Monday, June 27, 2011

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Outlet Mall Accessorizing



We spent a day at the outlet malls and had a great time. We found a lot of "good finds" and Larkin loved accessorizing herself. She'd find the scarves and sunglasses at stores like LOFT and Banana Republic and once she'd adorned the accessories, she'd walk around to different patrons and show herself off. She got more than a few laughs out of people which just kept her going for more! Fun day.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Majestic Sera in Gaston's







These are some of my favorite pictures of Sera in Gaston's this summer. She loved it as always and I loved watching her have fun. Isn't she just beautiful?

Driving the Boat on Bull Shoal's Lake

A big part of our trips to Gaston's involve taking the boat out on Bull Shoals Lake. Larkin loves "Papa's boat".





I tend to like to stay in the boat to take pictures of the rest of them swimming. Yes, it might have something to do with the fact that I like my lake water to be like bath water... warm. The lake is okay once you get into it, but I only go in about 50% of the time, although I get teased 100% of the time!

Larkin loves to sit in the hammock thing and she even played a little water tennis. She hit the ball back to Papa. I was fairly impressed that her hand-eye coordination was good enough for that!




The big highlight for Larkin was driving Papa's boat! She loved it! Captain Hittle in the making.



Saturday, June 18, 2011

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Larkin's 3rd Birthday Party at Deanna Rose Farm


Yes, this is Larkin's third 3rd birthday party! We did a family one and a friends one in NYC, but now that we're home, we knew that Larkin would want to celebrate with her school friends. So we celebrated with a day at Deanna Rose Farm. It's one of our favorite kid places - it never gets old. The weather was perfect (albeit a little windy) and we couldn't have asked for a more fun morning for Larkin and her friends.

We did the party in the Rabbit Hutch birthday corral. Theme: Tinker Bell.



Here are a few pics from the present opening. She ripped that paper apart! She loved all of her gifts, especially the two Tangled dolls she got. The last pic in this set is of Larkin giving her friend Ella a thank-you hug.






This is the only pic I got with ALL of the kiddos. They were always running this way and that way.


After the cake part of the party, we took off to enjoy the farm. We all rode on the horse-drawn hay ride. I enjoy it as much as the kids. We sang songs while we rode.


Then, it was time for horse-back riding. Larkin wanted to ride the white spotted horse and the birthday girl got her wish!




Last stop was the dairy barn. It was Dairy Day at the Farm so they had all sorts of fun activities set up for kids. They also had free ice cream for the kids (more sugar, please!), cheese sticks, etc. This was where we said good-bye to most of our friends.





After the party, Ella and her family joined us for lunch at one of our favorite lunch spots, Barley's. Larkin's food order is always the same: mac n' cheese with a fruit cup (she picks that over fries - yay!) Larkin also knows where they keep the kid masks and she always sifts through them to find the one she doesn't have yet. Today the girls chose owl masks.


It was a great birthday party! Then we all went home for a nice nap. Ahhh. Perfect.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Fun Day with Padilla Family

Our dear friends, the Padilla family - Colleen (ClassyMommy!), Mike, MacKenzie, and Kyle - made the trip to NYC from Philly, so we were lucky that they were able to spend the weekend visiting with us.

We declared it a day of "Kid's Choice"... we'd do whatever the kiddos wanted to do.

First stop...the playground from yesterday. With Grandpa Bud's guidance, Larkin has finally overcome her fears of the big curlicue slides! She loves it now and did it over and over.


Next stop...a subway ride (Kenzie and Kyles' first ride!) to Times Square. The life and lights there is always a sight to see.






Next stop...the M&M store! The big draw for the kids was the enormous M&M wall of candy. We gave each kid an empty bag and let them pick some of their favorite M&M colors. They loved it and were so proud of their bags.





The M&M store had this funny contraption where you could stand in a booth of sorts and it would tell you what kind of M&M candy you are. It evaluated me for what seemed like forever and then it gave me this as my M&M flavor! Too funny (and kind of accurate)!


Next stop...the American Girl doll store. Kenzie was in heaven and Larkin enjoyed picking tons of the cards describing the doll accessories. She's not as in to dolls as some little girls, but she had fun.


Last stop...lunch at Ditch Plains. We got a huge booth and Larkin decided that she wanted to sit with her friends. She just loved hanging out with her role model Kenzie!



It was a great day and it was sad when we finally had to say good-bye. Miss you, Padillas! XO