Doing things I don't want to do . . . cleaning.

Even though, my idea of a great day would be sitting on the couch watching Wimbeldon, I have too many other things to do! In order for my mom to come next week, I have to clean the guest room, which until today was full of 'organized' piles of stuff. So, I had to put the piles away! And I am thinking that I might have to sell in the twins' club sale again, even though, I really don't wanna. But Gem helped me today.
And BabyA has some kind of stomach bug and she got sick twice last night and she has stayed laying down most of today, so I knew we couldn't go anywhere. So, instead of sitting eating bonbons on the couch while watching some amazing tennis, I cleaned! Enjoy the pics!

The "Water Park" and the baby that figured out Velcro!

So, we decided to break the water restriction rules today and break out the water park!! We have a shallow end, a deep end and a wave pool! Gem is very into the importance of sunscreen as you can see from her desire to keep it with her all day!





So, Gem liked the shallow end . . .


This is the deep end . . .


And here is the beach/wave pool! Who knew this was at our house!!!




After we played outside all afternoon, the girls got into their pj's. But before I could put on Gem's pants over her diaper - she decided she didn't need one! And she sure did look cute roaming around with her cute bum hanging out!!!



And for your viewing pleasure . . . the video of the day!



And since I just finished watching SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE . . . I had to tell you I love it so much tonight that I voted for 1, 2, 5, 7, and 8 - several times!!

Gem Walking!! (And Goose's cameo!)

Where is the . . .

Virginia TECH one?? Gem would love to sit in a Hokie seat!!

http://www.babycarseats.com/Britax-R106-X-BRX1125.html

Which member of our family . . .

spent the weekend blowing tons of $$, passed out, and got their stomach pumped before spending the weekend in the hospital??
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The dog.

Yup, he ate an entire bottle (bottle included) of his Deramaxx arthritis medicine. So, when we found the little piece of bottle that was left . . . we rushed him to the emergency vet. They made him throw up, fed him charcoal, hooked him up to an IV and kept him hydrated for 72 hours so that his kidneys wouldn't shut down.

So, we should call this the year of the dog. Is it really - what is on the Chinese calendar this year? But anyway, for a free dog (Kelli) he sure has cost a lot of money this year. But how can you say 'no' to treating a member of your family for his own stupidity.

So we spent the entire weekend carting the dog around to different vets. DH played a lot of tennis and we went to Krispy Kreme for Father's Day. Gem ate her first donut and had her first chocolate milk - she was in heaven.

And the lighthouses - were a pic I borrowed from my favorite forum! I thought they were a really funny mind in the gutter kind of thing! I haven't done links in a while, so in honor of the lighthouses . . .

For your kids to take to Vacation Bible School with them!!!

And I just used to change the stickers around!

Fun Chair - a new storage solution!!

Who needs cars - get your kids a tractor!!

Beer Anyone??

I thought people went to Subway for diets??

And it is summer . . . time for ICE CREAM!!

Hahaha - Lighthouses!

I just wanted to share this picture with you, b/c this is the funniest thing ever - which candy maker missed the 'unintentional' look?? (Or maybe they didn't??)

The beach at Cullen and all the places we don't have pictures for . . .

Imagine, a nice summer day at the beach . . . on the North Sea!! It was 'breezy' and chilly but the girls had a blast picking up rocks and getting wet!! Notice the pockets of their windbreakers are full of rocks!!







So the pictures that are missing, because the camera broke, include our days at Stirling Castle, the Falkirk Wheel, J.M. Barrie's house (author of Peter Pan,) the camera obscura in Kirriemuir my mom's 40th high school reunion, and playing at Johnston Gardens. On Sunday my mom gave us her little camera like mine, so we stuck in our SD card for the rest of our visit! So here are some borrowed pics from the internet of the places we went . . . so sad.


Stirling Castle!
The Falkirk Wheel, which actually moves boats between two canals!! It was an amazing sight - google it!!

J.M. Barrie's house in Kirriemuir! He was born here, starting writing plays here but the girls couldn't find Tinkerbell! (Good thing since we didn't have a camera!)

