn

Hugs for one of her favorite ladies - Ms. Fernanda, who always gives Sofia a hug and asks how her weekend was...she's moving to Chicago.

Sofia and her two teachers - Ms. Lorena and Ms. Sandra.

Olivia at 9 Months!

Our little girl is 9 months old and seems to be changing daily. She is 18.8 lbs (44th percentile) and 27 inches (16th percentile). She's also getting a mouthful of teeth! She has four of her top teeth poking through right now, although they don't seem to bother her much. She loves to roll her tongue around though, and I'm sure she's trying to figure out what those crazy things in her mouth are. She is now very proficient with getting cheerios or other finger foods into her mouth and is a great little chewer. She still loves to eat everything, although avocado still isn't popular. Just in the past few days she's really trying to get the hang of moving around and has been spending a lot of time on the floor scooting around and can almost get over into a crawling stance, although one leg always stays stuck in front of her and stops her from going over most of the time. She does actually scoot around pretty good though. It's so cute to watch her looking after Sofia while Sofia runs off to play - I can almost read her thoughts of "I want to go too," and I know it won't be long before she's right there with big sister. She's also much more interactive and grins at everyone and anything with a face, which is so cute. She's obviously going to be a gregarious girl like Sofia. She's such a delight and big sister Sofia is so sweet and helpful with her.

The Olivia grin - she's just so happy!

Teeth - she has the two on either side of her front teeth coming in too, they are just hiding in this photo.

Big sister Sofia!

Such a big girl!

She also loves to turn her head and look at things...silly but cute.

She loves to clap

Sisters!

Fun in Destin with Friends

On Monday the girls and I flew to Gulfport, MS. We actually missed our 8:15am flight and got a little later start at 1:30pm. Once we arrived in Gulfport, Alice, Grayden and Audrey met us, loaded all of our stuff into the minivan and away we drove toward Destin, FL. The trip was supposed to be about five hours, but ended up being closer to six or more with bathroom breaks and much-needed sanity stops. Grayden and Sofia sat next to each other and ended up pestering each other fairly constantly. By the end, I was reaching into the backseat and hand-feeding Olivia Cheerios to keep her from getting upset. Needless to say, we were all overjoyed once we arrived!

Sofia playing at the airport while we wait for our flight


Olivia hanging out...


Our road trip begins....and they are all smiles (for now)!


Finally in Destin, coloring and waiting for dinner to arrive


Luckily our flight went a little better than this one...


Our incredible view! We are going to have fun!


WOW!

Beach!

Each day we enjoyed a quick breakfast, packed up snacks, towels, beach and pool toys and headed to the beach. The beach offered umbrellas and lounge chairs, which was a huge help so we didn't have to cart even more stuff with us and could sit comfortably in the shade while the kids swam and played. We spent the morning at the beach and then headed to the pool after lunch. Generally we'd head to the room for lunch and so the little girls, Olivia and Audrey, could nap while Sofia and Grayden enjoyed watching one of the videos Alice brought. It was a good rest for everyone before heading to the pool and hours of swimming. We then headed upstairs for showers/baths and dinner before the kid's bedtime. Every day was so much fun and the water and weather couldn't be more perfect.

Our first full day in Destin and we were up early and ready for some time on the beach.


Napping on the beach...Olivia did this every day and it must have been so relaxing to sleep near the ocean with the gentle breeze..


The ocean! She loves it!


Playing with Grayden in the sand


Playing with Audrey


Olivia and me


Future is so bright.....


The two little girls playing in the sand.


Alice and I - the only picture we have of the two of us from Destin (thanks to Sofia)


The four kiddos in the sand


Sofia and Grayden heading to the pool

Pool Time!

In the afternoon we would visit the pool and Sofia loved swimming and climbing across the "lily pad" bridge. She was actually quite good at it and probably several years younger than anyone else who was on it. I wanted to get a video of her going across but, unfortunately, never did. The kids loved the pool and Olivia enjoyed sitting in the entry and splashing. They also had a lazy river which we went on a few times - Sofia usually just swam it without a tube. Combined with the beach, pool-time created very tired kiddos!

Sofia crossing the "lily pad" bridge


She's barely tall enough to reach the ropes


On the lazy river


Olivia splashing - she could do this forever!


Watermelon - yum!


The fun pool!


Out to dinner one night


All the kiddos and me


Grayden, Sofia and a pirate!


On a little train ride - what could be better on vacation?