The Beach

We went to the beach, Myrtle Beach to be precise, for a late summer vacation.  When you say you are going to "Myrtle," South Carolina natives have interesting reactions ranging from surprise to pity to excitement.  Everyone has an opinion about this vacation destination.  And I will be the first to admit that it does not make my Top 10 Beaches list.  BUT, it is close and it is fun so down the interstate we went.  Our hotel had a beautiful view of the ocean and we were so excited to get out there and enjoy the surf, sand and sun.     

We managed to do a little shopping starting with the Disney Store.  Tessa had been saving her piggy bank money plus G&G had given her a wad of ones to spend on anything she wanted.  We spent a long time debating what to get.  I'm pretty sure she picked up every single thing in the store at least once including a gift card for a park season pass.  Piggy bank money wasn't going to cover the cost of that!  She made her final selections and handed over her money, not at all grasping the life lesson I was trying to teach.  All she processed was that she was surrounded by all of her favorite stuff, a little piece of Disney right at the beach.  As we left the store with our new precious toys, Tessa said "NOW we can go see Mickey!"  Slight miscommunication here, she thought we were at Disney World again.  How sad to explain that her favorite mouse was not there and that we wouldn't be seeing him anytime soon.  She thought about this and said "OK, we'll just see Goofy then."  We went for a ride on the carousel and she didn't mention it again but next time I will be sure to differentiate Disney Store from Disney World.  

One morning we got up early for a photo shoot on the beach.  I probably should have planned to do this about two hours earlier before the sun was shining so brightly.  But, let's face it, we were on vacation and not in the mood to move too fast in the morning.  I captured a few shots of my darling in the beautiful morning sunshine.     

One thing that I do like about East Coast beaches, are the dunes and sea oats. 

We drove down to Murrell's Inlet to sample the famous seafood.  It's ironic that for a girl who dreams of retiring to the beach, I'm not that fond of seafood.  We only eat shellfish, and even then I'm pretty picky.  However, the food here was delicious.  We shared crabcakes and then I had fried scallops and some cocktail that went down way too easy.  We sat on the deck under palm trees and live oaks watching the beautiful sunset.  Then we went for a stroll on the docks because Tessa wanted to look for crocodiles.  She is fascinated with pirates and we even saw a touristy pirate ship.  Seeing Ryan really relax and slow down was wonderful.     

These two silly monkeys are hammin' it up, our very own Muscle Beach!  Myrtle Beach is a great place for people watching, and I don't just mean people like us being funny.  The Yankees (I married one so I can talk about them) around the pool were the most fun to listen to because they were so loud!  And Tessa noticed interesting things too.  Like the big guy with a huge tattoo on his back, she announced that he got a stamp!  I guess she thought he was a good listener at gymnastics or something.  Then there was the biker sporting a half naked girl with long black hair on his t-shirt, Tessa pointed out his Pocahontas shirt.  Sure Honey, that's a princess.        

Our friends made an impromptu trip to the beach and we were able to hang out with them on our last day.  The girls played together in the surf, made sand castles and helped the daddies dig a huge hole.  They made me laugh when they made sand angels.  For most of the trip the surf was too rough to actually swim in the ocean.  In fact, we felt the earthquake that shook the East Coast and I'm sure that didn't help the riptides.       

While we spent more time in the pool than the ocean, we did have plenty of relaxing beach time.  We came home rested, refreshed and reconnected. 

My Birthday

I had a GREAT birthday this year.  Birthday week started on Tuesday when my wonderful friend not only took me out to dinner, but cooked for my husband and child.  Thank you!  Then on Wednesday, Nanny and Gamma came over for our usual girl's afternoon.  Gamma and Tessa had ordered me a Princess Aurora cake and we had presents too.

On my actual birthday, Ryan took the day off work.  He baked a chocolate cake with Tessa and then we went to the pool.  I sat in the lounge chair, soaked up the sun, started a new book and watched my hubby play with my daughter.  My parents came over that night with champagne and more gifts. 

I finally got to open my super secret gift from Tessa. She had been telling me all week that she and Daddy made a cup with her hands and that it was baking.  So much for the surprise!  But I love the tea cup with her big-girl handprints, very sweet. Then we all went out for a very yummy steak dinner. A perfect birthday celebration.

Fishing in Canada

Every few years or so, Ryan and his dad take an incredible fishing vacation.  These two love to fish and  West Coast Resorts offers an unbeatable experience!  Each day, they would get up before dawn and head out with a private guide.  They fished for salmon (king / chinook or spring / coho) first and then, when they hit the limit, would fish for halibut and ling cod.  And, wow, did they catch a lot of fish.  Paula and I each have a freezer full.    

