Swim Lessons

The kids did 2 two-week long sessions of swim lessons this summer.  They did great and had a lot of fun.

The ride to swim lessons.  Norah must have found my camera.  I have several shots like this.  Thanks sis, my best side.

Norah was in the preschool class.  She is kinda a sissy when it comes to the water but she did great at swim lessons.  Both pools they used she could touch in so I was actually surprised at how well she did. 

Owen loved swim lessons.  We started him out in the same class with Norah cause it was a class for 3-5 year olds but by the second day he told me he didn't want to go back cause they were boring.  We switched him to the next level up and he did great and learned a lot. 

Norah's idea of getting her head in the water. 

Playing Red Light Green Light by kicking legs. 

Owen learning to use the kick board.  Not surprising- he was a great swimmer. 

I am surprised that Norah's teacher got her to do a back float. 

Getting ready to do an alligator crawl with the alligator hats on. 

By the end of the 4 weeks, Owen was swimming on his own.  We went to our friend's pool a few days ago and he swam all the way across the pool all by himself.  Way to go dude. 

After the last day of lessons they had a party.  Their two classes combined for the party which made it nice on me. 

We had a great time at swim lessons and can't wait to do them again.

St. George

Brandon really needed a vacation so we decided to head to St. George over The 4th of July.  He took a couple days off and we talked Grandma and Grandpa Mac into coming too.

We spent one morning using a water noodle as a basketball hoop. 

It got up to 115 degrees while we were there.  Luckily we had a pool.  We spent a lot of time out there.  Norah pretty much sat on the steps the whole time so I don't have any pictures of her. 

Owen loved getting to play with Dad in the water.  He got really good at getting thrown up in the air. 

Norah and Owen and the splash park.  They had a great time and I think Gma and Gpa had a great time watching them. 

Grandpa and his major accomplishment of the weekend.  This was as close as the boys got to golfing because Grandpa hurt his ankle really bad a couple days before and could barely walk. 

Norah and Grandma.  We sure love that lady. 

Grandma and the kids doing some exercises.  It was the kids' idea.

In front of the condo getting ready to leave.  We had a great time on vacation and with Grandma and Grandpa.  Thanks for coming. 

Big O's 5th Birthday

Owen turned 5 in June.  I can't believe he is that old.  It was kind of an uneventful birthday but he had a great time and loved all of his presents.

Norah got to open one of her presents in the morning so Owen wanted to also.  He got a light saber from Grandma and Grandpa Wilde but I forgot to buy batteries so it didn't work for most of the day.  Sorry dude.

Opening presents for real.  

Grandma and Grandpa Mc got him a Transformer.  He loves it and still sleeps with it at night.

We had a really hard time thinking of something to get Owen.  All he wants to do is play sports and he already has about every single sports equipment that a 5 year old needs.  I went shopping and ended up picking up a lot of little things thinking I wouldn't find anything else.  He ended up with 8 presents from us.  Ooops.  This baseball poster is hanging up by his bed so he lays in bed just looking at all of the different teams.  He can pretty much tell all of the different teams by their logos, and not just with baseball, NFL and NBA also.

One of his favorite presents was a Where's Waldo book.  He can sit for hours and look for that guy.  It was definitely worth the 12 bucks.  He and Norah fight over it a lot cause she loves it too.

All the loot.  He got some coloring stuff, some clothes, a Lite Brite, and a pitching machine that pitches wiffle balls.

Owen and his disaster of a cake.  He started out wanting a light saber cake.  Yeah, I know how to make one of those!?  I had already made the cake otherwise I would have convinced him to have a soccer ball or basketball cake.  But I finally convinced him to have a soccer field cake which didn't turn out but he liked it anyway.

Things about Owen at 5:

*He loves sports.  Any kind.  And he is really good at all of them.  He can honestly almost beat me at soccer.  He can shoot for hours and make it on a real size basketball hoop.  He can hit the baseball over the fence at home at will.  We just found out he is an excellent swimmer.  What can't this kid do?

*He loves riding his bike without training wheels.  Anywhere we can go on bikes we do.  We even went to Wal-Mart on our bikes.  

*He loves to color and draw and is really good at them.

*He thinks his dad is hilarious and loves being with him and doing man stuff.

*He laughs at and quotes Nacho Libre.

*His favorite food is probably Breakfast Burritos or steak.

*His favorite restaurant is this dumping little place in Pocatello called El Jacalitos.

*He loves Norah even though he beats her up sometimes.  He doesn't mind her following him around and I have caught him on more than one occasion reading her books and teaching her all about Star Wars.

*He has watched all of the Star Wars movies and could tell you who every character is, He loves the Lord of the Rings, Transformers, and Harry Potter movies but won't watch Meet the Robinson's cause he says it is too scary.

*He is really smart and can read a little bit and do crazy math problems.

*He is really excited to start Kindergarten.  Norah is sure going to miss him

* He is still off the charts for height and weight.  He weighs 50 lbs.

*He loves reading with me.  So far we have read Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, Harry Potter, The Ranger's Apprentice #1, and we just started #2.

*He is an excellent helper.

*We love him so much and can't wait to see what life holds for him.

Camp Out with Dad

Our family's version of camping...

Watching a movie. Bathrooms are really close by and very clean 

Hangin with Dad while mom reads a nice book inside and then sleeps in her own comfy bed.

Great Grandma Wilde's house

After our time in Poky we headed down to Great Grandma Wilde's house in Mink Creek, Idaho.  She is 96 years old and the kids absolutely love her.

Norah and Carter getting the bad guys.

Aunt Boo, Grandma, Grandpa, and Great Grandma

Great Grandma with all the kids.  They seriously think she is great.  She goes about a mile a minute and keeps up with all of them.

Grandma and Grandpa with Norah and Carter.

Trying to get 3 kids and 2 grown-ups to smile didn't work so great.

Owen and Grandpa driving the tractor

It was freezing cold there and we didn't really have any warm clothes so we borrowed great grandma's stuff.  Norah didn't want to take that hat off.

Norah and Grandpa on the tractor

Crazy old lady.  She got her blow dryer out to warm Owen's feet up.  He thought it was very weird but he went with it.

Norah and Great Grandma Wilde.  Trying to get a 3 year old and a 96 year old to both look at the camera was worse than 3 kids and 2 adults. 

We had a good, cold time in Mink Creek.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilde's house

After Idaho Falls we headed down to Pocatello to visit Brandon's parents.

Owen and Grandpa doing man work. 

Grandma and Grandpa were dog sitting Aunt Boo's dog.  Norah loved that dog and followed it around everywhere.  Anytime the dog was laying down Norah would go pet her and sit by her.  She loved her so much that Grandma and Grandpa kept Mandy for an extra day so Norah could play with her.  We went on a walk and Norah wanted to hold the leash the whole time. 

Grandma, Aunt Boo, Norah, and Mandy 

Uncle Sugar Man reading all the grandkids a book. 

It snowed while we were there and it was almost June.  Do we really want to go back to this?

We had a great time with the Wilde's.  Thanks for hanging out with us.