Chickigram and GPa are Here!

Chickigram and GPa are back again, and are staying at the same cottage on Galveston Island that they rented last year. The girls are LOTS bigger now, and are having a wonderful time chasing Molly and Daisy (the dogs) around the house, making dolphin, fish, and parrot noises in response to the beachy decor, and generally bringing joyful twin noises to the beach abode.

The Little Gym is LOTS easier when we switch the ratio in favor of the adults... with three of us, we were even able to take some pictures! Izzy seems to be over her fears, but I'm not sure whether to attribute that to having an adult to herself, or to finally having acclimated to the Little Gym environment. In any case, both girls are having a blast every time we go!

The class provides the girls with a nice sense of structure... we open with musical instruments (bells, rattles, etc.), and then we walk and run in a circle on the mat. Izzy usually cries during the walking and wants to be held, but she was pretty excited to get to run around with GPa on Tuesday.

During "exploration time," the girls can wander around and play on any of the equipment that strikes their fancies. They were pretty intrigued by the climbing blocks on Tuesday.

Neither of the girls have been big fans of the balance beam, but they were both pretty excited about it on Tuesday. Izzy started the new fad by climbing the stairs on her own, and then almost running across the beam yelling "Ahhhh!" and laughing. Abby was a little more hesitant, but does a better job of putting one foot in front of the other. Both girls are a little too brave about climing the stairs to the beam themselves... it's a little too high for them to run out onto the beam without a spotter!

This week, they introduced an Air Track, or something like that, which is basically a really big rectangular Jump-o-lene. Abby showed off her jumping prowess, but the air compressor was a little too loud for Izzy's taste, and she chose to extend "exporation time" instead.

At one point during the free play time, both girls ran out onto the map and ran around giggling.

On Tuesday evenings, Galveston hosts a Big Band concert in the park. At a special point in the concert, they invited the little ones to come join the band with maracas. The girls were pretty excited about it :)

After enjoying the limelight, Izzy came back to the blanket for a little tumbling time,

while Abby lounged about a bit, tapping her foot to the music.

They played "peek" with the sign,

and of course, played with the puppies.

We're looking forward to lots more fun in the next few days!