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!

Memorial Day

Finn was invited to a birthday party on Memorial Day this year.  I wasn't sure I was going to make the effort to get him there, but on the last day of school his teacher told me just how much Finn and Keene got along and even suggested that they should have play dates.  So, I made the commitment to drive him to the party.  The "party" was actually a tour of the fire station and then a quick trip to the park for cake.  Keene's neighbor works at the station as a paramedic and so we got a few extras on our visit that they don't always do.  Finn loved being able to put on the uniform and shoot out the water.  Bree loved watching him and talked about it nearly every night for the rest of the week.  It was also interesting to see them shoot the water out of the top of the truck.  I'm glad I took Finn to the party so that he could play with his friend.  Which reminds me that I need to find time for a play date for him and Keene.

After Bree's nap that afternoon we decided to go to Red Robin for dinner.  It was a yummy dinner!  And then I even got in a little shopping over at Burlington Coat Factory while Reid entertained the boys in the car.  Yay!


On a random note, I have these pictures from the week that I have to share.  I only had time to "jog" on the treadmill once during the week.  But I did go out and mow the lawn 3 separate times this week, which is what it took to get it all done.  I have a Fitbit and this is what mowing the lawn looks like for me.  I think that counts as some exercise!

This is Wednesday morning at 11am when I finished mowing and bagging just the front yard.  It took about 2 hours.

This is from Friday morning when I finished mowing the back yard.  I did not bag it as it would have taken way too much time and energy.  This took almost 2 hours.

I went out and finished the last of the backyard last night and my legs are just exhausted.  I am going to have to do all again tomorrow (without the bagging) because the grass was so long I couldn't mow it down all that short.  Ahhhhh.........

Summer Break--week 1

 Wow--I'm not sure I've ever been this far behind on our blog.  I was thinking this afternoon that if I keep telling myself that I can't blog the current events until I catch up with the past events, that I may never get current.  And I don't want to loose all of our current events.  So, today I am going to blog about the things going on right now, and later I will go back and fill in the holes.

This weekend was one of those that only comes around once in a while.  It was a near-perfect weekend.  Last week was the first full week of summer break for the kids and we worked hard on getting into a routine that involved them doing chores, outside time, workbooks, and scripture reading in order to earn electronic time.  By the end of the week the boys were easily doing chores on their own and I watched them with a happy heart.  To see Finn wiping down the kitchen table and making the bed on his own accord without me telling him....there are no words.  And to have Kai do some chores to surprise me was so sweet.  Finn, who in general is my reluctant student, was sitting down to do his workbook pages with a smile on his face.  They aren't being done perfectly or completely, but they are being done.  And that matters more to me than anything else!  Even Bree has stepped in with chores so she can get some star stickers (ok, yes there a rewards system....my kids aren't that perfect!).  On Tuesday we also had the chance to drive down to Pueblo to see one of my oldest and sweetest friends, Esther.  It was so nice to be able to see her for a few hours, have a picnic lunch, watch the boys run around, and just chat.  After we got home from Pueblo I realized just how much I miss having her around. Her laugh is infectious and she knows just how to make me feel loved. I guess being roommates for 2 1/2 years can do that to people.  There are things we know about each other that not many others do.  It's a precious relationship.

On Thursday we had our first playgroup of the summer.  Since I am currently the playgroup "coordinator" our family was committed to going but I was worried that no one else would show (that's kind of been the story of the year!).  Well, I needn't have worried.  We had our largest turnout that I can recall in years.  It was so fun to see over 20 kids from the ward running around the park and to see all of the moms sitting and chatting.  Thursday was also AFA graduation day which means we get to see the Thunderbird show.  We were able to walk just about a block from the playground we were at to a good lookout point for the show.  The ward kids were all running around and enjoying the show and the moms were enjoying the patriotic feeling that seeing those Thunderbirds always invokes.  After the show we are headed back to the playground.

I didn't get any great pictures this year, but this is proof that we saw them!

