Kaya and Laney’s dog uncle Marty is staying with us for a while so he doesn’t pee all over Grandma Baba’s new carpet. He’s adjusting just fine to the Rose family, although he and Kaya are battling for third position on the totem pole. At night when Kaya is tired, she lets her guard down. This is a picture of him stealing her pillow and poor Kaya curled up in the middle of her bed pillowless. King Marty wins again.

Kaya and her school friend Charlie take swim lessons together on Saturday mornings, which means Laney and her friend Molly (aka Charlie’s little sister) get to play as well. Many times Laney and Molly pretend they don’t know each other when they are poolside, but the post-lesson antics in the locker room tell the real tale. I managed to catch their locker climbing in action.

Just two little girls drinking some milk together.

Such a great weekend at home – after traveling for 4 straight weekends, and then moving for 2 weekends before that, I am very happy to have spent a weekend in town.

We did lots of swimming thanks to the North Carolina heat – including in the Eno River on Saturday. The adults, babies, and dogs all had a blast. Even our long-term guest Marty! He’s never had so much fun before!

Just catching up on a bit of email before bedtime.

We have a no screen time in the house policy (only in the car). But lately we have been a bit glad for the existence of Disney movies. Kaya, Laney, and Tommy watched the entirety of Aladdin the other day. And it was awesome (I believe I used this time to do laundry and unpack the kitchen). A whole new world.

We spent the weekend at the first (?annual) Lipps family reunion in West Virginia. It was held at my dad’s childhood home/farm. There were nearly 50 people in attendance, include all of my dad’s siblings and many of their cousins. It was lovely to be back on the farm and the girls had a great time meeting their extended family. Here’s a shot of our immediate family on the top of the mountain on the back side of the house. I anticipate getting emailed a group picture of the whole Lipps clan and will post when it happens.

This picture is now a couple of weeks old, but was taken at 4am one day. After we moved, we lost all control of the girls’ sleep habits. They must have been nervous about the new house, because neither one wanted to sleep in their new room. So this is how we all slept.

BUT then we went on a cruise and their substitute caretakers whipped them into shape. Or perhaps the girls had no desire to sleep with others if mommy and daddy were out of town. Whatever the case, apparently one week is long enough for them to forget what once was, because they are sleeping beautifully in their own beds since we got back.

(Watch me eat my words tonight)

Sorry for the blog hiatus – Tommy and I spent the last week on a cruise boat in the Western Caribbean. It was awesome. We went scuba diving, zip lining, cave tubing, beaching, shopping, ropes coursing, bowling, mini golfing, eating (lots of eating) and much more. I actually feel relaxed. And many thanks to Gammy, Pop pop, Yoya, and Dylan for watching Kaya and Laney, who are remarkably better behaved than when we left. Now back to reality…

I finally unpacked Kaya yesterday – the box was quite heavy! But I knew I would find her eventually.