First day of Kindergarten

On August 8, 2012 Benjamin (he requests we call him that now as that IS his name he says) started Kindergarten at Neely Traditional Academy.

Mae of course had to come outside too to join her big brother (she is constantly found walking around eating toothbrushes & toothpaste if we don't put them high enough out of her reach).

California 2012 Part 3

We spent a day at Seaworld. Benjamin's favorite part was getting soaked. He and I went on 1 of the drenching rides twice and for the shows he kept making me sit in the splash zones (hence no pictures since I didn't want to wreck the camera). I'm not even sure he saw much of the shows since he was so obsessed with getting wet :)

The kids other favorite part of Seaworld was the giant playground. I think next time we return to California we will save our money, go to a really big free park for the day for them to play then come home and just spray them with the hose so they can get 'soaked'.

California 2012 Part 2

Benjamin and I spent 2 days at Legoland, with Mae and Sam coming for the 1st day (Mae got a high fever the day before we returned for Legoland day 2 so they stayed back to let her recover).

 

Mae was just too short for almost all the rides. This was fine since she was so happy to watch and play in Duploland but I still wanted her to go on some. She was just a little too short for the shorter height rides so we purchased a shoes with the thickest soles we could find, in a couple sizes too big so we could put inserts in -and it paid off!! The top of her head just touched the height line and this next picture is of her having a WONDERFUL time driving a car in a ride she wouldn't have been able to go on otherwise. She grinned the whole time.

There was an area full of legos where you could build a car to race down tracks against the other builders. Ben attempted a couple which didn't make it down the track or lost so he stopped and just watched the winners. After a bit he went back to the tables and redesigned to the below (zero help/comments from me!) and returned to win race after race. He was ecstatic!!

California 2012 Part 1

The week before Benjamin started Kindergarten we rented a house in Carlsbad, California and enjoyed a vacation with Nana and Grandpa.

We spent most of our time at the beach. And I think next trip there (we hope to get there every summer), we will spend ALL the time at the beach. Everyone was the happiest there and we just had a wonderful time. Sam brought his boogie board and spent a lot of time surfing and after Benjamin watched for a while he was out there joining him.

While 90% of the time Benjamin was in the water, he did take some breaks to make sandcastles. Which Mae then destroyed.

As fast as anyone could build a sandcastle, Mae would be running over to smash it. It was her favorite activity at the beach next to...

eating sand. She would put her face straight in the sand, lift up and grin, then repeat. She didn't mind at all if she was chewing sand along with snacks!

Gymnastics

Benjamin requested gymnastics lessons so we enrolled him where he's taking swimming lessons (since the 2nd activity was 1/2 price). He is loving it and it in fact has become our 'carrot' to keep him in swimming lessons. We keep asking if he wants to return to soccer, or try baseball but he just wants gymnastics. I'm usually chasing after Mae for the lessons so I don't have many pictures and I always seem to miss the action shots or else they are extremely blurry!

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Diving Mae

Mae is getting more and more adventurous with her swimming. It is definitely her favorite pastime and if you say the word 'pool' she goes charging to her room to get changed to go.

Superhero and Princess

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben in June

 

 

 

I kept Benjamin home on Fridays for the summer and we kept busy with playdates (of course I never remembered a camera), doing various activities from Pinterest, swimming and playing with his sister. Lately Benjamin has been wishing we could give Mae something to eat that would make her older faster so he can really play with her (he's requesting that she becomes 4 years old).

Mae in June

Mom showed up with a bag of hand-me-down shoes for Mae. Our little princess who is obsessed with shoes was ECSTATIC. Just sat on the floor, chanting "shoes, shoes, shoes" and had us constantly switching which pair was on her feet.

Sam taught Mae the below pose.

Mae loves her Daddy.

Of the 2 kids - we think Mae is Maully's favorite. Probably because she feeds her so much (meal times Maully gets a ton more food from Mae then she did from Ben at this age). Mae also loves to just walk over to her and pet her while saying "Good girl Mawwy, Good girl." And luckily for Maully, Mae has finally stopped using her as a stepping stool to get onto the couch.

Grandma in June

 

 

 

Grandma came out for a month in June and both kids were ecstatic to see her. Benjamin was quite devastated when she left. So it's a good thing she is returning mid September for 2 months!