Brooke's Last Gymnastics Class 2011

From Gymnastics class 2011

Brooke had her last gymnastics class of the summer. She had a great time and next year, we'll get her going in a more 'official' format.

From Gymnastics class 2011

From Gymnastics class 2011

From Gymnastics class 2011

Since this was also the first week we have the girls enrolled in school for the year, I had to leave work early, pick Brooke up, get her changed and ready and drop her off. In the chaos, I forgot my camera :-(, so my pictures are with my phone. Better than nothing, though!

From Gymnastics class 2011

From Gymnastics class 2011

Swimming

I don't know what we'd be doing with ourselves this summer without our pool. It's literally like a sauna outside most days until the daily thunderstorms start. The girls love the pool and have made huge progress swimming this summer. I was late signing them up for swim lessons this summer, so they never got in this year. But they learned so much this summer, that I'm not sure how much they needed formal lessons. We're very 'safety conscious' with our pool given how dangerous they can be for young kids so we have a child gate around in, and, until recently, the girls swam with life vests.

From pool 2011

From pool 2011

Brooke has always been reserved and timid in the water (Ironic, given her 'no fear' personality), but a few weeks ago she asked to swim without her life vest. I reluctantly bought some fabric swimmies for the girls, but have no regrets now. Luci immediately started swimming around the pool. Of course she likes to keep her mouth open (silly girl). Brooke loves them and started swimming to me on her own. Now, she swims and jumps in 'like a big kid' without clinging to our necks anymore.

From pool 2011

From pool 2011

From pool 2011

For my family, who just saw us last week, you'll notice how far she's come in so short a time.

From pool 2011

Brooke fell down pony.

Since Brooke and Luci only have 10 days between their birthdays, we had a joint celebration for them. We had a small family party and the girls opened all their presents. It was truly like Christmas in July! Brooke's princess castle was the biggest hit. I wish I had a castle like that when I was her age.

From Birthdays 2011

Luci had a Minnie Mouse cake and Brooke chose Tangled. The girls and I baked and decorated their cakes together which was an adventure.

From Birthdays 2011

We are far from our extended family, so we wanted to do something 'special' for their birthday. After much brainstorming, Matt came up with the idea to take the girls to a local ranch and get them pony rides. Brooke loves horses and enjoyed pony rides at a previous fall festival. I imagine Matt had a very romantic vision of the family outing with the 2 girls on ponies and the 2 of us leading them over trails in the Florida sunshine. Well, it wasn't quite magical and I'm not sure if we'll be attempting this again. Luci sums up what happened in the video clip below.

The day started off with us arriving on site 45 minutes earlier. I made Matt drive to McDonald's to kill time then we headed back. The owner tried to convince us to take the girls on young horses because ponies are rather ornery, but after seeing the horse all saddled up and looking really tall, neither girl would get on him. Luci flat out refused to let go of me at all, but Brooke agreed to ride one of the ponies. So, the owner saddled up a pony and Matt led Brooke around for a bit.

From Birthdays 2011

Brooke wouldn't let go of Matt's shirt, and wouldn't let me let go of her back as we led her around.

From Birthdays 2011

From Birthdays 2011

From Birthdays 2011

But, then the pony decided to stop and eat some grass which is a no-no. Matt tried to get the pony to move, and that was not happening. The owner instructed Matt to pull hard, which he did. With one hard tug to the reins, the pony jerked forward sending Brooke falling in slow motion to the sand. I didn't take pictures of the tears etc., but needless to say, we were done for the day. Luci spent the entire ride home repeating, "Brooke fell down pony."

Ah, a happy birthday to remember!