The best things in life start with "B"......

Seriously, I never realized (but now do, thanks to Kate and Julia) how many of my favorite things start with the letter "b". The list includes, but of course isn't limited to, beaches, babies, bubbles, baths, bubbles in the bath, brownies, butterflies, books....well, you get the point. And to be fair--a lot of those aforementioned favorite aren't really my favorites, rather, they're the girls'. We were outside yesterday, and the girls were freaking out b/c they wanted to go back to the beach. Julia also wanted the bubbaflies to go to the beach, along with Lovey and bubbles. I clearly have too much time on my hands, as my mind started to wander and I had the epiphany that the girls and I really dig things that start with the letter "b". Anyway, I don't know why I felt the need to share, but there you go.

We spent all of last week at the shore with Scott's parents. So. Much. Fun. Seriously, it was a blast--not many people are lucky enough to have in-laws that they can spend a week with and then be disappointed that that week flew by! We didn't have the best of weather, but it didn't even matter. The girls were beyond thrilled to be hang out with their grandparents, and it's been a rough adjustment for all of us to be back in the real world.

Bama (aka, Scott's mom) introduced Julia to sponge rollers, or "roaders", in Julia-speak. Julia was so enthralled with the roaders, that she insisted on wearing them. In public. To the zoo. To say we received some strange looks would be an understatement. Luckily, all the women we encountered were generous with the knowing smiles, and the "been there, done that" comments. Some battles just aren't worth fighting, especially when your opponent is a willful and headstrong two and a half year old. And, as Pat/Bama/Scott's mom, pointed out, Julia's hair put a lot of smiles on the faces of strangers.

The girls loved the zoo. Julia loved it so much that as soon as we saw the bears, she started screaming. Our little fearless wonder wanted to "go play yard with bear"--she was literally trying to jump the fence to get to the caged area. Crazy monkey!

Kate wasn't as interested in watching the animals--mainly b/c a lot of the zoo is in this heavily wooded area, and to see the animals, you walk on this never-ending (and wide) wooden bridge. Kate likes to run and was enjoying spazzing out in all that open space. She surprised us on the way to the zoo by asking if we would see flamingoes. Umm, I didn't even know that she knew what a flamingo was. Since I had no idea whether or not the 'mingoes would be there, I told her that they wouldn't. Boy was she psyched to find out Mommy was wrong--I'm not sure I've ever seen her so happy.

There were so many precious moments (barf, can't believe I just said that as I HATE the Hallmark figurines that go by the same name) during the week. It's hard to know which ones to write down here, or which ones to store away.

The one that sticks out the most in my mind, though, happened one night at dinner. The adults were eating while the girls played and Scott's parents were making a toast to vacation. Scott piped in with a toast to Kate and Julia, and was quickly interrupted by Kate yelling "yay, Bama Grandpa, yay, Grandpa David!" Her timing was impeccable, and what was particularly sweet was that prior to her contribution, she had never called Scott's dad anything other than "Grandpa." She obviously picked up on Pat calling Dave by his first name, and it was soooo sweet.

The girls loved the beach--the water was almost warm, still a bit chilly, but warm enough that you did eventually get used to it without feeling like your extremities were going numb. Kate was fascinated and disgusted by the seaweed, and the first time she saw it, thought it was cat puke and asked me to clean it up. By the end of the trip, she decided she liked seaweed and would run up and down the water's edge looking for seaweed to talk to. Did I mention she never stops talking :) ?

Our travels are coming to a halt for now, but Mimi (my mom) will be out here in 2.5 weeks--yay! She managed to time her visit to coincide with the girls' first week of school which will be perfect--I may need the emotional support!

Heart hug, off to clean.