Wet and Wild!

The weather has been so hot, and summer storms have been popping up almost daily, so last week we decided to embrace the wet :o)
On Wednesday, Sophie and I went to the water park at Fort Jackson again. She LOVES playing in the water, just as long as it doesn't spray her face. She still will not go through the splash park area, but she doesn't hesitate to jump into a 3 ft deep pool into my arms. She squealed when she realized she was now tall enough to tip toe through the 2.5 foot section of the pool all by herself, and kept her chin up and her mouth closed while she hopped on her toes for an hour. We rode in the lazy river twice, and we avoided all the "waterfalls" so our faces wouldn't get wet. She made friends everywhere, as usual, and she sang silly songs the whole time. Her favorite new song is "Somebody that I used to know," but she only likes to sing "the girl part."



On Friday, we drove up to Carowinds to spend the day with my friends Sherrie, Amy, and Amy's baby, Aiden. It was Sophie's first time at Carowinds, but when she saw the carousel, she was in heaven. There weren't many people there, so she picked a horse named Summer and we got to ride twice without getting off. She made sure to ask me all the names of the other horses in sight so we could "say hey to our friends." Next she decided she would ride the rockets all by herself. She was "a little nervous," but she held on tight as the went around and around, and up and down. She didn't make a sound or even laugh, but she swears she liked it. No round two on this ride, though. :o)

 Once she saw the Snoopy train, it was all over. we rode it 3 times in a row as she sang every "Dinosaur Train" song she knew until Sherrie and Amy arrived. "Aunt Sherrie" rode with Sophie on the carousel two more times, (on a pink horse named Penelope this time,) and then the boats and cars, and then we headed for lunch and the water park area. I had been to Boomerang Bay before, but had never really paid attention to the amazing kids area. There were playgrounds IN the pool! Soph was running to the water before I could even change her into her teeny green bikini.

A storm popped up and cut our day a little short, but we ran to the car and she racked out before we even got out of the parking lot. :o)

In keeping with our wet week, yesterday we were treated to a day on the lake in Big Mack's new boat! We drove to Santee and spent 6 hours on Lake Marion on the new boat, playing, swimming, and dancing. Sophie LOVED it! She liked "driving the boat, floating, and 'tee tee'ing in the water," she says. Haha. It's the simple things in life. :o)

Her new obsession is anything space related. She can tell you all 8 planets and describe a few of them, from volcanoes to craters to ice storms. I'm not sure where this all started, but she now says she wants to be an astronaut and "go see Mars, but not touch it. It's too hot." Looks like it's time to visit a planetarium, if I can find one nearby!

See ya real soon! ☼

Silly Face Tag!

While Sophie, Daddy, and Mommy were horsing around in the living room and being silly yesterday, we decided to take a picture. Sophie wanted to make silly faces, so this is what we got.

Then I had the great idea to send it to the family and ask for them to send one back, thus SILLY FACE TAG was invented! I think we will be doing this more often, because we ROLLED with laughter as the photos were sent back to us one by one.

I think these are totally Christmas card worthy. <3
See ya real soon! ☼

July 4th and more HOT parties!

Summer fun is supposed to be hot, but this summer is REALLY hot! It's been 100 degrees and higher for the last 2 weeks, and it certainly can drain you. Luckily, we've been to a lot of fun summer parties to distract us from the heat!  

Last weekend, Camilo and I rented a little red feisty car called a Sonic and drove 8 hours up to Columbus Ohio for his cousin Amy's wedding. It was such a pretty drive through the mountains, but we were determined to make great time so didn't stop for photos. We did stop in Virginia at a Subway (so I could get Sophia a "Brave" lunch bag with Merida on it,) where the employees were so friendly, told us we looked like newlyweds, and told Camilo the secret to happiness and love in a marriage is to "keep the wifey happy." Smart (toothless) people. They do say Virginia is for lovers! We sang ourselves silly and listened to the soccer game and some comedy routines on the awesome satellite radio, and we drove through the biggest storm, full of funnel clouds and blowing debris, which was terrifying in a tiny car! Everyone was talking about the storm all weekend and how hot it was, little did they know how hot it was here at home!

We had a great time in Ohio visiting with Camilo's Aunt Bev, Uncle Tony, and many cousins, most of whom we hadn't seen since they came to SC for our wedding 3 1/2 years ago. We spent most of our time relaxing in the luxe hotel room and walked downtown to eat at the local restaurants for all our meals. Amy's wedding was SO glamorous, elegant, and sophisticated. It was in the historic Westin ballroom with stained glass windows, we dined on filet mignon, and her hundreds of guests were all so friendly and fun! We sat at a beautifull decorated table with Camilo's cousin Irene and 5-year old twin cousins, Ethan and Ryan! Our favorite details were definitely the margarita bar, photo booth ,and smorgasbord of sweets, including famous Ohio buckeyes. A few bags actually made it home to share! :o) As much as we loved being in Ohio, we missed our baby girl, so we hurried home on Sunday to see her. G.G. and Big Mack had been keeping her all weekend at our house so she didn't have to travel. She still doesn't do very well on long car trips. We came home to big hugs, a clean house, and lots of fun stories of their weekend together. I am blessed with the best parents ever!

For the 4th of July, we drove to Orangeburg to spend the day with them and James, Heather and Ben too! Dad and Camilo grilled, we ate, and Sophie (and Daddy) played in the pool on the patio since it was too hot to do much else! She loves her "Mr. Pelican" float. She also loves her baby cousin. I think she will be a great big sister one day.

This past weekend Daddy had drill in Mount Pleasant, so I got to take Sophia to some fun birthday parties! We went to Plex sports complex on Friday afternoon for my friend Paula's 40th birthday. It was so fun teaching Soph how to roller skate, and she did SO well! My poor feet, however, are completely black and blue. *Note to self: Never wear flip flops when teaching someone how to skate." Sophie also got to play on the bouncy houses, and she devoured the chocolate birthday cake, right after i got finished explaining to Paula that she really isn't keen on sweets. She is constantly surprising me.

Speaking of birthday cake, Sunday afternoon we visited Saluda Shoal's park for the first time for Kaleb's 2nd birthday party. Not only was it a party at the splash park, but it was Dinosaur Train themed and there were train rides! The cake Kaleb's grandmother made was phenomenal. Sophie was on Cloud 9!! She danced around singing every song on the soundtrack Kaleb's dad Ron had put together, told everyone who all the dinosaurs were on the cake, totally ignored the splash park except to rinse off her feet, and we rode the train twice. She chowed down on the dinosaur PB&J sandwiches, (which she calls "Ned sandwiches" because they look like her favorite dinosaur,) cheese puffs, and adorable Buddy cake pops that Kaleb's mom Jennifer made. The cake pops were melting from the heat, as were we, but we all endured the 100 degree afternoon together. I had a hard time getting her to leave when Daddy called and said he was home from drill and waiting to see us!

All of these parties were so fun, but we all have the most fun when it's just the 3 of us, dancing around in our living room, being silly, and adoring each other so much. I love our little family. <3

Next up, Sophia's first trip to Carowinds!!! See ya real soon! ☼