We're back!

If only briefly.

It was the best vacation. Little travel time, 11 days that felt like 30, lots of relaxation, lots of family and great friends, beautiful surroundings, perfect weather, campfires, swimming and happy kids. Oh yeah... and lobster.

We had so much fun we're going back. I'm taking the girls back up on Thursday to spend some more time with my parents.

Julia's self esteem boost from Mugglefest carried over into her vacation. She stayed with my parents for a week before we went up. My extended family (all 17 of them!!) was up there and the kids all had a blast. I think this year of Kindergarten did a world of good for Julia. There was NONE of the crying and hurt feelings from years past. She just plain old had fun. At one point there were 14 kids age 10 and under. That's a force to be reckoned with. Julia also wrote a counting book for Anna that is just beautiful. Her birthday buddy helped with the writing and her cousins helped with some of the illustrations. Her hair has bleached out and she has a dark tan even with all the sunblock we chase her around with.

Anna also had fun. She spend 5-10 hours a day in the lake. By the time we left she went from walking around but not wanted to get her face wet, to spending most of her time underwater. Friends of ours K and G taught her to swim and she was doing great. She had a good time playing with the kids and usually fell asleep from pure exhaustion during dinner.

Emma was the most changed little one. Constantly surrounded by new people she has mellowed out tremendously. She's even letting "strangers" hold her now. She has almost stopped her Pteradactyl like yelling when she doesn't want something... and now says "nuh uh". Her vocabulary increased by leaps and bounds too. Other people were even starting to understand her. She also likes the water and loves to jump off the dock, whether or not someone is there to catch her.