4 Days at the Beach

We took a mini vacation this past weekend and headed down to Ocean City, MD for a few days. The weather was perfect, the girls did well, and we had a great time with our friends, the Parmers.

We had saved up enough points from our credit card to get an ocean front room at no charge. We also had a view of the children's activity pool, where we spent much of our time hanging out with the girls. We had a great view of the beach and pools from our 11th floor room.

It was so relaxing to wake up to the sound of the ocean waves, then eat our Lucky Charms or donuts and drink our coffee while overlooking the beach.

Then we'd go down to the boardwalk to walk and ride bikes. Lindsay rode about 16 blocks on her bike along with her friend Morgan.

The girls loved playing in the sand on the beach! The water was fairly cold, but we got our feet wet.

Lindsay helped the Parmers dig a hole to play in. That was fun for awhile, but soon they wanted to go back to the kid's pool. That wasn't a problem, we just walked a few feet, sprayed off the sand, and jumped in the pool!
Look for the bright pink floaties in the pictures to find Emma.

Later, after we were tired out from the pools and beach, we'd clean up and go out to dinner. We'd spend time back at the boardwalk checking out the shops or go out for ice cream.

We all had such a great time!! We're so blessed to have a wonderful little family and great friends to make memories with!

Bums at the beach!

Lindsay's Birthday Sleepover

Haley, Lindsay, Ella, Gracie, and Taegan

We promised Lindsay that she could invite a few friends over for a sleepover now that we have lots of room in our basement. Her birthday is right around the corner, so we combined the two events for a little birthday sleepover. Lindsay and her friends had so much fun just running around, laughing and playing together! I had just as much fun watching them!

It was warm enough outside to let them run through the sprinklers. Later we had cake and ice cream. Then the girls watched a movie and went right to bed. Gracie fell asleep during the movie and slept in a chair for half the night!

Silly faces!

Playing Polly Pockets and Pet Shop

More silly faces for the camera!

Thank you, girls, for being such good friends to Lindsay! We look forward to many more sleepovers in the future!

Strawberry Picking

Strawberry season has arrived in Central Pa, so it's time to stock up on one of our favorite fruits! A local farm allows us to pick our own, so I took the girls out to pick strawberries last Tuesday. This was a new experience for both of them. They were excited to see how the berries grow and how to pick them.

Emma discovered that it's more fun to squish the berries than pick them. Squishing strawberries can be done by stepping on them or the more fun way - squeezing handfuls of them and letting the juice run down your hands and all over your clothes. She did both!

Even with all the squishing of the berries we managed to pick a couple quarts to bring home. We enjoyed eating the fresh juicy berries the rest of the day.

HERSHEYPARK!

Friday after graduation, while Pop Pop and Grammie were here, we had a great day at Hersheypark. Pop Pop wanted to take Grammie on a farris wheel for her birthday, and what better place is there than Hersheypark?

The weather was perfect, warm and slighly breezy. We spent most of the time near the kiddy rides while the girls took their turns. This was the first time Emma was big enough to really enjoy the rides.

I took a spin with the girls on the Lady Bugs!

Pop Pop and Grammie watched Lindsay and Emma on the little rides while Tim and I snuck off to go on some coasters. We all had a great time!!

Little Graduate Lindsay!

On May 29, Lindsay was our proud little graduate from Kindergarten! We were excited that Pop Pop and Grammie Glidewell could come out from Michigan to be there for the event. Pappy and Grandma Nicklas were also there to celebrate with us and take lots of pictures!

In addition to receiving her certificate of graduation from K-5, she also was selected to receive the Principals's award for outstanding behavior for the year. We are so proud of you Lindsay!

After graduation, we celebrated with cake and ice cream. It was such a fun night and so special!

Memorial Day Trip

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays. I love the patriotism, the beginning of summer and all the grilled foods. Tim has off work and we always try to find a special way to spend the day as a family.
This Memorial Day we went to Baltimore's Inner Harbor. We enjoyed lunch at the ESPN Zone. Tim and the girls especially enjoyed looking at all the sports memorabilia before our lunch arrived. From there we spent a couple hours at the National Aquarium. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we all had so much fun!

Inside the Rainforest at the Aquarium

Sharks behind Emma!
Lindsay and Emma learn about the animals.