Kailee's Birthday Party

We had an impromptu birthday celebration for Kailee one weekend before Leevi had to travel again.  During the summer I had had in my mind that I didn't want to go overboard for Kai's bday party since we were just getting home from an expensive month long vacation.  In the eyes of a three year old as long as we had decorations, balloons, cake and presents, then IT'S A PARTY!  She had talked for months about wanting a Strawberry Shortcake birthday so I was able to snag some decor from Party City while I was in the States.  We were having friends over for dinner one night so that morning I called them and told them it's turning into a Birthday Party!  The weather was perfect so the girls (all 5!) were able to wear themselves out outside then we ate and had cake and opened presents! 

By request, her Strawberry Shortcake Cupcake Cake

Posing before the party

Happy 3rd Birthday, Kai!

We've had GORGEOUS weather!

Ready for cake and presents!

Getting ready to sing

Singing and Wishing

Present time!

The Monkey on the Monkey Bars!

I've been trying to get Kai doing the monkey bars on video for over a month now!  The one time I remembered to bring my camera to the park she didn't want to do them and as you'll see from the video, I needed someone with me to film the feat because it's too scary to let her do them completely on her own (which of course is what she prefers!)  She did them for the first time when Leevi took the girls to the park for a couple of days in a row right after we got home from our VA trip so I could unpack, do laundry, (SLEEP OFF MY JET LAG)!!!!  The first time I saw her do it I was almost crying...I was laughing but I was also terrrified!  How can she not have ANY FEAR??!!!  I went home to count my grey hairs.  She's perfected it now and cruises down the right side and then hangs for as long as she can! 

Sorry about the video quality...I only had my iphone on me!

The Faisons!

Another of our main stops on our trip was to visit the Faisons!!!  Caroline and Hailey are only a month and a half apart and Grace turned 4 in February.  We had to juggle Claire's work schedule and the fact that her girls had their tonsils and adnoids removed at the beginning of our trip but we got it worked out.  I loved that all four girls just played together as if they get to do this all the time!  Claire and I even got a girls night out after the little ones went to bed (I remember doing that in 2009 and both of my girls woke up!)  We miss them already and hope that one day we will live close enough!!!!

 

I can't remember the name of this park but we had a picnic and wandered through the woods to see some animals

Counting for Hide-n-Seek

I love this one of the girls walking across a root in the ground

And as always, I like reminiscing...

This one of Baby Hailey and Baby Caroline seems like ages and ages ago!!!!

Kai's First Day of Preschool

Kai started her first day of Preschool on her birthday!!!! She'll go everyday from 9-12. This is the same Preschool on post that Hailey went to last year but since the numbers in our community are so small they've combined the Part Day kids with the Full Day kids and only offered a 5 day option! Her teachers are Ms. Kitty (whom Kai keeps calling Ms. Cat!!!) and Mr. H and they have about 15 kids total in their class. She was very excited to start and I thought she would feel pretty comfortable since she knew the facility and a few of the kids in her class....but.....apparently she can "talk the talk but not walk the walk"! She didn't want me to leave!!! I didn't mind staying because she wasn't clingy and she did what was asked of her but she just wanted me there. I stayed for about an hour and a half during their "educational" portion of the morning and then said goodbye when they went to play in centers before going outside. She said goodbye without objection, but I guess lost it about 3 minutes after I walked out the door!!!! She was crying when I picked her up an hour and a half later and had been doing so on and off since I left! Boo!!! :( The most horrible story came later that afternoon from Hailey: As Hailey's class was walking to recess, she passed Kailee's class playing outside (the elementary school and preschool are right next to each other). My crazy mom mind drifted to a Concentration Camp scenerio where two sisters are separated and crying for each other!!! I asked Hailey if she went to the fence to try and console Kailee (who was hysterical!) but she said that the rule is if she got out of line she'd have to go to the end!! Tragic! Hailey's teacher did try to say something to Kailee but it didn't help! And then to make matters worse, Hailey got upset because Kailee was so upset!

It has to get better, right??!!! Kai is actually home sick today (on the 2nd day of school!) but I'm still hoping by the weeks end she'll be used to going and enjoy it!!!!

The birthday girl on her FIRST day of school!!!

Hailey was a BIG help getting Kai ready for her first day!!!

Walking down the hall with our neighbor, Cameron.  These two are the "babies" of the class and just made the cut-off.  Cam turned 3 the day after Kai. 

Finding her name

Sitting at her cubby

Half of the classroom...I'm sure she'd spend the entire 3 hrs in the "House area" if she could!

Writing in her journal (and a self-portrait)

Happy THIRD Birthday, Kailee!!!!!

I'm still playing catch up from our VA trip, but I had to make a very important post to the most special THREE year old we know!!!!!  Happy birthday, Kailee!!!!!  Even though on your "birth"day  you caused me the most pain imaginable we are so happy that you were in such a rush to join our family!!!!  We are anxious to see what your THIRD year brings!!!!  We love you!!!!!!!

Many more posts to come on Virginia, Kailee's first day of Preschool, Soccer, and Kai's birthday celebration!!!!!  So much to do, so little time!!!!!

