Hanging At The Pool

 It's that time of the year again! Pool time! As you can see, Briana made herself right at home.

We were so happy when was saw friends Laura and Ella arriving at the pool at the same time we arrived on Thursday morning. The girls swam together for about an hour.

It was time for Laura and Ella to head home, and Bri stopped to eat a snack. 

See Ella eyeing those Scooby snacks?

It was so cute when they both put on their sunglasses...

Then Briana tried on my glasses...

Bri and I stayed at the pool for close to three hours. I definitely got too much sun on my shoulders, even with sunscreen. Briana loved the warmth. She said she wanted to take a nap in the sun...

The breeze was blowing a bit and actually felt chilly at times when the sun would hide behind a cloud. So Bri bundled up in a towel and I held her like when she was a baby. I love that she still enjoys cuddling...

I was explaining to Laura that when I go to the pool, I never end up looking like a lot of the other women/moms at the pool. Many of them never get their hair wet or even enter the pool at all. They stay "put together." Me, on the other hand, not so much. Briana expects me to entertain her in the pool. So going to the pool is an event - not relaxation in the least. I end up completely soaked from Briana jumping on me and splashing within the first 2 minutes of entering the pool with her.

What can I say - my kid is like three kids in one.

Finally Friends

 

It only took about five years, but I think Asia has finally accepted Briana as a part of our family! LOL!

She freely accepted kisses from Briana the other day. Finally - they are friends!

Roller Skating Queens

 Who knew Briana's outfit would match her skates? Incredible!

Bri and I met Kathy and Chani over at the roller rink Tuesday afternoon. Briana didn't really know how to skate (but she does now with a roller!). She has little plastic skates that go over her sneakers at home, but they aren't real skates. She was a bit nervous at first. Luckily, Kathy had grabbed the last roller to rent so the girls could take turns on the floor. We were a little miffed because we got there right when the rink opened, but there were several daycare camps already there and they rented pretty much every roller available before we even got there. Anyway, here is Bri getting started...

The girls sharing a roller...

Kathy had on her roller blades. Now I had not skated since I was a kid. I didn't rent skates when I first arrived because I wanted to make sure Briana felt comfortable first. If she needed me, I didn't want to be on skates trying to balance and catch her at the same time. As soon as Bri got comfortable, I rented skates myself after some convincing from Kathy. I was a bit shaky at first, but then I got the hang of it all over again. It was so fun!

I miss disco. :D

Blue icee break...

Blue tongue from blue icee break...

Right before the icee break, I managed to snag a roller for Bri for herself. 

Then the girls zoomed all over the rink...

Here is Chani skating to her all time favorite song "Baby" by JB...



And Briana showing me some of her moves...



Briana was a little bruised and sore when we got home. She took a couple of falls, but she managed to get right back up again.

I was a little kid in the 1970's, and roller skating was so huge back then. I had a roller skating party when I turned 6 or 7. The first PG movie I ever saw was "Roller Boogie" with Linda Blair...

Gosh I wanted to BE her. I mean look at the hair and that outfit. She had it going on. ;D

Tuesday was really fun and it brought back a lot of memories. I will most definitely be doing this with Briana again. Maybe I will even get me an outfit like Linda Blair.

Referral Day Anniversary Photos Over The Years

I take a picture of Briana each year with her referral photo on our referral day anniversary. 

I can really see how much she has grown from year to year...

And here are a few more picture from yesterday...

Five years ago, my life changed completely - and for the better.

Fifth Referral Day Anniversary

Five years ago today, we saw this beautiful face for the first time...

Jiang Ai Juan - from Dianjiang, Chongqing, China. She was 10 months old on referral day (these pictures were probably taken around 8 months old.)

Here is our referral video...

You can read all about our referral day here...

http://waitingforbriana.blogspot.com/2007/06/going-back-to-referral-day.html

http://waitingforbriana.blogspot.com/2007/06/i-got-call.html

 http://waitingforbriana.blogspot.com/2007/06/introducing-briana.html

I can't believe it has been five years. I always say, "Time flies on this side of the wait."

A Good Mix Of Busy and Not So Busy

 For me, summer needs to be a mix of busy and not so busy. Briana definitely needs things to do so she won't get bored, but I also don't want to fill her calendar so much that she doesn't feel like she can relax and have some alone time. She worked so hard at school, I want her to have some down time.

Saturday was a quiet day. Bri and I met my friend Carole for lunch and some much needed catch up. After lunch, Bri and I hit Garden Ridge for a short time. Then we came home and chilled the rest of the afternoon. The weather that day was crazy beautiful. It was breezy - in the low 70's. 

More like spring than summer!

Sunday was another pretty quiet day. See above? Briana built the Neuschwanstein Castle out of nanoblocks (with a little help from Doug). It was 550 pieces and she did most of it all by herself!
 It took several hours. Look how proud she was!

We chilled all day until my parents came over around 3PM to watch Briana while Doug and I went to see "Jersey Boys." It was so phenomenal! The music was incredible!

This is the actual cast we saw...

Monday was another super chill day. It rained most of the day, so it was a good day to stay home.

I decided to curl Briana's hair with a curling iron for fun...

 

Unfortunately, Monday was also filled with a little too much TV time and computer time for Miss B. But I knew I had a busy day planned for Bri on Tuesday, so I gave myself a pass that day. :D

Tuesday (today) was roller skating day! Briana and I met Kathy and Chani at Sparkles right after lunch. Bri had been to Sparkles a few times, but only when it was on the special "bring your ride on" days. And she was pretty small then. She had never skated there before.

She was a little shaky at first, but once she got going (with the special roller for balance), she was darting all over the floor. Chani was too. I am going to do another post with a bunch of pictures of our fun skating day in a day or two...

I really think Briana is enjoying her summer so far. She has been so happy and in the best mood. She definitely isn't a kid that is missing school. Heh.

Next week - her first camp starts!

How Briana Got Her Swim Back

Briana got her groove - I mean her swim - back yesterday. You might remember a couple weeks back when I wrote a post explaining that Briana got upset about not remembering how to swim. We returned to the same pool yesterday for the afternoon, and this time, it was just me, Bri, Ansu and Kira hanging out in the pool. No huge commotion. I got in the water with Miss B and reassured her she could do it.

She started with the inner tube, and after a while, the inner tube came off and she was swimming under water like a pro again. What a relief! She just needed a memory trigger. I guess it is like riding a bike!

Art Camp

Briana and her friend Chani went to an art camp yesterday morning and painted pottery. They made some Father's Day goodies. :) Bri and Chani absolutely loved the camp!

Here is Miss B waiting for Miss C to arrive...

Chani arrived and they both put their aprons on...

I have a picture of what they worked on, but I won't post it until after Father's Day. :)

Kathy and I hung out for two hours and then picked the girls up. We all had a fun lunch together. I started to giggle when the girls picked up the adult beverage menu...

After lunch, the girls needed to dance around a bit...

We said our goodbyes and headed home. The girls were sad to part, but we have a lot planned with Kathy and Chani this summer, so it was really more of a "see ya later." :D