Summer Break--Week 2

I still feel like I haven't been able to really get a grasp on this summer.  It is busy and going way too fast!  Here's our week 2.

We started the week with the end of our weekend of watching Ruby.  This dog knew who was in charge, and that means that she followed me everywhere.  If I sat down she was on my lap ready for attention.  This dog was clearly very puppy and so full of energy.  As much as I enjoyed seeing her with the kids and as cute as she is, I was happy to send her home.  I realized that I have three kids and one husband who require a lot.  I don't need anything/anybody else to be responsible for at this point in my life.  But that doesn't keep me from looking at the cute puppies and wondering when we will be ready for one.

Getting in their last rubs the day Ruby left.

Over the weekend Bree had asked me to show her to write her name.  She LOVES drawing, coloring, and "writing" and now she can write her name.  That being said, she actually doesn't know what letters she is writing.  If you ask her how to spell her name she says, "F-B-E".

We spend our Memorial Day around the house.  Later in the afternoon we went to Home Depot and got the kids their own planters and flowers so they could have their own gardens.  While they have had moments, I have to say that so far we still have flowers outside and that's a bit of a minor miracle.

LIke I said, Bree likes to draw, especially on the white board.  She's actually pretty good!

This week was Kai's last week of the baseball season.  During the season they had 12 games scheduled but due to weather, many of them had to be rescheduled.  We started out the week with 5 games scheduled--in other words we were playing nearly half of the season in one week.  Tuesday they were scheduled for a double-header, but once again the weather through a wrench in those plans.  The first game had to be canceled due to lightning, but we were hoping the storm would pass.  Our family chose to go the library and then McDonald's for dinner before heading back to the field for the second game.  And....that was canceled due to rain before we even got there.  At least I didn't have to cook dinner!

For Laurel--I told myself that I would never pay for Donna's Dolphins.  Well, at 9 Kai is still terrified of water that goes above his waist.  After multiple recommendations, I swallowed my pride (and my wallet) and took both boys for swim lessons at Donna's.  I have to admit, they have been good.  For everyone else, Donna's Dolphins is a large swim school here in the Springs that teaches only private lessons and pretty much requires a second mortgage to pay for!  (Well, not quite, but it's the most expensive place in town.)  This picture is from Kai's first lesson.  I've been trying for one lesson a week with both boys but gosh it hurts the budget.  In the last month, they have each had 3 lessons (the 4th one is today) but thankfully they are making visible progress.  I don't know how long we will keep going but I do know that I want to see them safe and independent in the water.

We also spent time during the week to get ready for our upcoming trip to Estes Park.  We stopped at Bass Pro Shop and found these perfect hydration packs for the kids.  I wasn't planning on getting hydration packs (I was looking for something small to carry water bottles and snacks) but these were a great deal and I figured they would be able to use them for years to come.

Kai has piano lessons on Thursday mornings and his teacher lives next to this horse boarding facility.  We've been taking the time to visit the horses while we wait for Kai's lesson to finish.

Later on Thursday was the graduation ceremony for the Air Force Academy.  We love this event and the chance to watch the Thunderbirds.  This year we grabbed lunch at Costa Vida and then took it with us down to Reid's office where we picked him up and went to find ourselves a lookout point.  The kids loved seeing their daddy in the middle of the day and it was fun to eat lunch and watch the ceremony conclude.  It always makes me proud to be an American when I watch the Thunderbird show.  It's one of the reasons I love Colorado! 

At the end of the week we set up Finn's new loft bed in the computer room in the basement to see if it would help us get more sleeping space for when the cousins came.  It ended up working wonderfully as we were able to make it work like a bunkbed.  Just a week later the cousins showed up and were able to get 4 kids to sleep in here!  (one on the top, one underneath and two on the floor)

One of Kai's Tuesday games was rescheduled for Friday that week and then we had a games on Thursday and Saturday.  Three games in three days.  Kai's team had a great dynamic.  There were kids who made huge improvements, those who already were talented to begin with, and those we did their best to keep up.  The team ended up undefeated and with a reputation for running up the score.  Our coach had some heated conversations with some of the other coaches as they disagreed with our players continuing to run the bases when their players were making errors, but there was no league rule against it.  Overall it was a great season of baseball for Kai, and probably his last.  He has been with Coach B (also a member of our Stake High Council and a CES employee) for three seasons and Coach B is so patient with him.  He is not naturally a gifted athlete and so he struggles.  He is also a perfectionist and gets really hard on himself when things don't go the way he thinks they should.  And unfortunately, he has always been just a "titch" too old for the league he is playing in.  But with his height, no one ever knew.  But I'm guessing that next summer Coach B will stay in the same league and Kai will be over a year too old for it, and I just don't feel right about playing him down that much.  So, he had a great last season of baseball.  You never know what the future will bring but I'm glad that he got out there and tried something that wasn't easy for him. 

His last at bat in the Rookie Division (7-8 age group)