June 27 - Jilly Baby

We love our little Jilly baby! Even when she's being a total terror. Julia didn't go through the terrible 2's (3 was a tough age though) and Luke was a really fabulous toddler. Jillian is definitely her own person and she has hit the 'terrible 2's' a few months early. I took the kids to the mall to buy Father's Day presents for JD and that was quite the experience. Jillian is 'Miss Independent' and wanted to walk by herself. She does not like to hold hands and she likes to forge her own path. If I tried to direct her, she would gently lay down and then through a mini tantrum. Needless to say, it wasn't a long visit to the mall! I ended up hoisting her up and carrying her out like a wild puppy thrashing around. I did get one cute photo with Julia and Luke holding her hands...only because she wanted to swing! Cute little terror!

Little 'ole me? I'm a little blonde perfection

June 26 - Crazy Hot Phoenix

Marriott Resort at the Buttes in Tempe

Last week I was in Phoenix for work and it was hot hot hot. Fun fact about Phoenix. The sun rises EARLY. As in around 5.20am early. I discovered this when my room lit up after 5am because I hadn't shut the plantation shutters all the way. Oops. It's also extremely hot there. I've been in Vegas in August so I knew it was a dry heat, but I think Phoenix may be even hotter than Vegas. The dry heat so it's more akin to standing in front of an oven than the humidity I'm currently used to and I have to say, I'll take 110 Phoenix over 95 Houston any day of the week. I laid by the hotel pool every night I was there (ready of course!) and it was 111 one evening and 110 the next evening. I'm pretty sure the sweat evaporated as soon as it left my body so I didn't even feel gross. It was actually pretty amazing! I left very early for the airport when I flew out, and it was 107 at 4.30am. Crazy!!

June 25 - Aggie Swim Camp

 Julia attended her first overnight camp of the summer at Texas A&M University a few weeks ago. Texas A&M in a large state school (over 68k students) in a small (tiny) town called College Station which is 2 hours north of Houston. It's so small, Gainesville looks like a metropolis compared to it! We drove up on a Sunday with Reese, her friend from Girl Scouts, Aquastar and Orcas. Reese was sick with a stomach virus on the drive up but because she was fever free, the camp doctor allowed her to check in. I was very worried that Julia would come down with it (they were roommates) but luckily Julia did not get sick. There were around 150 swimmers total in the camp and they were divided into groups of 16-18 kids by age. Julia and Reese were in the youngest group called 'Fish Group.' Three other girls from Aquastar also attended and were across the hall. All of the swimmers stayed in a really nice dorm off-campus, complete with 2 outdoor pools! All of the rooms had their own bathrooms. Julia and Reese were in a single while some kids had common rooms with 2 to 4

The view from her room!

bedrooms off a main living area. So nice! 

The camp was Sunday through Friday with an intensive schedule. They provided breakfast, lunch and dinner and the kids were in the pool 3x per day (4h of swimming per day), which included classroom instruction and a video session were they were recorded and given feedback on their stroke technique. Every afternoon they were able to sign up for an activity like going off the towers in the diving well (Julia did this twice, she loved it), rock climbing in the student rec center (she loved this), going to the campus book store (she ordered a Starbucks drink all by herself) or hanging out in the dorm. The fish group ate dinner very early, 4.30-5.30 and then had practice afterwards so the kids also ordered pizza a few nights. She felt very grown up! 

Texas Flag made out of books at our hotel

On Friday, parents were invited to watch the morning practice prior to check out. Luke and I drove up on Thursday night and had a 'Mom and Luke' date night. We stayed at a really cute boutique hotel next to campus, went out for pizza, found a cute candy shop and then played yard games at an outdoor area. We had a blast!!

We went to the pool on Friday (gorgeous facility) and watched practice (the younger kids were doing short course in the diving well while the faster swimmers did long course) and then headed to the dorm to pack up. Julia was super tired but had a blast!!

Ready for camp

Swim, swim, swim

College Station fun

June 18 - Summertime

Sister Love

It's hard to believe but another year of school is done. The kids last day was May 31st. Luke's class celebrated with a Hawaiian luau and Julia's class had a water day extravaganza (complete with water slides, water balloons and snow cones). Fun times all around!

The first week of vacation, both kids stayed home and chilled around the house. This actually worked out perfectly as Luke came down with a case of impetigo (bacterial skin infection that looked like early onset of puberty..red lesions all over his body). He's all better now..but Julia has come down with it. Ugh! I have never done so much laundry and bathroom cleaning in my life. Hopefully no one else comes down with it. 

Julia & Mrs. Solomon & Mrs. Florez

In early May, Rachel let me know that she didn't want to work full-time over the summer. Thus began my search for a full-time daycare. After touring several places, I decided on Primrose. They are a private school catering to infants through kindergarten. Jillian started 2 weeks ago and is doing well. Her class has 10 kids with 3 teachers that rotate (2 are in the room at all times). They get to go to the splash pad (on-site) every Wednesday and she is happy to play with lots of little friends. My favorite thing about Primrose is that I get a daily 'Tadpoles' report (email and via an app) that tells me exactly what she did during the day. It details snacks, lunch, how much she did ate (usually 100%) and her nap times (she's apparently the best napper they have ever seen). 

Luke & Mrs. McIntyre

It's 95 degrees outside...so we bake..pumpkin bread

Cuteness overload