Vacation day 1

We are nearing the end of our first full day of vacation, and it was a fun, relaxing day!!  We arrived last night around dinner time, and here was how the kids made themselves at home!

As Steve unloaded the truck and I unpacked what he brought it, the kids climbed into bed and turned on the TV!  It was pretty cute! 

Even though the kids still awaken at their normal, early time, it was an extremely relaxing morning!  The unpacking was finished, and the kids enjoyed being able to watch an extra show on TV that they normally don't watch - ahhh, the little things!  We finally made our way outside and played until lunch time, making some new friends!

After lunch and naps, the skies had cleared up and so we headed out to the water.  For the days leading up to the trip, when I asked Faith what she was most looking forward to about the trip, she would always say, "the water park!!"  She has never actually been to the water park at the resort, but was hoping she could go this trip!  So, as soon we were ready, she asked Daddy to take her to the water park!!

Here they are on the trampoline!   

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach - Faith found more friends who had some fun water toys!  This little boat had a squirt gun on it, which provided much entertainment!

 Meanwhile, Shane found some fun animals to play with and had a great time! 

Of course the day ended with the kids in the tub, enjoying the bubbles and some Toy Story!

This picture is from a few days ago, but was too cute not to post!

Shane is enjoying his morning coffee - well, hot chocolate!  I can see him being a coffee drinker though - the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!!

Bring out the Pool!

Today's effort to beat the heat called for the pool!  It proved once again to be a genius idea by the mother as the kids had a wonderful afternoon swimming the heat away.  Shane literally swam until dinner was delivered!  (The kitchen was closed because of the heat, so Domino's came through with the food!)  A few other highlights from the day included ballet class for Faith, a Michigan football victory (we proudly sported the game day clothes before swimming!), and most exciting was a visit from Aunt Beth, who was in LA for literally 24 hours, but still was able to make her way up to see us!  It is always great to catch up with family members, especially ones who live far away!!

Faith doing an "I'm so excited to jump in the water" dance!

Attempting a simultaneous jump!

Pure delight!

Showing off the swimming skills!  She insisted on wearing her goggles as she claims to be a "serious swimmer".

While a bit more refereeing was needed for today, they still played pretty well together in the pool, which makes for an enjoyable time for all!!

Another highlight I must share...while some may have known this tidbit of info for ages, I just learned tonight that on the blogspot publishing site I can upload more than one photo from a particular folder from my computer by holding down the ctrl key.  This seriously made me so happy!  What can I say...it's the little things!

Beatin' the heat

Now that summer is officially over, we are experiencing summer-like weather!  Today's temperature climbed out of the 60's (where we were stuck all summer long!) and into the upper 70's!  It felt hot, since it was noticeably warmer than other day in recent memory.  So the kids and I embraced the warm weather today and pulled out the Slip 'n Slide!  They had so much fun just running up and down the slide, "swimming" in the small pool area at the end, and just feeling the cool water from the sprinklers drip on them.  And as I watched from a chair in the shade, I kept thinking about what an absolutely delightful afternoon we were having!

The kids played together really well (I didn't have to play referee at all, which is a record as of lately!  I can't remember an afternoon with them both home and there wasn't a squabble!), shared things, took turns...it was remarkable!  I even read a chapter in a book as they played!

Shane is "swimming" and pretending to be Buzz at the same time!  He's multi-talented!

After slippin' and slidin' (and some play dough time for Faith), both kids asked to do some painting.

We only paint with water at our house...!

This picture is from a few days ago when we went to Big 5, a sporting goods store.  There was a giant chair out front that we couldn't resist making into a Kodak moment!  The kids love going to Big 5 - it is as exciting for them as a toy store! 



More Havasu Pictures

This is what I did while I should have just gone to bed!! 

These pictures were taken by Lauri Van Hofwegen, who was on our trip with us!  She took such great pictures!!

Steve and Faith loved doing this!!  I couldn't believe how brave she was!!

The smiles say it all!  I love this one!

So handsome - like his daddy!

The whole crew!

An evening view

This past week...

