Miami - Part 1/3

We got back from visiting my parents in Miami this week and I realized we took over 700 pictures!  It has been a lot of work sorting through the photos, but we did seem to do a lot of stuff on this trip.  Karina, Lydia, Snoopy, and I were there for 16 days and Nate came in the middle and stayed for 6 days.  I can't recommend flying on an airplane alone with 2 little kids, but it eventually worked out.  Having restrictions on when your potty-trained 2 year old is allowed to use the bathroom made the flights especially frustrating.  On the flight home I put Karina in a diaper to hopefully avoid any potty situations.  At some point while the airplane was taxiing and we were trapped in our seats, Karina declared she really needed to use the potty.  I told her she could go in her diaper, thinking it was a great, convenient solution, but that just produced a huge tantrum with her screaming that she couldn't pee in a diaper because she is a big girl.  And the big girl was somehow able to wait until the plane bathroom was accessible.  

Happy grandparents excited to see their granddaughters:

The girls had fun with new-to-them toys like this walker, a ton of dolls, a fire truck, a Hello Kitty doll house, books, and other random things they found around the house. 

Karina has long had a fear of swings.  Through some cajoling, Karina finally agreed to sit in a regular swing on Mimi's lap and then surprised us all, by sitting by herself in a baby swing.  Even more amazing was that she actually enjoyed it, shouting 'faster! faster!".  And she is now completely cured of her fear of swings.

Lydia is content to explore whatever playground toy she is placed in or near. 

Snoopy was happy to be at Mormor and Morfar's (Mimi's) house too.  I found him relaxing in this strange position on a chair one day and thought it was hilarious.  I was impressed that Snoopy even started using one of the doggy's doors by himself without it being shown to him on this trip.  The little wolf also got extra spoiled because he was allowed to sleep in my bed during the vacation:-) In preparation for the visit, Mormor had been saving lots of meat scraps for him, and lucky Snoopy got some sort of actual meat with both his meals the entire 2+ weeks. 

Mimi is funny:

Looking at this next picture where they are sort of mirroring each other makes me wonder if Lydia will look very much like Karina or not.  I didn't think they looked that much alike as small babies, but that might have just been because Karina was not nearly as chubby.  Now I am starting to see more similarities though as Lydia slims down.

The girls got to go swimming for the first time on this trip!   Karina is pretty cautious and refused to go in the water on previous vacations to Miami.  She went in the pool multiple times this trip, as well as the ocean, though she made sure to hold on tight to an adult.  Eventually, she got the confidence to kick her legs backwards and splash with her arms and legs.  Every time before Karina got in the water, she was careful to insist she did not want her head underwater, and that she wanted to swim like a duck, and not like a fish. 

Lydia on the other hand was giddy with excitement the moment she saw the water and tried to squirm her way into the pool before I had the chance to hand her to Mormor.  And then in Mormor's arms, Lydia kept splashing happily and tried to escape Mormor's grasp and play by herself in the fun pool.  She is very adventurous, mildly put.  Happy smiles from a happy baby:

We had a mini birthday party for Karina when Nate first came so Mimi and Mormor could celebrate with her and so she could start playing with the Cinderella Legos they gave her.  She has been thrilled with them and likes role playing with Cinderella and the prince. 

Nate had fun on the playgrounds with the girls too and apparently isn't too big for a fun slide. 

He also enjoyed playing with the girls in the pool, throwing them in the air, and later on, relaxing by himself in the water.