Butterflies!

For the girls birthday, my parents got them a butterfly cage. Since it was too cold to release butterflies in April, we waited until this summer to order our caterpillars. Grandma ordered them for us, and they arrived at our house in a little container complete with enough food to last until they went into their chrysalises.

After about five days, all five caterpillars formed chrysalises, and we transferred them to the cage. I can't remember how long it took, but out emerged five butterflies that we got to watch and care for for a few days before releasing them.

The girls loved feeding sugar water to the butterflies and had so much fun releasing them.

Harper ended up not wanting to hold the butterflies, but she liked watching them!

4th of July

Life is moving so fast, I can't believe it! We've had a fun busy summer, so I need to do a little catching up.

Our neighborhood held it's annual 4th of July party, and it was even more fun than last year! The girls rode their bikes in the bike parade, and I couldn't keep up with them without running! They also had their first sparkler experience, and loved the fireworks. Our neighbors had a birthday party the same day, complete with a bounce house, so the girls got to sneak over after the party to play in there. They had a blast!

And they're off!



 

I may have had to turn around and cut back the short way in order to get in front of them for a picture.



 

Red, white, and blue glow necklaces!

 

Huge sparklers!

Fireflies!

We took the girls to see fireworks in a nearby town the night before the 4th. We put the girls in their nightgowns before we left and parked on the side of the road. The fireflies came out while we were waiting, so the girls got to catch them for the first time. Seeing their excitement was one of the highlights of my summer!

Harper found a Mickey light saber at a garage sale earlier that day. She brought it to all evening activities that weekend.

The girls had so much fun (and so did I)!!

Four and a Quarter

Time flies. I'm feeling under the weather with a summer cold, so I'll post more details later, but here's a picture of my sweet girls at 4 years and 3 months.

Happy Independence Day!

Picnic in the Park

Wei-Yand had to go to Wisconsin for work on day, and the girls had been asking for a picnic in the park, so I packed up a picnic complete with fun shaped sandwiches, and we hit the playground at the girls' future elementary school. It's really nice because it has covered picnic tables and lots of different play structures.

My fun shaped sandwiches were a hit.

I also discovered that the girls can do this on their own.

Vacation!

I can't believe how quickly the month of June flew by. That was partly because we took a week-long vacation to Hilton Head. Living so close to the beach, we don't usually take beach vacations in the summer, but Wei-Yand's sister invited us to come, and we had a blast.

We drove down to Northern Kentucky on Friday night, spent the night at Gu Gu's house, then continued to South Carolina (with 8 people in the van) on Saturday. It was a lot of driving, but the girls did really well.

A very full van

 



We had a three bedroom condo with plenty of room for everyone.

There was a pond on the way to the beach that was chock full of turtles. There must not have been any alligators in that pond (despite the signs warning us of alligators all over the resort).

We spent the week relaxing on the beach and by the pool. It was really hot, and the water was really warm, so we did a lot of swimming. The girls' puddle jumpers continue to be an excellent investment. However, on our first trip to the pool, I noticed that Tannah had started putting her face in the water. I told her she should try to take her puddle jumper off and see what happens. She took it off, and off she went. She can only swim the distance that she can hold her breath, but she had so much fun and was so proud of herself.

One night we happened upon a little street party, so the girls got to jump in the blow up toys.

We started out most days by going to the beach, until the reports of shark attacks and a near miss with a jellyfish sent us running back to the pool.

 

 

The girls had their first mini golf experience and got to match their cousin. They thought that was pretty cool.

On our last night we went to Harbor Town to shop and take in the concert. It was a great way to end the week!