Meet Kinani

As "tradition" in our house...Lucy and I went to Chicago this weekend for her birthday American Girl visit. Long ago, she had her doll picked out. Meet Kinani. She is only at the AG store for one year. She is Hawaiian and very pretty. We made it to Chicago on Friday afternoon and spent about two hours "shopping" for her clothes, braces for Carlie's doll and gifts for our friends. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I am not really a doll person. But this store is just the best place if you have little girls. To see all these little girls walking around the store with their dolls and the smiles on their faces. Priceless. First business...we walked into the store...and bought Kinani. They took her out of the box right at the register....THEN we shopped for the clothes. I don't think Lucy has put her down since we purchased her.

I think this smile says it all.

Right after purchasing her, we went and got her ears pierced...at an extra cost...of course.

Directly outside the store on Michigan Avenue.

We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. Lucy thought they only served "cheese" and wondered why we didn't get any with our meal. Love that girl!

Our hotel's pool was on the 30th floor...heated indoor with hottub! This was the view....so pretty at night time.

Since Kinani is the doll of the year..they had Kinani stuff.....everywhere.

This was taken at the AG Luau we went to on Friday night. We made flower clips for our hair and drank out of tiny tea cups.

Let me tell you about Kinani's hair. Within 2 hours of Lucy brushing her thigh length hair...it was a tangled mess. So bad, in fact, that we made Kinani a "salon appointment" for Saturday morning. For a mere $20 they comb and style the dolls hair. Now know that you must get there early, or make reservations ahead of time...or you will wait....hours. You have many styles to pick from, and I convinced Lucy the piggy tail braids was best...because this would eliminate combing/rat nesting in the future. I must admit...it looks adorable....for a mere $20. This is Kinani in her salon chair getting her done. LOL...as I said...this place is over the top.

More Vacation...

Weather has been perfect. Stress has been low. Fun has been high. The days have been in the mid-90's every day and the pool has been at 85 degrees. Bath water. The girls have been swimming by 9:00 a.m. every day (I at least need to hold them off until then.) Mornings are spent reading on the porch and taking walks around the resort. There aren't many kids here, so the girls have been "cleaning up" when it comes to games. Lucy won the scavenger hunt yesterday, which included items like "can of tuna" and "foreign money." Carlie was a pretty sore loser until the guy who loaned her the $5 Canadian bill told her to take it back to her class for show and tell...she was pretty happy at that time. Yesterday Lucy won $10 at Bingo in the Gazebo. She can't wait to spend it today when we go into the beach. She is like her mama...money burns a whole in our pockets. On Monday we went out to an Italian restaurant for Lucy and Donna's (Barb's friend) birthdays. The WHOLE group went...all 14 of us! The girls did wonderfully and acted liked little ladies. I was a bit nervous seeing how we were the only one with kids...but they didn't let me down.

Is it 9:00 yet? How about now? Now?

This was after our birthday dinner...we needed a walk to help the Fettuccine settle.

This is on the putt putt course. We have a picture of Lucy doing this 2 years ago....can't wait to compare the two pictures.

Tuesday night we hit the a Fort Myers Miracles baseball game. Old habits die hard. I had jackets packed for the girls. Ha! At 9:30 p.m. the temperature in our van read 89 degrees....

Great family shot...

As you can see....the stands were NOT crowded...we had the place practically to ourselves :)
NOTE ... the giant purple slurpee...now check out Lucy's dress in the next pictures...

Mama and her girls...

Lucy actually got CLOSE to a mascot! Well...it was because it was a GIRL mascot...and she had pom poms in her hair and as her tail. LOL. Now...notice the purple slurpee down the front of Lucy???

The girls each got bat souvenirs...not quite sure those were a good idea.... Lucy's face in this picture just cracks me up!

Vacation - Day 1

Well, we're here. Ft. Myers, Florida. Yesterday was the "travel day" and boy..it was long. But I couldn't have asked for better behaved children. We had them up at 4:00 a.m. to catch a 6:00 a.m. flight, and then with a 3 hour layover...they both were wonderful. But today...ahhhh....lots of sunshine, lots of pool time, and to boot - it's Mother's Day!

If you had a clock at this picture...it would ready 4:30 a.m.

The layover got a little long, and Carlie decided to catch a snooze...smart girl.


The first "morning adventure walk" of the week. While daddy golfs each morning, the girls and I walk around and see what we can "find." This morning in the rec room we found Battleship and played a pool side game at the early hour of 8:00 a.m. I won by the way :)

My sunny beauties.

Carlie at pool golf...which she won...again!

Lucy at pool golf....

Mani's and Pedi's

One of the joys of having girls is manicures and pedicures. And but of course, what do all good girls do before leaving for vacation? Well, get mani's and pedi's of course! I took the girls to get theirs today (after getting my own wonderful one at Woodhouse with my mom!). I decided to "let them" pick their colors. No matter what they picked, I would keep my mouth shut. And for those of you who know me...that is not an easy task. And boy, did they pick out some colors. Complete with little flowers as nail decorations. LOL...you should have seen Jeff's expression when he saw them. He has no idea what he is in store for.... :)

Lucy (left) - "50 Cent" and Carlie (right) - "Punky Pink "

Let the vacation begin!