Memorial Day Swimming

I was actually off this Memorial Day.....yeah! I had to work until 2300 the three evenings before, but what I experienced this Memorial Day made everything worth it!

David and Aspen invited us over for swimming and sandwiches. Thank you so much, even though you didn't feel well Aunt Aspen!

At first, Mary Claire did a lot of this....just floating around in a float:

Molly did a lot of sitting on the steps:

Tucker:

Taylor:

Poppa finally got Mary Claire off the float by putting the noodle under her!:

She floated and "swam" all around the pool like this for a while:

Molly got a sitting partner:

Anna did a lot of laying around, just sleeping and being cute:

And smiling!!:

Then the fun began! Mary Claire finally trusted her "Puddle-Jumper floatie" and was swimming all over the pool!

The lovely hosts, Aspen and David:

Then Mary Claire started jumping in!!:

She even started jumping in with no one to catch her and Molly finally started having fun in the water!:

Molly found the watermelon!

Sweet Anna got to come outside!!

Mary Claire was even jumping in with no one in the pool (don't worry...someone was always close and watching!)

Mary Claire and Tucker swimming with each other:

We had a blast!! We can't wait until next time!

Thank you again Uncle David and Aunt Aspen and Tucker and Anna!

Ladder climbing

Yes, this may not be the safest, but it is exciting to see Mary Claire and Molly exploring and learning and trying new things!

ETA: I just opened a Dove chocolate and this was the "fortune" inside:
Climb high, climb far.…your goal the sky, your aim, the stars

How fitting!!

Happy Memorial Day!

Thank you to all our servicemen and servicewomen!

Skating party!!

Mary Claire got invited to Layla's birthday party!! It was held at Skateville this past Saturday. I wasn't able to attend because I had to work :(, but I made sure Daddy had the camera and kept me updated!

This was Mary Claire's first ever birthday party of a friend, and her first time to skate!

Here is Mary Claire and Brooke with Layla in the background:

The next few pictures were sent to me while I was at work. I was so sad I couldn't go, but excited for Mary Claire to experience this!

I guess we'll have to add skating to our list of activities to do more often!

Lake Charles

After Mary Claire's run and a few errands, we headed to Lake Charles for a weekend focused on Mary Claire and Molly!

First stop was a splash pad! Mary Claire LOVED it! I wish the one here in Alexandria was in a better part of town. Nannie and I have decided we will choose a day and go early in the morning.

Isn't Molly soooo cute wearing her big sister's flip flops?? I guess Molly is going to love them as much as Mary Claire does!

After playing in the water for a little while, we heard some music.....it was the ice cream truck! This was a first for the girls!

Yummy ice cream!!

After walking around the boardwalk and eating lunch, we headed to "the beach!" Lake Charles has a pretty nice beach; it was very clean and not too crowded. The girls had fun for a little while, but got pretty tired. We only stayed for about 45 minutes.

I was so surprised at how brave Mary Claire was! Look at her out there!

She even sat down with the water up to her neck! My girl is getting so big!

Bathtub fun at the hotel with cheap plastic cups!

For dinner we ate at Steamboat Bill's. The food was good, but the girls were not. Mary Claire fell out of her chair and cried and cried. Molly hates the high chair! Joy!

The next morning we got an early start at the pool!

On the way home, we stopped at the really nice park in Forest Hill, waiting until 11am so we could eat lunch at Mi Tierra, a local Mexican restaurant we had not tried before. The food was really good!

I could NOT believe she climbed this!

All in all, it was a fun weekend. I didn't get any pictures of the girls playing at the mall. We went to the mall after Steamboat Bill's to let the girls run off some energy and hopefully sleep late; they weren't up at 6am, so I guess it worked!