Summer Break Week 4

We spent week 4 doing an interesting mix of things.  Kai had day camp for two days during the week and so it was just me, Finn, and Bree for those two days.  The first day I did quite a bit of errands around the house.  I finally got Bree down for a nap and started to play a game with Finn when I got a phone call that Kai was back from camp early.  So I had to wake Bree up and go to get Kai from the church.  The second day of camp I got Kai dropped off and then once the others were ready we ran several errands down in town.  First we checked out some parks for possible playgroup days.  It was a hot day so after playing for a bit we headed to Target to get some Icees and do some window shopping.  From there we went to Costa Vida, a new Mexican style restaurant (like Chipotle) in our area.  It was a fun morning and we enjoyed our time together.

We borrowed a Kelty from a friend for our trip.  I tried it out when we got it and Bree LOVED it.  She said she was flying and kept demanding "Fly me!"  I had to hide the backpack until we went on vacation.

We have some great friends we were volunteering at day camp and they were texting me pictures throughout the days that Kai was there.  This is him doing a stick pull.

On  day two they did rock climbing.  I didn't really think he was going to try so I was proud of him when I saw this picture.

They built rockets and if you look closely you can see Kai's rocket in the air in this picture.

Trying out a horsey at a park.

 Once Kai was done with day camp, we did a lot of errands to get ready for our family vacation.  There were trips for groceries, Father's day gifts, mowing the lawn, and just general cleaning, laundry, laundry, and more laundry.  We also went to playgroup on Thursday.  So, while there was nothing super exciting it was a busy week.  Oh yeah, and there was also another baseball game.  Kai and Finn had back-to-back games and picture day so I went to Kai's game and Reid took Finn to his.  Busy week!

Finn's First T-ball game

So, Finn's disorganized team, The Padres, had their first game this weekend.  His "coach" is just one of the YMCA employees and so she had other things to do on Saturday and couldn't be at the game.  So, Finn was nervous and upset his "coach" wasn't there and spent the first 10 minutes crying.  Finally, I got one of the dads who was helping out come over and talk to him and encourage him to come play.  That worked like a charm and Finn was off to "Play Ball!".  Unfortunately, both teams were very disorganized and everyone only got one at-bat and one time in the field.  But it was good for a couple of reasons.  First, the dads were just as frustrated with the disorganization as the moms and so by the end of the game 3 dads had committed to be the team coach--Wahoo!  Second, the kids got some experience and we now know that things can't get worse.  At least I hope not.  Anyway, practice this week was SOOO much better with a dad coming in with a practice plan and the kids all engaged and playing.  Shew!

Finn at bat.  He can really hit it off the tee.  He's still working on coach pitches--but I'll be honest in that I think he's coaches are still working on how to throw the ball to the kids.

Kai also had his first game on Saturday.  His team is the Twins.  I didn't take any pictures because they all would have had a fence in them as we were behind an actual baseball field and they actually played real ball.  The kids all got 7 pitches, they were allowed to throw "outs" and run doubles or more (at Finn's age everything is just a single), but they weren't keeping score or track of things.  Just playing by the "rules".   If you actually counted things, Kai's team would have one.  The first inning all of the kids hit the ball and got on base.  Kai got tagged out at 3rd, but there was really nothing he could have done--the bases were loaded and he had to go somewhere.  The second inning Kai's first hit resulted in a foul ball and then he unfortunately didn't get another hit.  He was upset and spent 10 minutes crying, but we finally got him out on the field again and he got to play "pitcher" and that seemed to cheer him up.  At one point I considered showing my kids the scene in "A League of Their Own" where Tom Hanks says, "There's no crying.  THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!"  But I guess it's not necessary any more.  I hope we're done with the crying.  Two baseball games, two boys crying.  It has to get better!

Summer Break weeks 2-3

Of course, right after my last post, things all fell apart.  It seemed that kids were getting cranky and tired of each other.  I guess the start of summer was the "honeymoon" period and then everyone started getting sick of each other.

Both boys started YMCA baseball on Monday June 1st.  Kai's team is filled with kids from our ward.  His coach is from our ward and all but about 4 kids are from the ward (there are 12 kids total).  And of those 4, two he knew from his team last year.  It's a great group of kids and Kai is having a great time doing baseball.  In fact, he has even improved from last year despite not ever practicing.  Finn's team on the other hand has been very disorganized.  He didn't have a coach and so a Y staff member coached for the first two practices.  But I'll save that story for another blog post.  Anyway, despite the disorganization Finn is enjoying baseball and says he is good at it.  Yay!

On Tuesday June 2nd we spent the morning at the library.  The boys signed up for the summer reading program and we watched the program that was titled "Jim Jackson and Busker the Circus Dog".  We were expecting an actual circus dog.  What we found left me disappointed at first, as it was just a guy doing a one-man act.  But he turned out to be a lot of fun.  He was a great story-teller and did some magic tricks and some slap stick comedy.  It was a lot of fun.  Even Finn was sad he missed part of it (he stayed out in the kids' section because he is afraid of dogs and didn't want to see it, or so he thought).

The rest of our week was relatively low key--chores at home, summer workbooks, etc., until Thursday the 4th.  That morning we had a lot going on.  We left the house in time to make it to the 10:15 toddler time at the library.  From there we ran to Wal-Mart to grab some Lunchables to take to the park.  Then we went to our playgroup at Black Forest Regional Park.  We played there for nearly 2 hours before having to leave and drive directly to Denver International Airport to pick up my mom.  We got there at just the right time.  We were able to park, go in and use the bathroom, and then find my mom at baggage claim.  From there we headed to Deseret Book in Denver (I had no idea we had one until playgroup and we needed to get scriptures for Kai!) and then finally home.  We got home closer to 5:30pm.  The poor kids had been out of the house all day!  But it had all been fun, despite us all being tired.

