Kind Regards

We went up to San Clemente last night to spend time with the Old McDonald's before we move up to Sacramento. (So glad we've been able to live close to them for as long as we have!) We walked down the pier

 and then ate a delicious dinner at the Fisherman's Restaurant. After dinner, Rylee rolled up her placemat telescope-style and handed it to me, saying, "Mom, this is for Cailyn" (who was sitting in my lap).

 She continued, "It says 'Kind regards, Love, Rylee!'"

 Then she explained the drawing: "That's Cailyn (on the left) and that's her little belly (the round thing below the head that is 5 times as big), and that's me (on the right.)"

I love her illustration of the Delly Belly, as we affectionately call it (:

Two Things

I have a lot of catching up to do here. But I had to write this down now so I don't forget it, because it sure made me giggle...

Just now, Rylee was laying in bed talking to her Grandma Mac on the phone. Before she hung up, she said,

"Grandma, I just want to tell you two things. The first one is I really, really love you so much. And the second one is I super duper hope you find my Cheer Bear some day."

(Cheer Bear got packed by a mover last summer and hasn't been seen since...)

Oh, how I love that girl...

Pilgrim and Indian

 Rylee and Lainey had a feast at preschool today and came home with traditional headpieces:

 If the original Pilgrims and Indians loved each other like these two BFFs do, it's no wonder we have Thanksgiving (:

 Rylee preferred the Pilgrim hat and Lainey the Indian headdress, but I coaxed Rylee into sporting her feathers for a bit

 so I could document their "Indian Names."

Curlers

 Lately the girls have been into sleeping with braids in their hair for a waivy 'do the next day. So, I decided to give them another option and introduced them to one of my favorite things as a child: foam curlers.

 I was kind of surprised at how well they worked on their stick straight hair! (And not so surprised at Rylee's goony faces and hair chewing...)

 This series of pictures makes me laugh; these silly expressions are signature Cailyn faces...

I tried to get a picture of them together, but this was the best I could do...

...Grandpa Mac was in town, and they were a bit preoccupied with his phone.

Boston Miscellaneous

 Here are a few fun pictures from our trip that haven't been posted yet:

The girls with Uncle Kerry and Aunt Marianne

 Backyard Zipline

 (As much as Cailyn loved the zipline at Zion, she didn't like this one...she wasn't able to hold on well enough to feel secure.)

The girls loved playing with the dogs. Cailyn called the Hopkin's black lab, Micah, "Mike." She would walk around saying "Where's Mike?"

Rylee also loved Elena and Sofia's puppy, Maggie...

Pretty view on the flight home.

 Free entertainment on a cross-country Southwest flight (:

 Cailyn passed out towards the end of the second flight. We didn't change planes before the third flight, so before the new passengers boarded, Rylee spotted the pilot walking past us. She asked "Are you the pilot?" They got chatting, and before we knew it, he had invited her up to sit in the cockpit!

Captain Roy, Rylee, and Sella

I'm telling you, this girl's confidence will take her far in life; this is not the first time that her outgoing personality has gotten people to bend the rules for her, without her even asking! OK, well sometimes she does ask...notice the bear. This bear belonged to Marianne, but Rylee loved it and named her "Sella". Then on our way out the door to the airport, she asked Marianne "Can I buy Sella?" Marianne accepted payment in the form of hugs and kisses, and needless to say, we left Needham with an extra bear.

Shortly afterwards, even the energizer bunny got tired and slept for most of the flight from Kansas City to San Diego.

We had such a fun trip! The girls are still talking about the trip two weeks later and saying things like "next time we go to Boston..."

It will be a while, but we'd love to have a next time (:

Thanks so much Marianne and Kerry!

Boston Day 4: Castle Island and Bunker Hill

 The first few days of our trip were cool and felt like fall. Then we had several days of temperatures in the mid 80's! We took advantage of the warm weather and spent a day at Castle Island. Such a fun place!

We played on the playground

 {Cailyn could have spent all day sitting on this Kangaroo}

 toured the fort,

 (when Cailyn, who loves all things "beautiful", saw this girl wearing a tutu, she said "Mom, she's so beautiful; she's my friend!")

 played on the shore,

Rylee's collection of colorful seashells

 ate hamburgers,

 and played in the water again.

Rylee adopted herself into this family.

Cailyn took it upon herself to get all the rocks out of the water. This is more of a pebble-y beach than a sandy one. You can guess how that went.

Then we drove over to the Bunker Hill Monument. 

Quinn told the girls the story of the battle that happened on the hill where we were sitting.

Don't you love Cailyn's belly peeking out?

 Rylee had been complaining of being too tired to walk and wanted us to carry her. But once she heard that we could climb up the stairs to the top of the monument she said she wanted to do it. We told her we would do it if she would climb all by herself. Always up for a challenge, she was suddenly no longer tired. Funny how that works.

At the 100th stair...because 100 is her all time favorite number!

View from the top.

She made it! All 294 stairs by her little four year old self!

She is turning into quite the little portrait poser, this girl.

My calves were sore for three days after climbing, but Rylee was just fine! Granted, I carried Cailyn all the way up and down...she was in one of her Mommy Only moods...