The girls were so cute the other night when they did a Girl's Spa Night with their GaGa...She taught them how to put foam curlers in their hair, file their nails and paint their toes....she then let them try all of Great Great Aunt Harriett's Jewelry on. They were all so cute.....the girls even tried to put some pink curlers in GaGa's hair too. We sure do love some Girl Time:)
Yesterday we took a BIG family trip to the Zoo with all the kids and Cousins...It was a jammed packed day of animal viewing, splashing by the Penguin House and chasing kids all over the zoo! The kids loved watching the bears and penguins play. They also enjoyed splashing around since it was such a hot day.....Animals, walking, picnics and playing was on our agenda and I think we did it all. Carissa loved the geese walking around our picnic area and Mason loved the alligators. GaGa let each child make an infamous Wax mold animal creation to take home too:) It was fun having our cousins, Tiffany,Baby Marcus, Samantha and EJ there too...the drive home took forever but we made it home just in time for Auntie Anne's Birthday dinner out. We loved Brookfield Zoo, can't wait to visit again next year!!
For years now GaGa has collected Barbie Dolls with a passion....Carissa and Emma are now finally old enough to enjoy them too. GaGa was nice enough to go up into the attic and find some dolls for each girl to have as their very 1st Barbie doll. Now all of GaGa's dolls have never been opened so the girls were very lucky to be the first grandchildren to play with these special Barbies. Mommy has all hers saved too but sadly most are missing body parts or have very nice haircuts compliments of my childhood...but hoping some day Cari can enjoy those too if Daddy will dig them out for us:) For now Carissa is in love with her 1986 Birthday Barbie and her Holiday Fun Cooking Barbie...thanks GaGa for making a little Girl's wish come true!!! They will be elated to see your entire collection one day.
Here are some fun pictures I took at Auntie Val's Party at our house this past weekend. I successfully took every party guests picture in front of the cruise ship background (can't possibly post them all here) and even managed to take a few extras. Mason had fun running around with all the kids and playing in the boat pool and Carissa was as cute as can be in her Hydrangia Hair Clips....they were pretty large on her little pig tails:) Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and they definately enjoyed GaGa and Pa's authentic Caribbean Menu and Hospitality. Hope Aunt Val enjoyed this awesome party and thinks back to it when she actually turns 50 this October:) Happy Birthday to you!!!!
Mom decided she wanted to surprise Aunt Val for her 50th Birthday with a Caribbean Cruise Surprise Party and asked me to help her plan it...We had a great time makings lots of yummy treats and cute ideas to re-create the cruise they took last year. Mom painted a really cool "50" O'Clock Bar sign to display. We did Chocolate Starfish with sugar cane for sand favors, marshmallow pops in Caribbean colors, Margaita Glass Cookies, a Cruise Ship Cake and Pa even built an awesome Tiki Bar from Scratch. I found a cool watermelon shark Idea and we made that...not to mention the festive Cruise Ship Backdrop for lots of Party Photo Ops. I also did a really pretty cupcake Tower with Caribbean colored sand/chocolate seashell cupcakes with little umbrellas. Here are some of the cool things we did...Auntie Val sure was surprised when she showed up to her very own Surprise Party:)
Some of my best college years were spent with the girls on my floor my freshman year at EIU. It has been so great to see them the summers we are back from Charlotte and every year their families are growing larger in numbers. My EIU days seem so long ago and are such a blur at times but I definately have some favorite memories with each and every one of these girls....one day I may be able to post them but for now we are busy in the present and what a gift that has been:)
Mason and Pa spending some time bike riding...Mason is getting so fast on his bike that it kinda makes me sad that we do not have sidewalks in Cameron Woods. He would get to do it so much more if we did.....not to mention we are missing the nice flat mid-west roads....our neighborhood is definately all-terrain. Mason and Jakob wore the adults out after numerous trips around the block while Cari and Emma drove the cars around the driveway!!!
All the kids had fun swimming one afternoon at Aunt Val's Pool. They splashed with Katie and Uncle Bryan and Mason even picked up the art of Cannon Balls. He now thinks it is the best thing in the world to jump off the edge into the water. Hope he can learn to hold his breath better because he drank about half a pool that afternoon...Carissa has been doing pretty well this summer in her floaties and ring. She seems to be more comfortable each time she goes in the water. Love seeing the kids have so much fun....the same fun I had when I was a kid!!! Only the best part of this pool was I didn't have to clean it like Mom made us do everyday when we were kids....halfway through vacuuming we would get bored and jump in to stir it up hoping no one would notice the difference:)