We had a picnic lunch in Kirriemuir, sitting right by this Peter Pan statue! It was good fun!


And we went to the Camera Obscura in Kirriemuir as well!! It is a small mirror that lets you 'spy' on the people and places near you!! Very neat!!

Balmoral!

Gem is napping in my lap. . . so I will upload some more!!

These pics are from our trip up to the Highlands! Balmoral is the Royal Family's Summer retreat! It is gorgeous!!

Gem, so cute in her stroller!! She did such a wonderful job travelling - I am so proud of her!!
Granny with the girls!! Wouldn't it be nice to have this as your summer home??!!!
Balmoral. Just SO pretty!!

Gem in Queen Victoria's Garden!!
Big Girl A in Queen Victoria's Garden too . . . she looks so pretty!
Hanging out behind the castle!
The River! It was so quiet and relaxing along the riverbank. The sound of the river flowing . . . was amazing. The girls were so busy throwing rocks into the river with daddy, they were actually being quiet so that the rest of us could enjoy the river sounds!


Dh skipping rocks on the River Dee!

My Granny!!

My birthday in Banchory and Edinburgh!

On my birthday we went to Banchory for lunch. We went to the river to see where the salmon run and jump upstream! It was fun watching for fish jumping up the waterfalls. Then we had lunch at the Banchory Lodge - it was a great birthday party! The view was amazing of the river Dee and they had a trampoline outside! The girls had a blast jumping around!! And all of the adults actually jumped too - dh had never been on one - so he really liked jumping!! My mom has pics of that I think!!
Then after the lunch we had a family/friend tea at my Granny's place. It was so wonderful to see family that I hadn't seen in years!! But I was so busy talking to people that I didn't take any pics with my camera . . . but my mom did!! So sometime I will get them on here too!!

Gem and I at the park - she tried the trampoline but liked the tractor more . . . hum, I guess living in Georgia really does rub off on you!

The Trampoline!!

It was really a good workout!! Anything that wears out 5 year olds . . . must be good!!

Big Girl B - sitting in front of the River Dee. There were fly fisherman there and a it was just gorgeous sitting there on the river bank!

And it really was just spring-like there! The flowers were in bloom and the temperature was a wonderful 50/60/70's everyday. Ahh, it was such a nice change from Hot'lanta.

We went down to my Auntie Liz and Uncle Lawrie's house for a couple of days in Edinburgh! It was so much fun to see them and visit with them - the girls said the beds there were more comfortable there than there beds here at home!! We went to Edinburgh castle, walked the Royal Mile and sent the girls home with Granny in a taxi! Dh and I then wandered through the city by ourselves for a couple of hours. But when he decided he wanted to climb the Walter Scott Memorial - I decided to go shopping at Jenners!! (The toy department there is wonderful!! And one of my favorite places to go from when I was a kid!!)

In Edinburgh we also hiked up Arther's Seat! It was quite a climb but we used to do it everytime we visited, so we had to take the girls up too!! The view from the top was phenomenal! Dh walked up with Gem on his back in the Mei Tei - she promptly fell asleep and napped the entire hike!

The view from the hike!

Dh and Gem at the top of Arthur's Seat!

Big Girls, the Mountain Climbers.

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!!

Sir Walter Scott Memorial, 287 steps!

Granny and the girls at Edinburgh Castle!

The girls on a cannon!! (And Robb, Mon's Meg was right in front of them!)

And here they are sitting on the cannonballs from the Mon's Meg Cannon!! They thought they were awfully big rocks to throw at someone!! But the cannon, could shoot these 'rocks' up to two miles away . . . that is pretty impressive!!

Here are the girls doing Brass Rubbings! They did great and it was a perfect quiet activity before they went home in the taxi with Granny! They both did unicorn pics!

Looking over the wall!!

Gem! There seem to be a lack of pics of her 'doing' things. That is b/c she was either in the stroller or being carried - but I bet my mom has more pics of her too!!

And the last pic from Edinburgh!! I love this one!

And there are still more to come!!! But there is a gap because my camera broke and for a few days, I had no camera!! Luckily my mom had two and let us use one . . . so there are still a couple of pics to go!!