Grandma and Papa Hawaii took the girls to Disneyland this week and they’ve been having a blast running all over and taking in the sites. Lauren’s little head is blown every time she provides us an update 🙂 Of course, a highlight for both girls was meeting all the Disney princesses…
All ready for the meet and greets...
NOTE: Christine is sleeping and I’m not sure I can nail all the princess names, so that might need to come later 🙂
The girls said this was the best one (and Grandma said the line suggested Maile and Lauren weren't the only ones who thought so 🙂
… and even better was when they got to become princesses themselves!
Princess Maile and Princess Lauren
... and then they went punk!
Once again we headed to Michigan for a family reunion with Grandma Jill’s side of the family. We had an awesome weekend running around and playing with our cousins. We fished (using marshmallows!), went paddle boating, swimming, slip n’ sliding, water ballooning, glitter tattooing (thanks Maile!), we sang and danced, we shared stories, ate s’mores over the fire and, of course, made amazing memories!
Paddle boarding cousins!
Maile doesn't actually like eating the s'mores, but she sure enjoyed roasting the marshmallows 🙂
A rare family picture (Maile 7, Lauren 3.5)
Maile and Aiden _loved_ spending time together!
Auntie Elyssa and the cousins (at least some of them)
(Almost) full family shot!
On Wednesday, we all converged on Chicago to start a midwest visit of Daddy’s side of the family. Grandma Jill and Maile arrived from Boston, while Mommy, Lauren and I arrived from San Francisco. We didn’t get any pictures of videos of it, but suffice to say Maile and Lauren were very excited to see one another! (And Maile was only slightly less excited to see Mommy.)
On Thursday we spent the morning visiting with GG Bea (after a pit stop to get an apple pancake at Walker Brother’s, of course). It was really nice seeing GG and she loved seeing the girls. We checked out her new place, played some games and took GG out for lunch at a local hot dog spot.
Maile Girl and GG Bea
A wonderful visit with GG Bea!
We’ve been getting some quality park time in with Lauren this weekend and Christine caught an awesome picture of her today in full “swinging joy”…
Swinging. Is. The. Best.
With Maile in Boston, Christine and I have been getting some quality time with Lauren. Been fun and strange having just one little 3.5 year old running around and occupying our time. I think Lauren has been enjoying the extra attention, although she’s made it very, very clear she misses her big sister. Apparently, Maile is much better at playing “princess baby” than Daddy is.
Goofing around with Daddy without any big sister distractions!
This summer, we’ve been watching (and enjoying) American Ninja Warrior as a family. The girls are really in to it – and Christine and I like it, particularly how while they are competing, they are root for each other and more often than not, they don’t make it all the way through, but they still come away positive and ready for more.
On Saturday, we decided to head to the park and make up our own Ninja Warrior training course. Unfortunately, the video stopped right as we got going, but I got a few other pictures along the way…
Second obstacle was getting across this net without touching the ground...
... Lauren wasn't going to let her big sister have all the fun!
Going all the way to the top of the rope ladder...
Lauren grunts it out...
(Click here for the video.)
We’ve started talking to the girls (Maile in particular) more and more about the election. Tonight we started watching Chelsea’s speech and Maile was into it for awhile, but then got a bit bored so we stopped it. The girls headed to bed and Christine and I started watching Hillary’s speech. We had it on a little too loud, so Maile popped out, Lauren soon followed and we invited them to watch a bit with us.
Maile and Lauren were there watching when Hillary accepted the nomination!
Taking it all in...
They didn’t make it for the whole speech, but that’s okay. We’ll share more later. When I brought Maile to bed, I knelt down and told her that she can do anything she wants, where ever her dreams might take her.
I think she believed me.
On Sunday, we headed out to a community pool in San Rafael to celebrate Maile’s 7th birthday. San Rafael is about 40 minutes outside the city over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was the perfect day for a pool party – when we left the city, it was a normal 59 degree San Francisco summer day – but out in San Rafael it hit 90!
We had a blast spending the afternoon in and out of the pool with friends – so much fun, we didn’t take too many pictures or videos – but here’s a few we snagged along the way…
We arrived early and Maile and Lauren probably ate half the watermelon before their friends arrived...
Goofing around in the pool...
Lauren had her BFF Elena there to keep her entertained.
Maile shared her celebration with her friend Aiden
Happy Birthday, Maile Girl!
At camp/school, Lauren is starting to learn to find her name. Christine caught her first attempt on video. I remember this being a fun process with Maile that really starts to ramp up – first the circles, then before you know it she’s writing her name in English (and Chinese!)
So many names...
Fun to watch that little mind working 🙂
(Click here for the video.)
When Maile was at her cooking camp a couple weeks ago, she learned how to make empanadas filled with apples. We had a picnic for Mommy’s work on Sunday, so we decided to give the recipe a shot – it was a family affair in the kitchen (and I have to say, they came out quite tasty!)
Maile and Lauren led the way while Mommy and I play sous chefs.
Here’s Maile Girl showing off her technique…
(Click here for the video.)
