Mile Stones

This week has been full of mile stones for each of my girls. It's enough to make a mother burst with pride! (the good kind, I think)

Carmen must have reached a huge learning curve this week. Since all of her friends have learned to ride a two wheeler, she's been feeling a little left out. Yesterday she got on this bike and wasn't going to get off until she could ride it all by herself. And it didn't take her long to catch on! I was shocked at how fast she picked up on it. Today she mastered getting started and taking off by herself. Today she was also determined to learn how to tie her shoes. She's still practicing this, but is doing great so far. Now if she could just learn to swim....

Aliza has been working on potty training. On saturday she went four times on the potty!! I was so proud of her and she got her reward. Once she was rewarded, the desire to use the potty went out the window. She's only gone one time since than. But at least we reached a good starting point.

Charlotte got her first pony tail also. It's so adorable and the bow adds just the perfect touch. We have now graduated into two pony tails. It's really very cute. She also got her first hair cut today. She was growing a small mullet and it needed some attention. So she got a little trim in the back. And just today she started to cut her first tooth. Now I know why she's been so cranky the last few days!

And I've been absolutely surprised at the many "thank yous" I've gotten this week. Every little thing I've done for the girls they've been quick to reply with a thank you! It's been surprising and has made me happy and more willing to do things for them. I love my kiddos.

Camping at Huntington Lake

Get ready for a mega camping post! This year we went to Huntington Lake up in the Sierra Mountains. It was a beautiful spot. This lake is the most well known lake in California for sailing. So the water was full of beautiful sail boats all around.

Carmen could hardly wait to get there. The other families we were camping with went up a day earlier, so she could not wait to get in on the fun.
Aliza, too was excited to get there.
Carmen has an over all fear water and not a great liking to swimming. But she was feeling exceptionally brave and started jumping off the dock into the lake. She did it over and over and each time got a little farther down the dock to jump into deeper water.
This was the path from our tent to the lake.
Charlotte spent a lot of time in her car seat. I learned one thing, camping + baby = miserable! But she was a far better trooper than her mommy!
Aliza and me out on the float. The was the most I ever got into the water. It was freezing cold water!! But that float was so comfortable, the best $9 I've ever spent.
I called this the white trash float. It's a blown up air mattress! And yes, people really did take it out in the water and floated around on it.
Aliza happily played in the sand the entire time. Digging and dumping all day long!

And the bunny was never far away. This was how dirty it was after the first day, by the end of the week it was BLACK! But she still had to have it with her.
After a whole day of boating and playing on the water, Carmen finally decided she HAD to get on the raft. It was her last chance and the only way she would do it was if Sariah and I went with her. She really enjoyed it as long as David went really slow. I was so proud of her for finally giving it a try. Aliza also did it, but I don't have a picture of her. I love that both my girls gave it a try, even though they both were really scared.
David and Aliza driving the boat. It was so great to have the boat so we didn't have to sit on the beach all day.
This is all the kids we had with us. There were several families that came along and I think we all had a really good time together.
The wives made all the husbands jump off the dock. It was funny to watch.

The big splash!
Aliza generally hates getting her picture taken, but every once in a while she gets in the mood to be a model. She stood on this stump and let me take a whole lot of pictures of her. She was being so silly. This is the tie dye shirt she made while Peyton was here.
The three amigos! Eden, Sariah and Carmen are three peas in a pod and were inseperable the entire week. I love Sariah's goggles in this picture!
And this is the beautiful sunset over the lake. I was so glad to be packing up and leaving the next morning. We had a great week, but I was more than ready to get back home to my own bed and running water. One of the first things Carmen said when we got home was "I don't like the camping potty". It was one that didn't flush...I agreed with her!

Water Slide Fun

The weather was in the triple digits when Peyton came to visit. This day David got hot enough to create a water slide out of our play structure. This is Peyton getting ready for the wild ride.

David had to try it out of course. It was so funny!!!

Carmen making a big splash!

Peyton's big splash and big bump! The drop off the end of the slide is fairly high, so they seemed to bump down the tarp rather than slide down.

And here is Peyton finally getting to hold "little baby Charlotte"! She couldn't wait to come to California to see little baby Charlotte and to hold her. She took very good care of her.
The girls all made their own tie dye shirts. This was Peyton's. They all turned out really great!

Oma and Peyton

Well, I keep trying to load pictures of our visit with Oma and my niece Peyton, but they won't all load for some reason. But, we did have a nice relaxing visit with them. Most of our time was spent swimming or at Central Park. It was my moms first time to see Charlotte, so that was fun for her to see her newest grandbaby. She now has 4 grand daughters and 1 grandson. And it was fun for the girls to play with their cousin.

We spent most our time here

Peyton enjoying the water
Me with two of my favorite girls. Carmen was being too moody to take a picture.