Summer Break--Week 11

After the disaster that was Monday, we needed a pick me up for the week.  Tuesday morning the boys had dentist appointments.  Finn was not not at all thrilled when I told him he was getting his teeth cleaned, too.  But he eventually calmed down (after I told him they only give prize tokens to good kids) and he did pretty well.  Finn started with watermelon flavored toothpaste but was gagging on it.  We eventually switched to the unflavored paste and he was able to get all of his teeth cleaned.  It was a first!!  Kai is very self-sufficient at the dentist and did great.  After they were done Bree kept saying "My turn!"  I didn't have an appointment for her because I wanted to wait until the boys were in school so I could have her in a one-on-one situation with me, but I'm glad she's excited about it.

After the dentist we headed to Costa Vida to meet a friend and celebrate her birthday.  Our sweet Liz/Sister Horton/Megan's Mom turned 55 and we wanted to celebrate with her.  It was nice to go to lunch and chat and have a good time.  The kids got restless though.

The kids coloring and waiting for Liz

Tuesday I was also able to get Kai to start talking about his fears with growth hormone.  He was concerned that the "shots" were going to be the same as the IV he got for the blood test.  Once I was able to assure him that was not the case, he was more accepting of the idea.  Sheew!

Wednesday we had a playdate with some of our friends from baseball.  TJ has been on Kai's team for the last two summers and Caden played on Kai's team last year and Finn's team this year.  Finn and Caden are both going into Kindergarten and have become really good friends.  Somehow these two have found each other and are great friends.  It's so funny to watch them play together and it makes my heart happy.

I found the boys in the same bed on Wednesday morning.  They were snuggling after waking up.  I tried to take a picture but it was dark.  When I turned on the flash silliness happened!

Thursday we did errands--groceries, etc.  And we had playgroup with the ward.  I have been in charge of the ward's playgroup for the last year (organizing the playdates) and so we have been super diligent about going to the park play dates every week.  This last week or so I hit my wall and am feeling burnt out.  I'm glad that school is starting so I can take a deep breath and not feel pressured to go to playgroup every week.  Another yay!

This little girl has really liked hot dogs lately.  She will ask for a corn dog and then strip off the bread and turn it into a hot dog on a stick!

Finally on Friday we headed up to Dinosaur Ridge on the west side of Denver.  It was neat!  I was not anticipating how neat it would seem to see dinosaur foot prints, bones, etc. right in the mountain.  Millions of years ago the mountains weren't there and it was flat land near a body of water and so you can see their bones, footprints, plant fossils, etc.  The kids had a good time and we really enjoyed the bus tour.  It's definitely worth a trip back.

There was a sandbox with fossil replicas buried in it.  All the kids can get one to keep.  They take it to the docent and he puts it in a nice display bag with a paper information sheet about the "fossil" they found.

Kai versus a dinosaur

In this picture, Kai has his feet in a cut out circle.  That's where someone came along decades ago and stole a dinosaur track.  They cut it right out of the mountain!

The boys are under a dinosaur track here.  When the dinosaurs stepped on the mud it would sink it several layers and then it dried.  From underneath this has the shape of a dinosaur footprint!

This little one ran around as Tinkerbell that night.

Saturday we wrapped up the week with a family hike around Spruce Mountain.  We had heard about this hike for a couple of people and decided to give it a try.  It was worth it and will definitely be a favorite place to hike for us.  Finn took a tumble while holding my cell phone for me, though, and he ended up with some big scrapes on his leg and my phone was cracked.  Poor kid.  I carried him a bit but he seemed to recover quickly.  My phone on the other hand....

A view from our hike

What a week!  And then there was only one more full week of summer.  WOW!