What a week!  Where to start?!

Summer school was awesome.  We had a new friend and a couple of old friends come and it was super fun. I'll admit, I had a hard time with seeing old friends from last summer because we didn't know ahead of time that they were coming.  Unfortunately, my upset took Safi down, too.  We were able to get it back together and have a ton of fun, though!  Safi really liked our new friend, Evan.  They played together in the fountains and left holding hands.  I thought he was pretty cool, but I was more comfortable with Logan and Zoey so I tried to hang out with them.  All in all, it was another fun week.  This week say farewell to the ocean theme and hello to all things insect!  We'll meet on Tuesday and do a pre-4th of July activity then be off for the rest of the week to celebrate the holiday!

Dad had Friday off and he and mom planned a very special surprise for us.  We went to Storyland and Playland Adventure parks!  Check out their link: http://storylandplayland.com/  It was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!  We started with Storyland and got to see some of our favorite characters from nursery rhymes...some of the houses had slides you could go down and it was super fun.  Then, we waited for the train to take us over to Playland...and waited...and waited...and waited.  We waited for nearly 30 minutes and just when things started to go totally south it arrived and we were off!  Once we got to Playland it was ON!  Safi had her sights on the roller coaster.  (Mom had showed us the interactive map of the park the night before and she found a bunch of Youtube videos of kids riding the Playland rides so we knew what to expect.)  We started by riding the race cars all by ourselves and it was so cool.  Then, Safi and dad went on the helicopters.  I opted out but had fun watching them with mom.  We went on the ladybug ride....and then....the roller coaster.  We had heard it running when we were on the ladybug ride so we knew it was LOUD, like REALLY LOUD!!!!  Safi sat with dad and I sat with mom.  Mom told the girl running the ride that we may need to cut it short so she said if we gave her a sign to stop, she's stop it.  Off we went...bone jarring shaking, and noise like a jet engine.  It was horrible.  Both Safi and I made it through one lap before we were done.  Mom and dad gave the cut sign but it was too late, we had to do a third lap.  By the time it stopped I was violently shaking from head to toe.  Safi was disoriented and crying about it being too loud and conversely crying because she wanted to go back on it.  Mom decided it was the perfect time for a lunch break so we could re-boot and recharge.  It was shaky, but we managed to recover and Safi went on the carousel with mom, the tilt-a-whirl with dad...then with mom...then with mom again, and then the zipper ferris wheel thing by herself...twice!  I was done, I kept asking if the each ride was loud then saying I didn't want to go.  I did try the ladybugs again with dad while mom and Safi were on the tilt-a-whirl, but its right next to the roller coaster so once it revved up I lost it and they had to stop the ride so I could get off.  Realistically, the only ride the roller coaster really killed for me was the carousel.  I wouldn't have done any of the other rides, just like I had chosen not to do the helicopters.  I did have super fun watching and talking about what I saw.  At the end of our stay we played in the small water fountain play area they have and it was really fun.  On the train ride back to Storyland we got to go through a tunnel and we had a female conductor so it was just the neatest.  Prior to going I told mom I only wanted to ride the train.  Once I got there I rode the train, the cars, the ladybugs, and even the roller coaster so I was really brave and mom and dad told me so!  Safi was super brave, too and I'm hoping that next time we go I can ride a pink helicopter with mom and do the zipper with Safi.  We were at the two parks for a whopping total of 3 hrs with no major meltdowns...the longest outing we've ever been on.  We didn't even meltdown in the car on the way home or later in the day. We were absolute rock stars...and we knew it!!

Took the rest of the weekend easy, hanging around the house playing in our pools and in our playhouse.  We went to the pet store on Sunday and dad let us get a Betta fish!!!  His name is Rocky (we let dad have the honors) and he's beautiful!  We love him.  Also, Safi has chosen a new name for our cat Kit.  For a month or so she's been calling him "Hope".  Yesterday mom asked her if that was his name and she said "yes"...so Hope it is.  He comes to the name and everything, so I suppose he was a Hope all long and nobody but Safi knew it!  Pretty cool name given that he was Safi's beloved cat Oliver's protege and intended to be a therapy cat.  Just a neat thing.

So, wishing you a happy and safe 4th of July!  Mom bought us noise cancelling headphones so we're going to try our own little firework show this year!  Heck, why not?!  We're feeling terribly brave around this house lately!!!

Peace
Nixi

The video montage....