How We Spent Our Summer Vacation

This has been a hot summer!  No lie.  The last two summers, we had maybe a week of temps in the 90s, but this summer it seems like most of July and August were flirting with that kind of heat.  (Yes, I know that hitting 90 degrees is no big deal for native Texans, but the sun here at 4700 feet of elevation is intense!)  Though it's still hot outside, I can already feel summer slipping away.  It has gone by way too fast.  This weekend is Labor Day, for goodness sake!  At least we tried to fill our summer as best we could.  Aside from family visiting, here are some of the ways we spent our time...

Our little moms' group arranged a tour of one of the local fire stations.  This always gets the kids' attention and is good for some general fire safety info that hopefully some of the kids hear and retain.  :)

Outside or inside, summer is always good for some fun with friends.

We even signed Owen up for some swim lessons at the outdoor pool.  He enjoyed going, but they seemed to play a lot of games and sit on the step.  Little did I know that at the end of the 2-week session (of going every day for 30 minutes!), he would receive a report card.  Unfortunately, he did not get check marks for floating on his own for 10 seconds, so he will have to repeat the same swim class next time!  Ugh.  I'm not even going to mention that I didn't see his class practice floating EVER...  Oops, looks like I did!  :)

The main goal for me in putting him in swim lessons was to have him overcome his recently-acquired fear of the water.  It did make him less afraid, but we still have work to do!  The grand finale of the lessons was to have them jump off the diving board. While he did not jump, he lamented to me afterward that he should have jumped!  Maybe next summer...

There are some sand dunes about 5 minutes from our house.  When Owen saw the humongous pile of sand, he was in heaven!!  The biggest sandbox he's ever seen!  We'll have to go back when it cools off a bit.

Oh Yeah, and This Happened...

Not to be forgotten in catching up from pictures in July - Miss H became a proficient walker right in front of the family's eyes!  She went from tentative steps in mid-June to full walking around her birthday to a week later where walking itself is no longer challenging enough:

 

And now, she's practically running!  Needless to say, the bruises on the head are almost a constant.  :(  Owen actually likes to have her "chase" him around the room as he giggles profusely.  Mostly this looks like her taking 10 steps while he runs a circle "super-fast" and comes back to her from the other side.  She turns around to go the other direction. Repeat.  It's pretty amusing to watch them play together, like a tea party, for instance.

Her first year stats are 28.5" tall (20%); 18 lb, 11 oz (30%), and her head is at the 93%. (Note: she apparently shrank 0.5" from her 11-month check-in.  Gotta love the human error in these measurements!)  I was so ecstatic about her weight catching up though!  All of the concern and attention to her diet really did make a difference.  Of course, then they told me she's borderline anemic, so now there's a new dietary concern.  Sigh...  

Anyway, other than walking up a storm, she has 11 teeth showing, chugs milk from a sippy cup like nobody's business, can come down a couple of stairs safely on her own, climbs on playgrounds, makes appropriate car sounds when holding a toy car, says "uh-oh" when she drops something on the floor, loves to look at books, and echoes polite laughter.  Anyone need to try out a new joke?  Here's your audience!

Not to be left out, Owen has grown over an inch this summer from my measurements! And he's using words like "ridiculous", "unstable", and "awkward" in normal conversation. I guess those words get used a lot in our house!  :)  

He has also established new levels of independence this summer.  He's been "potty-trained" for well over 7 months, but now he's truly doing the whole caboodle (washing, wiping, re-dressing) by himself.  It's awesome!!  Other notables: picking out his own clothes and dressing himself in the morning, climbing and buckling himself (the chest buckle) in his carseat, and "reading" books to himself after bedtime and turning out his lamp when he goes to sleep.  His imagination is in full gear these days, too.  Lots of pretend monsters in the basement.

Another Year, Another Adventure

We just celebrated another year of marriage.  Can't believe it's been 11 now!  Back when we had grandparents to baby-sit a month ago, the Mr. and I headed out for a kids-free, overnight excursion to Jackson, WY.  It's such a pretty place with lots of good places to eat and interesting things to do.  Thanks Oma and Grandpa!

We were staying in the Snow King resort and decided to try out an alpine slide, which is basically sledding on a track down the ski mountain.  It was fun and worth trying, but it was a bit pricey and we didn't even get to race each other!  The view from the top was pretty incredible though.  You could see all of Jackson in the valley and the Tetons in the distance.

Later that evening, we were walking around downtown and came across their nightly "shootout".  Apparently, this takes place every night in the summer with loud western drawls, fake (but loud) gunshots, and dancing.  We watched for about 5 minutes until they shot somebody and then we moseyed on to find some grub.

Glad we could celebrate this year.  Here's to many more!  :)

More Family Fun

From July - Good times were had (minus unexpected surgeries!) with family in the house for over 3 weeks (rotating guests).  The kids really enjoyed the extra attention and play time.  Owen's still asking when our next visitors are coming.  :)

So, let's look back at some of the fun, aside from birthday and 4th of July festivities.  (I misplaced my camera for a good chunk of the visit, and my iPhone camera is not up to snuff, imo.  That's my excuse for missing any other good shots!)  

First, there were games like Bridge, Chinese checkers, Go Fish, and even dodgeball;

Strawberry picking became a social event;

And lots of other fun bonding moments too numerous to list...

Thanks, family, for always bringing the good stuff!  We miss you!

One-Year Portraits

This delayed post isn't my fault.  :)  We finally got the CD of Hadley's one-year portraits taken a month ago. Some interesting, some cute, some not...  Here are the highlights.

4th of July

Still in July...  The 4th welcomed even more family to Idaho!  Uncle Lampe and Aunt Loni!  It was fun to have everyone up here together and to house them all under the same roof (fairly comfortably) to boot.  :)  That's what 6 bedrooms will get you, I guess. Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Anyway, we tried out the new Traeger grill with two full chickens and hot dogs with all the fixings.  Everything was excellent!  

There was a water gun fight, mostly between Owen and Grandpa, while the food was cooking.  It ended when Grandpa dumped the bowl of refill water on Owen and he cried. Then there was some revenge and squirting was relegated to inanimate objects only.  :)

I thought this was sweet of her trying to console him after he got drenched.  :)

But there was lots of other water fun...

And Beerman!  (Don't ask for the explanation on this.  It's too long.  Suffice it to say that Owen just likes to pretend to be the "beerman" - a beer delivery guy with an interesting inventory of limited and unusual selections like 'strawberry lemonade beer' and 'daddy's beer'.  And the price he charges varies widely from 1 to 40.)  It's pretty funny.

Then the younger generation headed to the park just before dark to catch the famous fireworks show that claims to be the biggest west of the Mississippi. Maybe they were hyped up too much, or it had been a while since I'd seen fireworks, or the hour delay dampened the holiday spirit (someone fell in the river near the launch site), or we were too far away... I thought they were just okay.  But someone enjoyed staying up way past his bedtime!