This was Lisee’s first trip to the beach except for when she was 6 months old. She loved the ocean! She had too much fun jumping in the waves with her daddy. A guy that worked for a beach photography company approached us and wanted to take pictures of Annelise playing in the ocean. I said yes but she wasn’t liking him at all. He kept trying to get her to pose and say “bumblebees” and she huffed and puffed and just gave him looks of death as if to say “I’m trying to play here!”. You could tell he wasn’t a parent so it was funny to watch him with my 2 year-old who could definitely give an adult a run for their money especially when they’re not used to children. The pictures turned out horrible so we didn’t buy any. The ones my grandmother took were much better. She captured the suprise on Lisee’s little face when the waves would roll in. These pictures are priceless. I definitely would rate this as the best family vacation ever, but there’s many more years to come so we’ll have to try and top it!

She sat with me on the front porch while I blew up the pool. Almost out of breath, I walked around the to the side of the house to turn the water hose on. While I was turning on the faucet, our dog Hero put the hose in his mouth and started running around. Hero is almost 4 years old and he still acts like a big puppy. I started to run after him and let’s not forget I broke my foot in February so I’m more like half-jogging…with a limp. Lisee was very amused by this and started giggling and running after us too. Hero gets more excited and starts doing this weird half-jumping, half-running thing and the hose is flailing around with him spraying all over me and Lisee. Annelise loved it and I must admit that it did cool me off so I didn’t mind much either.

I went inside to put on some dry clothes and then we went back outside. This time Hero was taking a nap under our Easter egg tree (that I still haven’t removed the eggs from) so we filled our inflatable pool up with no problems. Once it was filled, Lisee jumped right in. She had a blast jumping up and down and splashing the water.

I can’t wait until our big pool is warm enough to swim in. We finally have it ready but the water is still too cold. Hopefully, a few more days of this hot summer-like weather will help it warm up sooner rather than later. Lisee starts toddler swimming lessons on May 4 at a local gym. It’s a ten day class and hopefully, once she’s done, the water will be warm enough for her to practice in our pool. Then she and Mommy can both go swimming. I love spending good quality time like that with her and she loves her moments with Mommy.

As we pulled into the parking lot of the park, I noticed that the ice cream truck was over by the lake. I knew Lisee would be so excited because she had just watched an episode of Dora about an ice cream truck. This was the first time Lisee had ever seen one before and of course, when she heard the carousel music and I told her what it was, her bright blue eyes lit up! Kenisha and Lisee headed toward the lake while I took Brodie inside the playground. She chose a chocolate and vanilla Dora the Explorer ice cream bar and my sister got a sno-cone.

Now, I am a mom that hates messes and I know it is almost an impossible feat for a 2 year old to eat chocolate ice cream without a mess, but I just sat back and didn’t worry about the mess on this occasion, her first treat from the ice cream truck. It goes without saying that when she was finished, ice cream was dripping from her chin, hand and down her shirt turning her into a sticky little lady. “Baby wipes!” I said to my sister. She reached into the diaper bag and realized we had left them at home. So, I then headed with Lisee to the bathroom, got some paper towels and wet them and cleaned her up.

We returned to the playground area and I told Lisee to go ahead and play. She then spotted Aunt Nini’s sno-cone and she grabbed her belly and claimed that she was ’sooooo’ hungry. Kenisha gave her the sno-cone and she was delighted. After her brainfreeze from eating it too fast, she shared some with Brodie and threw it into the garbage can nearby. She spent the rest of the day running around wildly from the swings to the giant racecar to the slides and back and forth. I’m sure that the energy burst was thanks to a combination of two things: the sugar rush from the ice cream treats and months of being stuck inside a house due to a cold winter.

We shared a lovely day together at the park, that is, of course, until it was time to leave. Lisee protested because she didn’t want to go and I really didn’t either. I was enjoying the weather and I was also enjoying watching the kids play but it was getting close to 5 pm. So, we had to get to the kids home for dinner, bath, and bedtime.

The little things, like selecting our favorite treat from the ice cream truck, are what makes up many of our childhood memories. There is nothing children appreciate more than spending precious moments with Mommy.