The Growing Caldwell Family

SG loves the pool, so we have been going regularly.  Charlie likes it a lot too and since they are happy, Aaron and I like it as well. This is SG's first summer to give flip flops a try.  She wants to like them, and so she tries to wear them any time she is going to the pool.  The funny thing is that she regularly wants to wear her shoes on the wrong feet and it is crazy looking in flip flops!  She seems to know which is her right and her left, but consistently chooses the wrong feet and will not change them!    

We stayed in a hotel with suite to make it more convenient with two small kids and it made it feel like a vacation.  We loved spending time with family, but it was nice to have some down time to be together just the four of us.  One of the surprise perks for our hotel was that it had an indoor pool!  Sarah Graves and I went swimming several times and really enjoyed it.   I was a little sad to learn that she now knows to count 1-2-3 instead of saying 2-A-O-D before she jumps!  She does however say 1-2-3 BLAST OFF!  Which is pretty cute too!

Friday was the last day to go to the spray ground at school. Her teachers sent these precious pictures to us.

My boss decided that since they had their backyard all ready for a party, they would host another!   This time they put out what has to be a kid's greatest dream!  A bounce house with water spraying on it connected to a water slide.  The kids had a ball playing on this.  I wasn't sure what our big girl would think because all the other kids were a bit older than her.  After watching them for a minute, she told me she wanted to do it and she was off!  The slide would dump her under water, but she didn't care!  She popped back up and would slowly paddle her way to the side to go again.  I love her adventurous spirit! She had a great time checking out their son's toys and then did what is the most embarrassing thing!  We had gotten her changed into her regular clothes and she was sitting on their sofa when she had a huge pee pee accident.  She soaked her training pants, her shorts, and of course, their sofa!  They were s...

I am behind on posting all of our doings.  Weekend before last, my manager hosted all of us at his house for a pool party and cookout.  Sarah Graves loves the water and fell in love with this bumper boat.    You can steer it and there is a motorized water gun that you can aim.  She had a great time and all of their landscaping received a healthy dose of pool water!  Fearless as always, she tested out jumping off the side of the pool too. As usual, we forgot to take pictures of anyone but Sarah Graves.  It was a fun afternoon and nice to hang out with people outside of work.  

We had a relaxing fourth of July.  Sarah Graves is becoming quite the fish and loves to be in the water.  It feels good for me and Chubby too! I love the look of joy on her face!  Such a sweet child. We have learned to bring a few pool toys, but mostly she likes to splash around.  She was particularly enthralled to watch an older girl having a private lesson to work on her stroke technique.  Daddy being silly wearing her toucan float as a hat! After the pool, we headed back to Lovie and Pops' house for a delicious lunch of grilled hamburgers and corn on the cob.  Soon after SG was ready for what became her marathon 4 hour nap and Aaron and I headed off to do a little shopping to get things we needed for Chubby.  Not long after we came back Jeanne' came, SG woke up, and we spent the evening out on their deck with SG doing all sorts of little crafts while Pops grilled some delicious chicken!  It felt more like a Saturda...

Saturday we had a play date at the pool with Mia.  Sarah Graves hasn't seen Mia in months and recently started asking for her friend Mia.  After confirming that Mia is not at school, but her friend Mia at Lovie's, I knew just the friend she had in mind.  We made plans to meet up at the pool and we couldn't have picked a better place for a play date on a 100 degree day! We gave Sarah Graves some floaties and with those on, she is independent and fearless.  She can jump off the side on her own, kick where she wants to go, and will even be on her back.   They are such sweet friends together.  They played some and shared pool toys pretty well for toddlers.  The pool was a great place for a play date because the mommies had some time to chat and the little ones were content to swim and snack.   

We were walking in the neighborhood over the weekend and someone had their sprinkler on and Sarah Graves was thrilled to run in it.  She was all up in their yard and we don't know them, so I kept calling her to come out, but she was having a blast.  She was actually a bit of a turkey about and would run away laughing when I tried to grab her to come out of their yard!  We decided to get her a toy to play in the water in our backyard and this was definitely worth the $5 we spent on the slip'n slide.  I didn't bother teaching her to dive on the slip'n slide for fear she might get too aggressive and hurt herself.  She loved just running through it!

SG loves the water.  She loves being tossed around and playing motor boat.  The pool is a great time for her to be a little more free.  I'm a little nervous to toss her around and do too much in the Gulf.