Doorbell Ditching = Career

Chloe: "Mom, when I grow up I want to be one of those people who delivers packages."

Me: "You mean like a Fedex person?"

Chloe: "Yeah, it looks REALLY fun. They have to ring your doorbell and then run away before anyone sees them."

Happy Birthday Chloe!

Caring

Huggable

Lovable

Outgoing

Energetic

Happy 10th, Chloe! We love you very much.

Where has the time gone? Seems like yesterday that she came into our lives. (sniff, sniff)

This Is Myah

She is bored.

Poor, poor Myah. Poor, poor Chloe.

Cowabunga Bay & A Car Accident

Wednesday, I took the girls and some of their friends to Cowabunga Bay for Chloe's birthday (which is next week and I'll do a proper b-day post then). They had so much fun!

Myah, Shaylie, Brielle, Chloe, Hannah

Seriously, I think they spent a good hour trying to get everyone onto the inner tube at the same time. You can tell by their faces how proud they are of their accomplishment.

Here is my review of Cowabunga Bay. Typically, I like a good water slide. This place however, may have done it in for me. First, let me say that I HATE being splashed unexpectedly even if I'm already wet, (I know I'm weird) so that's kind of where my problems started. But, just getting from point A to point B is a feat in itself. Unbeknownst to me, kids can dump buckets of water on you and squirt you with hoses while you're walking up the stairs (which is SUPER funny). There is also water shooting out of the structure from every which way. Goggles would have come in handy. Then I finally get up to the tallest slide (the purple tube slide) and was not prepared for what would happen next. Take my advice and don't attempt this slide unless you are wearing a one piece swim suit. After being shot out of that thing at bullet speed, my swim suit top was wrapped around my head. No one wants to see that. And if you're going to be getting an enema, I think it would be nice if they would inform you of that with some sort of warning sign. I should have stopped there. But no. I thought it would be a good idea to try the red tube slide which was not quite as high as the purple one. Needless to say, I had pretty much the same experience but for that slide you get to scale a mesh/net ladder thingy which forced me to stare death in the face wondering if they had tested the ladder for use by chubby people! Also, if you are walking along and you start hearing bells, that means that 2 tons of water is about to be dumped on you which is also quite enjoyable. Not.

I will say, after I tested out all the slides and was violated by water in every possible way, I noticed that the girls were still having loads of fun so, I felt pretty confident that I could let them go at it themselves if they stayed together. I was able to relax in a lawn chair, work on my tan, and catch up with my long lost friend Sudoku. I knew it was a good idea to bring that book.

Now, if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, we were involved in a car accident on the way home! I was rear-ended and pushed into the car in front of me. And it happened to be at that intersection that's about a mile from our house. You know the one...the one EVERYONE drives by 10 times a day. I probably don't even need to post this since most of you drove by and saw it all. I do appreciate all the concern that was expressed towards us, it's just that it's kind of embarrassing. Especially when you're in your swimming suit. Anyhoo, I'm happy to say, it wasn't my fault and we all seem to be okay.

The hole in my back bumper.

The dangling license plate on my front bumper.

Good times. Good, GOOD times.

Stadium of Fire

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. I love everything about it. Leer and I often discuss how blessed and lucky we feel that we were born in America. I don't even want to imagine how different my life might be if I had been born anywhere else.

For about the past 11 years, we've made it a tradition to go to the Stadium of Fire. (I think we've only missed 3 of those years.) It is absolutely the best celebration around and on the 4th of July, there is nowhere else I'd rather be. This year was particularly special because Chloe had the opportunity to be one of the dancers in the show.

I was so proud of her. I got the chance to be one of the mom helpers for our dance studio which I was so grateful for. Driving down Friday morning, we got to see the hot air balloon festival going on. That pink one is a giant piggy bank. The girls in my car thought the balloons were pretty cool.

You cannot imagine the work they put into organizing this event. And the dancers worked their butts off! I was in shock when I saw the rehearsal schedule:

Thursday 4 pm until 7 pm

Friday 7:45 am until 11 pm

Saturday 6:45 am until 12 noon

Needless to say, the girls were sore and exhausted. It was totally worth it though and they should be proud of themselves. Look how cute they are!

Now let's talk about the JONAS BROTHERS. Is it wrong for ME to be a fan? I guess I was too busy enjoying the concert to take any pictures of them. But, they were great! And it was pretty funny to hear thousands and thousands of teen aged girls screaming their heads off for them. This was definitely the most rowdy Stadium of Fire that we've been too.

One word...FIREWORKS. I L.O.V.E. fireworks. And this year's display didn't disappoint (although Leer thought they were shorter than usual). I don't know if the Stadium of Fire has the biggest fireworks show in the nation, but I'm sure it's the best.

'Til next year...sigh.