(Let the great blog catch-up begin!) For the days surrounding the Fourth of July, we had the little Austins in town while the big Austins moved from Chicago-city to Chicago-burb. With special guests Grandma and DD, the week was jam-packed with four kiddos ages four and under. (Or 4, 3, 2, 1 which are roughly their ages.) Ha, I'm tired just thinking about it. It was really really really great to spend so much time with LylaBird and JackPot. They are all starting to really play well together. And we had some great adventures - although I totally didn't have the time to take as many photos as I normally do (you called that one Tia).
Here are some highlights. Enjoy!
THE ZOO TRIP (If you haven't checked out the new Cat Canyon exhibit, it is seriously awesome. Look how close the tigers get - inspiring Lyla's now classic line, "Kiwi, these tigers are freakin me out!")
Riding in style (worth every bit of the $20 rental):
Grandma & Uncle LouLou show the babies the gorillas while the big girls run around:
Everyone had a blast mimicking the gorilla sounds:
The carousel never disappoints!
Time to cool off and get a little manatee smooch:
The babies were BEAT so I got to keep the big girls with me while the babies went home to nap. I had so much fun with Lyla and Josie. They are SO hilarious together! We rode the back of the train together, and I pushed them around in the double stroller while they sang "Three Little Birds" as loud as they could. They jumped about a gazillion times off of the backs of the turtles in the children's zoo playground. And they were so tired they wanted me to carry both of them to the car. (And there are photos of that afternoon somewhere - On instagram? Or did I text them? Crap, are they on my old phone?)
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We spent a lot of time playing outside until it got too hot each day (like 100 degrees with full humidity hot). The kiddos spent a lot of time only partially dressed!
On our big last night we ventured downtown for the Sawyer Point fireworks. Considering we ended up their on a total whim, we were a little unprepared but everything worked out okay. You can see just how hot it was in the pics - sweaty little sweeties. The park was a fun and the fireworks were pretty (and loud).
Waiting (about 10pm after a loooong day) for the big show:
Matching outfits courtesy of Grandma (thanks Grandma)!
Told you it was hot!
The closest we got to all four (uber-tired) kids in one pic:
Little Baby Beatrice is talking up a storm. New words are popping up every day and this really is just such an unbelievably fun age. We thought we'd share some of our favorite words that she says here. (Oh & I finally figured out the trick to filming her - letting her watch herself on the ipad camera on record. It was not working out to hold the camera phone in front her; she kept just trying to grab it. So, expect more videos now that I have this trick up my sleeve.) Enjoy!
So, I put it out there that we were moving but I haven't really said much here since. When it's all said and done and we're moved into our new urban oasis next month, I'll go into more of the full story. Suffice it to say now we are busy with all the details of buying and selling and haven't even begun to think about the actual logistics of moving (remembering how horribly exhausting the process was two years ago & getting reminded recently from my dear sister about the horribly exhausting part). So, now we are focusing on the excitement of starting over somewhere new, and we're totally sticking our fingers in our ears and covering our eyes to the realities of leaving our favorite neighbors ever, packing up three floors of house, etc, etc.
For those just dying to know, we close on our current house a week from tomorrow BUT we don't have to be out of here for another month after that. We close on our new house the first week of August. The plan as it exists now is to slowly move little things over and prep the new house in early August and not move "for reals" until Josie starts back to school on the 16th. Sound like a plan? Glad you agree. :)
Here's a little new house sneaky peeky.
View of the front:
View of the back (seriously, this little gal came walking through our backyard as I was taking photos):
The new Washington Park is so unbelievably awesome that it is almost impossible to remember how it was before. The city has totally blossomed and it's just really cool. I think we earned some urban pioneer cred considering we bought our condo downtown almost a decade before the big revitalization.
We headed down on Sunday to check it out, since the grand opening was just last week. Courtesy of social media, we knew swimming suits were an important part of enjoying the fun and away we went!
