Pool and Tea Party Fit for a Princess

This past Saturday, we had a small party for Ella for her 5th birthday. For as long as the Frozen movie has been out, she has been mentioning she wanted a Frozen tea party for her birthday but when I asked what she wanted to do at this party, she couldn't think of anything besides tea. So, when we joined our new pool this spring, I knew a pool party would be perfect for our August baby because in August in Charlotte, it is too hot to do anything but be in a cool pool. So, we decided to combo it and have a pool party and then everyone back to our house for a "tea party." Since we were moving locations and logistics, I told Ella, she had to keep the party super small and she was actually quite agreeable. We invited 4 of her closest friends and their families. In total it was still 10 kids (including our 2) but considering we had close to 30 kids last year, 10 was a breeze! DeeDee, Papa, Uncle Court and Miss Laura also came up for the weekend so we had a great time celebrating our big girl!

Ella and Wesley are 6 weeks apart and used to live behind each other in our old house and see each other everyday. Since we moved, they don't see each other as much but their bond is still as strong as ever and they have the best time together.

 Ella and one of her preschool buddies, Lambeth

 Kayla, Allie, Addie and Ella

 Love this sweet picture of the girls having fun in the pool

 Of course, little sister was there to get in on the action

 Maddie is obsessed with DeeDee, she wants to be where she is every second of the day when she visits. It is probably because DeeDee lets Maddie do whatever she wants, including squirt her with a water bottle during the party!

 We came back to our house and the girls changed into princess dresses and we had tea (chai tea latte from Starbucks, these five year olds have expensive taste already), pizza and cake. Sweet Wyatt and Will, he only boys were very good sports about the entire thing.

 This is the best picture we got of Ella blowing out her candles, not great but oh well.

 The little sisters had their own table and enjoyed their pizza as well. Those two are such trouble and so adorable!

 After dinner, the girls played for a little bit outside. Matching princess dresses for best buds!

 The birthday celebration is finally over but it was a great one! Our little princess loved playing with her friends and family!

 Side note: I read the last blog entry again and I know it sounds like Ella is perfect but she is isn't. She definitely has her moments of being whiny, cranky and a typical kid but just wanted to convey how much I am truly enjoying her company right now and how much I am enjoying this age.

Thanks Uncle Court for making the trek up to Charlotte to spend the weekend with us!

FIVE

On Wednesday, Ella James turned 5 years old! One whole hand according to her. I honestly can't believe that my little buddy is five years old. Where did the time go? I have heard a great quote that I have used before saying, "the days are long but the years are short" and it is so very true. Some days are very long but then I look back and can't believe that my baby, the one that first made me a mommy is already 5.

We had such a fun day though and celebrated all things girly and Ella. In the morning, we had a special treat and Daddy went in late to work so we could all have a pancake breakfast together. 

 And not just pancakes but pancakes on new Elsa plates with new Frozen water bottle and cup! It was just the start to many many Frozen things to come.Then, Ella went to her dance camp she did this week in the mornings and Wednesday just happened to be Frozen day! How perfect for our Frozen princess. 

 After camp and Maddie's nap, we went to swim lessons and she is doing so great, I am shocked at the transformation. She swam the entire length of the pool on Wednesday on her own and was using actual strokes and not doggie paddling anymore. She has come a long way. After the pool, we asked her where she wanted to go to dinner and she requested pizza at Hawthorne's, just like last year (Daddy has trained her well.) After pizza, all the waiters came out and sang happy birthday to her and gave her ice cream.

 They didn't forget little sister either!

 No trip to Hawthorne's is complete without Daddy trying to win the girls something from the claw and he didn't let them down. We came home with a stuffed duck and gingerbread man (so random) but the girls loved them.

 Back at home, it was present time. It was hard for Maddie to understand that she couldn't open them also but Ella was very patient with her.

Note to self: get in some pictures. This is the 4th picture of Mike and there aren't any of me from this day. I need to get in some more pictures. Ok, back to the post.)

 She did get one arts and craft gift from Aunt Kelly and Uncle Ben that she loved but everything else was...

 FROZEN! Shocking I know that a 5 year old girl wants frozen stuff and Elsa stuff to be more exact. Well, she hit the jackpot big time. She got the Elsa dress, shoes, doll, beach towel, nightgown, tea set, nail polish and even underwear. This girl was on cloud 9 and immediately put on the dress and shoes.