If, by chance, you read the blog in the approximate two hours that I had a very similar post, please continue reading as this is the new and improved post!!

While the past week included no real momentous occasions, it was just one of those weeks that when reflected upon deserves the ranking of a "good week".  To begin with, we started a new fun family activity - Family Movie night!!  On Wednesday night, all four of us were on the couch, the kids in their pjs, watching a Dora the Explorer movie as we ate popcorn!  It was a blast!  The kids especially loved it!  Since it was so much fun, we did it again the next night!  This time we threw in a Barbie movie that both kids loved.  Yes, Shane too enjoys Barbie!  We fully blame it on Toy Story!!

In addition to good family time, Steve and I were able to get out on Friday night for a date night!  We went to a local high school football game between two traditionally very strong football programs - St. Bonaventure vs. Oaks Christian.  Alumni from each football program can be seen playing on both Saturdays and Sundays!  This year Oaks features Trevor Gretzky at quarterback, son of hockey great Wayne Gretzky, passing to Trey Smith at wide receiver, son of actor Will Smith!  It was a fun game and a great date night for Steve and I, especially since we could walk to the game!

And finally, some stress in my life was reduced by the start of my MOPS group this past Wednesday.  I love leading the group, but I am always a big relieved when the first meeting is over as it means that all the hundreds of details that need to be in place prior to that first meeting are complete!  It was a fun morning, and the new moms in our group felt welcome, which is always a major goal of mine!

So, a good week...it was capped off with another Michigan football victory (and some great games on Saturday!!), and few tech problems solved, and some overall very nice weather!  Here's a picture of Shane-man before bed on Saturday night...

Face Plant

Over the weekend Shane suffered his first (of what I'm sure will be many!) facial injury!  He was chasing Faith out on the driveway, going in the only gear he thinks is possible - FAST! - and fell flat on his face.  Thankfully, the injury was limited to a surface scrape (no damage to the teeth!!), but it is making those we see do a double take!  Everyone comments on it!  And I'm not sure if this is at all related, but he has been insisting on wearing his sunglasses even more than usual the past two days!  Here are a few more views of that sweet face.

On the swing - still one of his favorite things to do!

A few other highlights from the past few days...

• Faith now wants to dress herself after finishing swim lessons.  While she has been dressing herself for some time, the post-swim change into clothes was new.  There are some little changing areas on the pool deck, and in the past, she has always wanted me to be behind the curtain with her and helping when needed.  Today, she let me know she wanted to do it completely herself!  Another reminder that she is growing up!
• Shane let me know he is ready for Kindergarten...if he knew what that meant, he would not say that!!
• The highlight of Faith's day today was listening to her teacher read Green Eggs and Ham.  It's on our list to check out at the library when we go tomorrow!

And because Faith wanted me to include a picture of her today, here it is!

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of preschool this year for Faith!  She is going three days a week this year (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), and she is in the upstairs classrooms!  These two things are very exciting when you are four years old!!  While we didn't receive too detailed of a report of how things went the first day, she is very excited to go back tomorrow, so that is a good sign! 

After spending the morning at school, Faith visited the dentist in the afternoon!  Since this was her second trip to the dentist, they did a full cleaning of her teeth.  She did a great job, and cooperated fully during the cleaning, which is always a relief to the mom!!  It sure helps going to a pediatric dentist who has a wonderful staff all geared for handling young patients!  And to top things off, there were televisions on the ceiling playing children's movies for when the kids are lying back in the dentist chairs!  I know I would enjoy my trip to the dentist more if I could watch a movie!!  Faith's day ended with a renewed vigor to brush and floss her teeth!  Amazing what a new tooth brush and toothpaste can do!!

Havasu Vacation

We are home once again after a great week-long vacation at Lake Havasu.  The weather was great (only one day was too hot!), the company (Nords and Taylors) was enjoyable, and we are already looking forward to our next trip back to the lake!  It's always an extra special trip when we are there with friends, especially good friends who we don't see often.  We are able to enjoy dinners out together as well as relaxing evenings, sitting out on by the water and just chatting while the kids are in bed!  Many of the world's problems were solved by our late night talks!  Since we were there for a week, there are many pictures!

