Gymnastics Party

On Saturday Shelby went to a friend's birthday party held at a local gymnastics center. Oh my goodness, she had such a great time! And we had an even better time watching her tumble, walk on the balance beam, swing on rings and take flying leaps into a foam pit!

Pure joy! 

She is fearless!

At the end of the party, everyone got a medal and did their best gymnast pose. She's a perfect 10 don't you think? You can see more pictures in our gallery right here. 

Shelby's First Haircut

After three years and a couple of months, Shelby finally had her first haircut today! I don't know why I waited so long... I guess I just really liked her crazy, curly ragamuffin hair! She did great! She was very quiet and cautious the entire time. I liked the place we went - they even saved a lock of her hair for us to take home. It's called Ms. Lisa's Cuts for Kids and it's located in downtown Decatur. 

Before

And after! 

You can see more haircut pictures in our gallery by clicking here. 

Folly Fun

Here's a short video of our little mermaid in Folly Beach. This girl loves the water! Scott shot it on his waterproof camera. We've had a lot of fun using it but he was annoyed he accidentally left the (wrong) date stamp on the bottom. We were not swimming in January!

Cupcakes

One quick trip to Target for household necessities  led to finding a Hello Kitty cupcake decorating kit on the clearance shelf led to an afternoon of baking cupcakes. We decided it was to celebrate the birth of the royal baby and our friends' new baby. Ok, so they're both boys, but pink decorations were all we had!

Proud helper. 

Licking the beaters... we can't resist. (sorry about the raw eggs, Dr. Kelly)

Concentrating on decorations. 

Proud of her work! 

Welcome Prince George and baby Bruce! 

Our Weekend

On Friday night we kept Shelby up past her bedtime and went to the laser show at Stone Mountain! We had a great time! It was just as cheesy and hokey as ever! Shelby enjoyed the fireworks, although she complained that they were loud. 

Saturday was a birthday party for a class friend. Dora the Explorer showed up! I thought she was going to be dressed in a suit with a giant head, but no... it was an actual lady Dora! 

Finally... the sun! On Sunday, we enjoyed a first sunny day at the pool in what seems like forever. Of course, it's raining now, but a few hours in the sun and grilling out for dinner was a nice way to wind up the weekend.

More photos of our summer are here in a new gallery.

This and That

To some people, this might be another piece of junk mail or a pleasant reminder that it's almost football season, but to a little girl who loves to check the mail every day, it's A LETTER FROM HAIRY DAWG!! 

On Friday night, we stayed up a little past bedtime for movie night. We watched one of my childhood favorites - Annie - and oh my gosh, I've created a musicals monster! Shelby LOVED it and we've watched it at least 10 times since then. I never thought I'd get sick of Hard Knock Life, but ask me again in a week... 

Saturday evening was the last night with the cousins before they returned to Costa Rica. We had dinner and swimming at Papa and Glee's house and then played in the yard and watched  frisbee catch tricks by their dog, Sadie. Shelby loved "dog throw" so much, we took home of of their extra frisbees... but not an extra dog! Whenever she mentions wanting a dog, we remind her she already has a snuggly cat... 

I promise O'Malley is not mad! He always looks like this! Shelby loves him and loves to give him "gentle pets."

Princess Shelby! Playing dress up on yet another rainy afternoon. Will we ever get a sunny day again? 

Summer Escape to Charleston

We took a sort of last minute trip to Charleston over the long July 4 weekend. What a gloriously fun trip! It was perfect planning... it looked like we escaped days of rain and gloom in Atlanta! Charleston was as sunny, warm and humid as a low country July can be, but we didn't mind at all. It was great to take a mini vacation for four days and explore the city. We rented an adorable townhouse in downtown that was the perfect launchpad for our city and beach adventures. We went to Folly Beach two mornings and Shelby had a great time splashing in the waves and building castles. Our beach adventures still left plenty of time for exploring the colorful and vibrant streets of Charleston... it has to be one of my favorite cities of all time. I love the colorful homes, stately mansions, incredible shopping, history and water views. I interned for Spoleto Festival one summer in college and it was fun to go back and see all my old haunts. 

Like a kid in a... 

Folly Beach fun! 

I went for a six mile run one day I was there - it's easy to run when there are beautiful mansions and views like this at every turn! It look me forever because I kept stopping to snap pictures. Doesn't that perfectly posed dog look like he's waiting for his magazine photoshoot?

We did a touristy carriage ride one evening - the highlight of the trip for Shelby! She loved pointing out all the horse carriages we saw all over town.

At the waterfront park in Charleston - Shelby loved the water and boats. I thought navigating the city would be tricky with a toddler but it was pretty easy and there were things to do and see at every turn. We took the stroller with us so she could ride along whenever her feet got tired.

Fresh raspberries, sun, a cheesy magazine and beach breezes... could anything be better? 

Jolly Folly fun! Folly beach was the first beach we ever took Shelby to when she was four months old - we went for a friend's wedding. It was fun to come back. 