 Even though we had ice cream at Hawthorne's, we still had to celebrate with cake, Gigi's cupcakes and they were amazing!

 Make a wish sweet girl, we love you to the moon and back and infinity and beyond.

Ella at 5:

-I have said it before and I will say it again, I don't know what I did right in my life to deserve this special lady but I sure love her a lot. She is my best buddy right now and so much fun to be around. Truly, I would do anything with her and have fun, even running errands (now her sister on the other hand, hmmm)

-4 was my absolute favorite age so far and I am hoping 5 stays the same

-Ella is sweet, loving and so caring. She is very aware and empathetic of others and their feelings which is such a gift to have at such a young age

-She wants to make sure everyone is happy and included at all time

-She loves to draw and color, mostly hearts. I have about 50 heart pictures she has drawn me this week alone

-She adores Maddie Grace and wants to help her out or play with her all the time, it is so special so see their relationship develop.

-She is all GIRL. She loves princesses, pretty dresses, ballet and pretty much anything pink

-Our only fights are about clothes. She wants to wear a long fancy dress everyday of the week and sometimes you just need some play clothes too.

-She loves school and I am so grateful that she will have another year of TK (transitional kindergarten) at her preschool before going to Kindergarten next year.

-She is a really good eater as long as the food is plain. She prefers plain food but will eat most everything I make. Her favorites are pizza, pasta, tacos, Parmesan cheese, edamame, broccoli, bananas, grapes and strawberries. And she loves her sweets also, her favorite is probably ice cream.

-She isn't napping anymore but has quiet time in her room everyday where she colors or plays with her leap pad and every blue moon, she will fall asleep during this time.

-On the weekends, she has special morning time with Daddy. They always wake up before Mommy and Maddie so they come downstairs and play games or color and it is Mike's favorite time of the week.

-I wouldn't say she is a momma's or daddy's girl, she goes through certain times when she wants one or the other but she is happy to be with either.

-I could go on and on about my little big one but I will stop at that. Just know that she is such a joy to be around and we love her so much!

Happy Birthday beautiful girl, I could have never imagined 5 years ago how much my life would change when you came into this world and over those years, you have taught me so much about life, love, patience, responsibility and I am forever grateful.

Lobsters and Blueberries

Back in the winter, Mike and I started discussing that our 10 year anniversary is coming up in May and we should take a trip. Last time we went away without the kids was to Vegas last September and was only for a weekend so we knew we wanted to go for a couple more days than that. In discussing the timing with work and babysitters, the end of July was the right time to go. We started thinking about lots of different places, tropical and beachy or more adventurous. We both finally decided on Maine. We thought the weather would be perfect (which it was) and it would be somewhere completely different. Now full disclosure, this trip is probably more of Mike's idea of a vacation than mine. I am very happy to go somewhere and sit by the pool or ocean every single day and read and relax whereas Mike likes to be active on his trips. So, this was about 80% Mike and 20% me but I have to say after, it was amazing and he was right, we both had the best time! 

Maine is incredible! The weather was almost perfect most of the time (75 and sunny) with little to no humidity, the food was out of this world. We ate lobster, lobster and more lobster. And something we found out while we were up there was Maine is known for its blueberries. Everything was blueberry from the pancakes, to the beer to the pie. We even picked wild ones in Acadia and ate them and they were so delicious, so much better than anything you can buy from a grocery store. So, we ate tons of lobster and blueberries (hence the title!)

Ok, now onto the trip and the tons of pictures we took!

In Acadia national park

 We flew into Boston Thursday morning and rented a car and hit the road. We drove a little over an hour to Kennebunkport to stop for lunch. Kennebunkport is the cutest town with tons of restaurants and shops. I got a recommendation from a friend to stop at Mable's which was a little off the beaten path for lobster rolls and it did not disappoint. Lobster roll and beer for lunch, yes please!

 We walked around a close beach to check it out and take our first of 50 million selfies on the trip (get ready for selfie overload!)

 Then drove over to check out Walker's Point which also happens to be George Bush Sr "small" compound. This picture doesn't do it justice but it was huge with tennis courts and pools and several different houses. Sadly, they didn't invite us in for a beer so we headed on up to Portland.

 On our way to Portland, we stopped at Portland's Head Light Lighthouse, it is one of the if not the most photographed lighthouse in the US and I can see why. It is so beautiful and the sky that day was picture perfect that it almost looks fake.