The Oceanfront

We only made it to the Oceanfront once during our visit.  I guess once we discovered the pools, they were much closer and simplier of a trip.  It definitely wasn't KoOlina but the girls had fun and the waves were pretty big and they liked for me to take them out to jump over them.  Bobby and Josie tagged along and of course were a big help!  We avoided the hustle and bustle of "the strip" and kept to ourselves in the residential area.  The big dilemma on my trip was "to bring or not to bring" my big camera everywhere.  I settled for the iphone for a lot of the outings simply because I didn't have enough hands and for a place like the beach I didn't want to worry about water, sand, clingy kids, etc! 

Lots of wave jumping!

You'd think after living in Hawaii for so long Hailey would be used to the sand but she definitely takes after her mother.  I'm just glad she didn't flip out when it was time to leave when she realized there weren't showers to rinse off in!  I told her, "I know!  I don't really like the sand either!"  And she replied, "Well, why did we come here then?!"  :)  She really did have a good time though!  :) 

Navy Waterparks



We had full intentions on going to Oceanbreeze Waterpark while we were in Virginia Beach until I discovered these two military waterparks which didn't come close in price comparison!  Maybe if Leevi were with me and we could enjoy the adult waterrides at Oceanbreeze it would have been worth the money but I was much happier to spend FIVE DOLLARS entry fee to these pools (girls were FREE) than spending a fortune for one day at Oceanbreeze and running the risk of bad weather or a grumpy Kai.  She wasn't the biggest fan of these pools mainly because we seemed to miss the huge heat wave in VB and the temperatures on the days we went were a little overcast and almost chilly in the water!  Over our time in VB we went here 4 times...once by myself and then with Josie; Annie and Josie; and then Bobby, Annie and Josie!  The girls loved playing with them in the water and I loved having their help!!

Our favorite slide was the big white one on the right!

These one was a little further away and doesn't look as large from the picture but there is another slide to the right and a kiddie area with a slide too.

The first time that I went alone, Kai was pretty clingy and it was chilly.  When I decided that she had had enough, I told Hailey that she could go down "one more" slide!  Kai ended up falling asleep while she waited on her so we stayed an extra hour!  I could see Hailey go on all of her favorite slides from where I was sitting so she got to roam around like a big kid! 

These lillypads were Hailey's favorite at the Gator Pool.  At the beginning and end she was too short to reach and had to "monkey bar" it across and she was sooooo proud of herself!!!

I still can't believe she's brave enough for these slides!!!!!!  And I couldn't catch her at the bottom so she had to swim over all by herself!

Busch Gardens

Just like when we visted in '09, we took advantage of the Here's to the Heroes program and had free entry into Busch Gardens.  Josie had a Summer Fun pass and tagged along to help me out!  It's funny how much money you are willing to spend once you are inside when you get in for FREE!  We had a great time and despite a rocky start with grumpy moods from both girls, they calmed down and we stayed until the park closed at 10!

Hailey was really bummed that she was too short to ride the big coasters but she went on everything that she was tall enough for!  Maybe next time!!!!  Her favorite ride was Escape from Pompei!

Kailee, following in her daredevil sister's footsteps, also went on all the rides that she was tall enough for! 

Despite the terrorized look on Kai's face, she really loved this ride!!!!!!  We even went on it more than once!  They must get their bravery from their Dad because there is no way you could convince me to go on these rides when I was their age (or even 5-10 years older!!!)  :) 

These rides were more my speed!  :)  I didn't go on my first coaster until 8th grade!  I don't know how they'd go from a thrilling, stomach dropping ride to these "baby" rides! 

The log flume was a big hit too (which also scared the crap out of me in 2nd grade!)  This picture is a picture of the picture they take right as you drop down!   We had gone on it several times and decided to all make a funny face on the last ride.  I found it hilarious that Kailee, at only age 2, was able to understand what we were trying to do and was relaxed enough on the ride to pull off her funny face!

And my favorite pictures of the day...at around 8:30 we were ready to call it a day and got ice cream and started making our way out of the park.  Since it had been so hot and nobody had napped we figured we were pushing our luck and should head home since we still had an hour drive.  The middle picture below is Kailee falling asleep while eating her ice cream.  Her poor little head was bobbing around but she was still licking away with her eyes closed!  We got her cleaned as best we could and she crashed which allowed Hailey and Josie to sneak in a few more rides and we were able to see the fireworks which was a perfect end to the day! 

The Kownacks!

We spent a lot of our time in Virginia Beach catching up with the Kownacks!  We were so happy that all of them were home at the same time...two in college and two in high school make for very busy kids!  Hailey remembered bits and pieces of our last visit with them in 09 but Kai was obviously too young.  They had a blast and the "big" kids couldn't have been more helpful!  Hailey and Kailee enjoyed hearing stories of when I babysit them and changed all of their diapers!  :)  We are excited for the day that my kids can babysit their kids!  :) 

They have recently added on an in-law suite to the back of the house and had the porch re-done into a large family room.  The carpet had just been put in and the large empty "porch" made for a great place to run!!!



I'm not sure what started the pyramid pictures but it's definitely a tradition now!  In 09 we tried convincing Hailey to sit on the top but she wouldn't (I'm sure Kai would have if we let her!)

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The tormenting of Bobby never ended!

Josie makes these amazing cakes....

And this is what my girls created with her! :)

And just a random pic of Kai in the morning!  :)

We miss them already and as always wished we lived closer!!!!  :(