They had beautiful weather and calm seas.  The sunrises were apparently gorgeous.  They saw bald eagles and killer whales.  The killer whales eat salmon, so seeing them is not a good thing when salmon fishing.    

The cool thing is that the lodge is built on a barge.  That way, it can be towed to different locations seasonally to follow the best fishing.  Ryan and Frank were fishing Milbanke Sound in British Columbia.   

Because of the remote location, the lodge is only accessible by sea plane or boat.  Very cool to be flown, literally, to your doorstep.  Not very cool when they had an aborted take-off while trying to leave the lodge.  Ryan told me they couldn't get enough speed for liftoff and almost crashed into the rocky shore.  But, they circled around and managed to fly out of the sound on the second try.        

One day, the boys were so close to a sea otter that they could see him cracking open his dinner.  The sea otter floats on his back and uses a rock to crack open whatever he is trying to eat.  Listen and you can hear the clicking as he cracks open this oyster or abalone. 

It was a great trip, as always, with bonding time between father and son.

Little Fish

We have logged many hours of pool time this summer.  Tessa just loves to be in the water.  Her favorite game is to play dolphin.  She holds on to my shoulders and we dive under water, swim, surface and dive again.  She can hold her breath for a very long time.  We do laps around the pool until Momma is worn out.  Then we float and relax.  

She has never been afraid to put her face under water, as she is showing me here.  With just a little help, she can go all the way to the bottom and retrieve her princess dive sticks.  We have been working on diving and Tessa does a great belly flop.  Her new thing she is trying to learn is an underwater flip.  It is so funny to watch her float, put her head down and rear end up.  But she can't quite propel herself over and she doesn't want me to help.    

G&G went swimming with us and we had a great time.  Tea parties at the bottom of the pool make Tessa laugh and Gampa was so funny talking to her underwater.

She is a good swimmer but, unless she is in a float, she still likes the security of someone holding her hand. Usually when she jumps we either hold hands, like G&G are doing, or she jumps by herself and I catch her belly. Each time we swim she gets braver. One day she got real brave and jumped in by herself, only I was not in the water to catch her. Scared the daylights out of me! She popped right up to the surface and was kicking for all she was worth to get back to the wall. I praised her and made a big deal out of what a good job she did and eventually my heartrate returned to normal.  We will both be sad when summer ends.  But our gym has an indoor pool so we can swim all year round.     

Four Years Old

Four years old and so grown up!  How can I possibly sum up this year in a blog post?  I just can't.  Except to say that a popular song right now has a line "I've got a pocketful of sunshine."  Every time I hear it I think of Tessa, she is my pocketful of sunshine.  This healthy, beautiful, smart, sweet, caring girl lights up our life.  

Her year in review.  I wish I could still access the site that sets pictures to music because Tessa is so music oriented.  But, even in the absence of music these pictures tell the story of Tessa's third year. 

The Real Birthday

On Tessa's birthday we went downtown for a picnic.  We took the new bike and met Ryan at a park.  We had fried chicken and watched the ducks swim near the waterfall.  This park is great because it has lots of paved trails, perfect for riding bicycles.  So after lunch, Tessa hopped on her bike and she rode (or rather I pushed) her around a bit.  Her balance on the bike is great but we're still working on the pedaling part. 

Perhaps this idea was better in theory than actuality because it was so unbelievably hot. Ryan went back to work and we played for a little while longer. 

A few weeks before the Minnie party, Tessa had announced that she wanted a Belle party.  I told her we would do that for her 5th birthday and thought she was good with that answer.  Well, the day after her Minnie party she woke up and asked if it was time for the Belle party.  Apparently I have passed on the art of dragging out birthday celebrations.  Sooooo... Gamma to the rescue.  For Wednesday family night, she arrived with cake, music and more presents and we had a Belle party.  This is one lucky little girl.    

Minnie Party

The birthday girl is ready to party!  Sporting a new Minnie outfit and mouse ear piggy tail holders, she looked adorable.  Before the guests arrived I took some quick shots of my doll.  

Everybody posed with Tessa at the photo-op spot.  

Let the games begin!  Ryan did a great job getting each girl nice and dizzy for the Pin-the-Flower-on-Minnie game.  

At this age everybody is a winner. Who wants lollipops?!?!  I can't believe this is the only group shot I got of all the girls. 

And then we did the Hokey Pokey which was hilarious.  All of these girls love to dance and the daddies even joined them for a second round of Hokey Pokey.  So that everybody will remain my friend, I am only posting the video of me dancing.  I have no shame and the girls are too cute not to share this.       

We also played musical chairs which was a first for some of the girls.  It was pretty funny trying to explain the concept of musical chairs. When the music stopped each girl would scramble for "her" chair.  Not just any available chair but the one where they were sitting when the music began.   They got the hang of it pretty quick and loved the running around part.  The birthday girl was the first one knocked out which almost brought tears.  We let her sit in the removed chair and then she was fine.  A prize for the winner and it was time to move on to cake! 

