At the beach

Ah, the glorious days of summer. Lucy has swim lessons for 2, 2-week sessions this summer at a nearby lake. It's been great to have a regular schedule (the lessons are every morning), and to get out to the beach so much. Thankfully the weather has been beautiful on the whole. We get to stop by and say hi to my grandparents on the way there and back, and the girls love playing with them. Lucy's been getting more comfortable with putting her head under water, and today she even practiced swimming on her own for a few seconds at a time.

Clara and I have fun playing during Lucy's swim lesson. She's gotten a lot more comfortable in the water and with sand, and will happily sit down and scoop up sand and water with her bucket and shovel. Periodically she says, "ee-see?", asking where Lucy is. It's so cute how she keeps tabs on Lucy.

Our beautiful lake.

Snack time.

I love her little feet!

Lucy practicing a back float.

And here she's swimming with the barbell float.

Hangin' with dolls and bikes

Here are some random shots from the last week or so. We had a week off from swim lessons, and are starting back again on Monday for another 2 weeks. Random highlights from the week: watching the Disney Cinderella movie with Lucy (she was very intent and serious about it, and asked tons of questions, trying to figure it all out!), blueberry picking with the girls, Grandma and my cousin, meeting with my drawing group, and cleaning/organizing the bookshelf in my bedroom (creating peace through a clean and beautiful environment).

Lucy reading next to baby Snowflake.

Clara loves feeding her baby.

Lucy and I made sugar cookies the other day. She did all the rolling and cutting with cookie cutters herself!

I love their smiles.

Lucy snapped this photo of Clara trying to dress baby Snowflake.

My Grandma is so great with the girls, attentive and patient and fun. Here she is helping Clara learn how to ride a tricycle.

Cruising down the driveway!.

Sitting on Grandma and Grandpa's front porch.

Chairs!

The girls received a wonderful surprise from Grandma Judy last week- new chairs for their room! The girls love them. The chairs have their names on them, with a butterfly for Lucy and a flower for Clara.

Lucy helping to put her chair together.

The finished product- hooray!

A favorite place for reading.

We moved the glider chair to the other side of the room, so now the girls have a reading nook all to themselves. The chairs fit perfectly, and go well with the curtains too. :)

Lucy loves her chair so much that sometimes when we check on her at night, we find she's gone to sleep in it. This photo was taken at night (with a flash).

Here they are in Lucy's chair.

And there's a video of Lucy thanking Grandma Judy and generally being very excited.

A small town 4th of July

We celebrated the 4th with my aunt Lee, for what has become our 4th of July tradition (see my posts from '11, and '10). Her town puts on the quintessential small town celebration, and it's so fun to hang out with my aunt.

First, here are a few pre-4th pix.

Great-grandma and Great-grandpa gave Lucy a real bike with training wheels last week. She is SO excited about it and rides it all the time.

Here she is in action.

I love Clara's grin in this picture.

Lucy and I in the parade on the 4th- the kids all decorate their bikes and get to ride in the parade.

Clara watching the miniature ponies in the parade.

Are we patriotic or what?

Clara's really getting into saying "cheese!"

The girls were fascinated by the Morris dancers (traditional English folk dancing).

Clara in the sponge relay- she had a blast running back and forth (with a little guidance).

Here's a close-up. :)

Lucy rocked the sack race. She didn't fall down once!

Lucy on our firetruck ride.

Relaxing after all the races.

In the afternoon, Lee, Lucy and I went on a gorgeous walk, through a pine forest along a river.

We finished off the day with a delicious dinner, a swim, and homemade strawberry shortcake for dessert. A super relaxing and fun time.