Hersheypark happy!

We decided to surprise the girls with an overnight trip to Hersheypark on Wednesday. Now, we have known about this for a few weeks but kept it a secret, man was that hard! Anyway, so we got up on Wednesday morning and acted like it was just an average day. I secretly packed while Dale ran to get the tickets. Around 1:00 we told the girls to get in the car and they noticed the bags in the back. We told them that we were going to a different pool, one kind of far away. When we got to Hershey Rylee noticed the street lights (they are Hershey Kisses) and said "Hey, we're at Hersheypark!!" I told them that the rides were closed and that we were just going to a hotel to swim for the day. So we get to the hotel, check in, swim a bit and then get ready for dinner. After dinner we told them that we were going to a big playground. Well, they got SO excited when we pulled in and parked. Of course Rylee accused me of lying to her but she got over it real fast! We did Chocolate World and then headed in for a few hours of rides before the park closed. (You get into Hershey for free the night before if you buy full day tickets) The next morning we got up, checked out and went to Bob Evans for breakfast (Carmel praline banana pancakes, YUM!!) before heading back to Hershey. We had perfect weather and spent most of the morning in the water park before doing more rides. It was a long day and the girls passed out within 10 minutes of getting in the car, lol!

Rylee and Avery as factory workers!

Miss Avery in the wave pool

Rylee rocking her new Speedo. I think she's beyond "girly" suits, she likes racing suits better now. I also think her arm muscles are bigger than mine, lol. Yep, she's my little swimmer!

On our way home after a long day

Pocono Race

Well, once again Dale went to a race and it was rained out! This seems to be a pretty consistent thing, lol! Anyway, the two other guys that went with Dale couldn't make the trip back the following day so my dad and I decided to go on Monday. Good thing we went because we had a great time and were treated to much more than just a race. We had pit passes and garage passes that gave us access to pretty much everywhere and everything before the race AND after the race we were invited to Victory Lane to celebrate with Denny Hamlin, the winner. How cool is that?!?!? When we got home we realized that we were standing right behind Kenny Wallace as he was doing the post race report and because of that we were on TV for about an hour!!!!!

Me with Kurts car before the race.......

Joe Gibbs being interviewed after the race.

He owns the winning car.

My dad with Kenny Wallace....

Our private picture in Victory lane with Denny Hamlin, the winner.

Last nights meet

Rylee had her final swim meet last night and it was so close but we lost :-(

Rylee did great as usual and I swam and beat the 18 year olds twice! I even came from about 20 feet behind to pass the other team and win in a relay. Ha, take that!! This old mama still has it in her!!

Our final record for the season stands at 5-1, not too bad! Hopefully next year we can win the league championship!! Anyway, here are a few assorted pictures from the evening.

Rylee and the gang getting ready to hold the flags for the national anthem before the meet......

All of them up on the blocks during the anthem. Rylee is in lane two.

Miss Avery acting goofy and trying on a pair of goggles.

Rylee taking a break in between races.

Well, that's the end of swim team for this summer. We have the team party tonight and then we get a break until November when it all starts up again.

Rylee is really excited about swimming for Wilson this year, hopefully she'll enjoy it!!

On that note, it's hotter than you know what outside so I'm going to log off and head to the pool for the afternoon! Ahhh, spending the summer at the pool is hard work but someone has to do it, lol!!!

Aunt Hopes party....

Aunt Hope came home from Oregon for a visit, YAY!!!!
During her visit we had a picnic at my parents house so Hope could see everyone, here is a picture of her playing with the kids......

Hope you had a safe trip home and we can't wait to see you again!!

Rylee's first swimming video

Ugh, I feel like it's been forever since I updated. We're in the middle of swim season right now and it seems like we're always at the pool for either practice or a meet. Our last meet of the season is in two week and then we get a few months off before age group swimming starts. Age group is something new to Rylee and she seems really excited to do it. I, on the other hand, grew up on the age group team and know how loooooooong those meets can be so I'm not quite as excited. We're talking 3-4 hour swim meets every Saturday from November until February. Add to that a few invitations that last all day and there's not much time for anything else. And that's not including practice three evenings a week. Ugh!! But, it's the next step in the sport so we'll support her as long as she wants to do it.

We had yet another meet tonight and Rylee did awesome! Her butterfly has improved 100% since the beginning of the season and her backstroke looks great as well. In the beginning of the season she was turning over onto her belly WAY too early while doing backstroke and getting disqualified so I showed her how to look for the backstroke flags and then count her strokes. Now she knows that once she crosses the flags she has 10 more stroke until the wall. Anyway, here's her first swimming video. Hopefully it works, this is the first time I tried to add a video to the blog............

If you're in the area two weeks from now stop by the pool. We have our last meet that night and if we win we'll be undefeated and win our league!!

Swim meet pics.

Yes, I was a good mommy tonight and I remembered to take my camera so here are a few pictures from the meet earlier tonight. Oh yeah, we won 250-231, it was a close meet!!

