Splish but don't Splash!
 |
| How am I supposed to get any vitamin D? |
Summer is the time for sunshine and swimming. We're lucky to have a pool in our neighborhood and we like to go there sometimes but mostly me and Griffy love to just splash in our baby pool. We love when Mommy sets up our baby two pools on the front lawn and lets us dump all of our water and beach toys into them. I like to get my whole body wet and pretend I'm swimming but Griffy is more interested in taking the water out of the pool using a bucket and dumping it everywhere. Both of us dislike splashing of any kind and we're both afraid of the sprinkler too! Mommy says that we're silly and that playing in the sprinkler is supposed to be fun...I say, maybe next year!
 |
| Wearing my Mommy's old leopard print bathing suit. |
 |
| No sharks in the pool! |
Butterfly Release
Right before school ended, Mommy brought home five painted lady caterpillars and a butterfly habitat for us to take care of and watch grow. We watched the caterpillars for a few weeks as they ate away at their food and eventually went into their chrysalises. Once they had all attached themselves upside down to the paper, Mommy took the paper out very carefully and pinned it to the netting in the butterfly habitat. It took them about a week but finally they starting emerging from chrysalises as beautiful orange and black butterflies. We hoped they would all emerge before we had to leave for the lake but unfortunately one of them was still in a chrysalis when we had to leave so we had a ceremonial releasing of the four butterflies and Mommy pinned the remaining chrysalis to our garden flag so that it could fly away when it eventually emerged. Some of the butterflies did not want to fly away and kept fluttering all around me and Mommy. Mommy held one on her finger but I was too nervous to hold it. After a few minutes...the butterflies flew away together and we waved goodbye to them.
Smith Mountain Lake
Before school even ended, Mommy already had us packed for our vacation at Smith Mountain Lake. School ended on a Friday and on Saturday morning we hit the road for our 4.5 hour drive towards Roanoke, Virginia. Daddy drove down with us for the weekend and then headed home with Mr. Nic on Monday but Mommy, Griffy and me stayed for a whole week with Karen, Julie, Carmela, Grandma Jean and the two puppies (Haley Muffin and Lola). We had so much fun!!! While we were there we did some swimming in the lake. I had my life jacket that Lucy Keen handed down to me but even with my life jacket, I wasn't crazy about swimming with the fish. By the end of the week, did feel comfortable sitting on the raft with Julie and I had so much fun the day that Mommy and Karen took me kayaking out into the open water away from the dock. Actually the rocking of the boat put me to sleep and Mommy had to paddle back with me totally out cold which she said wasn't too easy but definitely funny! Griffy liked going in the kayak too. I also had fun fishing with Daddy while he was there. Daddy bought me a little pink fishing rod set at the gas station and he was very sad when I threw it into the water. Luckily, Karen is the bravest of the lake swimmers and she rescued it from the fish that swim under the dock. Another really fun thing we did at the lake was to blowup our big pool and fill it with water on the deck. Of course by the end of the day everyday it was more like a hot tub with the sun heating up the water so fast. I also had so much fun walking Haley Muffin and Lola with Karen everyday. Griffy was nervous around them at first (so was I) but by the end of the trip, Griffy thought he was a dog whisperer and I became more brave. One of the most fun days was the day we went to SML State Park to check out the beach with Karen and Grandma Jean. We played in the sand a little and swam in the water. The best part was the ice cream break we took. I took a selfie with Karen to document the occasion. The lake was so much fun and luckily for Mommy it was also exhausting and we slept the whole trip home. Mommy was nervous because she was driving home by herself but since we slept the whole way, it made it much easier for Mommy. The only hard part now is waiting until next summer for our next SML vacation!
