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!

11 Days

11 Day until Vacation. Just saying.

Easter

Time goes by so fast. I hear that statement all the time by parents. But sometimes I sit back and wonder how big my girls will be if I blink twice? The annual Easter dress pictures this year took my breath away. Yes...because my girls are beautiful, but it was more of the absence of the baby faces. The grown up dresses and the slimmed down faces. I blinked. Now my girls are 8 and 5. How did that happen? I chuckle when I think of 5 years from now. Dresses will probably be replaced by mini skirts and stylish shirts...I'll admit, I'll miss the Easter day dresses. I think they are a ritehood of sort for little girls. Or at least for my little girls.

Wonderful shot of the girls with Gram & Gramps...is Grandpa actually smiling???

Service Project

Carlie's Sunday School Teacher gathered a few willing girls and showed them how to say "thank you!" The girls worked hard preparing a poster to the local New Haven Fire Department saying "thank you" for their courage and kindness (two of the recent virtues they had learned). They met at our house and made homemade chocolates and put together a basket full of bread, cookies and goodies and brought them to the fire department. All three girls were so nervous walking into that fire station, but I was so proud of them explaining that they recently learned about kindness and courage and that they thought firefighters showed both. The guys at the house were a bit taken aback, but I could tell were touched. One more reason why I love our church...I think it is taking these 8 year old girls and stretching their faith in ways they don't even know and hopefully someday will embrace.

Kalahari

Well, three days of wet swimsuits, loud arcade games and lots of laughter. That was Spring Break 2011 for the Gongaware family. We were lucky to win a Kalahari gift card at Central's back to school picnic. What a better way to use it than go during Spring Break? Oh...yeah...that means 2,346,983,304 other families had that idea too. It was packed! Although Carlie enjoys the slides, she doesn't very much enjoy standing in lines for the slides. So most of our vacation was in the swimming pool, wave pool and lazy river. I am surprised at how far Lucy has come with her swimming this year. If I was a betting woman, I'd bet during Florida she is going to turn into a regular fish. Great time away. But now I need 13 hours of straight sleep and lots of ibuprofen...boy I am getting old!

Look at Lucy's long legs...those are NOT from her mama!

Duck Pin Bowling...which Daddy killed us at!

Carlie with her long awaited hair wrap/braid....

Lucy with her long awaited hair wrap/braid...

Lucy and I playing night-black-light mini golf while Daddy and Carlie went back to the Water Park for late night sliding...