Up on the blocks, getting ready to start...

and she's off......

Her freestyle looks amazing for a six year old...

Rylee in the middle doing the team cheer before the meet.

Go Wyo. Hills!!!!

Mmmm, blueberries!

YES!!! They are finally ready! We headed out to the local "pick your own" place this morning after swimming practice to pick the first blueberries of the season. It worked out perfectly since Rylee is always hungry after practice. I swear, they really should weigh the kids before and after they go into the fields because both Rylee and Avery ate two pounds while picking, lol!

Rylee while hunting for the perfect bush

My hormonal three year old being miserable

chowing down on the way home
See the marks on Rylee's hands? That's how we know what she's swimming in the meet tonight, lol!

The biggest puddle ever....

After a REALLY bad storm last Friday the girls decided to look for rainbows. Well, we found a rainbow, but we also found the biggest puddle I have ever seen! It was at the end of our bock and it was a result of WAY too much rain coming down WAY too fast. Needless to say, a few innocent jumps in the puddle turned into this.........

Our puddle....., yes, I am taking the picture from that far away and I'm still standing in the puddle!!

And down they go!

Don't even ask?!?!?

Anyway, well, crap, I guess I'm not doing such a good job with blogging lately. Sorry, we've been spending most of our days at the pool since the weather has finally changed to more summer-like conditions. Let's see....

Rylee had her first swim meet last Monday and did great!! She swam the 25 meter freestyle, 25 meter butterfly and in the free relay. On the way out of the meet I was met at my car by another swim team parent. She informed me that as she tried to get around my car she cut it a little too close and hit my rear bumper. She claims that she was braking but my entire corner is pushed in so I think she got the brake and the gas confused. Okay, no big deal right?? We exchanged information and I thought all was well. WRONG!! Guess who went on vacation the next day and has yet to call her insurance company!!

So, now I am stuck because they can't release authorization to fix my car until they hear from her. So here I sit with a crappy looking car and there's nothing I can do until she gets her butt back from the beach. Lovely, huh??

But, anyway, let's move onto happier things, shall we?? We had a "block wide" yard sale this morning and got rid of a bunch of stuff! The crib, changing table and bassinet were all gone within the first hour. Rylee and Avery also had their first lemonade stand set up. They were so cute, during the "down" times they went around to the neighbors trying to sell to them. I think their grand total was $18 and it will all go towards snacks at the pool.

Well, I'd love to write more but I'm just spent. I worked last night, got home around 11:30, went to bed around 1:00, got up at 5:30, did the yard sale and then went to the pool for the afternoon so I'm ready to pass out! Rylee has another swim meet tomorrow, hopefully I'll remember my camera this time so check back in a few days for swim team pics!!

Averys big girl room...

Well, the Winnie the Pooh themed nursery has officially left the house. Dale spent all of last weekend painting Avery's room and it turned out great!

The wall above her toy box. Yes, the side pictures are not even, I need to fix this.....

Avery's bed. Three of the walls are purple, the other one is the same green that's in her comforter.

The walls are still kind of bare, I have a few ideas but I need to think about it for a while. Heck, it took me two months just to pick paint colors, it may be years before Avery has something more on her walls, lol!! A border would look nice but Avery took her old one down so I'm not investing in that kind of money right now for it to be ripped off.

Other than that it's been kind of quiet around here lately. I got home from work last Saturday to Avery in our bed with a 103 degree fever. She also complained of a bellyache and a headache so I dosed her up with Motrin and

spent the night nodding off and on while she spent the night next to me moaning in her sleep. That lasted all day Sunday and it ended Monday morning after she got sick twice. Good thing I was in the middle of steam cleaning her room because I needed it to clean the furniture. Poor girl, she still doesn't know to run to the bathroom when she gets sick. Tuesday morning comes and Rylee wakes up complaining of a headache. I check for a fever and give her Motrin. At this point I thought that maybe her headache was from Dale painting all weekend (I'm very sensitive to that smell) so I tell her to take a shower and see how she feels. She gets out of the shower and feels better so she gets ready for her LAST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN!!!!! Yes, our first baby is now a first grader!! We are so proud of her!! Crap, I'm getting off track here, where was I????? Oh yeah, so she heads off to school and I think all is well. Boy was I wrong. The moment she stepped off the bus at the end of the day she broke down in tears. I felt her head and she was burning up so we get home and I take her temp, it's 103.4. Not good considering I'm due at work in 1.5 hours and it's now too late to call off. I called my in-laws and told them that we wouldn't be over (they watch the girls every Tuesday) and then I called Dale and told him that he needed to leave work a few minutes early so I could get to work in time. I went to work but got to leave early so I was home by 9:00 and of course Rylee was in our bed waiting for me. By the next morning she felt better but man, that was one mean virus!!! Fever generally don't bother me but I don't like it when they are that high. At one point Rylee's was 104 and that kind of scared me.

