Summer, Sleep, Swimming, Smiles & Sisters

The most exciting thing in our house right now is that OLIVE SLEEPS!!!

Unlike her siblings, she actually understand that sleep, at night, should occur in increments of more than 45 minutes!

Elmo and Papa took Maisy and Johnny to Lakefair.  Last year Maisy was too short to ride the rides. During the last year many nights were spent discussing how she was so sad she couldn't ride anything at the fair by the water.  This year, Elmo taught Maisy how to stretch as tall as she can so she will be tall enough.  (she still wasn't tall enough for all the rides and some of the fair workers wouldn't let her on!  Poor girl, she still hasn't reached 3 feet!)

Johnny loves Olive and tries to hold her every chance he gets!

Johnny is finally (sometimes) getting Maisy to play games with him.  This weekend he and Maisy here "spies".  The gloves are all part of Maisy's "spy wear".  In this picture she is playing dead.  He's taught her all about Ben 10 and she can tell you all about each character and say their catchphrases.

Olive LOVES smiling.  She gets to happy anytime she sees us.  Her smile brightens up the whole room and Johnny spends alot of time waiting for her to wake up so she can smile!

Maisy started swimming lessons.  The 2nd picture is a result of her being tired of me taking pictures!  Even though she thinks she can already swim, she LOVES her swimming lessons!

Maisy is really enjoying taking care of her sister.  She helped me give her a bath.  Olive thought this was pretty funny.  Maisy did pretty good too and there was only one incident of her dropping a wet wash cloth on Olive's face.  (You can't see me, but I am the main person bathing Olive!)

Johnny hasn't been too pleased with us this summer!  We limit his computer and tv time, we make him do school work, we make him clean his room.  All of this takes very little time out of his day, but he feels like we are torturing him.  Somewhere he has heard this phrase, but he's using it incorrectly.  (and I'm not going to correct him!)  He walks around, glaring at us, saying "I'm in heaven". 

Maisy has adopted a phrase from her Great Grandpa Rutledge.  She can often be heard saying "For Crying Out Loud".  The other day she even performed a freestyle song she'd written entitled "For Crying Out Loud".

With the exception of a few disastrous trips (our apologies to the swimmers at the pool last night) having 3 kids hasn't been too difficult of a transition.  Olive is the sweetest baby ever and rarely makes a peep.  She is the perfect baby for our family and thankfully her siblings love her.  We were a little worried about how Maisy  would respond to her sister, thankfully we have been pleasantly surprised.

San Diego Trip 2009!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to go on vacation with the Rutledge's? Now is your chance to experience it!

We went to San Diego to visit Legoland and Seaworld with Momo and Papa and we are sharing our pictures with you. Be warned! This is probably more pictures than you ever wanted to see of the Rutledge's. Shockingly I'm only sharing the "best" ones!

The trip was great. Johnny LOVED it. Legoland was the perfect place for him. He saw all his favorite Lego characters and got to go on rides and see different Lego exhibits and movies. He got brave towards the end and went on the Coastersaurus with Mommy, Daddy and Papa. After much discussion with him that we weren't sure he'd like it, he was very firm in his decision to attempt this ride. After the ride was complete he exclaimed "I thought I was going to die!". He has decided he never wants to ride a roller coaster again.

Johnny's favorite ride was the "Lost Kingdom Adventure". He took everyone on it many times! Personally I think he just enjoyed that you got to shoot a laser gun!

Maisy enjoyed the toddler areas of Legoland, but she isn't big enough for any of the rides. She liked walking around, but enjoyed riding in her stroller more. She was an excellent traveller, just going with the flow and taking LONG naps in her stroller or in her carrier. It was wonderful! (Her brother was not quite as adaptable at her age, so we were a little worried about what we were getting in to. Thankfully she far exceeded our expectations.)

Seaworld was by far Maisy's favorite. She LOVED the Shamu Show. They have you do something with your hands in the air called the "Sham Slam" to encourage the whale to slam it's tale on the water and splash the audience. Maisy picked it up very quickly and is still walking around the house making the hand motion. She laughed and clapped all through the performance.

Johnny also enjoyed the Shamu Show, but was a little disappointed. He thought he would get to get in the water and swim with the whales.

We were greeted by some rather rude dolphins during the Dolphin Discovery show which resulted in us being splashed and getting quite wet. Unfortunately the salt water got in Johnny's eyes and we had to leave the show early. Needless to say we don't care to see Bubbles the dolphin again.

Our favorite area of Seaworld was the Sesame Street Bay of Play. It was really neat! They had tons of Sesame Street themed rides and exhibits and Maisy, Momo and I got to watch a performance by Elmo, Zoe, Cookie Monster, Grover, and Abby Cadabby. After the performance we met the characters which made Maisy a little uncomfortable.

We are home and have recovered from our trip. The only downfall was that Maisy got sick on our trip and ended up at the dr with pneumonia. She got on some medicine and got better quickly and is back to normal now.

And now....too many pictures from our trip!

The Rutledge's....2009

Darth Vader is made out of Lego's
(or as Johnny calls him - Dark Vader)

A HUGE breakthrough for Johnny. He's been terrified of "dressed up" people for years!

The inauguration...in Lego's

Johnny's favorite - the Lego Bionicles

Maisy at the Sesame Street Bay of Play Water Fountain

Maisy, fast asleep with her new Shamu stuffed toy

Maisy doing the "Sham Slam"

In the hotel playing with Gameboy

Momo and Johnny on a river boat ride. Momo let Johnny steer. At one point they were going backwards. 7 boats passed them. Gabe was impressed with this feat!

Johnny and Papa in a helicopter

Johnny at the entrance to Legoland

Johnny posing with the Lego fish in our hotel

Maisy and Mommy on the airplane. It was her first flight! She slept throughout the entire trip. When we sat down the woman next to me did not look pleased to see a baby. She looked at Maisy, looked at me and said "she's looking at me". I honestly wasn't sure how to respond to that statement! At the end of the flight she said "well, she did pretty good".

Johnny has decided he's ready for Disneyland. His parents have decided they should start saving their money and hoping he'll be patient!