Check out our girlies enjoying our city's latest investment in beautification and restoration! (That's Music Hall behind Bea for your reference.)
Super cool interactive fountain, very unique playground equipment, giant instruments, outdoor stage & gazebo, free music, nice facilities, walking distance to all the hip new OtR stuff, easy underground parking...GET YOUR BUNS TO WASHINGTON PARK!
What do this blog, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, A Christmas Carol and Back to the Future all have in common? That's right - they all travel back and forth in time. So in my never-ending quest to document the fleeting moments of life as the Four Schneiders, I'm just going to have to stick with organized chaos here on the blog. (Some sage advice from my dear friend Linda echos through my mind right now, but I'm keeping it to myself.)
So, with that - let's travel through time a little. Because it's the quickest thing to post in my long line of potential blogs, here's the little collage from our trip to the Parade of Nations last night for the World Choir Games. Long story short, it's like the Olympics - only with singing. And this was the first time it has ever been in America and it was in Cincinnati. As the ads say "The Hills Are Alive With the Sound of Music" in our "City That Sings." It is truly incredible to see the city teeming with every nationality you can imagine. I'm proud of our city for hosting!
We had dinner at Mccormick and Schmicks and literally watched the world pass by outside the window. Then there was a big party on Fountain Square and our little ones danced and clapped along with people from across the planet. Good stuff Cincinnati, Good stuff!
Our favorite neighbors invited us to be in this fun video shoot capturing "The Good Life" in Cincinnati for Crossroads. Check out Josie and her little buddies spinning on the tire swing, our family and friends around the bonfire, and Baby Bea and I roasting a marshmallow near the end. We really do live in an amazing city! (Thanks Jennie for including us in this fun video!)
It was a pretty easy decision for us when Josie's best friend's mama told us about UC's College-Conservatory of Music Young Actor's Summer Camp. The girls had so much fun at Theatre Camp with puppets, costumes, face painting, singing, dancing and acting.
Here's Josie from her first day of camp:
And the surprise I got when I picked her up from the Circus-themed day of camp:
These are the images from her big production in the courtyard at the end of the week. She was SO excited! And we were SO proud of her.
First they sang "Be Our Guest" - complete with moves (scroll to bottom for video). This was the big finish.
Then they did a little play about a runaway circus donkey that meets animals in the woods. Josie and Lucia were the squirrels. Perfect squirrels, aren't they?
Bea was impressed:
Here the young actors are taking the big bow:
And finally, the videos! I give you Josie's acting debut:
"Be Our Guest:"
"The Squirrels" (with bestie) in the Runaway Circus Donkey Play:
Hey everyone, who doesn't love the annual Butterfly Show at Krohn?! Seriously, it's one of our favorite Cincinnati traditions. You know the drill - here are the photos. Enjoy!
Before heading in, we did a community art project. The idea was to color your own butterfly to add it to the giant wall of butterflies. Bea had a better idea, and just pulled other people's butterflies off and stuck them back on. Whatever works Darlin'!
Here is Josie adding hers to the wall:
We had to recreate the shot from last year of the butterfly on Bea's head. But, the only way to do that was to make sure she had no idea it was on her. Lou brilliantly got the butterfly to land on her hairclip and then clipped it into her hair.
Josie was very patient, but it took the butterflies awhile to cooperate. Finally, another mom shared that bubble gum attracts them and boy was she right! Josie kept sticking her finger on her gum and the butterflies would come right to her.
Here she is giving one of the first butterflies that visited her a big kiss. (I love this picture of her! It is just "So Josie.")
Can you not just hear the giggle?!
Apparently butterfly legs tickle!
Bea tried and tried to hold (errr, smash) a butterfly. This is as close as she got. Finally she found a water fountain to play in and the butterflies became way less interesting.
Our sweet girl was so worn out, she was literally doing the sign-language for "bed."