Here is Steve enjoying the water with Delaynee Nord and Faith and another friend we met there.  Notice Faith is not wearing a life jacket or swimmies!  Since the other older girls were not doing so, Faith asked if she could go without.  While it made me nervous (I watched her extra closely!!), she did really well.  She showed off what she has learned in swim lessons, and actually encouraged Delaynee to start swimming under the water! 

At first Shane was a little worried about the whole swimming thing (aka he had to be held by mom!), but soon he gained some confidence and really had a great time!  Once he saw Lucy Taylor using his floating thing, he wanted to swim in it, which was really great!

The two kids really had a great time together!

Again, one of the highlights of being at the lake is drinking Gatorade!  Shane would ask for it all the time!  He even would ask Steve as soon as they took off on the Jet Ski to stop for some Gatorade!!

Right outside our room post-nap time!

Relaxin' after a big morning of swimming!

Needing a break after riding the Jet Ski all morning!  We were able to ride them to the Colorado River and up to Topock for some breakfast!  It was a highlight of the trip!  We also went and spent an afternoon in Topock Gorge, which was really great!  The kids ran around and played along the sandy beach, while Steve and I sat in chairs in the shade and soaked in the beauty around us and delighted in the joy of our kids!

Since we were on vacation and wanting the kids to spend some time relaxing out of the sun, we did let them watch some movies!  Shane discovered Charlotte's Web and it became an instant favorite!  He also discovered the joy of watching a movie while in bed!!

The girls posing for pictures before heading out for dinner one night!  The kids all got along very well and had a great time together!!

Here is Faith helping Steve clean the skis and prep them for the next trip!  We took the weekend to relax and recover (catch up on sleep, do laundry, clean the skies, unpack).  Now we are preparing for all of life's activities to start up once again...school, MOPS, ballet, etc.  It was the prefect way to end summer!

Friends

We all need friends.  I know, not exactly a profound statement, but one that is true.  Some need more than others.  Some need to be with friends more often than others.  But the bottom line is that we all need friends.  As moms, we tend to gravitate towards other moms who have a child or children similar in age to our own kids's ages.  And if we are fortunate, the kids will like each other, play well together, and the moms will really like each other too!! 

Last week we had two afternoons in a row in which we spent with friends.  The kids each had a friend, and the moms are two moms that I would be friends with regardless of the companionship the kids have.  It's a great thing!!  And a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.  The kids are happy, and the moms are happy.  Friends are a wonderful blessing, and I am thankful for the friends my children are already making, and especially for the wonderful friends that I have made through this journey!

This picture was taken at Padaro Grill in Carpenteria.  A great place to meet friends!

The Ocean is a little scary!

The title of the posting tonight is a quote we heard quite often from Shane today!  Since summer temperatures decided to return to Ventura the past few days, we decided to take advantage and head to the beach.  We rode our bikes (which is a fun thing in and of itself!!) and spent some time playing in the water (that was very cold!!) and the sand.  Poor Shane was not a fan of the cold water, despite wearing a wetsuit!, and was just a bit timid about the water.  As a result, we heard quite often how scary the ocean was and how he wanted to either take a walk or sit on the beach towel!

Steve and I had to laugh about the "scary" situation as it once again pointed out to us how different our two kids are.  Granted, age plays a role, but as we were recalling Faith at age two, she would run in and out of the ocean and was just drawn to it!  Her swimming nemesis was pools!  And since Shane is just so much more adventurous than she was in so many ways (climbing anything and everything, hanging on the counter and swinging, etc.) it's funny to see him scared of the ocean.  While we sit back and smirk, in a way I like the cautiousness he is now displaying!  Just another joy of being a parent...watching them, learning about them, and noticing the little thing that make them them!

On a totally random note, we discovered that if we want Shane to eat something at a meal that he may not otherwise want to eat, all we have to do is put it in a tortilla!!  A few weeks ago I made fish tacos, and I was surprised that he ate an entire taco!  Tonight I made chicken, which he normally will not eat, so we put both his and Faith's in a tortilla, and he ate almost the entire thing!  Go figure!