Home Sweet Home...

After a looooong 2 days of driving, we are glad to be back in Colorado. The girls talked the whole trip about "going home to see our huskies" and boy were the dogs glad to see us.

We were so busy during the week doing all kinds of fun stuff that we didn't have much time to post so here are some highlights from our 2 weeks of calling San Antonio "home"...

The girls were thrilled to find this duck that lived outside the hotel for a couple days following some storms blowing through the area. Every morning we went out after that they were obsessed with finding that duck but eventually concluded "He went home to find his mommy."

Most of our days while mommy was at work, the girls and I took advantage of the Sea World season pass we bought. On the days they were open late, we waited until Emilie got off work so she could enjoy all the fun with us...

Nova LOOOOVED this ferris wheel egg ride

This is the "Monkey Version" of the ride that was cousin Alex&Lyndsey's favorite ride when they were Juneau & Nova's age - the Frog Hopper at Cedar Point.

The girls agreed with Alex & Lyndsey that this ride was awesome.

The girls couldn't get enough of the splash park.

Every day we went, Juneau was like a crazy woman from the moment she saw it...

One day she decided it was HILARIOUS to just let the fountains spray her dupe and just stood there like this for long stretches of time...weird like her mom!

Pretty much every single time we went, Nova acted like she'd never been sprayed by water and refused to do anything but stand along the fence for the first 5 minutes...

...but soon would be putting her hands in, then her legs, then eventually drenching herself in the biggest gusher they had.

Nova has been funny like that lately. She acts very tentative about trying things at first but then dives in with both feet...as seen below...

The one day we got roasted ears of corn and we were all eating them while Nova REFUSED to get anywhere near one. Finally, as I was about to finish mine off, I convinced her to just try a little. As soon as that combination of butter and salt hit her tongue, needless to say, I didn't get another bite before that ear was cleaned.

Both girls discovered a love for Sea World's Frosted Lemonade which they downed by the gallon.

They were both HUGE fans of the Shamu shows. Early in the week, we sat at the upper edge of the "Splash Zone" and got marginally splashed several times. One of the last nights we went, we all decided to sit right down in the heart of Splashville. The whales were particularly fiesty that night and we got completely drenched to the point that Nova burst out in a fit of revolt at the 55 degree salt water.

That experience did not stop them though from non-stop talking about "the baby shamu" or "i love when he flips and lands on his head"

One of their two favorite Sea World events was riding the "water rollercoaster"...a good old fashioned log-ride called the Texas Splashdown. It was the only non-baby ride they were allowed to ride so we did...over and over and over.

Nova has become quite the daddy's girl and always wanted to ride with me while Juneau rode with Emilie. Basically every time we rode, after we'd get to the bottom of the "BIG hill", Nova would squeal and announce "My daddy saved me!!!"

She has become hilarious with every statement being "MY daddy"...this started as a way to clarify that she means me when we are playing with Finley, Shane and Jackson and she wants to make sure I help her and not that other guy being called "daddy" (Travis).

Despite how much they loved the water rollercoaster, they still were constantly watching the real rollercoaster zoom by and saying "When I get bigger I'm going to ride that like Alex & Lyndsey." (Can you tell they are obsessed with their cousins?)

Their other favorite event was climbing through these webbing tunnels in the kids playland.

Despite being about 20 feet up in the air and that you can see down through the webbing at all times, the girls weren't the least bit tentative to take off through the maze with all the bigger kids. This area wasn't necessarily designed for the 2-year-old group so of course that meant daddy got to spend lots of time crawling through these tunnels with them.

Most days this was the scene in the van on the way back to the hotel as they thoroughly exhausted themselves with all the activities.

Other things we discovered on this trip:

1. The new Shrek movie was a huge hit with the girls, even if the movie reviewers were only luke warm about it. The girls sat through the whole thing and were spellbound...and it's really funny to hear Nova try to say "Rumplestiltskin" (the villain of this installment of the Shrek franchise)

2. Juneau listens to everything - one night when I stopped for gas on the way home from Sea World, Emilie and I (very quietly) tried to make a plan for her to go in and get a little ice cream snack for her and I to have later that night after the girls were asleep. Somehow, in the middle of the conversation, Juneau pipes up from the back seat "Hey mom, did someone say ice cream?" She did this about 3 other times with various things that we were talking about: "Did you say fruit snacks?" "Did someone say Shamu?", etc...

3. The McDonalds playland guarantees Nova taking a poop. While we were traveling and during our time in San Antonio we frequented McDonalds just so we could let the girls run through the tunnels in the McDonalds playland. It became a point of hilarity that basically EVERY time we went, Nova would crawl to the top, walk out to some isolated part of the maze and after not hearing from her for awhile, we'd yell up to her and she'd come out with a full pull-up.

4. Nova is about 75% potty trained and Juneau is now fully potty-trained (for the 3rd time). This meant FREQUENT stops on the long drive home to empty their pea-sized bladders. Juneau would actually be disappointed when, after announcing that she needed to use the potty, if we would be near a gas station and be able to stop at a real bathroom. She DEFINITELY much preferred this method:

Actual Quote: "Mommy, I LOOOOVE peeing on the ground."

On a closing note, we are SOOOO thankful that my family came away unscathed from the tornado that hit Millbury, Ohio over the weekend and killed 7. My sister and family live just on the edge of Millbury and the tornado (which they apparently now classified as a monstrous F4) went through less than a half mile from their house. My parents happened to be at their house visiting that night as well. Alex & Lyndsey are in 6th grade at Lake where the High School was virtually destroyed but their middle school next door came through relatively well. Having spent time around that little community and area over the years, I was really struck when I heard the news on Sunday morning and our thoughts and prayers continue to be with the many who lost family members or homes.

So, we are settled back in for now. The yard has 2 weeks worth of mowing to catch up on and there is lots of unpacking to do but it is soooo nice to be home.