First day of Pre-K!

Excited to be going to Miss Teresa's class.

She knew right where her cubby was in the Blue Room.

She was so happy to see Emma, she ran over to her and hugged her.

No doubt, she just said the word, "actually......."

Back in chapel with Emma and Faith, a friend from VBS. Of course Drew is never too busy to smile for the camera.

Again, explaining something to an unwitting Emma. Probably saying, "So. Emma. Ok....."

 "Mom! Come here! Come stand by me!"

CA Adventure

We got up early last Sunday morning to go to California Adventure in the hopes of missing the heat and all the people. We certainly didn't miss the heat. Luckily it was early enough that we never waited longer than about 5 minutes to do anything.

 We tried to keep Drew's mind off the heat by taking breaks in the Puddle Park and staying wet.

 Doing a little crazy driving in the bumper cars.

 One of her favorite rides is the Jumpin' Jellyfish.

 If a ride didn't have a line, we rode it. Even if that meant the plain 'ol carousel.

 We noticed this year that Drew developed a sense of fear. At barely 3 years old she rode all the big rides and only complained about the Matterhorn last year. This year we had to convince her to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters Inc, Buzz Lightyear and other kiddie rides.

 And yet we still had to leave the street show because she was afraid of Sully.

Scared of Monsters Inc. I blame Kelsey and wanting everything to be spooky.

Golf Tourney #2

Drew now has 2 competitive athletic events under her belt. Jeremy and Tyler signed the girls up for another parent-junior golf tournament. The good news is this tournament the girls actually made it through all 9 holes and turned in legitimate scorecards! The bad news is that all 9 holes were peppered with poopie and potty jokes from the girls.

No doubt sharing chipping tips.

 She actually got some altitude on a couple of shots. Daddy's eyes were wide as dinner plates each time she made solid contact.

Putting got a little easy for Meghan so she thought she'd try playing one-handed with her eyes closed.

I'd like to say they are sharing strategy but more than likely this is another Knock-Knock joke that ends with so-and-so goes poopie.

 The girls were ecstatic to receive their first trophies. Those participation trophies look a lot bigger than the doorstops I used to get!

Expertise

The Sesame Street episode Drew was watching on Boppa's iPad yesterday introduced her to another new word: expert
I asked her what it meant and she said "an expert is when you are really good at something." Well done.
"Ok Drew, what are you an expert at?"
"Cartwheels and bubbles," followed by an example of her cartwheel expertise, which tells me we either need to explain "expert" more clearly, or go back to gymnastics to improve her cartwheels.
"What is Grammy an expert at?"
"Blowing bubbles." Grammy does blow a mean bubble.
"What is Mommy an expert at?"
"Computer gaming." Touche.
"What is Boppa an expert at?"
"Eating pizza."
Clearly she understands the meaning of the word.

Drew's brain

Even though she speaks very well, there are still some words Drew just can't master:

hangaburg
renember
naybe

However, she does enjoy expanding her vocabulary. Last night Boppa and I heard the word "according" several times, sometimes used correctly, sometimes not:
According to me, this is what we are doing. So, like, according! According, Boppa, according!
We asked her what she thought "according" meant and she said it's what you say when you want attention.

She also is a little sketchy on how marriage works:
Drew: "Mom, when you get married again will you have another baby?"
me: "who am I going to marry? I'm married to Daddy."
Drew: "um, naybe David?"
me: "when Daddy and I got married, we got married forever."

-- of course, David is her godfather so naybe there's some legitimate confusion.

Beach day in the OC

Out of all the sunny days to go to the beach, the day we planned to go ended up cloudy. 

Drew and Lauren did not seem to mind at all.

Disneyland

For the first time, Drew participated in the Princess Coronation Ceremony. She learned how to wave and curtsy and dance from Aurora, Snow White and Cinderella. As each Princess descended the stairs the kids squealed and screamed like they were at a Justin Bieber concert.

 Drew's shyness level is hit and miss these days. She was absolutely enthralled to meet Mickey and gave him hugs and kisses and many smiles.

 After the fireworks show at 9:30 we sped out to catch the tram. After insisting she wasn't tired, Drew fell asleep 2 minutes into the 8-minute tram ride to the Buzz Lightyear parking lot.

What did we learn today Drew??

me: "So Drew, what are we not going to do anymore?"

Drew's answer (as she counts them off her fingers):

"I'm not going to wet my panties. I'm not going to sneak licorice without asking. And I'm not going to spit. That's the big one."

The caregivers had a rough afternoon.

August birthday parties

We had two birthday parties in one weekend - Lewie's 40th and Meghan's 4th. The activities were quite different but equally fun! Drew and Lauren of course were happy to see each other, Lauren always says hello with a persistent "Doo! Doo! Doo!" It makes Drew feel very important, and she likes it.

 After a couple beers, Jeremy thought he'd take the Murdent Half Yard Challenge. The fastest drinker of the half yard won a gift card to Chili's. He was the first to go and finished with a respectable 1 minute, 48 seconds.

 Drew was very proud.

 Then this clown with a broken hand beat him. Just kidding, these are our friends Brian and Tanya who have a 4-month-old son, Grady, and deserve a date night at Chili's more than anyone. Unfortunately, Jeremy and Brian were then schooled by Lewie's sister, some guy without a shirt and then the birthday boy, who scored a remarkable 45 seconds. Better luck next time.

 Boppa and soon-to-be Grandpa? Boppa? Bobba? Jones hung out with some young chicks.

 Meghan's party was at Scooter's Jungle, where there was obviously no age limit on who could act a fool in the jumpy houses. Jeremy and I have 2-week-old slide-burns on our elbows to prove it.

 The look on Drew's face is pure euphoria. Not so euphoric? The wet panties from not wanting to take a single break to use the potty.

 Meghan had a very pink pig party.

 Oh girls, you are very silly.

Girls Golf Day

El Niguel hosted it's 2nd annual Parent & Junior Golf Tournament. Boppa thought that now Drew is 4 she's old enough to be in competitive sports. Luckily, Tyler signed Meghan up too and the girls also got to watch their big girl friends Charlotte and Sidney actually do a little golfing. Unbelievably, the girls made it through 7 holes before they were ready to retire. There's hope yet. Drew can pick up where Kelsey and I left off.

 Boppa had high hopes back in '83.

 Team Gratton: ready for the competition.

 Don't pay any attention to that ball still sitting there, post-swing.

 It got a little chilly and Drew had to borrow Tyler's sweatshirt.

The girls got goodie bags from the club for participation. Next year we'll pad our score a little more.