First Movie (and a little with some hoola hoops)

Ever since we saw the preview for the new Winnie the Pooh movie this winter, we knew that would be the first movie the girls ever saw in the theatre.  The time was finally here this weekend, and we took off for our largest local theatre (which we all called the movie theatre except for Elena, who kept calling it the puppet theatre!).

We decided to go all out (and man, did our pocketbook feel it - when did movies and treats get so EXPENSIVE?  And what happened to matinee pricing?  Anyway, that makes us sound old, and we didn't take it out on the girls) - we let them have popcorn and candy and let them pick everything out themselves.

The girls handed over their own tickets (and were so surprised that "That lady ripped them!" because we forgot to prepare them for that part) and then it was off down the hallway.

We let Elena and Clara pick their own seats, and they went right for the way back ones.  The legroom is more vast than we remembered, and so there was plenty of room for the girls to walk around a little bit during the dozens of previews and commercials.  The poor girls did keep asking "Where is Winnie the Pooh?" and telling us "This isn't a kid movie!" of some of the more dramatic previews - but they made it to the movie.

They did a pretty great job!  It took them awhile to get used to whispering their questions to us, and they needed one bathroom break, but otherwise they sat and took the movie in.  They didn't get totally swallowed up in their chairs (as Christina did at her first movie, Lady and the Tramp) and no one in the movie dies (as in Steve's first movie, Bambi) and we came out of it all pretty happy.

One of the main attractions was these arcade games - we think we might next time just take them to play games!  There are really so few movies out on the big screen that seem like they'd work for their age, but it's just fun to go.

 

And - proof that we didn't let the girls spend all Saturday in front of a screen - hula hooping!

 

 

Try, try again

 

What could all of this mess be out on the driveway?

 Steve and the girls decided this weekend to take the training wheels off of their bikes!

Clara and Elena were so excited to have their bikes look like ours, and they did a great job learning to balance.  Each of them was able to coast for a few feet without us, but we're nowhere near having them ride on their own yet.

We'll just keep trying.

We were also excited this weekend because two local festivals were taking place - the Darby Strawberry Festival and the Polson Cherry Festival.  We chose the Darby festival for Saturday, and took what usually is an hour drive down there.  Unfortunately there was quite a bit of road construction, and it took half an hour longer than usual, but we did get there!  When we arrived we needed a pit stop, and we didn't see where the festival was, so we stopped at a shop to check in.

It was a candy shop, to the delight of two little people!  That was the good news.  The bad news was that it turns out that the Strawberry Festival is a secondary type of festival in town - and also apparently run by the fire department, because that volunteer league was all out on a call for a fire we passed on our way driving down, and no one was sure if the festival would even still take place!

Luckily, the girls were happy with their candy, and we walked down the street to the other festival taking place in town that day - Logger Days!

Logger Days takes the whole weekend, and showcases many different logging skills in competition format.  We could hear it all the way down the street as we walked towards it.

When we got there, it turned out that the entrance fee was $15 a person.  We value the logging arts and all, but really, we were with girls with limited attention spans and we had truly come to get strawberries instead, and we just couldn't bring ourselves to spend that much.

Again, luckily the girls were mostly happy with their candy.  They did want to go in to the Logger Days area, but we think it was mostly because there was a Windy Guy (large windsock advertising guy) and they just love those.

So, we got in the car to drive back, hoping to hit some Farmer's Markets on the drive back to get some of those strawberries we wanted.  Despite our efforts, the markets had closed by the time we drove back through that road construction again.  Argh!!

We got home and Clara asked if we could get all the fruit we did have out to eat.  We had gotten a pint of strawberries in our CSA share, we pulled out the blueberries and cherries we'd gotten at the store, and the raspberries we'd picked at a friend's house.  Then we went out in the sun to sit on a blanket and paint strawberries and cherries on our toenails and watch the bumblebees in the clover.  Ah - much nicer!

A big thunderstorm came through, and so we went inside and made strawberry daiquiris (for adults) and lemonade (for kids) and Kerrie (who is in town visiting) and Christina taught the girls to play Snap! while Steve cooked us homemade kale chips and potato chips.  That was a little bit of heaven.

Turns out the girls are quite into cards!  That was a great realization, and we foresee lots of fun with that ahead.

What we thought would be fun wasn't necessarily enjoyable right away - but we learned this weekend that there is a lot of value in bucking up and trying again.

It's Pony Day!

We've posted many pictures before of Clara and Elena riding ponies; the same woman brings her ponies to farmer's markets and other events we've attended, and whenever we mention the possibility of ponies the girls go wild.

During the summer, there is one day a week that you can go to the pony farm and ride there, instead of at an event.  We've been meaning to go down for some time, and we decided that this Thursday would be the day!  When they woke up this morning, both Clara and Elena cried: "Is it pony day?  Is pony day today?"  And it was!

