Lucy's new skills!

This has been quite a month for Lucy in the skills department! After a month of swim lessons, a few weeks ago she finally got the hang of swimming underwater, and now I can hardly get her out of the lake. Here's a video of her swimming.

Sometime in July, Lucy asked if I would start teaching her piano. We ordered some beginner piano books, and she's been learning notes, rhythm, etc. We visited my grandparents almost every day during swim lessons, so she had lots of opportunities to practice on their piano. Here she is playing a song!

And most recently (today!), Lucy learned to ride her bike without training wheels!! A week ago we moved the training wheels up a setting, so she had to balance more on her own. Today was only the second time she had tried biking without the training wheels, and after a few tries with Matt and I helping, she had it! I am so proud of her, and got all teary watching her bike down the driveway. It feels like a significant rite of passage, somehow.

Next post, I promise to give an update on precious Clara!

Blueberry picking

Ahh, blueberries warmed by the sun, fresh off the bush. We had our summer blueberry picking adventure a few weeks ago with my grandma and cousin (a tradition now- see our 2010 and 2009 expeditions; we went in 2011 too, but I don't seem to have posted about it).

Blueberries this way!

Lucy, Alma and Grandma

Lucy did a great job picking, and exerted impressive self-control at not eating them all.

Grandma enjoying the sun and the berries.

Clara is definitely at the "eat, eat, eat" stage of blueberry picking.

Lucy nibbled a few too (as did I- so good!).



Lucy showing her harvest. 



And the whole gang!

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.

Disney World!

So, last week we made the big trek to America's kid-mecca, Disney World! Matt had a conference there, so we decided to turn it into a family vacation. We stayed with friends for 3 days (who have two girls, 5 & 7), and then at the hotel for 3 days. It was surprisingly relaxing for Matt and I, and the girls had an awesome time.  

Lucy's highlights were the roller coaster (one for young kids), and the Viking boat ride. Clara loved the "It's a small world" ride, pointing and exclaiming at all the dolls and dancing figures. The splash park was also a big hit for her.  Matt and I had so much fun watching the girls experience it all.

The first few days were pretty hot, but then the tropical storm came in, and all day Sunday there was pouring rain and high winds. Thankfully the rain cleared up by mid-day Monday, so we could enjoy more rides.

Lucy dictated the captions for the pictures below.

This is me at the Pooh ride.

Hi, this is Clara and Mama at the carousel. Do you see the Cinderella castle behind the carousel? We are in the shade.

Do you know this next one? It's me and Clara and Papa on the carousel. Do you see the other people on the carousel?

Hello, this is Clara getting wet. There was a sprinkling park. This is Clara splashing in the water.

This is me. I got all wet in the sprinkler park. Those are the other kids getting wet. There is a whole train, and the animals are squirting out water. It makes the floor really wet and I almost slipped.

Here's me with my mickey ears. There's my dad behind me. Do you like my pretty dress? Do you like my mickey ears? They're so shiny with sequins. I would have got more for my sister.

Here's me asleep in my mickey ears. Do you like these? I'm kind of asleep.

There's Clara. She's showing me my stickers.

Clara is little. Now she is holding her stickers too. Now she shows them to everyone.

Here's Clara and me. We're at the table eating with mommy. Yes, the food was good.

Here's Clara. She's in her high chair eating chicken and smiling.

This is when we are at Epcot. We went into the big ball. Also, there was an aquarium ride- we saw fish and a big dolphin. There was a viking ride. We really liked it. We went 20 feet down in the boat, really fast!

I'm in a fountain! Can you guess where we are, Mimi and Papa Jack? We are in Morocco!