 The lighthouse sits above these amazing rocks with the ocean crashing into them.

 After checking out the lighthouse and the park, we went into Portland and walked around. Portland is a cute city but we felt like after walking around for an hour or two, we had seen most of it and decided to head to an outdoor cafe for some cocktails. That is our hotel in the distance, the Portland Regency. It was really nice and a great location.

 Friday morning, we hit the road for Bar Harbor. I personally could not wait to get to Bar Harbor. We did some research on Maine before the trip and Bar Harbor used to be the vacation spot for the rich and famous including the Rockefeller's and so I was excited to check it out. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I absolutely LOVED it! We stayed in an amazing hotel right on the water and they upgraded us to a better room with a huge balcony right on the water, score! This was our view from the balcony. 

 After checking into the hotel, we quickly changed and headed for the pool. As I stated earlier, I am all about the pool and this was our day to do nothing but sit by the pool and I wanted to live it up. As a bonus as staying at our hotel, we got a choice between two amazing pools.

 All day Friday, we spent the day here and I loved it. We ordered blueberry mojitos and they were out of this world. 

 So that picture above that was the view from our balcony shows all the water but everyday when the tide goes out, all the water goes away and you can walk across to the island on the other side. It is really the craziest thing to watch happen but we walked across when the tide was down. That is our hotel to the left and the pool to the right.

 We made it across and of course, another selfie.

After hanging by the pool all day, we got ready for dinner and had happy hour in our room because we could see the sunset from our balcony. It was really amazing seeing it set. That water is right where we walked across earlier the day, crazy how fast it went out and then came back.

 A glass of wine and sunset, we took this picture for my dad because he always takes pictures of his wine and sunsets. I think those might be two if his favorites things in life and they were on our trip as well.

 Heading out for dinner with the paddle boarders in the background

 Saturday was Mike's perfect day! We got up early and rented bikes and headed into Acadia National Park for the morning. One of the main reasons we chose Maine was because of Acadia and Mike's desire to check it out. Acadia has all these carriage trails that are only for bikes and carriage horse rides and some are flat and the ones Mike dragged me on were not! This is our riding action selfie!

 It was actually super sunny that morning but almost hazy so it looked cloudy in most of the pictures but it was really beautiful in the park and the scenery was amazing.

 Quick stop for a picture 

 Eagle Lake

 Jordan Pond

 Then Mike decided to drag me up to the top of Day Mountain. This ride was so hard, straight up and I thought my legs were going to fall off. I think I am in decent shape and work out a lot but this was so hard and I wanted to stop and cry but I kept going and we made it. 

 The view was pretty amazing though and now you can see the beautiful blue sky

 You can't see it in this picture but my legs were shaking from riding all those hills

 The only good thing about going to the top of the mountain is you get to come down and we got to come down and found the most amazing spot by Bubble Pond to have our lunch.

 Mike got obsessed with the panoramic setting on the iphone and he took a ton of them in Acadia.

 Then after riding 25 miles on the bike, we came back and I went back to my happy place, the pool and those mojitos tasted amazing after all those miles.

 That night, we had the most amazing meal that started with blueberry beers

 And then fresh steamed lobster, the whole thing and it was the most amazing lobster we had the entire time and the best lobster of my life.

 Our final morning in Bar Harbor was gorgeous again. We went for a short run, followed by the most amazing blueberry pancakes and then walked around the cute town and did some shopping. 

 We spent one last hour at the pool before Mike convinced me to head back to Acadia to do one more hike. The weather turned crazy because it was sunny all morning and then as we headed to the park, the clouds rolled in so quickly. It was great temperature for hiking though and didn't rain and the hike provided great views of sand beach in Acadia.

 And because we couldn't resist, just one last selfie!

Sunday night we headed back to Portland and stopped in Freeport on the way to check out the LL Bean flagship store which was ok but nothing too exciting. But Freeport was cute with lots of other cute stores and more lobster. Monday morning, we flew home and couldn't wait to get back to our girls. The trip was amazing and just the time we got to spend together without the kids pulling us in tons of different directions was great for us. Maine really was truly beautiful and I highly recommend it. When we left Bar Harbor, I said to Mike "we will definitely be back here" and I know we will because it was the perfect mix for us (but next vacation is sitting by the beach the entire time, right Mike!!)