Nellie spent a lot of time out of preschool this month as she was cutting her molars and was sick, had diarrhea and a fever. We were lucky that most of the days she was sent home/unable to go to school Tori was available to come watch her. She's so great with the girls, they love her and I like having her around, she's so sweet. Her work schedule is changing and she has Fridays off; we have agreed that she will watch the girls on Fridays for this school year. I am happy to help her out with an extra day and the girls are looking forward to spending more time with her.
Mila is now playing AYSO soccer, which is a real soccer team with one practice a week and one game. She loves her new team and is actually playing more than picking flowers! I got roped into being the team manager (every parent on the team has a job) but it's actually not terrible and is in line with everything I love (calendars, schedules, organizing, bossing people around). Her first game is September 9th but we haven't got the schedule yet.
Nellie will start next week in her own class through parks & rec. She is SO excited.
We have had to get on Mila a couple of times for expecting dinner to be ready, being demanding and just in general not being appreciative of what she has. Some people may think she's too young to understand this but I don't think it's ever to early to start teaching her to be gracious. One night after she had asked a million times when dinner would be ready and, when she didn't like what I made, that I should make her something else AND clear her plate, I decided it was time to teach her a lesson. We told her that she had to clean all of our plates after dinner and then clean up the kitchen floor and table. She did it all with minimal complaints, until I told her that the next day she couldn't go play with Tori but instead needed to stay behind to do the laundry and clean the rest of the house. That struck a cord with her; I think it DID make a difference because she hasn't been that moody since!
Robert, Garret and I went to a concert (Billy Currington) at the beach, which was so fun. It was an all day event but it was so nice that we had VIP tickets, which came with a large bean bag, that we could use to relax in the shade with. The girls had a fun day with Grandma and Grandpa, playing in the pool and going out to dinner...even having their first Shirley Temple!
Preschool is closed every year for summer break for the last week of August through the Wednesday after Labor Day so every year we go on a vacation with the trailer. This year was our longest trip 6 nights/7 days. We started the trip in Buellton, CA at Flying Flags RV Resort. We had never been there before but it quickly became one of our favorite places. There was a restaurant, bar, playground, 3 pools, splash pad, bocce ball court and fire pit on site, just to name a few amenities.
Mila swam most of the time without her floaties (it was a zero depth pool and she was allowed to go as far as the 3 foot area as long as we were in the pool with her) and she learned how to do a front and a back flip.
There was a really cool brewery in town that we walked to one day and then went back a second time. They were very child friendly, even turning cartoons on one of the tvs for the girls when we were there the first time. There was a stage out back and the girls had a fun time performing for everyone.
One of Robert's good friend, Russ, and his family were coming back from Monterey so they stopped by one night and we all had dinner and smores together. The kids had a blast playing together and all agreed we need to get together sooner rather than later (we hadn't seen the whole family since Nellie's baptism!).
We went to Solvang for a day, had lunch, ice cream and went wine tasting in a local tasting room.
After 5 days at Flying Flags we went to Ocean Mesa in Santa Barbara, where we had been before. Unfortunately, after Flying Flags, Ocean Mesa wasn't as exciting due to a lack of amenities. We spent the first day at the pool and then went to the zoo downtown the next day. The kids had so much at the zoo, which was small enough to make it through in a couple of hours, and they even fed giraffes!
We have been trying to instill in Mila the importance of being grateful for what we have. Regarding vacation, particularly, she was upset that we were only going on vacation for 7 days when she wanted to go on vacation for 10 days. We explained to her that not everyone gets to go on vacation and that she is, in fact, very lucky we get to do the things we do. We told her that going on vacation costs money, which is earned through hard work. We asked Mila what she thought that meant (i.e. mommy and daddy work hard so we can do fun things like vacation); she thought for a minute and then said "that means we have a lot of money!" Point missed haha, guess we will have to try that life lesson again later ;)
We ended the vacation with marshmallows by the fire. It was a great vacation; definitely a long time and we now wish we would've spent the full time at one place (Flying Flags) but now we know!
We are home for Labor Day weekend, which will be spent potty training Nellie, so wish us luck!