Tessa is blessed with wonderful friends, I love seeing them gathered around the table to wish her a happy birthday.  The look of total joy on her face makes my heart want to burst with happiness.  

Then it was time for presents.  The girls all helped Tessa open her packages which she did not mind one bit.  Each toy was oohhed and ahhed over before we moved on to the next one.  The living room was a sea of tissue paper and little girl stuff.

  

Tessa's big gifts from G&G were a Minnie scooter and a Minnie bike.  When we got to these items the girls all wanted to go outside and play with them.  Tessa looks like such a big girl on her bicycle!  It has a cute little bell and a basket so she can cart around her doll/animal du jour.  She hopped on the scooter and quickly figured it out.           

Even though the official birthday party had to come to an end, our celebration wasn't over.  Tessa's real birthday was still a few days away and more fun was yet to come. 

Party Prep

Planning and decorating for parties is something I love to do.  Tessa's birthday theme this year was Minnie Mouse.  We started buying Minnie things months ahead of time.  And since this was our first "girls only" party, everything could be pink.   

I found super cute cupcake wrappers and toppers that matched the invitations.  I love to cook, and so does Tessa, so I thought this would be a fun pre-party activity for us.  But, the day before the party, my oven broke.  I was more than a little frustrated.  We packed up and went over to my parent's house to use their oven.  Visiting with my parents helped me chill out a little and then we were back on track with party prep.     

For the party I set the table with kid friendly food.  Minnie Mouse PB&J sandwiches with strawberry bows, little flower sandwiches of turkey and cheese, grapes, chips, pretzel cones, white chocolate snack mix with M&Ms and Minnie confetti.  And let's not forget a mouse's favorite food, cheese! 

The sandwiches were surprisingly easy.  I made them the morning of the party using frozen bread, cookie cutters and a bottle cap.  The bread cuts nicely when it's partially frozen and the bottle cap was just the right size to let the center of the flower show.  By the time the party started, these little snacks were thawed and ready to eat. 

This fun little craft is something I copied from another blog.  Three styrofoam rings held together with lollipops to form mouse ears.  I bought several bags of lollipops because I only wanted to use the pink, red and purple ones.  The kids loved this and I used it as a prize for one of the games.  The only trick was getting it to balance on this plate holder, it's heavier than you would think. 

We had banners all over the house.  My mom did a fantastic job compiling all of our Minnie pictures -Minnie and Tessa, Minnie at dinner, Minnie in the parade, Minnie on stage, there was even one of me with Minnie from when I was little.  Plus we added pictures of Tessa and Anabelle in their Minnie costumes. 

The little Minnie heads in the pots on the mantle are made from painted styrofoam.  I had styrofoam balls pre-painted and bows pre-tied for the girls to make there own Minnie topiaries at the party.    

For some reason, this sign project took me forever.  I got the idea on Pinterest, a website I have not fully explored yet but think I will love.  It's simply small pieces of tissue paper fluffed and individually glued to a foam board.  The large bow is two pieces of tissue paper tied together and glued to the board.  Perhaps it wouldn't have taken me so long if my tissue pieces were not so densely packed together.   

I gathered all of Tessa's Minnie toys, stuffed animals, games, puzzles and books and set them out for the girls to play with.  We blew up a million balloons and then it was time to party.  

Ballerina Baby

It's incredible to believe that my my baby is old enough to begin ballet, but she is!  We've been dancing with her since she was born so it's no wonder she loves to dance.  This summer we took our first official dance classes in the form of a princess dance camp.  Here she is, all ready for her first class.  I have never seen a more adorable ballerina.

I just had to take a picture of her first pair of real ballet shoes.  I'm sentimental like that.  

It was so fun that these girls could all take dance together, everything is more fun with friends!  Of course I cried when they all pranced into the studio on the first day.   

These little ballerinas learned a short dance and a few basic ballet steps.  Tessa's teachers were fabulous and she had a wonderful time.  On the last day, Cinderella made an appearance and watched the girls dance.    

Parents and grandparents were also invited into the studio on the last day.  I'm amazed at how much these girls picked up in just one short week!  Tessa added her own touch to the choreography with some extra fancy dance moves.  And notice that she is singing along too!  A star is born.

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!  For America's birthday we spent the afternoon at the pool.  Watching Tessa have underwater tea parties with G&G was the highlight of my day, these are the priceless moments I want to remember forever.  And I just love summer food.  Sweet watermelon, homemade guacamole and salsa, grilled brats plus blue margaritas were on the menu at our house.  Gamma and Tessa made red, white and blue strawberries which were also a hit.  Hooray for the Red White and Blue!