WP

We decided to head to WP for the 4th because the thought of having to chase Maren around our street (just anticipating the scrapes and falls) during the annual block party, and trying to calm Addi when her SPD would inevitably rear its head during the loud fireworks, making her distraught and extremely uncomfortable, made us both cringe. We went to the mountain house with Noni and Poppy and truly made the most of our visit!

Maren was highly entertained with not only eating cookies on the drive up, but using their soft chocolate chips as body paint as well.
We took a great little hike one day. It was a nice intro for the girls. Addi started to whine immediately about her legs being tired even though I have witnessed her running for hours around the house and play gyms with friends, riding her bike for miles (literally), and expending tremendous amounts of energy pretending to be all sorts of monsters and animals. We tried to explain that the fun in hiking is about simply enjoying the world around you. Addi enjoyed drawing "maps" for us in the dirt with a stick.
Lunch break.
One day we took a trip to the new rec center in WP and went swimming. Mom and I swam laps, while Poppy and Brian entertained the girls. They had this huge water slide that the boys took Addi down over and over -- she loved it! Maren had fun splashing around and climbing on the baby water gym, and when her lips turned blue we would warm her up in the family hot tub.

The only pic I could get of the water slide action was blurry, and then I got in trouble from the teenage life guard b/c apparently it is against pool rules to take pictures -- uptight freaks.
We also made a fun trip to the village to enjoy some snacks, the gondola ride and some window shopping.

Love the sign!
Addi giving the Coke polar bear a slightly odd hug.
Maren doing her strut.
Maren has a thing for kissing flowers now. After she almost demolished our tomatillo plant in our garden b/c she was yanking on it I told her that she isn't allowed to touch plants or flowers, just kiss them. She seems to love this idea and is so good about only kissing plants now -- she doesn't even reach out to grab them at all!