Friday Reid was able to come home early since he had logged in so many late hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  He came home at 1pm and we were out the door by 1:30pm and headed to the Butterfly Pavillion.  We got there about two hours before they closed which gave us plenty of time to see everything.  Right when we first walked in, Reid jumped at the chance to hold Rosie the tarantula.  The boys were too scared and Finn wouldn't even watch Reid do it!  Finn is definitely going through a "nervous nelly" phase as once we entered the butterfly exhibit, he got very upset.  He was quite "scared" of the butterflies.  Even bribing him to be brave did not work.  Eventually the "rain" of the rainforest had me worried enough (potential bacteria being misted through the air) that I decided to take him out.  He enjoyed the kid's play area while we waited for Reid, Kai, and Bree to watch the butterfly release.

Kai touching a horseshoe crab

touching a sea star

Bree admiring a butterfly.  She wanted to touch them so bad, but she's such a good listener.  I only had to tell her no once and she never tried again.

The butterfly Bree was admiring

This was the only type of butterfly Finn would get near

putting cloth "butterflies" in a wind tunnel where they would fly up and out the top

Eventually, we all had some good time in the kid's play area and then decided to go back for a second look at most of the exhibits.  The butterflies had settled down since the sun had gone behind the rainclouds, so we didn't stay long.  But somehow Kai got up the nerve to hold Rosie.  Of course, there was no one left in the exhibit area and Rosie was put away, but luckily one of the employees heard us and offered to get Rosie out for Kai.  I was impressed with how brave he was!

Bree had to take her turn once she got there

I just adore the expression on her face in this picture

Bree LOVED walking across these suspension bridges.

One last walk with the butterflies

Watching the turtle crawl

My boys

The best shot of me and all of the kids

Kai holding Rosie!

After the Butterfly Pavillion we took the long way around to get to Freddy's for dinner.  During dinner Reid offered Kai $1 if he would try a hot pepper.  Kai did not take the bait but when the offer was extended to Finn, he immediately started considering it.  After about 10 minutes of working up the nerve, he grabbed the pepper and went for it.  We were very impressed!  And Kai did not want to be left out so he also tried a pepper.  It was a fun dinner and we were having a good time just being together.

Saturday the weather was great and so we spent the morning cleaning up the house and doing yard work.  After lunch Reid and I were able to cash in on a Groupon that we got for our anniversary for a zip lining trip.  It was a really fun trip.  I felt like I was a 20-something again and was really enjoying the time away from the kids.

And finally, that brings us to today.  This morning our house phone rang at a little past 6am.  I was drifting in and out and trying to justify staying in bed despite needing to get up to finish my lesson for singing time.  But I wasn't about to answer the phone.  I figured if someone really needed us they could leave a message, I would check it in a few minutes and then decided what to do.  But then my cell phone started to ring.  At that point I could see the caller ID.  It was Reid's brother-in-law, Erik.  I answered the phone to a chipper Erik who told me that he had been driving up I-25 (he is here with the Boy Scouts from Kansas for their high adventure this week) when he hit a razor blade just near the exit to our house.  Wal-mart's tire center doesn't open until 8am and he needed to get to the airport to pick up another scout.  He wanted to know if he could borrow a car.  Of course we said yes and then he told me that he was actually at our house right then.  We rolled over and made ourselves decent and headed to answer the door.  Despite the nature of the visit, it is always fun to see family.  We were grateful to be able to help out.  Erik drove to the airport and back before we had to leave for 9am church.  The boys were able to see him when he came to return the car and we were able to fill up his water cooler so that they had some water for the day.

It's been a good weekend.  We have had some fun family memories, some new adventures, and an unexpected visit from family.  I have to say our summer is off to a good start.  I'm exhausted with all we have done and accomplished this week and I'm looking forward to more.  This week is another big week for us.  Kai is getting baptized on Saturday and my mom is flying in for that.  We're hoping to have some more adventures real soon.

Bree talking

I just love Bree's voice and hearing the things she has to say.  She went through a phase where she would just babble with real sounds when she was trying to say a word that she hadn't mastered yet.  One word that always made me laugh was "banana" as she would stick her tongue out and wiggle it back and forth in an attempt to say it.  I tried to get it on video and this was the best I got.