Shopping on King Street. Don't know why she's making this funny growly face.

Waiting for a trolley.  Their bus system has a free trolley line that we took advantage of multiple times. Shelby thought it was such a treat! 

Our Recommendations:
Here are the places we stayed, played and ate in Charleston. I'd recommend this trip to anyone - it was fabulous! We had a great time just walking around and taking in all the sights.
Rental townhouse - in a quiet neighborhood slightly away from the busy main touristy area but still walking distance to plenty of great restaurants. It was clean, cozy and a perfect home-away-from-home.
Hominy Grill - right around the corner is this popular restaurant well-known for its traditional southern breakfast fare.
Glazed Gourmet - the line was out the door for these yummy gourmet donuts.
Nick's BBQ - part of the Jim N Nick's chain, this order-at-the-counter outpost was quick and kid-friendly. The King St. location gave us plenty of people-watching while we ate.
32 Degrees Yogurt - for a post-dinner frozen treat. We've never met a fro yo store we didn't like.
Southend Brewery - located in a cavernous former warehouse, this lively restaurant had a kid's menu and a glass elevator that takes you by their brewing equipment - we rode it a couple of times for entertainment while we waited for our food. We passed by many more delicious fine dining options around East Bay Street and upper King Street - maybe next time on a kid-free trip!
Palmetto Carriage - a shorter evening tour before dinner was perfect timing with a small child. Lap riders were free and you could look at their horses and animals in their big red barn while you waited. Bonus - four free hours of parking when you booked in advance.
Magnifilous Toy Emporium - fabulously fun toy store about half a mile walk from our townhouse.
King Street shopping - treat yourself to an afternoon of shopping while the kids are napping! Block after block of boutiques are nestled between all of the popular big chains like J. Crew, Kate Spade, Banana Republic and more. All the stores were having their big mid-summer sales while I was there, so I scored some great finds. I liked some of the mid-priced boutiques near College of Charleston like Francesca's, Affordables, Haute Hanger, Oops and Handpicked.
It's Sugar - cute candy store in the market area.
Folly Beach - so convenient to get to from our townhouse. $7 parking on Fourth Street West with restrooms and covered picnic tables at the beach access.
Charleston Waterfront Park - nice views of the boats and cruise ships, fun swings on the pier and a splash fountain to enjoy if you packed a swimsuit.
CARTA Trolley - free transportation on a fun trolley when you get tired of walking.

A Fantastic Fourth

We had a fantastic, yet soggy, Fourth of July. The Peachtree dominated most of our morning, but we spent the afternoon making a patriotic cake and then had dinner at Papa and Glee's house with the cousins. All of our firework options got rained out and canceled, so we had a pretty normal evening and bedtime! 

So proud of her patriotic flag cake that she helped with! It's just a prepared yellow cake mix, Cool Whip topping and sliced strawberries and blueberries on top. Super simple and delicious! 

Julian, Matthew and Shelby. They had so much fun together tonight.

Peachtree Road Race

I was dreading an absolutely miserable and rainy Peachtree Road Race, but the rain held off and we had a wonderful day with cooler temps and slightly thinner crowds! I finished the race in 1:01:23 - an improvement over last year but still falling slightly short of my goal of finishing in under an hour. Maybe next year.  It's hard to run very fast in those crowds! 

All ready to go at 6:30 a.m! 

After the race... happy it didn't pour down rain on us! 

My neighbor Tamara and I rode down together and met up with some friends afterwards for a well-deserved post-race beer! Yes, I gave myself a patriotic mani! 

Shelby and Scott came down to pick us up...what a treat! It was nice to have a ride home and not have to ride MARTA back home with the sweaty masses. Shelby had a wonderful time watching the runners and pointing out all the "American flags" and tutus. 

My cheerleaders - love them! 

Sunday Funday

I realize I could be a little more creative in my blog titles, but FUN is what we are having this summer! Sunday was jam packed. In the morning, we took Shelby to see the new Pixar movie "Monsters University" at the movie theater. The one near our house serves food and they serve breakfast at the 9 a.m. showing. So we had monsters and pancakes for breakfast and Shelby sat through the entire movie and talked about how she saw "Mike the eyeball and Sully" for the rest of the day! When we got out of the movie, we still had some time to kill before lunch and nap, so we decided to check out one of our neighboring pools. A couple of pools around us have graciously let our members visit as guests while ours is closed for repairs. Oh my goodness, this pool was incredible! We thought we would just stay for an hour or so, but no way! We swam and swam and stayed right past lunch, naps and everything else! We ran into some friends from school and Shelby thought the water slide was the greatest thing ever. We rode down at least a dozen times or more.  She was such a fearless fish! She got really bold about dunking her head, letting go of the step for a second and swimming to me without her floaty on, and hanging on to the side. We might have a swimmer by the end of summer! After going home and briefly resting, it was back out to the PDK playground for airplane watching, playing and a picnic dinner with the cousins and grandparents. What a day!