Pottery Creations at Hearts of Clay
Karlie and Brina having fun at Hearts of Clay
For the girls birthday they received a Hearts of Clay gift certificate so we did a “Girls Night Out” this summer. We had a blast figuring out what they wanted to create, making the moldings, painting, chitchat, and having fun together. It was neat watching them come up with and create their treasures. One of the best parts was when the store worker told them that at the end of the session they can dump any of their remaining paint from their pallets onto the floor, they girls thought that was awesome! They asked the worker several times to make sure she wasn’t just kidding….how often do kids get permission to spill paint onto the floor.
They both made plates – Brina made the flower one and Karlie the square one
Karlie made a miniature goat and named it Oreo!
Painting their pottery creations!
Brina having a grand time!
All smiles!
Karlie’s rocket, planet, and space plate!
Brina’s flower plate
With the extra clay leftover from their plates they made a black lab, Oreo the goat, a heart, cat, giraffe, and an egg!
At the end of their session they let the girls dump their remaining paint onto the carpeted floor! They thought that was awesome!!! Karlie’s ready to dump hers now!
Karlie emptying her pallet of paint onto the floor!
Brina putting her paint onto the floor! So exciting!
Need to get all the paint onto the floor…..can’t forget to clean the brush off onto the floor too!
It was a great evening out at Hearts of Clay! Thankful for a nice evening with the girls.
Launching Rockets at Legacy Park
Setting up the rocket! 3….2….1…. Blast Off!
We met Jake at Legacy Park over his lunch hour to shoot off rockets. The girls had a blast setting up, shooting it off, and chasing it down. We shot off the rocket several times, on the last shooting it got stuck in the tree! We had a grand time even though the rocket didn’t make it back home again!
She found it!
Karlie turning to look at the cheering squad. There was a daycare at the park while we were shooting off the rocket! A whole group of kids were sitting on the steps cheering every time we shot off the rocket. I think the had as much fun as we did. Jake is trying to untangle the parachute so we can do the next round.
The girls are helping Daddy set it up for another round.
Ready for blast off!
Putting the rocket and parachute back together for another launch!
Setting it back up!
Karlie on the run for it! If you look closely in the upper right corner of the picture (in the blue sky) you can see the parachute and rocket coming down.
Brina helping prep for one more launch.
Brina ready to push the button for launch!
Ready for take off….just need to push the button!
Opps! The rocket got caught in the tree! You can see the yellow in the upper middle of the picture. The little “Fat Jak” rocket provided entertainment for quite awhile! Thanks Daddy for meeting us at the park on your lunch break!
Celebrating Dad!
Yes, I know I am a little late in posting about Father’s Day, but I promise we did celebrate it! In fact we are packing in so much fun this summer it is going by too quickly. For Father’s Day the girls made Jake breakfast in bed! They were so sweet!
The girls put together a scrumptious Father’s Day breakfast! Complete with cashews, homemade Egg McMuffin, blueberry yogurt, granny smith apples, cottage cheese, and a twizzler heart with Jelly Beans inside. I don’t know if the lighting was off or what but none of my breakfast in bed pictures turned out! 🙁 So moving on to the main meal of the day….another special treat for Dad!
Daddy and his girls after church!
Special Strawberry Fruit Punch for our drinks!
Happy Father’s Day Jake! Wishing you an amazing, relaxing, and super fun day! Thank you for being such an awesome Dad to our girls! You’re the BEST!!! We decided to enjoy our meal on the deck under the canopy. We’ve been loving our meal times outside lately!
Dinner – cube steak covered in cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms in a hoagie roll, green beans, and salad!
Daddy opening his cards and gifts!
Watching MiP run around, fascinating!
A robot on the counter.
MiP carrying some legos!
Skipper even joined us up on the deck for the Father’s Day festivities. She is not allowed to beg and has to sit or lay quietly during meal time. She did well. At some point during the dinner Brina went searching for her napkin…..this is where it was found (under Skipper’s head)! Guess she needed a pillow / drool napkin during dinner!
Window Easels
Noelle’s window art
One of our fun summer crafty activities that ended up a big hit with all the kids was Window Easels! Each kid (ages 4 to 12) got to pick their own window as their easel and could draw whatever they wanted on it. I had a stack of window paint (like the ones you put on car windows) and each kid could come grab what colors they needed for their particular artwork. They had a blast doing it. I didn’t get a huge amount of pictures during the activity because I was helping distribute the paint and wiping up any drips as they happened. It has a big hit! I left the painted easels up for the rest of their stay so everyone could enjoy their artwork for several days. You could see the artwork both inside and outside of the house which was pretty neat! Some of the kids choose to paint both the top and bottom windows (while standing on a chair) while others just wanted to do one window.
Brina did both of her windows
Noah’s creatively decorated windows!
