It's hard being 4...

Yesterday in the car on the way home from dinner, Lily was telling us all about her internship with the mail lady (she helped her put all the mail in the boxes and then brought our mail in for us), and she declared she wants to be a mail carrier when she grows up. (Where she got the term "mail carrier," I don't know since I don't think I've ever said that in my life. How un-PC of me, I know, but knowing we have a female postal person, I've always just called her the Mail Lady. Anyway...) After she finished her story, she got quiet for a minute and then said this:

"When I grow up, everything will be so much easier."

Erik and I just looked at each other for a second, trying not to laugh - of course - since we know how un-easier life really is when you get older, and then Erik mentioned to Lily that, actually, she has it pretty easy now. "No I don't!" she protested. So I asked what's hard now.

The monkey bars! The pole! Lots of stuff!

So there you have it. Be thankful you're older. It's so much easier than being four.

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Memorial Day Weekend

Every once in a great while, the planets align just right and Erik ends up with an honest to goodness long weekend like a normal person. It just so happens the planets were kind to us for Memorial Day this year. So we packed up the kids and headed down to St. George with some friends.

We weren't sure how the kids would do on a six-hour drive, but they were both actually really good. Lily only asked, "Are we there yet?" about 5 times, and it could have been sooooo many more. I think by the end, they were both ready to get out, and so were we, but they were definitely troopers.

Once we'd made the official arrangements to go, we told Lily we would be taking a vacation, which would mean staying in a hotel - where you can jump on the beds! Apparently, this is what Erik remembers most about vacations. So the first thing Lily had to do when we arrived was...

That night, we took a dip in the pool. Timothy had never been swimming before, but he seemed to enjoy it...without a single tear being shed until we pulled him out and he was cold.

Getting everyone to bed that night was a little rougher than usual since Timothy could still hear us milling around while he was in the travel crib. But it wasn't too long before he dozed off. Even though we played up the advantage of having a great big bed all to herself, Lily decided she wanted someone to sleep with her, so for the first two nights, Erik had the privilege. I was nice and took the last night.

On Saturday, we headed into Vegas. The last couple times we've been down there, we've talked about going to the shark reef at Mandalay Bay. We decided it was time we finally did it...plus, Lily would LOVE it. And she totally did. They had some huge, beautiful fish and two tunnel aquariums you could walk through. She was severely tempted to touch the stingrays, but she couldn't quite reach and I don't think she really wanted to anyway.

After the aquarium, we headed to the M&Ms store...our must see in Vegas. Lily was grabbing things left and right, and although we planned on buying her something, we were sure we would have a major melt down when we made her narrow it down to one. As we were getting ready to go, we helped her pick out a star-shaped box of M&Ms. Then she remembered the wall of candy dispensers. She wanted some in a bag, too. We helped her get them, and then said we'd get a smaller box instead of the star one. Then she surprised us completely and said she just wanted the bag. Since they're sold by the pound, we managed to get out of there for about 2 bucks. Sometimes, she amazes me. (I just wish I could predict when she's going to be easy going and when I should brace myself for a fight. I never seem to get it right.)

We rounded out the evening with some shopping in St. George and some pizza for dinner. A great day, really.

On Sunday, we drove the little ways out to Snow Canyon. We stopped at the dunes for a bit, but it was pretty windy, and sand and wind are not a great combination. So we headed to a trail a little further in to climb on some of the great red rocks. So gorgeous!

For our first real family vacation, I think we can call it success. The kids behaved themselves for the most part. We had some fun. We got some great pictures. There wasn't any fighting. No one got hurt, at least not majorly. (Timothy did fall off the bed and get a rug burn on his nose, but that's a completely different story.) And Lily got to jump on some beds.

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New Lily-ism

This morning, Lily wanted to go play at the park. This, of course, requiring getting dressed for the day. So we headed into her room to pick some clothes. I pulled her shirt out of her closet, but when I turned around, she was still most definitely in her night gown. So I asked her to get undressed. And she said to me....

Are you ready?

"It's not undressed, Mommy. It's UN-JAMMIED!"

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