At the stable, each girl got to pick out her own pony.  Elena claimed Star.

Clara claimed her recurring favorite Frosty.

The ride at the pony farm is so fantastically better than any we've ever been on before that we don't know how we'll go back to a ride around a parking lot!  First, the girls were taken over the troll bridge.

Why is it called the troll bridge?  This little guy!  You can see both girls look a bit dubiously at him, as they were told to ask the troll if they could pass over.

Then it was off through the woods.  They got to pick which path to go down, and both Clara and Elena picked blue.  So we all got to travel through the woods together.

Part of the ride involved touching each tree they passed that was marked with the blue mark (this seemed like some early trail awareness to us, and we were pleased they taught it!).  Clara wasn't so sure she wanted to play along, and was being coy, so Steve was touching the tree with her.

Elena laughed back at her, fully realizing how silly her sister was being in trying to gain attention!

Then, she confidently showed her sister how it was done.  Right after this, Clara got right on the ball and touched every tree.

We passed several "grandfather trees" in the woods - I've seen these decorations before, but they look so neat in an actual forest.

When we made our way out of the woods the girls asked to trot instead of just walk.  So their guides gamely took them down this path and they trotted away.  They feel so big when they do that!

We were the last riders of the day, and the girls were invited to help the ponies end their day.  Elena-horse-whisperer pets Star here after she's had her bridle taken off.

Clara helps manage the passel of dogs (can you BELIEVE how comfortable they are with dogs now??) while Elena helps Suzi take off Jenni's saddle.

Clara got to bring the saddle blanket back to the tack room.

Then she said her last goodbye to Star.

On our way out, we visited with Molly and her mother, Millie.  These are favorites we've ridden before, too, and it was good to see them out in a pasture enjoying themselves.  They came right up when the girls neared the fence.

After all that riding, we sure were hungry!  We stopped at the park for Downtown Tonight and had dinner there - the girls were very enthusiastic about picking noodles.

Such a lovely afternoon!  We are so happy to be having this easy, lovely summer with them.  With them seemingly growing bigger by the day, it's good to have this time with them.

Fourth of July

 

We've been sweetly invited to the same fourth of July party every year since the girls were born.  And every year, we've gone over and snacked, enjoyed everyone's company, and left well before dark.  Because where we live, dark happens this time of year around 10:30.  And that was just too late for Clara and Elena to stay up.

 

But this year, we thought they were old enough to give it a shot, so we employed our camping rules to the situation.  These rules involve having no set bedtime or routine whatsoever, and just having pajamas (above) and sleeping bags (below) available from a pretty early hour.

When we'd gotten to 9:30pm and the girls were still going strong, Steve brought out the ear coverings he'd brought for the girls, and they were thrilled with them.

Around 10pm, the sun had set and it was getting darker and darker.  Elena spied "her moon!!" and exclaimed about it to everyone (VERY LOUDLY, because she wanted to wear the ear muffs way before the fireworks started and she was screaming everything).

 

While we were waiting for the fireworks to start we passed the time jumping with everyone else on the trampoline, spraying squirt guns, and playing ping pong.

Clara ventured down the street to the corner with Steve, and came running back to tell us all that their were little fireworks happening already! (Those would be the illegal fireworks, since the only ones allowed in town are the big display at the mall, which our friend's house is conveniently close to.  Even though they are illegal to let off, they are not illegal to buy...so you can see why all the little fireworks shows were happening).

 

We walked down to the corner to see all the littler fireworks going off.

 

Then we raced back to our friend's house to get ready to watch the big show from their yard.  Elena and Clara were very worried about this cat, Zoe, and kept going to check on her to make sure she wasn't scared.

Right before the fireworks started at 10:30, we got the girls laid out in their sleeping bags - Clara is caught here in an authentic yawn...

 

And Elena is doing fake-out sleeping...

But then the first big bursts lit up over our heads, and no one was sleepy anymore!

 

We wondered if they'd mind how very loud they were (since we were so close to where they were being let off the BOOM was pretty spectacular) but they had a wonderful time, and even pried their ear muffs off so they could hear how loud they really were from time to time.  Clara here is trying to "eat up those fireworks!"

And Elena is trying to catch them.  She kept saying: "I love that color! I love that color!  I love all the colors!"  She was blissed out by these.  She made up a little fireworks song that she sang while they went off, and then a little story ("Once upon a time there was a little girl named Lena.  She was watchin the fireworks and she ate one, and it turned her into a dragon!").

 

Both girls kept asking: "Can we come back here again??" and we had to explain that we will come back, but that this kind of show happens only once a year.

But what a special night of the  year it turned out to be.  It was just so enjoyable.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!