Beating the heat...

Like most of the country it's been ridiculously hot for the past few weeks... Everyone is getting a little restless and sick of being indoors. So Andy took Declan to a Legoland Discovery Center today (just north of NYC) and the girls and I had a girls day. At first, I was a little concerned if I was going to make it through the day because they started the day off very crabby... But it's nothing a solid 3 hour nap can't resolve! And my friend Joy gave me the idea of getting the baby pool out to entertain them once they woke up. It was a perfect idea because it was hot, but cloudy - so I got everything prepped before they woke up and then I got them all in their suits and lubed with sunscreen and they had a blast in the pool! The time commitment to just get them out the door is challenging, but it was definitely worth it! Here are a few pictures from the day... Unfortunately we had to cut the fun shorter than I had hoped because I severely pissed up a bunch of bees when I moved the chair that they had a nest in... I'm shocked no one got stung!

All the girls in the pool...

Aven...

Bria...

Stevie...

Meanwhile, Declan had a blast at the discovery center...

After swimming and the almost attack by the bees, I decided not to put clothes on the girls. I mean, bedtime was right around the corner (about 5 hours away) and I had already broken a sweat with getting them in suits and sunscreen on every inch of their bodies... I forgot that Bria liked to take off her diaper. Here are a few pictures of her craziness...

And probably one of my all time favorite pictures I've ever taken... This will be a historic blackmail picture for the rest of her life..

In the morning, this was my attempt to get a good kids picture... Stevie was extra crabby this morning and you can tell Declan wasn't a big fan of the photo op... L to R: Stevie, Bria and Aven...

I'm thinking of throwing in the towel and just doing family photos like this... The girls are into smiling when you say "CHEEEEEEEEESSSSSSEEEE" really obnoxiously - of course they won't when they are sitting by each other, but they'll do it one on one for you :-) (Clockwise: Declan, Bria, Stevie, Aven -- I think they all have the same eyes, the Lawry eyes and the girls all have the same smile...)