We had the best day with Poppa and Rara the Friday before school started at Hawaiian Falls!  Although Mike had to work, we were three adults to three kids, so it worked out great, and we had a lot of fun!  Anna Kate wanted me to tell you guys she was pretending to be a mermaid in this picture!  

 

Noelle was as happy as could be!  She knew this was her last day of summer, and she wasn’t going to miss a thing!

Waterfalls with Poppa and Rara!

Rose “swimming” with her little mermaid doll.  We got those silly little mermaids at the Dollar Tree (they were 2/$1), and we’ve enjoyed them all summer!  Last time I checked, they were still there in the toy section.  They are in a hanging package if you’re interested for next summer.  Buy ahead people; that’s how we keep these girls clothed! (and entertained, ha!)

 

We’re just the Pond girls (and Poppa), having a good time, having a good time, having a good time (no I didn’t).

Never in a million years dreamed our summer would end with Anna Kate swimming!!!  Granted, she isn’t taking breaths yet and going back in for more, but she’s holding her breath underwater, and moving without touching the bottom!  We are beyond proud of this girl!  This was a HUGE learning summer in the water for her.  Go Anna Kate!!!

Every time Noelle came down a slide, she would strike a pose.  Each time was different.  She’s so funny!

Rose loves the water too (as long as she can touch)!

 

I love these pictures!

Nothing happier in my world that this right here!

And this!  Although, Anna Kate had fun learning to swim this summer, she didn’t do anything else at Hawaiian Falls!  She was terrified of ALL of the slides; even the ones she had fun on last summer.  I’m not sure what’s up with that, but Rara kept her in the wave pool most of the time, and she was in heaven!

 

Noelle has a new 0 tolerance policy for “toddler tantrums!”  Rose knew she was playing with her, and they were screaming and having so much fun joking around about when Rose is really upset (pics to come at the end of this post of that number).

  

 

It’s so funny how Noelle was even copying the way Rose holds her hands when she screams!  Noelle really cracked Rose up, and Rose kept on pretend screaming.  It was too funny!

Rara has the best eyes in the water.  She said her mom, my Granny, did too!  Anytime I saw a kid going too far in the deep in, she was already on it.  Going with Mom and Dad was the only option; these girls are too special to take a chance, and I know my limits, but they love it so much, and it works out perfectly, because they love spending time with Poppa and Rara too!

 

More sassiness from our diva girl!

So about Rose, well, yay!  We’ve discovered this summer, she is quite the dare-devil!  She didn’t even know what the big slides were called (she called them big rainbows), but she wanted them!!!  She kept saying “I go!  I go big rainbow!”

  

After sliding down the little slides a million times, she was ready to move on!

And Noelle kept posing!

We ran into one of Noelle’s cheer friends, Kinsley!  Can’t wait for their first game!  We’re going to have lots of fun with Kinsley this fall!

 

These were the big rainbows Rose wanted to ride on, but they were just too big for this Momma, so Poppa tried to cure her curiosity with letting her be up in all the action.  It didn’t work.

 

 

Rara was so sweet to take a picture of me and the girls!  She begged.  This was a day I was not feeling so great, but I’ll do absolutely anything for a good time with my kids, so I put myself aside, and enjoyed this happy day in the sun I was privileged to share with these amazing loved ones!

 

And then this happened.  Rose.  Rose. Rose.  She finally talked me into it.  I was so scared.  She was not.  Poppa was cool with it, so down we went.  Rara snapped these shots!  She went down with Poppa next.  And wanted to go again and again.  We left the “big rainbows” in tears because all we wanted was more of all that action!

 

Cutie Kate knows how to turn on the charm, and Poppa and Rara came to play, play, play!  We were getting our money’s worth today (all $14, thank you very much)!

 

Noelle has attempted this obstacle course every summer and has fallen somewhere in the middle each year.  As I watched the bigger kids go before her, I knew there’d be no way.  I even told mom, she won’t be able to do it, but it will be good for her to try.   

 

And then step after step…

  

lo and behold…

She held on tight and made it all the way across!  I must have looked like a fool, because I was screaming, “You did it!”  with my camera in the air.  I was going nuts and didn’t care.  My baby did it!  Simply awesome!  After years of trying to do something, you know how good it must have felt for her to finally reach her goal, after all that time.  She motivates me for sure.   So proud of Noelle!

 

And then this happened, ugh!  Sorry Mom.

 

It’s all show.  She went from putting on this upset face (left pic), to being interested in getting into something else (water fountain), right pic.  She is such a ham and knows when to turn it on!  I don’t put up with screaming when we leave.  She always gets in trouble for that, no exceptions!

But we had fun joking around with her about this little bit that she does.  You can tell she’s done it before, because the big sissies knew exactly how to imitate her.  We make light of sweet Rose and her terrible 2’s.  I was too mortified to put any terrible pictures of the other two on the blog, so she’s getting the last laugh from all of them being 2.  I realized somewhere along the way, they will grow out of it, and humor is better than getting all bent out of shape over it!

Poppa just had a birthday, and we hope you had a good one!  Thank you Poppa and Rara for coming to spend the day with us at Hawaiian Falls.  It was so much fun, and the girls will never forget it!  Also, thank you for taking Rose home one last time so we could get through back to school obligations.  She loves every minute with you guys!