Inside fun

It has been way too hot to go outside lately, like in the 100's! My car has consistently read 105, which is just absurd! So, that means we have been trying to find things to occupy our time indoors. We went to North Star Mall, the Semme's library for toddler storytime, and our usual HEB outing (which is Ainslee's all time favorite-balloons, lobsters, stickers, and Buddy Bucks are a few of her favorite things in life). The rest of the time we had to find fun things to do at home, here are a few pics of what we came up with:

We played beauty shop and got pigtails! Now if you know Ainslee, you know she doesn't stand for things in her hair, like bows and rubber bands. But, I asked her if she wanted pigtails like the little girls we saw at storytime and boy did that work! I know, probably not the best approach, especially later in life-but it worked :)

She was also thoroughly amused with these milk jugs for some reason

Cameron got a little piggy tail too!

Daddy and Ainslee made a tent in her room! Her favorite part? Tearing it down!

Then we used the sheet to make a hammock, swung by Mommy & Daddy, she loved it!

Splish Splash

Cameron's Mommy brought a little splash pool to our house last week, since it has been insanely hot lately. I think it did a good job of keeping the girls nice and cool and they seemed to have lots of fun!


This was before we figured out that it still worked with less water pressure :)

Ainslee thought it was a giant water fountain

Father's Day

We had a fun evening on Sunday, celebrating three wonderful fathers! Jason's parents came over to my parent's house in Kerrville and we grilled fajitas and just enjoyed each other's company. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful dad, father-in-law and husband who is an amazing father to our daughter!

Daddy and his daughters

Ainslee with Daddy and grandfathers

Ainslee loves her Daddy!

She likes to dance with him

Funtastic!

Jason and I are trying to come up with lots of ways to entertain the babies this summer, since he is home with us now. Honestly, I think it is more for our own enjoyment/sanity, but we know Ainslee loves to "go." Anytime we say "let's go" she gets ridiculously excited and runs to find her shoes. My friend Bobbi, from high school, recommended a place called funtastic playland that her little girl just loved! We headed out right after lunch last week and enjoyed about 2 1/2 hours of playtime! Cameron loved watching all the kids run around and even had some fun herself bouncing, climbing, and sliding! Ainslee amazed us with her climbing skills. She can now climb pretty tall ladders all by herself! At $3.24 for all four of us, we will definitely be going back!

About to slide down the castle

Everyone gets a number stamped on them, looked kind of like Holocaust victims.

Of course, Ainslee's favorite was the basketball area

And she loved all the arcade games!

The only group picture I got, at least Cameron is posing!

How cute is this?!

Heading East- Part II

On Saturday morning, we headed back to Mount Pleasant (about a 2 1/2 hour drive). We had a birthday celebration planned for GG's 80th birthday! Grandpa's sister, Aunt Jan, and her family came in from Louisiana and GG's brother and his family came in from Arlington! We had a wonderful lunch and lots of cake and desserts! Ainslee found lots of ways to entertain herself in and out of the house!
I believe this might have been Grandpa's rocking horse!

Aunt Jan took Ainslee on LOTS of walks to look for kitties. Anytime Ainslee saw Aunt Jan she would immediately sign "kitty"- meaning take me outside to look for them! Aunt Jan was nice enough to oblige, even though it was super hot outside!

They found one!

Grandma played on the porch with her. We filled a tub with water and bath toys to keep her cool!

Look who decided to join her! She was thrilled!

She kept trying to bring the kitty water to drink, but the cup has holes in the bottom of it :)

Grandpa turned on the sprinkler for her to play in and she loved it!

He also let her have cookies right before bed! I tried not to care too much about her sleeping/eating habits on the trip. Aren't grandparents supposed to spoil them?! :)

Of course, that was followed by a shared glass of milk :)

Another walk with Grandma and Aunt Jan

Ainslee loved sitting in this chair that was GG's parents! It was just the right size for her to get into all by herself.

After all that running around, she finally stopped to cuddle with GG!

We had a great time in Mount Pleasant and enjoyed celebrating with GG all her family!

This was one of our last stops on the way home. We stopped at every Bass Pro, Gander Mountain, and Cabella's all along our trip. We just let Ainslee run a muck all around the stores to burn off some of her energy. She especially loved the fish tanks and picking out lures in the fishing section :) Here she is with Daddy at Cabela's.

Heading East- Part 1

On the 10th, we were picked up bright and early by Grandma & Grandpa to head East and visit both sides of Jason's family. We spent the first night in Mount Pleasant, TX at "GG's" house (Jason's Dad's mother). We pulled in the driveway and told Ainslee we were at GG's house, to which she replied "G?" GG was thrilled that she could say her name! The next morning we left for Camden, Arkansas to visit Jason's mother's family for a few days, before heading back to Mount Pleasant for GG's 80th birthday bash!

Don't let the picture fool you, very little of this actually occurred in the car. Thankfully we had a portable DVD player, Elmo videos, and a Wee Sing video from the early 80s that kept her pretty well entertained. But, nose to nose with Ellie was pretty darn cute.

We made quite a few stops to stretch and change diapers! This is the Arkansas welcome center. It is very pretty and has a fun playground that we always stop and play on (even before Ainslee joined us!)

This was Ainslee's first time to meet her Arkansas Great Grandparents and it was love at first sight! She also got to meet her Great Uncles and Aunt for the first time! She had a lot of fun with Great Grandma in the garden, going on walks, and looking for the kitties. She even paused for a few snuggle breaks!

Going for a walk in the wheel barrow

Then she wanted to push it!

Only in an Arkansas feed store would you find this!

Chasing a kitty through the garden, she also stopped to pick a few (unripe) tomatoes!

Part of Great Grandma's BEAUTIFUL garden!

Helping Aunt Becky prune the Crape Myrtles

The garden is surrounded by all different types of fruit trees. I think there are pear, plum, apple, and fig! Ainslee and Hayden (Becky's 6 year old grandson) had a BLAST playing together and collecting fruit that had already fallen.

I gave Ainslee a ripe plum to see what she would do and she ate the whole thing and then another!

Daddy gave Ainslee a ton of rides on the elliptical machine. She thought it was a lot of fun!

"Hey Ainslee, where is Great Grandpa?"

The last cuddles before we left for Mount Pleasant

We had a blast in Arkansas and enjoyed spending time with lots of family we don't get to see nearly enough! Ainslee ruined a few shirts and literally wore holes in her shoes, which I believe is a good indication that she had a lot of fun and played super hard! :)

First Sentence

Ainslee said her first sentence this morning! Well, for all the proper grammar people out there it was missing a few pronouns and prepositions (or whatever it is you need to make a complete sentence). But in true girly, girl fashion here is her sentence:
"Keys, urse (purse), bye!"
She gathered up her toy keys, a bucket that she pretends is a purse, and headed for the door. She is definitely a girl on a mission!

*Lots of new posts, including our vacation, to come soon!