...dragons, battles, and kingdoms, oh my!!!

For the longest time, I really wanted for Dave to find something that he could bond with the girls with.  Mom's of girls have it good.  We are able to bond and appreciate their interests on so many levels.  Dads of girls sometimes have a struggle.  They may sometimes have a harder time appreciating a little girls interests.

My husband has always had a thing for "fantasy".  Fantasy sports, fantasy games... I think that it is some sort of escape from "real world".  Recently, my girls have become very interested in a game that he had begun playing on the IPad where he built some sort of village.  It interested me not at all.  But the girls would perch themselves up next to him and watch as he bought, sold, created, fought for, (I have no idea everything that he did) and they were hooked.  Like, so hooked that they wanted their own villages to build.

And so it began, and they each have their own village.  They have this crazy language that I have NO idea what it all means.  To watch your 4 year old talk about how she is mixing nature leaves to create new dragons, waiting for eggs to hatch in her hatchery, talking about how to know which defenses and tactics to use when fighting dragons to earn more gems...it's a little overwhelming.  And I just pretend that I know what the heck is going on.  (Oh, and to have your 7 year old read over your shoulder and tell you that your title to your blog post is wrong and change it for me because it doesn't best fit what they do!!!:))  But the thing is, the three of them really work together on their villages.  They strategize, plan for what they want to buy, how they want to build them, what quests they want to go on, sell what they don't need, what dragon is best to fight what dragon, how and when to feed the dragons, how to earn food, how to buy more land and what to put on it... And the part I love the most, when they ask dad a question, or text him something, he always replies.  Just this morning, Merrick had discovered how to mix a new dragon, and texted Dave and work because she was so excited to tell him.  It is FANTASTIC!!!

I am never going to "get" fantasy.  I am never going to build a dragon village.  I don't love the amount of time they are spending on their IPods and IPad.  But, I do appreciate that they are utilizing their brain power, and I am so grateful that they have found something that they can really relate to their dad.

So, dragons, battles and kingdoms???  Oh, yes!!!

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...goooooooooo team!!!

Today is the third day of my "summer break."  I am going to say that is a pretty loose term based on the amount of meetings and training I have to attend, the email that I have to check daily, and the fires that still need to be put out in the summer.  Nonetheless, reporting to work every single day is not required.  Which is awesome.  Because the Owens girls like to sleep in.

With summer though brings the stress joy of being with my girls...24/7.  I am excited.  I also realize that being home with the girls in the summer also brings about it's own...experiences.  But, this is the first year that I really feel like I am spending the summer with my "kids."  Not my kid and her very clingy and very needy little sister, who also happens to be my daughter. But, my 2 friends.  My 2 big and mostly self-sufficient children.  Those girls that have grown up so much that I don't have to worry about every single little thing because we can all actually go with the flow.

Yes, we are still working on some things.  (the need to drink chocolate milk and pull mommy's hair, needing something "special" every time we go to the store, needing to be held even though we start Kindergarten in 2 and a half short months)  But, we are taking on the mantra that we are a team.  We even put our hands together and yell "gooooooooo team!" randomly throughout the day to remind each other (mostly Taya) that we all have to work together this summer to get things done.

Our "team" feeding the goats!

I am a pretty lucky girl to have such a team.  And I am also pretty excited to see what this "summer" has to bring.

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