The last hurrah

Before Ella, Lillian, Jake, and Lauren left today, we packed in a few more hours of fun. First, we bonded over our love of toast spread with Nutella.

Peter and Lillian pretended to fight fires.

And the kids took turns on my mom's childhood rocking horse, Carl.

Then, we went swimming (of course) and had a quick lunch.  When it was time to say our goodbyes, we thought Ella and Charlotte were going to hug each other to death.  Those two are going to have a lot of fun together over the years!

Thank you so much for making the drive up here, guys!  Can't wait to see you on our next trip down to Texas.

The Ella and Lillian show comes to town

Because Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike didn't have enough craziness going on with a three-year-old and a one-year-old staying at their house, we invited my cousin, Jake, his wife, Lauren, and their five-year-old, Ella, and their one-year-old, Lillian, to come for the weekend.  It was sheer madness, but we had a blast.  As predicted, Ella and Charlotte were best buds from the start.  Peter either tagged along after the big girls or babbled with Lillian.  We probably spent about 38 hours total in the pool, I think.

The kids spent endless hours setting up "tea parties" by the side of the pool.

Ella is quite a ham.

Charlotte would only let someone she REALLY adores pour water over her head like this!

Poor Lilli had to go to bed before we swam this evening, so we couldn't get her in the group ice cream shot.

Snuggling in the "movie theater" (as Charlotte and Ella were calling the upstairs TV room) with Grandpa/Great Uncle Spike.  Peter loved sitting on Ella's lap.

Not exactly sure what was going on here.

Lunch at Firehouse Subs was crazy but fun.  Ella is always proud to tell people that her daddy is a firefighter in the Air Force.

Lilli looks a little suspicious of the dalmatian-print tables.  Don't worry, Lil -- I don't think any puppies were harmed in the making of those tables.

The souvenir hats have provided tons of fun for Petey ever since.

Lilli finally got to go swimming on Saturday afternoon.  She liked riding on the blue raft but had a penchant for diving right off with no warning.  Luckily, her daddy was there to catch her.

Jake and Lauren live a few hours away in San Angelo.

Wanna drink?

Bubbles in the hot tub!

Chicken little

Grandma JoJo took Charlotte to see a "Dora the Explorer - Live!" play today. Charlotte is just about the world's biggest Dora fan. She even asks the stylist to cut her hair to look just like Dora's and then tells everyone that she looks just like Dora. The play had something to do with the piggy pirates and Diego and Baby Jaguar and all sorts of Dora-related things, and the audience members got some souvenirs along those lines. Charlotte loves her new pirate hat:

Then, the play started. It was apparently all just a little too overwhelming for Charlotte. The actors were just a few feet away, and when Swiper the Fox showed up, Charlotte shook like a leaf. By intermission, Charlotte had seen enough and asked to go home. Grandma JoJo was happy to oblige. Oh well. Maybe in a year or two she will be ready to try the theatre again.

Earning their keep

Charlie and Peter do nothing to contribute to the household economy, so we decided to try to get them jobs at Grandpa Spike's office.  We brought them in for a brief internship to assess their potentials.

The interns were more interested in the pond behind the office building, so Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike had to hold them up to check it out.

Next, they pushed just about every button on the keyboard (using the teamwork typing method) and somehow managed not to delete every file on Grandpa Spike's computer.  Peter then used the cordless mouse to scrape across the keyboard, and still the data miraculously managed to survive.  

Charlie Jo called all of Grandpa Spike's most important business contacts (using both the handset and the headset, of course) to discuss all sorts of interesting things.

Will they be hired full-time?  It's up to Grandpa Spike, who won't be back from a business trip until Friday afternoon.  Peter and Charlotte are sitting by the phone, waiting to hear the news.  I just hope they can telecommute from Tennessee, because I'm sure as heck not driving them 685 miles to work every morning.

Library time

We journeyed to the Southlake Public Library this morning for story time.  The library is inside a gorgeous county government building.

Youth Services has a neat stage across the back of the room with a cute mural painted in the background.

This alligator filled with board books is adorable.

The story time was led by a couple of very animated and funny librarians.  You can see Charlie Jo in the front in the blue flowered shirt and jean skirt.

My mom and I were a little nervous when the librarians handed out rhythm sticks to each child.  We figured Peter would clobber all within reach, but he was very well-behaved.  The noise from three dozen children banging the sticks together just about drove us bonkers though.

Charlotte was very serious about her sticks.

Have you ever seen a cuter grandma?

Skyping with Daddy

While we're in Texas, we're keeping in touch with Corey via Skype.  Whenever we are Skyping, Charlotte insists that Corey show her Rocky and Connie.  Tonight, Corey somehow managed to get both of the critters in front of the camera at the same time.  Rocky started chewing on Connie's ear and a three-way wrestling match ensued.  I got some screen shots of the action:

 

I had better get a message to Pacey somehow to keep those three knuckleheads in line.  We're going to be lucky if the house is still standing when we get back.

Haircuts and burgers

 

Waterlogged

The kids would swim all day, every day if we let them.  Grandma JoJo and Grandpa Spike's pool has gotten some heavy use in the past few days, and I think I may have noticed gills growing behind the kids' ears.  If the kids turn into fish, does that mean we can stop the whole potty training rigamarole?

Safari in downtown Dallas

We took Mom to downtown Dallas for the first time ever (well, she did only move to Texas a few weeks ago) and checked out the Dallas World Aquarium.   

It's seriously awesome.  The funny thing is that there seem to be just as many animals there that don't live in the water as there are fish!

My favorite part was probably the sloth who was just hanging from a tree right in the middle of a walkway between exhibits.  A handler was feeding him and he was so slow to reach out and grab it.  We were mesmerized.

Peter contemplated joining the band of howler monkeys.

Corey always says that Peter is part manatee, so we took a photo of Peter with one to allow for a side-by-side comparison.

The penguins were super cute.  These must be cousins of the ones who live at the South Pole, because the temperature was in triple digits and the little guys didn't seem to mind!