Camping, Hand Family Style

Well, we finally took the plunge...Pat and I took the girls camping, in a tent, with a "heavy footed" animal pacing outside of our tent each night after we went to bed. Yes, I was slightly afraid, and found it difficult to sleep with that "heavy footed' animal pacing around, but I made it through without scaring the girls...Yeah me! However, Pat decided it would be a fun thing to let Keeva & Lila listen to "Scary Stories to tell in the Dark" on his iphone (his dad always told scary stories to him at night when they were camping, what a "special" tradition to pass on)...probably not his best parenting move of the weekend. The girls had a hard time sleeping because they were afraid that I would be replaced by a mom with glass eyes and a wooden tail, or that someone's BIG toe was coming to get them. Anyway, at least the days were fun and full of adventure!

                                         The 1st night (pre-scary stories)

                                                      Exhausted after the 1st day

                                         Posing as though they were happy little helpers

                                                            How they "really felt"!

The girls favorite part was fishing (not the fishing part, but playing I Spy and Hang Man, while they were waiting to catch a fish, which didn't exactly happen). Actually, Keeva's favorite part of our 3 hour fishing adventure was steering the boat and Lila's favorite part was playing with Slimey, her pet worm. She actually got upset after the fishing trip and accused Pat of killing Slimey's parents by putting them on a hook and feeding them to the fish. Pat told her that it was her fault since she wanted to go fishing and she shot right back at him saying, " It's your fault since you are the one who wanted to go CAMPING!" Pat and I couldn't stop laughing and the indignation she felt. Poor Lila Joy.

The girls also really enjoyed throwing "washers" into a box. Get the washer in the hole and It's worth 10 points, just make the washer into the box and it's worth 5 points. Pat played this game for 2 hours with the girls while I napped...that's what pregnant Mamas do when they're camping and can't sleep at night. :)

We played a lot of cards in the evening and the girls learned how to play "rummy"!  Each morning Dad would wake up and grill SPAM (another tradition passed on from his dad...hmmmm) and I would whip up some pancakes, eggs, and hot cocoa (even though it was blazing hot and humid the entire trip).

The girls really enjoyed the "camp" food, especially when Grandma and Grandpa stopped by to have dinner with us on our last night there; it was such a treat!

Then, finally, it was time to pack up and leave. The girls help me deflate the mattresses and pack up all of the camping supplies while Pat took pictures of our view.

The Hand Fam takes on the SD Fair!

Last week my girls had their last dance performance of the season at the San Diego Fair...they were awesome! After the performance we decided to "take on the Fair" and not just the fair, but all the deliciousness that the fair had to offer. We started out by trying to get wax hands of the girls' little hands, but once Lila's hand touched the "warm" wax she screamed and it was all over with; Keeva wouldn't even try it (even though we had been talking about doing it since the fair last year, when Keeva was too afraid to try). Maybe we'll have better luck with the wax hand in 2013!:) Anyway, after the wax hand strikeout, we ventured into the art gallery; where Keeva had a piece of art on display. I wish I would have taken a picture of her next to her art, but we were so baffled as to why "her pastel flower" was hung upside down that I forgot to snap a shot, oh well. My girlie girls LOVE Star Wars and so we had to take their pictures with the cardboard cut outs. Then we preceded to the food area...and boy was there some food. Keeva and Lila stared out the food binge by sharing a soft serve ice cream. Next we all tried a beer battered-bacon wrapped hot dog. We all got a bite, Keeva a few more than the rest of us; it was her favorite. Then we went on to explore the chicken sandwich on Krispie Cream donuts; it was gross. Keeva and Pat also tried a fried twinkie, which they enjoyed. Then we headed to the spa expo; there were so many amazing spas. Some spas had their own cabana and bar and others were just enormous...I was definitely having spa envy. Anyway, back to the food. Next we hit up Lila's favorite snack, pickles, only these pickles were fried, delicious! And with all the fried tastiness we decided we needed a few drinks, "Hello, Orange Julius", boy those were tasty! And last, but certainly not least, we found the red-velvet funnel cake; it was delicious! Of course by the time we got around to sampling that "bad boy" Lila had already passed out in the stroller, but don't worry, we saved her a nibble. The fair was a blast! We were only there for 6 1/2 hours, but by the time we got home, we were all dead tired! I wonder why?!

DANCE, DANCE, DANCE!

YES, my girls LOVE to dance, and YES we love to watch them (at least Daz and I do)! Today was the girls dance recital, Keeva's 4th recital and Lila's 3rd. They both started dance classes when they were two and the "stage" performance at the end of the year is what keeps them going to practice once a week. Keeva age 6 Keeva age 2 Lila age 4 1/2 Lila age 2 1/2 In fact, they love the stage so much, they pretend that they are dancing for the judges on "So You Think You Can Dance". When they are practicing at home I here phrases like, "cue music", and "You're going to Vegas!" They love the show and even more they LOVE to pretend their on the show (costume changes and all). Their imaginary dance contests are so much fun to watch; especially when they really "get in" to their character rolls...it's definitely something! I love how Keeva and Lila play together and how they are the best of friends; they bring so much joy to my life. Thank you Lord for giving me the blessing of mothering these two sweet little souls.