Road Trip 2011

2,700 miles later....we are HOME!  It was an awful lot of hours in the car seat, but we sure had fun!  I slept in 5 different states (PA, MA, ME, NJ, VA) and got to visit a lot of friends, family, and places.  A HUGE thank you to everyone who fed us and gave us a place to stay.  It was REALLY appreciated.

Highlights include:

• Dinner with the Stearn's (though I have no picture proof) - I had a blast hanging out with their girl Julia - I hope the mess we made wasn't too bad to clean up!  Mommy went to college with Erica - I hear they have a lot of interesting college stories!

• Sleeping over at Aunt Connie's and visiting with all of Daddy's family.  Cousin Travis will need to keep practicing his Wii skills to keep up with me ;)

• Hanging out with the Iwanski's - they had a pool and toys!  Daddy has known Steve for many years!

• A few days in Maine hanging out with Grampa, Gramma & Aunt Lizzy.  

• A visit to the Tucker's - they were very impressed with domino skills.  Mommy also went to college with Heather.  If we had a couple more weeks I have a feeling Mommy would have made sure I visited all of her old college roomies!

• Visiting New York City for a day

• Visiting Sesame Place amusement park.  Mommy was a little disappointed by this park - she can't quite put her finger on it, but thinks it was showing it's age, was a little run down, and needed more rides for kids my age.  But we had fun and the shows were REALLY good

I will let the pictures show our adventures.  Life gets back to normal tomorrow.  

Uncle Thom has the best "toys"

Took me a while to get the hang of the "slip and slide"

"Cusins"

A fun day in the pool with new friends (my daddy has been friends with their daddy for a long time)

Found the snails

Lunch at The Lobster Dock on the hottest day Maine will see all summer

Mini golf at Dolphin Mini Golf

I really enjoyed playing in the ocean - when it is 90 out it doesn't even feel that cold

Bowling balls just my size!  A vintage bowling alley in downtown Boothbay.  While the lanes were a bit warped it was GREAT fun and I can't wait to go back

There were all sorts of neat things on the rocks at Ocean Point (crab arm)

A trolley ride around the harbor - the driver even let me ring the bell (harder than it looks)

Footstool surfing - sure to be a new olympic sport!

Learning about lobsters at the Botanical Gardens

Toy Story Fort with Aunt Lizzy

Train into NYC

I really enjoyed feeding the animals - good thing Heather had coins in her purse so I could buy the food

The only point in the zoo where we noticed we were in NYC

We got to watch the sea lion feeding - they could do cool tricks

Times Square - I was in awe by all the TV's!

There was a Ferris Wheel inside Toys R Us!  I didn't feel the need to get any closer than this.

Seeing the Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island Ferry - I impressed everyone by saying "Lady Liberty welcomes everyone to America" - who says you can't learn things from TV?!

We had a great seat on the return trip

My favorite thing in NYC - taxi rides! You can even check the weather using the TV's inside the cabs!

Waterpark at Sesame Place

Bert & Ernie!

 The balloon ride was one of my favorites

 Abby (?)

 They had a deal on games so I was super excited to try them

 Can you tell how happy I am that I won?!

 The parade was so good we watched it twice - I can now sing the entire parade song by heart

The Count scares me a bit

 Telling Heather all about our adventures in Sesame Place

A great way to relax after a long drive - our last hotel en route to our house

July 2011

I hope this finds everyone enjoying a long weekend. I sure do love 3 days off from school. We've kept very busy with lots of pool time, a trip to a science center, saw Cars 2 and a parade. Phew, I need another long weekend just to recover from this one!

I am really enjoying my new class. My teachers are really nice and I'm learning lots of silly songs from Ms. Monica's radio. My parents can't believe how well behaved our class is since we have grown to 25 kids.

I spent 2 weeks at Mommy's work learning how to swim. My parents are AMAZED by my progress. I have gone from tolerating the pool (sometimes) to begging to go in it daily! I even jumped in by myself this weekend. This is a HUGE accomplishment for those of you who know that water isn't really my thing. Mr. Chris, my swim instructor, sure was patient with us kids. Though he did have to jump in with me a few times to convince me the deep end wasn't too scary. I seem to be a bit of a pokey swimmer (just like my running). Mr. Chris had to come back to tow me along whenever we swam across the pool.

Less than 2 weeks until we begin our New England road trip. I am very excited to see all my friends and family but mommy keeps muttering "why are we doing this long drive" over and over. No idea why she would be worried, doesn't she know that long drives mean lots of movie watching with me?!

Well the fireworks seem to be slowing up so it is hopefully safe for me to head to bed. I still don't like the loud booms - maybe when I'm six.

I think this picture shows you just how much I now love the pool - especially jumping in

As long as I have my tube I'm good to swim

Ready for the annual Tega Cay 4th of July Parade

I always say no parade is complete without Homer

They had splash bouncys after the parade. I spent the first 10 minutes refusing to go on them and then a hour where you couldn't get me off them. I'm glad Tega Cay decided to have water bouncys this year since it was SOOO HOT - my poor parents wished there was an adult version!

Do you want Shrimp or Chicken?

He was "hard and soft" - Discovery Place Science Center

This was a pretty neat water exhibit

Splash pad fun - it was a great end to a fun day Uptown

We had company for the 4th of July

Annual 4th of July Parade at school - it was H O T

Impromptu sprinkler fun - I just couldn't resist one night while Daddy was watering the lawn

Enjoying a local kids museum

Me and Mr. Chris - this was a huge step - before swim lessons I wouldn't put my head back into the water

Learning how to go down a ladder....

Learning to jump in (the little girl who jumped after me had NO fear - she spent the 2 weeks of lessons jumping - she scared the instructors a few times!)....



Jumping in all by myself (first of what seemed like 100 times today)....