Family photo (thanks Mariah!):
A little trip through the rainforest before heading home (I love how the girls walk hand-in-hand):
(We heart Mariah & love when she joins us for adventures.)
However fleeting, they did sit on the butterfly chair together:
More water! Yay!
Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, Back to the car we go (Sometimes I walk and look ahead at scenes like this and I think to myself, "Man I have it good! So much to be grateful for!"):
So, another great trip to the Krohn Conservatory on the books. Next year, Bea is SO holding a butterfly! (And we are bringing loads of bubble gum!)
The Schneiders love an excuse to celebrate a member of our foursome! Josie had big plans for Father's Day that started about the day after Mother's Day: "Oh, I know what Daddy wants to do on Father's Day! He wants to take us to the pool with the mushroom!" Other ideas included getting Daddy new pair of Toms (since his other fave shoes turned his pink with the suds at the carwash) and buying Daddy a CD of his (read: Josie's) favorite new band: The Okee Dokee Brothers (that is a heckuva good Children's CD for those of you who like folksy kids stuff that doesn't necessarily sound like kids music). Luckily, we were able to make all of Louie's (read: Josie's) Father's Day wishes come true. Add to that the fact that we let him sleep in until a whopping 9:30am and well, our Father's Day was pretty close to perfect.
The gifts came wrapped in this lovely Christmas paper that seemed perfect for the occasion according to a certain 4 3/4 year old.
Bea was extremely interested in unwrapping (not surprisingly because ripping paper is one of her favorite activities at the moment):
Big hugs from a joyous Josie upon being told that the best thing about Father's Day was being the dad to his two girls:
Louie's card - hand-selected by Josie (actually one of those free cards that come in the mail that Josie found in our art closet and insisted was the perfect Father's Day card):
Lovingly signed by Josie and Beatrice:
We spent much of the morning while Louie was sleeping in working on this masterpiece that Josie dubbed "Toad on a Lily Pad" (science lesson to follow another time, but it's the thought that counts, right?):
Come rain, shine or pop-up showers, we were going to take Daddy to the "mushroom pool" on Father's Day. We all sat at the window watching the rain come down in our swimsuits, but alas the clouds parted and we headed to the pool! (After a trip to UDF for ice cream to kill the rest of the 30-minutes-post-thunder rule that the lifeguards reminded us of on our first attempt through the gates.)
This really is the perfect pool for non-swimmers and will probably be the site for Josie's 5th birthday in August! (Save the Date: looks like it will be on Sunday August 4th this year!) It was a little trippy to take almost-five year old Josie here when the last time we were there was her SECOND birthday party. Crazy!
Here's a quick little video of the scene:
Threat of rain or no, it was a beautiful day at the pool. Both girls love the water and, dare I say, Louie actually got some time to relax!
Lou is still all of the things that made him great last Father's Day! Even when the times get tough (and boy was that the case more times than I care to count) Lou maintains his tireless, unending commitment to our family. We are SO grateful that every second of his day that isn't spent in his office is spent with us! Truly, I love that our girls are growing up in a house where they know they are always the top priority.
And, while I'm on the topic of Dads, let me just say that I don't think it is a coincidence that I landed such a wonderful husband. I think there really is something to the connection between growing up in a house with the same kind of Dad that Louie is. Those of you who are lucky enough to know my Daddy-O know that I hit the Father Jackpot with that one growing up. To this day, my dad is still an endless source of strength. As I've said, we've been to the depths of the ocean and the depths of the Phish Pit together (and some pretty deep mud in Coventry but that's another story entirely) and through it all, he has always had the humor, wisdom and perspective to get me through the best and worst of times. Thanks Daddy-O! (Remember: One Show At A Time.)
Here's one of my favorite pictures of my Dad and me together on our first diving trip together in Hawaii. I think you will all agree that "Hang Loose" is kinda his middle name. (Oh Dad - sounds like a great idea for a tattoo...just saying. Sorry Mom!)
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