Maddie's Birthday; Summer Fun; Ballet and Isabelle's Piano Recital

Maddie is now officially five. It seems like she's been almost five for a long time (too many pre-birthday parties). On her actual birthday, we celebrated with a trip to Build-a-Bear, McDonalds and a family party at home (with strawberry cake, candles, singing and presents).

We're finally getting some sun in London, and the girls are enjoying it while it lasts.

Maddie recently attended her end of term ballet class. She dressed up like a fairy princess.

Isabelle is crawling all over the place, including up the two little steps in our flat. She's also found the piano and will sit/stand in front of it and play/sing for long periods of time. Who knows, maybe Grandma Cokie is finally going to get a piano player (other than Papa Scott)....

Up on Her Feet!

Isabelle has been getting around for weeks. She inches and semi-crawls all over the place. She'd rather stand than crawl - that's for sure. Isabelle loves to stand and pull herself up on things... all a little too soon for Mom! This morning, I left her in my room for two seconds. When I came back into the room, she had pulled herself up on the laundry basket. And this afternoon, she pulled herself up on the Lego box. Anyway, she is happiest up on her feet as you can see in the pictures!

Princess Leia in London

Since Maddie has been out of school, she has decided to pursue her interests in Star Wars. Some of the boys in her class would play Star Wars at recess and had asked Maddie to play Princess Leia. She was quite flattered since it was the only girl part. (The other girls in the class were a little jealous.) And hey, let's face it - you say princess and Maddie is all over it! Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to watch the movies before the end of the school year. Since school got out, she and Luke have spent their weekends watching the trilogy. After seeing the princess in action, Maddie has decided to be Princess Leia for Halloween. We've found a costume online, so this morning, we had to start practicing the hair. So, here she is... Princess Leia!

Just a Couple More Things...

Here are a couple more pics from our beach holiday - just a couple that Luke missed doing the orignial post! The first is my two favorite beach bums, and the second is a family picture. Even though we're in swimwear, you can see Isabelle!

Here are two little videos of Isabelle on the beach, hanging out with me in the shade. I know she's just squawking away, but I love them.

Enjoy!

Love,

Ally

P.S. The giraffe's name is Sophie. She is Isabelle's favorite toy. She is so loved that we had to order a second one after we lost the first in Regent's Park.

Tenerife, Canary Islands

This year's beach vacation was successful. It was even better because Krissy came with us to help with the girls and act as tour guide.



The hotel was very nice, and the pool was even nicer (there were actually several pools, but the one I'm referring to was shaped like a lagoon and surrounded by palm trees) However, the water in the pools was salty, which was a bit of an adjustment for everyone but Isabelle, who didn't seem to mind.

The girls had lots of fun on the beach (sand castles, paddle boats, playing in the waves and lots of tasty munchies), and mommy found her dream shoes (unfortunately, they cost 600+ euros, so daddy said no).


Other highlights included:

• Church in Spanish (Krissy took us to church in the branch in which she served while in Tenerife). The members were very nice, and Ally and I didn't have any trouble understanding 'church' Spanish.
  
• Good food and eating meals in places with ocean views.
  
• Shopping (although Ally was actually pretty reasonable and didn't break the bank; of course, she's still upset about the shoes...).
  
• Daddy went parasailing, which he's always wanted to do. He wasn't disappointed and can hardly wait for the girls to try it when they get older.
  
• Really, most of the time was spent relaxing / playing at the pool or beach.

Here are the highlights:

Only picture we took of the entire family (we'll have to do better next time):

I thought these pictures were cute of Ally / Isabelle and Krissy / Maddie:

The Love Train:



Buried in the sand:

The cutest beach bunnies ever: