Avery's birthday is Tuesday. She'll be 4 years old! Since Derek is getting ready to leave for 2 months we decided to have her party this morning so he could be here for it. I didn't spend a lot of time planning this party and it's been our cheapest party thus far (by a long shot) with the total for EVERYTHING (food, supplies, games, favors, etc) coming in right under $30!
Here is the party in pictures:
Birthday Girl & Party Goers
my first ever home made bows. i think they turned out pretty well. :)
The Activities
decorating their goodie bags w/ markers and Minnie Mouse stickers
pin the bow on Minnie
home made pinata -- it ended up being a little too sturdy. Like my friend, Loren, said.....built to last "Made in the USA!"
Some of the "Decor"
not much, but we did it last night so it was a surprise for Avery this morning and she was grinning from ear to ear.
The Food
mini corn dogs, popcorn, strawberries & grapes. Fruit Punch for the drinks
Opening Presents
VIDEOS
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Also, a few days ago Avery got a package in the mail from Mony & Papa.........
look, no hands!
they have played with this every day.......and Avery has put the Minnie Mouse puzzle together at least 5 times. And as you can see in the pictures above and below, she has worn her skirt every day.
The grandparents sent cards that were almost exactly alike!
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And somehow Miss Dottie found out Avery was having a birthday.....................
We finally made it to the "new" Aquatica. It's a little disappointing because there were really only 2-3 new slides and then a few upgrades and now they charge an extra $20 per person admission if you want to go into the waterpark. We still had fun even though we spent the entire day walking around like this........
Not 100% sure when we lost my sandal but more than likely it was around the first slide we went on. It was one of the new ones where the family can ride down and at the end you go through a tunnel with the sting rays swimming around you. Well, since it's basically the main attraction of the waterpark we were in a hurry to go on that one before lines got long. Derek and the girls went and when they were walking back I started taking all of my non-swim apparel off and sloppily threw it into the stroller. I realized it was gone about 3 hours later when Avery needed to go to the bathroom and I wasn't about to walk in the bathroom barefoot. We spent a good 30 minutes or so walking around the park looking for it and asking around --- no luck. So the above picture shows how we walked around all day. Allie loaned one of her sandals to Derek while Allie rode in the stroller. Whenever she got out Derek had one sandal on. What you can't really tell from this picture is that one of Avery's sandals are broken too. What a sight we were!
We were having so much fun we didn't really take many pictures. This was also probably the longest we've ever stayed there too. We were there from 10 - 5:30!
This slide has always been here.......first time Allie rode it. I was nervous for her b/c she definitely can't touch in that water. And it's the first tube slide she's ridden by herself. She was all smiles afterwards though and said, "it was long and smooth!"
holding on tight!
After the waterpark we went to the regular part of Sea World so the girls could ride the Shamu Rollercoaster and Merry Go Round. Then we went to the Bay of Play for a little bit. Blake was extremely tired here but loved playing with the water.
Allie was so brave to ride this! We've tried to get her to ride every time we've been. I went to give her a hug before we got on because I could tell she was really nervous. Her heart was beating out of her chest! As soon as we sat down she said, "it's so high!" I think I did a pretty good job of keeping her calm and easing some of the fear. Once we went down she said, "that wasn't big!" I think she was relieved that it was over and that she didn't get soaked. When we asked if she wanted to go again she said, "no it almost broke my back."
A few weeks ago we signed up the girls for their very first swim lessons. It was a great deal (actually ended up being free!) So for the past two weeks they've been little fish. Allie has progressed SO much. She was doing things she feared doing by the second day. She easily moved up to level two. Avery progressed a lot too. She is still a high level one and the only thing holding her back was that she wouldn't go under water. I know that's scary.......we're working on it.
They loved their instructor and I'm even thinking about calling her to have her come out here and give them some private lessons. We've tried doing it ourselves but they just don't listen to us as well.
At any rate, they loved going every day for two weeks. It was the highlight of their day.
More practice at home..............
And just for kicks. Something the girls rigged up while we were working outside.
