Sisters

It's the little moments that you catch that show the love of two sisters.  Holding each other up, walking in step while having some secret conversations.  I cherish these moments.

Tide Pools

I was able to take off work for one of Maya's spring break days so we headed down to the beach with Callie and Liam to check out the tidepools.  It took awhile for me to interpret the tide charts to figure out the best time to go, but I managed to do it correctly because we lucked out and saw all sorts of creatures!  The kids found anemones, starfish, crabs and even an octopus.

The crew.

Checking out a crab (I think).

We spent some time at the playground after the tidepooling.  This kid has figured out how to get herself going on the swing and no longer needs pushing.  Yay!

My Maya.

The girls and I took a nice long walk along the beach exploring a bit further.

We found a teeter totter along the way.

And walked back along the path in the woods.

This picture makes me smile.  I was trying to get a nice picture of them both but Laurel kept giving me a half smile.  I asked her to please give me a good smile and she was so frustrated with me that she just decided to go full cheese!  I gave up after this, it is perfectly fitting.

A Hike to the Waterfall

We picked a beautiful weekend and decided to take the girls out on their first "real hike" to see how they handled it.  I think it was about 3 miles round trip with quite a hike up to the top of a giant waterfall.  I was pretty sure Maya would make it without an issue, but Laurel can be a bit iffy.  She starts out fully gung ho, and then at some point hits a wall with no warning and is just done.  I was a bit worried that wall would come part way through and we would end up having to carry her out.  Luckily, my worrying was for nothing as she hiked the entire thing on her own without a single complaint!   This was such a fun adventure and I can't wait to do more over the summer.

Leading the way up the mountain.

All dressed for hiking!

A little pit stop midway up - we got to see the falls from the bottom here.  No pictures from the top, but we kept going and made our way all the way up!

Hanging out by the river on the way back down. 

It doesn't take much more than water a some throwing rocks to entertain these two!

Easter

Laurel's birthday fell on Easter weekend this year so we spent most of our time with family celebrating both holidays.  Grandma and Grandpa Sarion came to visit on Saturday and we went out to Laurel's choice of dinner (The Rock Pizza).

Sunday morning the easter bunny visited and the girls had to search for their easter baskets.  Such a fun tradition that I am continuing from my childhood :-)

Then we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Knowles' house for more birthday and easter celebrating.  The kids had a fun egg hunt in the back yard and dyed easter eggs.  We had ice cream sundaes for the girl who doesn't like cake, sang happy birthday and opened presents (none of which I managed to take picture of).

Imaginative Play

I love how creative these girls can be.  I really don't know what they were playing here, but it makes me smile.  For some reason Laurel is carrying a witch hat on a stick, while dressed up as a cheetah wearing rain boots.  And Maya packed a backpack and shopping bag while wearing the fanciest of dresses.  They headed outside to torture the birds with kazoos and then made their way back in to play in their fort (which by they way, also included a porta potty).  I certainly won't question it, they are having a blast!

Cookie Season!

I am SO proud of this kid.  Maya started this girl scout cookie adventure last year very shy and hesitant to sell to people she didn't know.  She relied on the other girls at the booth to bring in the customers.  

This year, however, she has completely changed.  Her self-confidence has grown by leaps and bounds!  She was assigned to a couple sales by herself and I was a bit worried about how she would handle it.  My worry was for nothing as she was right out there asking everyone she saw if they wanted to buy.  Her very last sale she managed to sell 90 boxes... all on her own!!

Sun River

The Knowles headed down to Sun River during mid-winter break again, a tradition that the girls have really started to look forward to.  This year we headed down bright and early Saturday morning (like 4:00 am, early) which actually made for a great trip.  The girls and I slept the first half of the trip which made the 7 hours go by much more quickly than it has in the past.

We stopped for brunch at the Bear Country Cafe right outside Sun River and enjoyed a much needed break from the car.

The first day we were supposed to go skiing but the weather was a little uncooperative.  90 MPH winds along with rain kept us away from the mountain.  I will ski in many different conditions, but 90 MPH winds is way past my limit.  Instead we went out for a valentine's day lunch and attempted some ice skating in Sun River Village. I have no pictures of the ice skating as I was holding on to the edge of the rink for dear life.  The girls are MUCH better skaters than I am... they kept asking me to go around the loop with them and then left me in their dust. Fun for them, not so much for me.

Hot tub time!

We had all sorts of valentine's day crafts and activities.  Cookie decorating being a favorite.

These kids were AMAZING skiers.  They all skied a full two days with barely a complaint.  They led the way down the mountain and took turns being leaders.  We did tend to take up the slope with a train of 4 or 5 kids snaking their way down the hill while practicing their turns :-)  I'm so thrilled for this stage, we spent so much time skiing as a family when I was a kid, and I feel like we have now reached that point with the girls.  The point where it is actually FUN to ski with them!

You would think all that skiing would wear these kids out but nope!  We also spent a lot of time at the park.

Such a fun trip and I can't wait for next year!!