Happy Birthday America

At the park getting ready to watch the fireworks.

Lily only has one type of hug, the smothering kind.

Our friend little Hallie is far more gentle than Lily, but Lucy wasn't taking any chances. 

Glow Sticks were the hit of the night- I'm glad other, smarter moms came prepared and were willing to share.

The difference between my two girls. Lily cuddled up in my lap for the first 10 minutes of fireworks telling me to make the loud stars stop, while Lucy was enthralled. 

However, Lily did get over her fear enough to jump ship and adopt another family.

On Independence Day we braved the crowds at the Cerraland Independence Celebration. It was HOT and MUGGY - In other words, absolutely miserable. At first we tried a Sno Cone (as per 4th of July tradition) to help us cool off. 

When we were still miserable, we jumped into liquefied paradise. 

Our great friends Deborah and little Nicole

 Sugary, Ice-ish drink Round 2 - 

Butterfly Extravaganza!

Saturday, Lily declared it Minnie's Birthday - and only a Butterfly Birthday party was worthy of the occasion. 

The Garfield Conservation Park happened to be having a Backyard Butterfly exhibit. As a surprise when we arrived they gave each of us a freshly hatched butterfly - Jordan, Lily and Minnie released each butterfly and watched them take their first flight. With classical music in the background and butterflies fluttering around,  it felt like we were transported to a magical world. 

"I'm doing the butterfly dance!"

These fish fell in love with my little Lily and followed her around the pond - it may have been her channeling Dora the Explorer's spirit ("I'm in the jungle like Dora!") or it may have been their expectations of food that endeared them to her.

There's nothing like partying with butterflies to build up an appetite. We headed over to Indy's original City Market from 1903.

I took this picture of Jordan eating his enormous PoBoy, turned away to put the camera in it's case, heard a series of "hmms..." and when I turned back, Jordan was left with a bite sized piece left in his fingers. He rated it as the top 5 sandwiches he's ever had and wasn't hungry again for about 17 hours. 

No party, or outing is complete unless ice cream is involved. 

Summer Time

Girls Day Out

The days that the girls and I get the car is always a good day. Last week we treated ourselves to the Kids Commons in downtown Columbus - a small children's museum. 

She must have inherited the "absence of any upper arm strength" gene from me. 

To Lily's delight and my horror there were at least 10 puppet that belonged in this cave. We went to the childrens museum so I could get a break from putting on endless puppet shows for Lily! But I bet you can guess where we spent the most time. Does anyone honestly know what sound a porcupine make?

No girls day out is complete without an extra large sugar cookie! There was a delicious bakery strategically placed just down the street from the kids commons.