On Friday the 5th it was forecasted to be cooler and rain was on it's way.  It was the perfect day for the zoo!!  I actually like going to the zoo on days like that because it's not as hot, not as crowded, and the animals seem to be a bit more active.  We were not disappointed by the zoo at all.  It was a lot of fun and we didn't even know that we happened to be there for opening day of the new Australia exhibit.  It was neat to have the wallabies bouncing right up to our feet.  We've renewed our zoo membership for the year and we are looking to go back again soon.  We could have stayed several hours longer, but I hadn't planned on spending more than two or three hours and so I didn't have enzymes for Finn or snacks for the kids.  The rain was also rolling in, so we headed back to the car.  On the way home we stopped at Costco to get muffins and fruit for refreshments for Kai's baptism, and then we ate lunch there, too.  Finally we made it home!  It was another long day out of the house!

Trying to get Finn to stand still or Bree to look at the camera is a real tough task!

On Saturday June 6th, Kai was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He has been looking forward to this event for a long time and I'm glad it turned out to be such a nice day for him.  We had a smallish-group there, but not too small.  It really was just about perfect.  One of Kai's friends from the baseball team also came, which was a great surprise.  I have become good friends with this kid's mom and she knows many members of our church so it was neat to have her come and see our building and support Kai in his baptism.  They are a great family!

Kai had asked his Primary teacher, Sister Tuft, to give the talk on baptism, and then several of his friends sang his favorite song with him.  It was a great musical number called "When I am baptized".  After that he was baptized by his dad and our home teacher, Levi Hilton, and good family friend, Bruce Horton, served as the witnesses.  Bree did not understand what was going on at all and kept saying relatively loudly "Daddy take a bath?!"  "Daddy take a bath with Kai?!"  It was cute and embarrassing all at the same time!

After his baptism, I gave the talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost and then he was confirmed a member by his father.  We had the same men standing in the circle as well as some of the other men there--the Bishop, Bart Atkinson, and a friend, Reid Bolander.  It was a nice blessing.  After all of that was done, he was welcomed to the ward by the bishop and the primary president. We closed with a prayer from Kai's grandma and then we went to the gym for refreshments.  It was a really nice morning and the refreshments worked out perfectly.  We are very proud of Kai!

Bree rips bows out of her hair.  Her holding it is my way of saying I tried!

Sunday the 7th, Kai was sustained in the ward and he had the biggest grin on his face.  He was so thrilled about the whole weekend.

On Monday the 8th, I took advantage of having extra hands and we headed to the outlets to do some clothes shopping for just about everyone, but especially me.  I got new shoes for Finn and picture outfits for the boys, but I also got some new clothes for me (a new church dress, skirt, some shirts, etc.)  It was nice to be able to browse a bit more than I normally can.  We even had lunch at the outlets.  It was a fun and busy day.  And of course, the boys had baseball practice that evening.

On Tuesday the 9th we took Grandma to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  It's one of our favorite spots in Denver and our membership is ending this month and we still had one guest ticket, so it was a great time to use it.  We actually had great timing all day.  We seemed to be ahead of most of the crowds and were able to enjoy the exhibits and get through them in decent time.  I was impressed.  We took up a lot of food as there are certain areas they allow you to sit down and eat and so it was nice to find a corner to ourselves and have a quick picnic.  After we were done inside the museum we went outside to find the outdoor fountain turned on.  We had never seen it before somehow, but it was a lot of fun.  We still haven't had the time to explore City Park, and it looks so nice.  We're going to have make a special trip just to see more of what is out there!

The boys were nervous to get wet at first and so they raced to the middle and made a game out of trying to get through the fountain without getting wet.

Dodging the sprays

Bree thought the fountain looked fun but then decided the water was too cold and the cement too hot for her.

I can't believe how big he is getting.

Still dodging the sprays

This kid was eventually SOAKED!

Finn later told me that he had no fun because he was all wet.  I submit this pictures as evidence that his statement is fabricated.

This kid had fun--and wasn't as wet!

We took a quick picture at the Mastadon on our way back to the car.  The statue was quite hot, but they had cold wet clothes.  It worked out.

Finally, grandma's last day was the 10th of June.  We spent the morning cleaning and at home since we had been out so much.  Grandma went to lunch with a friend, and then for dinner we had Papa Johns.  After that we headed south to Rock Ledge Ranch where we were meeting our friend for family pictures.  Once again our timing was fantastic (right after a BAD rainstorm) and we were able to take our time and get some great pictures.  We still haven't gotten them back, but we have seen a couple and I'm excited to see the rest.  It was one of the most fun photo sessions we have had!

Bree has really liked rocks lately.  These little ones fit perfectly in her ears.  I dare you to ask me how I know!  Her dress got quite dirty in between picture takes.

Sneak peek of our family pictures

Another sneak peek

Thursday the 11th we took grandma back to the airport and then headed back to playgroup.  The kids had spent so much time in the car we needed to just get out and play.  Unfortunately, it started to thunder and lightning so we decided to move indoors--to our house!!  Our house got pretty messy from having about 15 kids run through it.  We've been trying to clean up and get back into a routine ever since.

The last several days we have laid low and just tried to regroup/recover.  Kai has Cub Scout day camp today and tomorrow and then we have a couple of fun things we do later this week.  But we are trying to get organized and ready because next week is our official summer vacation!  Estes Park--here we come.  I just have 5 more days to get everything ready.  The kids are excited and I'm hoping we will have everything we need to have a great time.  Wish us luck!