Bad jokes

I picked Cam up from school yesterday and she was in the goofiest mood ever.  She has entered a stage where she totally cracks herself up by saying the most nonsensical things.  I remember when my brother Jeff went through his joke telling phase and will never forget about his dinosaur that climbed the tree joke.  Cam's "joke of the day" yesterday was:

Q: Why did the tulip put on hand sanitizer?

A: Because it was made out of rubber.

There you go.  A great conversations opener at the next party you attend. LOL!

Kiss and Tell

Got a note from Cam's teacher yesterday that she was caught kissing boys (yes, plural) and was told that kissing is just for family.  So I went to Cam and said "I got a note from your teachers today. Do you know what it said?" 

Cam: "That I was hitting people."  OK, what? She doesn't hit anyone, unless she's in major defense mode.  I didn't probe into that claim. That wasn't what I wanted to talk about.

Me: "No. It said you were kissing boys in your class.  Is that true."

Cam:  Silence.  Smirk.  "Yes."

Me: "We don't kiss our friends, Camryn.  Not on the cheek, on the hand, on the lips, anywhere.  We save all of those kisses for family."

Cam:  "Well, you kiss Daddy."

Me:  "Daddy is my family.  It's okay to kiss Daddy, but you shouldn't kiss Daddy on the lips.  Or me. Or Darcy.  So who did you kiss?"

Cam:  "Jay"

Me: "Anyone else?"

Cam: "James"

Me: "Anyone else?"

Cam: "Harrison:

Me:  "Anyone else?" (Are you kidding me here? She's naming all the boys in her class.)

Cam: "Carter.  "Well, that was a different day."  (Oh, great. So this has been going on for a while.  She only got caught yesterday.)

Me: "Did these boys ask you to kiss them?"

Cam: "No."

Me: "OK. Let's not do this again. I don't want to hear this news from your teachers anymore.  No more kissing anyone that isn't family, OK?"

Cam: "So I can only kiss a boy when I get married?"

Me:  "Yes. That would be great." 

Ha!  I love the innocence that 5 year olds still have.  This was a great rule until we heard a celebrity gossip update on the radio this morning on the way to school and the two stars from Twilight were rumored to be broken up but there were reports that they were kissing in their car and Cam said "They were KISSING????"  I just ignored it. :)

Growing pains

Darcy has been extra crabby lately.  Even by her standards.  We took her to the doc yesterday thinking something had to be wrong.  Clean bill of health, but she's cutting her molars already!  Yikes!! We were grateful to have an explaination for the behavior.  We never knew it when Camryn was cutting teeth.  Crazy how different kids are.

Two things that I think are funny about Darcy right now.  She absolutely protests wearing socks, and pulls them off the second she gets an opportunity.  And if you give her a lovey or stuffed animal she will pull it up to her face and say "Ahhhhhhh."  So cute.   And she's reached that stage where she pats you on the back gently if you do that to her first.  Love that.

I have to document these sweet things so I don't just remember her as the tantrum thrower that she is. :)

Have a great week.

Spring Break

What an incredible Spring Break we had!  Rather than wait for the summer to take a vacation, Mom and Dad treated us to an amazing time in Clearwater, Florida!  The weather was perfect. 80 and sunny every day.  And I can honestly say this is the first vacation where we weren't ready to get back home after the 5th day.  OK, some of it may have been due to the snow in the forecast on our returning day, but I think a lot of it was due to the fact that it was such a great time.

Craig and I were a little apprehensive to the travel day down to Florida.  We knew Cam would be fine, but Darcy can be such a bear and there's no where to go once you're on that plane.  We were hoping for the best and got it!  We even had two flights to get down there and Darcy was a champ through check in, security, plane ride 1 and 2, and even the 30 minute drive to Clearwater.  She started to have a breakdown 5 minutes before we got to the house.  Who could blame her though?  She had been stuck in that car seat the entire day.  Needless to say, she enjoyed stretching her legs and exploring the house we would be staying at for the next week. 