 |
| "Helping" Mommy pack the cooler. |
 |
| "Okay! I'll get out!" |
 |
| Daddy and Griffy relaxing at the lake. |
 |
| Our party dock for the week! |
 |
| View of our house from the lake. |
 |
| We're so fancy! Here's a close up. |
 |
| The dock is the perfect place for a summer nap. |
|
|
 |
| My first fishing experience with Daddy. (Daddy's dream come true!) |
 |
| Griffy and Karen after a dip in the lake. |
 |
| Ice cream selfie |
 |
| Hanging at the lake with Mommy and Griffin |
 |
| A beautiful lake view at sunset never gets old! |
 |
| Margaritas and milk |
 |
| Playing ball before bedtime |
 |
| Ready to play in the sand. |
 |
| Mommy wanted to sit in the pool and read her magazine but Griffy wanted to play! |
|
|
 |
| Cheeky Monkey! |
 |
| Griffin floating in the lake with Mommy. |
 |
| Perfection! |
 |
| Playing with Karen and Julie on the dock |
 |
| Me floating in the lake with Mommy. |
 |
| Paddle boarding with Mommy |
 |
| Just relaxing with my brother on the dock after taking a dip in the lake. |
 |
| Showing Julie my ipad games. |
 |
| Me and my buddy Julie. |
|
Happy 4th of July!!
 |
| Holding my sparkler nice and tall! |
After a short trip to New Jersey to see the Amir family, we hurried home to Virginia to celebrate America's Independence Day with our neighborhood friends. We had a really fun block party with lots of yummy food, lots of kids and even sparklers! I helped Mommy make dessert fruit pizzas and peanut noodles. Later we went up to the circle to see the fireworks show. Of course, Mommy dressed everybody in patriotic red, white and blue and she did my hair in a special way so that it looked like there was a five pointed star in it. I got a lot of compliments but mostly people were just amazed that I can sit that long while Mommy does my hair.
 |
| All the kids lined up for sparkler time. |
 |
| Mommy's Masterpiece!!! |
 |
| The Handsome Fritz Boys |
More Neighborhood Fun...
This summer a few new families moved into our neighborhood, a few babies were born and of course we already had a lot of kids to begin with....so we've been having so much fun playing outside and having happy hours (well that's for the moms and dads really). One night, Mommy and I made homemade vanilla chocolate chip cookie ice cream and invited the girls over for sundaes. They were delicious! We also had a tattoo night where Mommy painted tattoos on the kids using face paint and we had a pedicure party too. The other kids love to come over and play with our wet chalk. We paint all over the road and sidewalk and Mommy taught everyone a game called Snail or French Hopscotch that she used to play when she was a little girl in Canada. Me and Griffy love to spend time outside and we play outside from the minute we get home from daycare everyday until it gets dark and everyone else goes inside.
 |
| Bubbles...Bubbles...Bubbles! |
 |
| Griffy's turn! |
 |
| Yummy Ice Cream! |
|
Exercise
 |
| Stretching after my run. |
Another fun thing that I've been doing this summer is helping Mommy to get more exercise and workout by becoming Mommy's workout buddy. Sometimes I go running with Mommy and sometimes I sit in the stroller and let Mommy push me while she runs. Of course I always do my stretches to avoid injury and I'm hoping that in the near future I will be able to run part of a 5k or maybe even a whole 5k with Mommy. I've also been helping Mommy complete her Turbo Fire and Ten Minute Trainer workouts by dancing and stretching beside her. I'm pretty good at cheering her on too! I say "Yay Mommy!"
 |
| Breaking a sweat! |
 |
| Working on my arms! |
Playing at the Spray Grounds
 |
| Snack time |
We have a fun family day at the Spray Grounds at the Lee District Park this summer. At first Griffy and me were afraid to go in because of all the holes that spray water because neither of us like to be sprayed or splashed in any way...but with some major convincing from Daddy, we finally decided to play in the fountains. We ended up having fun playing in the little fountains and then had a fun time playing in the park on the awesome playground before sharing a snack and heading home to go out to dinner and do some shopping at Potomic Mills. We were all exhausted...especially because we chose the one hottest day of the summer for out outdoor adventure.