Nadia, the youngest one of the group, had a lot of fun doing her window – “All by herself!”
Karlie packed a lot onto her window – Art, Names, Signs, Shapes, Math, and more fun stuff!
Not only was it a lot of fun it gave me a good excuse to scrub down the windows this summer too! It was the perfect summer craft. It kept the kids entertained for quite awhile and there were very little clean up. Plus no one had to wait for turns at the easel because everyone had their own and they all painted at the same time. It was fun watching them paint and hearing them chitchat at the same time.
Family Game Night: U-Build Monopoly
Family Game Night
Our family loves playing games. We try to play a game together on a regular basis. Recently for family game night we played a new game we received, U-Build Monopoly! The game is played with hexagonal property spaces that snap together. The length of the game track will determine how short or long the game will be. This game follows similar Monopoly guidelines with some fun twists. It is easy enough for kids to play, but still fun for the adults.
U-Build Monopoly with some houses going up!
Our family really enjoyed playing this game!
Having A Splashin Good Time!
Karlie going for a ride under the water! Hang on!
Brina going for a ride under the water. She didn’t relax as much because she was more concerned that Jake could hold his breath longer and wouldn’t come up for air in time. He did!
This one makes me laugh! The girls were standing in line behind us chit – chatting. I am not sure what they were talking about it, but Brina thought it was hilarious! Love it when the two of them make each other giggle. Hope they remain great friends their entire lives!
Getting up on the lily pad took some extra energy – it was slick! Towards the end of the second day Brina was getting tired and chilly so we put a life jacket on her for the last hour. She didn’t want to stop playing in the water so this was a good compromise! Resting on the lily pad for a little bit and talking about their day.
Trying to hold on as the lily pad was spinning in circles! Not sure how they still had the energy and all those giggles left in them, but they were having a grand time!
As we were getting ready to wrap up for the day Brina had to do one more run before we left Great Wolf Lodge.
Karlie trying to smile through the tears! “I just don’t want to go home Mom, I’ve had so much fun!” She wanted me to walk around and take a bunch of pictures the last 5 minutes they were open and kept asking me “Mom, are you sure you got enough pictures? I don’t ever want to forget our time here together!”
Karlie with a big smile as she finally crashed on the trip home.
It didn’t take long before Brina was asleep too.We had a wonderful time together at Great Wolf Lodge. On the way home Jake and I figured out that we spent about 20 hours actually in the water playing! Considering we were only there for a day and a half we packed a lot of fun into that time. The girls had a great time and we had fun too. All of us were exhausted! Despite Karlie’s fear of not getting enough pictures I think we have plenty to look back on and remember this wonderful trip together.
A Birthday Celebration at Great Wolf Lodge
Karlie and Brina’s Birthday cakes from Tip Top Cake Shop!
We didn’t do the normal traditional birthday party for the girls because we were going away for a weekend together as a family to celebrate. They didn’t know it at the time, but we still ordered small individual birthday cakes for them. The day before we left on our trip I took them by the store to pick up an item, they were a little confused when we walked into the cake shop, but thrilled once they saw their cakes. Karlie’s was white cake and she used her favorite green, blue, and black colors for accents. Karlie’s first response was “How did she know my favorite colors and that I like vanilla!” Brina’s was a dairy and egg free chocolate cake with pink, orange, and yellow accents. Brina’s first comment “It’s beautiful Mom, I LOVE it!” Even something as simple as little cakes can get them excited! The cakes tasted amazing! You would never guess that the chocolate one was egg and diary free it was delicious!
We brought with us their gifts they got each other a couple small ones from us. When Jake put the suitcases in the room he found a perfect spot to display the gifts. The girls were amazed that the hotel staff would put out all their gifts for them, until they realized it was Daddy that did it. They were having so much fun in the water park while Jake was unloading the van! Thanks Babycake for doing that for us!
Brina very excited about her gift from Karlie!
Oh boy….Brina got Karlie another nerf gun….. She’s excited! Wonder who will be a walking target for her the next few months, ha!
I love it when the girls write little notes on their gifts to each other. So sweet!
My wild and crazy man! Love you Jacob!
Brina is so very excited. She got a leash for her dog, something she had been wanting!
Jake blowing up the balloons. I found these cool balloons at Hobby Lobby that have LED lights inside that make the balloons glow in the dark. I thought they would be a neat way to wrap up the birthday celebration as they went to sleep. They were suppose to glow for 12 to 15 hours, but they are still glowing several days later and the girls have them in their rooms at home now!
Wow, glowing balloons! What a great way to end a special day!
It is hard to take a picture of it glowing! Happy Birthday Karlie!
Happy Birthday Brina! Princess Snow White will watch over your balloon as you sleep!
Two very tired and almost asleep kids. What a fun day at Great Wolf celebrating their birthday. Hopefully they will treasure this time and memory for many years.