On the first night, we went to watch the sunset at the beach.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh....so relaxing.  The sound of the ocean and the feel of sand beneath your feet is good for the soul.  It would definitely be a good week.  Camryn couldn't get enough of the water and waves that evening.  She was 2 the last time she was at a beach.  So she enjoyed the experience on an entirely different level this year. 

The next day we just kind of goofed off.  Flea market.  Hanging out.  Girls went to the beach. 

On Monday, Jeff joined us from his weekend trip to a spring training game with friends. I took Darcy to the beach for the first time.  She didn't disappoint.  Left with her little body covered in sand. Her diaper had sand in it and she even tasted it a couple of times.  That's all it took and she was convinced it was gross.  Didn't have to worry about that the rest of the trip.  (Just rubbing her eyes when she has a fistful of sand.)  Camryn looked like she belonged on the beach.  She maximized every minute she had.  The great thing about staying at a beach house is all of the fun beach toys that are left for the next family.  They made sand castles and floated on toys in the water.

Jon making the girls into mermaids.

On Tuesday we went outlet mall shopping while the boys went on their big fishing trip.  There was this giant hamster ball that Camryn was interested in climbing into. Why?  Not sure.  Looked awkward when she was in there but she enjoyed it. :)

Wednesday was another beach day. It's so convenient to be in a house right there.  You can take breaks for lunch and naps and hop on back out there when you're ready again.  Mom and Dad traveled to Universal Studios that day to see the Harry Potter world.  Sounds like it was hugely long lines and little time to enjoy all of the work that was put into the set. 

Well, at least they were all looking at the camera. LOL!

On Thursday we surprised Charlotte and Camryn with a trip to Disney World while Mom & Dad volunteered for their own adventure to watch Riley and Darcy.  We woke the girls up bright and early to break the news.  A bit anti-climatic, but they were half asleep and really had no idea what "going to Disney World" truly meant.  Once it started to sink in, they got more excited.  Jeff rode with Craig, Cam and I and we talked about what we might see on the way there.  I had lots of DW memories from our trips as kids.  And, I enjoyed the day tremendously, but from a much different perspective.  The rides were not quite as magical to me and I cringe at the thought (after the fact at least) on how any purchase you make is an emotional one.  I mean how often are you really at DW??  But to watch a 5 year old see everything for the first time was truly amazing.  Craig kept saying to me "We're never going to get this back.  We need to enjoy every minute of this day with Camryn." And we did.

First view of the castle.

We went on the Dumbo ride first.  Cam's first response..."can we go on that again?"  We wanted to let her lead us through park as much as we could but we had to make sure she had a chance to experience other things to.  The day, as a whole couldn't have gone more smoothly.  We had enough adults that collecting fast passes to ride things later in the day while we waited at another ride certainly made things easier.  I still cannot believe how much we squeezed into the day...Dumbo, Teacups, Mickey's PhilHarmagic, Peter Pan, Cinderella's Carousel, It's A Small World, Buzz Light Year, Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, The Jungle Ride Country Bear Jamboree and even Craig and I made it to Space Mountain. 

This doesn't even include dinner with Cinderella and event of the day...meeting Rapunzel, Disney's newest princess and her beau, Flynn Rider.

It's amazing to me how well Disney chooses people. These two look just like the cartoon.  I can tell you one thing though, I would not want that big hunk of hair on my shoulder all day.  Yikes!

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Lady Tremaine was our first table visitor.  I think at first the girls couldn't believe they were coming right up to them.  But they quickly settle in and got all of the character's autographs.

Prince Charming...now this was not such a good look a like. 
He came up to the girls and said "Wow! You look just like my wife!"

Jeff's date for the night. LOL!

It was a great day!  Long, but great.  So glad we had the opportunity to take the girls there.  Now we are all ready to go back. 

And then on our final day, we just kind of soaked up as much of the sun and ocean breeze we could.  Camryn jumped as many waves as we would let her.  And then that night we headed out to dinner with everyone, but first had to grab some family pics on the beach.

Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for giving us these wonderful memories. We had an amazing time.