 |
| Climbing up the cargo net by himself |
 |
| Playing in the low spray zone |
 |
| Hanging out with my brother. |
 |
| Getting a little more brave. |
Sand, Salt Water and Sunshine
We had so much fun on our trip to Ocean City with Nana this summer. We had to pack really carefully because the air conditioner in Mommy's car died and she had to leave it at the dealer to be serviced. Daddy's car has much less extra space but we managed to fit it all in for a fun filled trip. We arrived late on a Saturday night. Nana, Mommy, Griffin and me walked down the beach while Daddy went grocery shopping for the week. We had fun using the Capri tubs to unload our luggage...and to push Griffy around since we didn't bring a stroller. Most mornings we slept in and then ate a nice breakfast. None of us are early birds because we're all night owls so we didn't rush outside to secure the perfect spot. While we were at the beach we spent a lot of time playing in the sand and eating ice cream. Mommy swam in the water but the rest of us stayed mostly on land. We played with all of our sand toys and dug lots of holes with these big shovels we found. We had fun looking for sand bugs too and Griffy liked holding them. Mommy was afraid her would try to eat one because he puts everything in his mouth but he only attempted to eat one once. Mommy covered us with lots of sunscreen and made us wear sunhats because she is so paranoid about sun damage. Not everyone on the beach was concerned with sun damage and we saw a lot of unhappy sunburned people. While we were in Ocean City, we went out to eat at lots of restaurants and spent some fun evenings playing pirate mini golf, going to the boardwalk and visiting an amusement park. Down by the boardwalk we saw lots of dolphins jumping out of the water and playing in the boats wakes. We also had fun playing carnival games and going on rides. Daddy won me this huge stuffed animal pizza. Mommy thought it was ridiculous. Griffy and me both loved the rides except for the fire truck that Griffy fell asleep on during the middle of the ride. Everyone was pointing and laughing, especially Mommy, Daddy and Nana. I guess he was tired from all of the excitement! Mommy and Daddy had a mini golf date night and Nana watched
me and Griffy. We definitely were a handful but Nana loved it!
 |
| Fire truck ride before Griffy fell asleep. |
 |
| Riding in the Capri tub with the luggage. |
 |
| Mommy's two best accessories....her Coach bag and Mr. Happy! |
 |
| Photo session at the boardwalk. |
 |
| Griffy playing on the rocks down by the pier. |
 |
| Jungle Golf with Daddy. |
 |
| Resting on the treasure chest at Pirate Golf. |
 |
| Beach breakfast...yummy! |
 |
| Buddies in a tub! |
 |
| Why does Griffy always wind up in the Capri tubs? |
 |
| Running down the hallway...headed straight for the beach! |
 |
| Playing in the sand...and searching for sand bugs. |
 |
| Bacon. Yum! |
 |
| So much for keeping score... |
 |
| I'm pretty good at this golf thing. |
 |
| Pirate golfing with my best mates. |
 |
| Daddy doing some heavy lifting. |
 |
| Daddy and Griffy |
 |
| Everybody looking in different directions... |
 |
| Playing in the sand with my big pink shovel. |
 |
| This leopard print used to belong to my Mommy and Aunt Orly when they were little...and I'm rocking it now! |
 |
| Hiding in the sand. |
 |
| Playing together in the sand with all of our sand toys. |
 |
| Griffy and Nana enjoying some shade. |
 |
| Taking a nap in the sand. |
 |
| What should I make next? |
 |
| Unlicensed drivers...watch out! |
 |
| Daddy and me riding the airplane. |
 |
| Watch out for the....WAVES! |
 |
| Check out my stylish pink floaties. |
 |
| Restaurant time! |
 |
| I wonder if they have room for me in this circus??? |
Interesting Facts...
Griffy Violet
Favorite Foods: Blueberries, Macaroni and Cheese, Applesauce Popsicles, Chex Mix, Ice Cream
Mommy's Name: Mama Mom or Lemore
Daddy's Name: Mama Daddy, Papa or Kevin
Favorite Word: No Why
Favorite Topping: Whipped Cream Sprinkles
Clothing Size: 2T 2T
Pairs of Shoes: 5 14
Favorite Toy: Balls, Scooter Play Kitchen, Bike