We were so exhausted by the time we got done with the water park, gift unwrapping, and everything else that we decided to save the birthday cakes until breakfast. Everyone was ready to crash and get some sleep so we could get up and go early the next morning! We figure it’s not everyday you get to have cake for breakfast so why not!
Great Wolf Lodge – Water Fun and Story Time
Brina had to do one more round of the Big Foot Pass the first night. She zipped across really quickly too.
Karlie was entertaining to watch bouncing from log to log!
Brina all smiles!
Jake having fun!
They all three stood on the edge of the mushroom where the water was pouring down. Hilarious expressions!
Karlie loving her time at Great Wolf!
Karlie liked to fill up buckets and then convince me to stand next to her so she could dump them on me. Silly girl!
Going down the River Canyon Run one more time before we call it a night. Karlie…..”I can’t look, it’s too dark……”
Karlie’s got her eyes open now and ready for the next twist and turn down the slide.
Brina was a little concerned. They liked it a little bit better in the daylight, the tunnels were pretty dark at night.
Story time at Great Wolf!
Checking out the arcade.
Listening to the animals and trees telling a story. The girls thought this was fascinating!
We packed a lot of water fun into the first day we were at Great Wolf. The girls went on all the rides, tried out all the pools, and activities. We had a BLAST! Everyone should sleep good tonight!
Basketball & Slide Races at Great Wolf Lodge
Another one of the girls favorite spots to play was the pool with the basketballs and hoops. It was enjoyable for me too, I forgot how much fun it was to play basketball. The girls were quite impressed that I could get it in the hoop fairly consistently, ha!
Brina smiling as she gets ready to put one in!
This picture cracks….me…up….. It was hilarious hearing Karlie screeching as we went down the Howlin’ Tornado! I had my back to the slide so I couldn’t see the drops, but Karlie could. Karlie was “howlin” the whole way down while Brina was completely quiet and wide eyed. The trip down to the big drop was so fast I only had time to snap two quick pictures and one was covered in water spots!
Having a grand time!
Jake helping Brina float.
Karlie’s relaxed and floating around having fun!
Brina carrying up her mat for the next big slide!
Karlie’s got her mat and is ready to go!
We all went down the Mountain Edge Raceway at the same time. Jake won by going faster than the rest of us.
Hanging out in the pool waiting for the hoop to open up.
Playing basketball
Brina having a blast playing basketball in the pool.
Having fun!
A Trip to Great Wolf Lodge!
Great Wolf Lodge
For the girls birthday party celebration this year we made a special trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, North Carolina. It was a rainy day with showers on the way, but we made it safely. We spent the ride reading books, talking, and playing games so it passed quickly. They were super excited to arrive and have a splashing good time!
We made it to Great Wolf Lodge. Here’s a quick shot of the girls waiting patiently on the “bear” seat as we get checked in. They are ready to go check out the pool area!
Standing under the huge bucket at Fort MacKenzie waiting for (1,000 gallons) of water to tip the bucket and splash everyone. They loved this one! It’s a lot of water!
The meeting of the minds….or are they really just working out their plan of action. “Hey Dad! What should we do first!”
Splashing and testing the water in the wave pool. Karlie having a grand time!
Brina all smiles and having fun!
Brina taking a break with Jake after she got hit by a couple of good waves in a row.
Karlie is loving her time in the water!
All four of us on our first trip down the River Canyon Run! Thankfully, the raft held 4 people even though we weren’t sure what to expect. Both girls were old enough to ride all the slides which was a lot of fun doing together. Brina’s not so sure as we take off at the top….
Love Jake’s expression in this one. Makes me smile!
Karlie is squealing as we whirl down the slide. Hilarious watching their reactions. One benefit to having a water camera is you get to capture some of the crazy moments too!
Filling up the buckets!
Brina riding the waves in the wave pool!
Karlie loving the waves! They both always wanted to be in the deep end so they could get the higher waves!
Karlie all smiles as she carries her yellow tube up for another fun ride!
Brina pausing briefly to look at me as she stands in line shivering. It was warm in the water, but a few times while standing in line it felt a little chilly. Thankfully the lines were really short and we were in the water a lot more!
Karlie smiling as she dives under water!
Look out here comes BRINA!
This was a fun one – Big Foot Pass. You had a rope overhead to hang onto as you walked across the floating logs. Karlie stood up the first time, but decided after that she enjoyed hopping from log to log across the pool better. Karlie’s was determined and made it across every time!
Brina was definitely the most talented at this activity. She just bounced across from log to log making it look so easy. Trust me it is not as easy as it looks, we all did it! Brina finishing up. She did this activity many times!
Jake even made it across without falling off…..although a couple times he was close!
We had a blast at Great Wolf Lodge! More pictures to come soon. Thankful for a chance to get away with the family, celebrate the girls birthday, and have some fun together!