Soooo, other than Avery's new room and illnesses we've been spending most of the nice days at the pool. Both of the girls already have their own group of friends to hang out with. It's so nice to be able to actually sit down at the pool. Last year they didn't know anyone so I had to entertain them, this year Rylee takes off to the diving board as soon as we get there and Avery sets up shop with her friends at the baby pool. Avery has officially become the "cool kid" because she has paint brushes ;-) I'm telling you, give a kid a bucket of water and a paint brush and it will keep them busy for hours at the pool!! Swim team starts tomorrow and Rylee can't wait. She's even talked one of her new friends into joining so they can hang out together all day. Our first meet is next Monday so look for pictures soon!!!

Well, that's the update for now. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far. We're off to a rainy and cool start here in Pa. but hopefully that will change soon!!

Mommy and Daddys day out.....

Boogity, boogity, boogity let's go racing!!!!

We spent Sunday in Dover at the race and had a great time while the girls were enjoying some quality time at grandma's and grandpa's house. The weather was perfect and our seats were great, we couldn't ask for much more! Well, Kurt winning would've been awesome but he finished 5th, we'll take that!!!

Note to self, remember to apply sunscreen to nose next year. I did the rest of my body but forgot my face and well, let's just say that my nose is bright red and you can definitely tell that I was wearing sunglasses all day, lol!!

Us in front of "Miles" the monster, the track mascot.

The view from our seats. We were between turns three and four, 12 rows from the track.

That's our boy, the #2 Miller Lite "Blue Deuce"

The field during a caution.

Soap Box Derby

This past Saturday our nephew Bailey was in his first Soap Box Derby
so we went to cheer him on. He did a great job!!!



Coming down the hill at over 30 mph.

After his race with his car

Strawberries!!!

Mmmm, finally our local orchard opened to the public and we took
full advantage of it by picking some fresh strawberries last Friday.
Later that night I made strawberry shortcake and it was YUMMY!!

Bikes, a parade and the pool!!

Well, Rylee FINALLY got brave enough to ride her bike without training wheels. She had the strength last year, just not the confidence, but this year she took off after only 20 seconds of help! She thinks she's cool now because she can ride with the big kids. Avery also graduated to a "big girl bike", with training wheels of course. I pulled Rylee's old bike out just to see if Avery could fit on it and within an hour she was cruising the street with Rylee. I really didn't think her legs were strong enough but I guess she's stronger than I think!

This past Saturday we went to the annual Memorial Day parade and the weather was perfect!! The girls were so excited because they knew the pool would open when the parade was over. So, after the parade was over we stopped by the park for a quick lunch and then ran home to get changed into our bathing suits.........

Getting ready for the parade.....and candy!!

After her first dip of the season....the water is still freezing!

Showing off her new bathing suit after a swim

Well, you know where to find us if you need us in the next few months, just call the pool!!!! Swim team practice starts June 15th so we'll be there every morning for that and then we'll probably stay for the afternoon. Swim meets are every Monday night so look for lots of pictures soon and if you're in the area come to cheer Rylee on!! Oh, and yes, I already got suckered into racing a few times this summer. Seriously, didn't I retire from swimming 15 years ago?!?!?

Word of advice, never have your ex-coach be your daughters coach, that's how you get suckered into racing when you're in your 30's!!

Mothers Day

Yesterday was Mothers Day and we had a great day! It started with Dale and Rylee running to Dunkin Donuts for bagels and my Chai tea. Avery climbed out of bed when they got back and it was present time. Now, the girls had been talking about this all week but wouldn't tell me exactly what they made. Dale had taken them to a Home Depot Kids Club workshop last weekend and they made me mini wheel barrow plant holders!! They are so cute, Rylee made me a pink one and Avery made me a purple one. I also got an assortment of pictures that Rylee had made at school. After we got done with that I was told that we would also be going to a baseball game that afternoon. So, I got a shower, ran to the grocery store and then we headed over to the Reading Phillies game for an afternoon of fun.





Rylee with Screwball, the main mascot......

Avery doing her best to stay awake during naptime!

After the game we came home and my parents and grandparents came over for dinner. Then I ran to Walmart for some Aloe lotion as my body began to itch. It was so windy at the game I didn't even think about getting burned, that is until my neck and cheeks started to feel a bit warm. Yep, I woke up this morning with a nice looking farmers tan on my arms, lol!! Not to worry, the pool opens in a few weeks!!

Fireworks!!!

It's that time of year again, time for weekly fireworks!!!!
Our local minor league baseball team sets off fireworks after every weekend night game and this was the first weekend for it. It's only a ten minute drive from the house so we keep track of the game online, when it gets close to the end we hop in the car and drive over. I started this with Rylee last year and she loved it. Now that Avery doesn't mind the noise she gets to join us!



The girls patiently waiting in the back of daddy's car.

Watching the fireworks for the first time without climbing into my lap and covering her ears.

Fireworks picture!