They're Not in Kansas Anymore, Toto!- July 2009

Our good friends came back for a visit in July (minus their Daddy, who was in Iraq.  Grant really missed his buddy, Dan, especially since he was the only male among 11 females.  But I know Dan would've loved to have come.)  We had a blast with them!!  We went on lots of adventures together.  Our first stop was our favorite camping spot.  1st picture-- Little buddies Hailey, Ella, Tierra, and Karina.  2nd picture-- Ella was missing her Daddy, so her Daddy's good friends "the Grants" stepped in to help out.  Definitely not as good as the original but it helped for the moment.  3rd picture-- Riana and Trieste getting to put their necklaces together for the first time in over a year.  4th picture--

As soon as we came home from camping, we had a little fourth of July celebration, complete with sparklers and some other small fireworks.For our second stop, we went on a little hike to the falls.  It was fun and beautiful.  Celeste brought along a helper, Christian, and it was great!  She helped a ton!

Our third stop was to the zoo.  I was a bit disappointed to see that they had raised their prices on admissions and then were also charging a dollar per stick to feed the birds.  I really didn't want to pay for each girl to get a stick but our girls, being the smarties that they are, figured out a way to get the birdies to land in their hands instead of a stick!  They were so excited and so was I!  :)

A couple of pleasant surprises during our zoo trip were the discovery center (how did I miss that one in the past?), where the kids get to touch sea animals, and the free carousel, that Aurora woke up just in time to ride (her first carousel ride).  It was a great trip to the zoo!

Our next stop was to the beach.  Celeste had the cutest idea, to make Sand Dollar Cookies!  (She found the recipe in the Friend Magazine, a magazine for our church that is especially for kids.)  The kids loved making them and they especially loved eating them at the beach.  Aurora and Colette even had fun playing with each other!!  They were so cute!!

We made several stops along the way to parks.  1st picture-- A car overcrowded with lots of girls and one babysitter, Christian, and lots of air conditioner, while the Mom's ran into Subway to get lunch for the park.  2nd picture--  Girls just relaxin' and warmin' up in the sun.  3rd picture-- Princess Ella and Princess Tierra stuck at the top of a tall, tall, tower.  4th picture-- Posing at another park- what good sports! 

We also shared lots of special celebrations while they were here.  A really special treat was when Celeste and I were able to take Tia and Ella on a date for Tia's late birthday party.  They chose matching Panda Bears with matching outfits.  The worker had them switch hearts to put inside, so they would have their best friend's heart inside their bear-- super cute!  It was a fun afternoon.  We also celebrated

Lilly's birthday, with a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese.  (We also celebrated Sariah's birthday and baptism, which I have already blogged about.)  And we spent some time celebrating a soccer game at Dairy Queen.  We actually went out for ice cream with a few players from the other team Riana played against (which happened to be good friends from our dance, that Celeste and her girls introduced us to.)

Lastly, we had a slumber party including 9 girls, which all happened to belong to our 2 families.  Then we helped each other get ready and went to church.  After church, we had to say goodbye.  We were so lucky to be able to spend so much time with them.  What a treat to have them in our home for a few days!!  We had a wonderful visit with them and can't wait to do it again soon, this time with their Daddy included!!