We've been having such a great summer. Ingrid went on her first trip to Silver Dollar City! Heather and Ross have season passes and they gave us free guest passes to go with them. We were beyond thrilled! I hadn't been to SDC in over 10 years! Ingrid was so excited to go, even though she didn't have a clue what "Dollar Silver City" was all about. Liv got to stay with Gammy and Gampy this time. She's just too little to enjoy it. We started out on the tram ride and Ingrid thought it was great. She called it a train and kept saying "I love it! I love the train." She held Amelia's hand the whole time.
Amelia wanted to do the little roller coaster first and she picked Derek to ride it with her. Ingrid really wanted to ride it too, but she was too short. This was the theme of the day. She wanted to ride everything in sight, but the minimum height for most rides is 36 inches and she's only around 32. So she will have to wait a while! She didn't get sad, she just kept saying "I'm too short." haha.
Elise was so good the whole time. She just rode around in her stroller, drinking frozen lemonade and smiling away. I was so proud of her.
Ingrid was super excited when we got over to the frogs, because she could ride them! I was a little nervous, because I wasn't sure if she would like the ride or not after it started! Amelia and Ingrid rode in the front, and I rode in the back. Amelia had a death grip around Ingrid's neck and I held onto her shoulder. I was in shock at how fast the ride went! And when those frogs hopped, it took my stomach a little! But Ingrid loved it. You sure couldn't tell by her face at first, but she was saying "I love these frogs. I love this ride. Ribbit!" She was hooked!
Next we rode the caterpillars and butterflies and they were fun too. And Ingrid liked this ride also.
Amelia was ready to go ride something else but Ingrid wanted to ride the frogs "one more time." So Derek rode with her this time. She didn't mind riding by herself in the front one bit.
Amelia rode some more rides that Ingrid was "too short" for and then Ross and Derek snuck off to ride a few adult rides. Heather and I took the kids over to the carousel and Ingrid loved this one too!
She climbed the tree house a million times too.
She almost got in trouble at this point because she didn't want to leave the tree house area and thought about throwing a little fit. She changed her mind thankfully. She decided she needed to go potty at this point (we were on day 2 of potty training!) She didn't end up going at SDC but she did go at Steak n Shake later on! We changed the girls into their suits and let them play in the splash area.
Ingrid was getting pretty hungry and tired at this point!
We decided to call it a day (especially since the park was closing)
We had so much fun and Ingrid has already been asking when we can go back!
Back story: Ingrid and I had been looking on the iPad together at Hello Kitty cakes so she could pick out the one she wanted for her party. (I decided to have a friend make it this year!) She loved about a million of them, but when she saw this certain Hello Kitty "nerd" cake with big black glasses she LOVED it so much. It was hilarious! Mom texted me a picture of that exact kitty they found in Vegas. They also found a fancy kitty with pink cat eye glasses! These are definitely Ingrid's two new favorite kitties. She loves them so much.
Looking at all the kitties. She was happy for the new ones to join their "friends."
Both girls got new outfits that are tooooo precious. Liv is modeling hers here.
They also got little animals from Rain Forest Cafe that Ingrid has already played with a ton. And Liv has chewed on a ton. Because LIV HAS TWO TEETH! Two bottom teeth are poking through. They have a long ways to go to be officially "in." But I'm so excited for her. This is two months earlier than Ingrid. We'll end on this pic. I love it! Dad telling Derek some big story!
We found a bigger pool on a great sale and went for it! We have already used it several times. Ingrid loves it. She likes to blow bubbles and kick her legs and "swim swim swim". She's a little bit too wild for me, but I'm learning to go with it. She definitely loves the water. The verdict is still out on Liv. Saturday, we used a little floaty boat that Heather gave us and she seemed to like that a lot. So we will see as the summer goes along how much of a water girl she's going to be.
After we swim, Ingrid loves to play on the deck. Liv loves to get dry and cozy.
Liv was happy looking around at everything in her stroller. For about one minute. Then she wanted out! She was wondering when she would get to build something! I told her she might get a gift card this Christmas.
Much to my dismay, Ingrid picked out a purple Hello Kitty. Don't get me wrong, I love Hello Kitty! I just wanted her to choose the white one. The original Kitty who would match our party in a couple of weeks. But Ingrid knows what she likes and she said the purple kitty was special and that's the one she wanted! So we headed over to get her stuffed.
Pushing the pedal.
Giving her a squeeze to make sure she was just right.
Ingrid loved giving her a bath! That was one of her favorite parts.
Next we got to pick out her clothes. Ingrid couldn't be swayed in this department either. They had the cutest little Hello Kitty tees and dresses. But Ingrid wanted a pink sparkly tank top and black leggings. She really wanted some shoes too, but I opted out of that since they don't stay on that well.
She was thrilled with her purchase and Purple Hello Kitty rode right up front with Ingrid all through the Landing.
We went to Garfields for dinner and it was Liv's first time in a big girl restaurant high chair. She did so good!
Ingrid had a blast too. Derek and I ordered buffalo chicken dip and chips for an appetizer and it was really good. Very spicy, but tasty. Ingrid is a dip fanatic so she was dying to try it. We still don't let her eat chips of any kind, so she just had to use a fork. I just knew it was going to be way too spicy for her but lo and behold, she exclaims, "MMMMMM. I LOVE buffalo dip. It's so good." And continued lapping it up with her fork. Derek and I were cracking up.
We had a great trip. When we got home, it was definitely bed time, but Ingrid had to pose with purple Hello Kitty one last time.
There was some dancing.
And some swinging. And then Liv woke up and there was some snuggling and loving on our littlest girl.
Then we played with chalk!
And Heather made up some fun games.
But everyone made sure Liv didn't feel left out!
Heather made yummy pasta salad for lunch and had these delicious cupcakes for dessert.
She even made homemade puff paint! It turned out so good. This was part of Derek's Father's Day gift.
We even played dress up and put some mascara on Liv.
Kidding. Kidding. There was even a brief moment where all the girls were asleep at the same time! The big girls in their beds. Elise in the chair.
And Liv on a pallet on the floor.
What did Heather and I do during these precious minutes? Look things up to buy online of course! After all the girls were up and rearing to go, we loaded them down with sunscreen and went out to play on the sprinkle mat.
Ingrid loved it so much. Liv not so much.
She recovers quickly though.
We were having such a great time. Ingrid kept begging me to get all the way in the sprinkle mat like I always do at home. So I finally obliged, popping a huge hole in the mat. I was pretty sure I had ruined Amelia's life forever. She was so sad. Heather saved the day with a pool and another sprinkler. And I promised Amelia I would give her our sprinkle mat that is the exact same as hers. (which I already did) So everything worked out!
We ended the day with popsicles and several of Amelia's original songs.
I just love it when the girls have cousin time!
