Mom made ice cream cone cupcakes for Kai's class birthday party. His birthday is the only time of year he's allowed to stand in his chair (while everyone sings happy birthday). Kai is good about following the rules, so he was very up-tight about standing on his chair.

 

Sierra also wanted ice cream cone cupcakes for her school birthday party. Mom learned a few lessons from Kai's iteration so Sierra's turned out a little better (although the room of 2-3 year olds couldn't tell the difference). Unlike Kai, Sierra loved standing up in her chair while everyone sang to her.

 

Almas, Assiya, Carla, Jim, Kai and Sierra at Magic Kingdom

 

Kai and Sierra with Aladdin.. to add to our library of character pictures.

 

Even though we have 500 stuffed animals at home (exaggeration), Sierra thought she needed one more.. we decided to leave it for another patron.

Assiya loved Sierra's wink. Sierra had no problem "performing" for her over and over again. Here's a double wink.

 

Our friends Katie, Chad, and Avery came for a few visits while Assiya was here. She was amazed at how big all the kids have gotten.

 

The Kazakh beauties.

 

Playing in the jungle at Animal Kingdom.

We spent our last day with Assiya at Animal Kingdom.

 

Buzzz..... The Bug's Life show. It was so much fun to experience all the Disney shows and rides with someone that hadn't seen any of it before. In this show, for instance, Assiya got startled and jumped out of her seat... which we found funny.

Before taking her to the airport, Assiya made us a great traditional, Kazakh meal (Beshbarmak). We had this dish in Kazakhstan with horse meat. Of course, horse isn't available here, so she made it with chicken and beef (which Assiya said was common in Kaz as well). Mom wrote down the recipe but hasn't been brave enough to try it yet.

 

"I'm not as scary."

 

Sierra in the sand pit... she actually kept her pony tails in all day.

 

Mommy and Kai cooling off.

 

"Giddy--up PawPaw"

 

"Take the picture... how long do we need to stay down here, PawPaw?"

"I'm cool as a cucumber in the water."

 

"Faster, faster Memaw"

 

"Hey, Pawpaw, you don't need all this stuff to swim. Let me help you take it off."

 

"Aren't we cute? "

 

 

 

 

Our little fish are at it again this summer. Before Memaw and Pawpaw got in town, Kai and Sierra were a little slow to get back into their swimming. They loved playing in the pool but didn't want to practice their swimming techniques from last summer. In fact, Sierra would pitch a fit when we'd make her practice. Then one day, she decided she liked it again (mostly due to MeMaw and PawPaw having her in the pool for several consecutive days in a row).

 

Night time swimming (warm in the water, but freezing when you get out). Mom opted to stay out and take pictures (and be "towel girl" for all the swimmers).

Sierra swimming to MeMaw.

 

We went to Family Night at Gators where they have a clown and face painting. Kai chose Spiderman and as you can see, was pleased with the results.

 

 

The last Tuesday of every month, there is a drawing at Family Night for a bicycle. We put the kids name in the box and guess who won? We were stunned when Sierra's name was called for the red boy's bike the size of a 6 or 7 year old. She was excited that she won and walked right up to claim her prize.

 

 

Sierra's Dora Cake (took forever to ice... had about 11 different colors and the picture from the pan was the exact opposite of the cake shape, which makes it hard to reference when icing.. given all that, it turned out pretty good).

 

Kai's Dinosaur Cake (Although it looks complicated, it was not hard to make. However, Mom had equipment malfunctions during icing. The icing bag busted and the dinosaur neck decided to fall forward.. luckily, MeMaw thought fast and brought over a bamboo skewer to shove from front to back and we were back in business).

 

Kai and Sam coming down the slide.

 

Kai and Sierra in the Bounce House.

 

Kai collected about 4 eggs. He may have gotten more if he hadn't gotten some sticky burs on his hand and insisted they be removed before he'd continue.

 

Kai was an orange flower in his school Easter parade

 

Sierra was a pink flower.

 

Kai tickling the Easter Bunny in the back of the head (the poor bunny was being tackled by about 30 preschoolers).

 

Sierra and one of her teachers, Miss Erin.

 

Thanks Amanda - I liked getting a package in the mail with my name on it.

 

Me too.

 

Sierra has perfected the cross-eyes. It's one of her most popular funny faces. Also, the lovely pink slipper socks she has on her hands, she fondly refers to as her "Monkey paws." She insists on putting them on every night when she goes to bed. If we forget, she goes nuts.

 

Daddy took Kai and Sierra to play golf (slow course, mid week).

 

 

Kai practicing his putting.

 

 

We still had cousin Amanda's Flat Stanley, so we took him to Sea World one last time before sending him back to Virginia. Here the Polar Bear is holding him.

 

Kai, Sierra and Flat Stanley with Shamu.

 

Kai is finally tall enough to ride the Shamu roller coaster. Sierra wasn't happy to be left out but she's still 2 inches too short.

 

Sierra's new pretty bathing suit from Karen and Dan. She was having fun splashing around before it got busy.

 

Kai waiting for the big bucket of water to drop.

 

"Ahhhh, Kai's getting us with the water gun"

 

 

Although Sierra loves swimming, she isn't fond of water being "spritzed" at her. You would think she was running through a mine field.