I hope you hade a great summer!  We’ve had a lot of fun this summer. The girls are a bit smarter about their surroundings so we were able to play outside more.   We started the summer off with another camping trip and this time they dove into it 100%.  The campground had 3 big air pillows to bounce on and a play ground right behind our cabins.  The girls loved those air pillows and spent hours on them.  They are quite a bit of fun but after two days of bouncing with them, I felt it.  We also got them trikes and they loved them.  They didn’t quite master the art of pedaling they found scooting to be a faster way of getting around.  They also really discovered the joys of marshmallows, roasted and plain.  We usually go camping off season but there were a couple of families a few cabins down from us.  They were very friendly and the girls would ride their bikes in front of their cabins.  Taya at this time loved bellies.  She would point at hers, or mine and say “belly” well she walked straight up to a stranger and poked him in the belly.  Then she just walked away.  The look on the guys face was priceless.  It was kinda like she was telling him he needed to do some crunches.  Thankfully, he thought it was as funny as I did.

Taya                                                      Emi

One of my sisters and her daughter came to visit and we went to a safari park.  We drove our car through it and they had buffalo, deer, llamas, kangaroos, emus, zebras and other animals walking around.  We bought buckets of feed and the animals would come to the window and eat out of them.  The girls practically jumped out of their skin they were so excited.  They flung pellets everywhere, I’m still finding them in my car.  The coolest part was the had a giraffe area that allowed you to feed them the pellets by hand.  I thought the girls would be scared but they loved it!  The giraffes would stick out these crazy long tongues and lick the pellets out of your hand.  The girls would giggle and then stick their tongues back out at the giraffes.  We also took them to the water park and have been to Busch Gardens a few times.  They are definitely water girls. They had a favorite slide that they probably went down 50 times, it had 3 lanes and was a free for all because it was a toddler one.  God help the kid that splashed water in Emi’s face. She would scream right in their face like a maniac.  At the amusement park they are big fans of the spinning rides, like teacups that I don’t even like to watch. They are super tall for their age and last week Tim and I took them on their first roller coaster. (It was one for little kids, like 4  or 5yr olds)  They thought it was a train and called it a choo-choo.  They loved it!  After we got off and as we walked through the park they would point at coasters with huge drops and upside down loops and demand to ride that choo choo.  They had a hard time understanding that they weren’t quite ready for those.

Last year we were doing some renovations on the house and weren’t able to go out on the boat much.  This year we’ve gone at least once a week.  I’d say this is their favorite activity.  If they wake up and see Tim home, the first word out of their mouth is “beach”, followed by “swimsuit on”,  “boat, go fast!”   The beach is about a  15 minute boat ride from our house. They can’t wait for us to get out of the no wake zone and speed up.  Taya has even tried to move the throttle faster herself.  She likes to sit and drive with Tim and is always wanting him to go faster.  They like to throw rocks and shells in the water.  Both of them can throw almost as far as Tas and have decent aim.

Throwing rocks in the backyard

Emi                                                           Taya

Because we’ve been out in the sun so much, their hair has gotten really blond on the ends and it looks like they have a golden halo around their heads.  There are some days when that is the only angelic thing about them as they have definitely embraced being 2.  They’ve been going through a phase where they don’t want to wear clothes or diapers but are not interested in using a potty yet.  It is not my favorite phase.  Taya has been known to dig in her diaper and paint with it like poo-casso.  The other day I put them down for their nap and heard evil laughter and poked my head in.  Emi had pulled her freshly pooped in diaper out from her romper by going through the leg hole. They were tossing it back and forth from crib to crib like a volleyball.  I could have died.  I’m good with blood and guts but poop is not my thing.  They have also figured out that they can reach the sink by pushing up a kitchen chair and I came out of the shower last week to them having sprayed the kitchen floor with an inch of water and running through the puddles.  Needless to say, diapers are now reinforced with packaging tape (they could peel off duct tape) and all the chairs are turned upside down on the table when not in use.  I’ve also started showering during nap time.  Their naughtiest achievement came in July.  We celebrate the official day of their adoption and call it “Family Day”.  We were wrapping up the day at an ice cream store.  Emi decided that we hadn’t celebrated with enough fanfare so she pulled the fire alarm as we were leaving.  Lights and sirens we blaring.  Thankfully it scared the crap out of her so I don’t think she’ll be doing that again.  We also found a new ice cream store to go to.

Emi and Taya before the alarms went off

We wrapped up the summer with the girls starting preschool!  They go 5 days from 9:15 – 12:15.  They are in separate classes because their  speech therapist and I agreed that they would learn more if they aren’t distracted by one another.  They’ve only been in it for a week and I’ve already noticed a big improvement in their vocabulary.  I was a little nervous about how they were going to do with being separated but it doesn’t seem to bother them.  I also want them to develop as their own person and not always be the twins.  They need to be comfortable with themselves, not always as a duo and I hope by doing it earlier it will give them confidence as  individuals.  Taya likes the singing they do in class and Emi enjoys art more, so they are already starting to embrace their own interests.  I’m really excited to see how much they grow this year.

Emi in pink and Taya in green on the first day of school

 

Take care of yourself.  I’ll update again in January.