Summer Happenings

It's been a busy summer! Here are some of the things we've been up to, besides our trip to Seattle and the camping trip.

-bowling

 -the local Freedom Festival, which we only went to to get bike helmets for the kids at a good price, but we let them ride on a few rides as well

 -splash pads (playgrounds too)

 -playing with our toys

 -Bethany, our friend and neighbor, comes every day at 2 (my summer job)

 -other friends

 -Tiny Town (a mini toy "hands-on museum")

 -more Tiny Town

 -Victoria went to a Tigers game with Jason

 -the ward camp-out

 -bike rides

-hanging out

The girls also got to go to the Supervised Playground Program that Victoria participated in last summer. For a very low fee, they get to play at the school playground and do other activities supervised by college students. They also had a couple of field trips to the pool and bowling. The kids all took a gymnastics class, which I already mentioned in a previous blog, and they took private swimming lessons from our old babysitter for $5/ half hour lesson! I never got pictures of those because our last lesson was cancelled since the teacher was sick and that was the day I was going to take pictures. They did really well, though! We got to practice in Bethany's pool, but I never get pictures in that pool since it's above-ground and it's just too difficult to juggle the camera and my kids while sitting on the ladder. On Thursday we'll do our last big activity- roller skating. Austin has been wanting to again for months now and wear his cape. Finally, we'll have a chance to go.

The girls are very ready for school. They packed their backpacks last night, even though school doesn't start for another week. This morning they were up and ready as if school started today, so I'm hopeful that we can all adjust easily.

It's been a great summer!

9 months

It's amazing how fast 9 months go by when the baby is not inside you! Erik is now 9 months. He's trying to keep up with Austin, it seems. He loves the orange and green race cars that Austin got for his birthday and will specifically go to the long line of trains and cars and grab those two, to Austin's dismay! This does not go over well. Austin will grab them back, which will instantly cause a loud scream from Erik. I keep telling Austin how to trade, but Erik doesn't like that too much either. The other day I told Austin to line all his trains up on the window sill so Erik couldn't reach them as easily, but Erik crawled over there and pulled himself up right next to Austin! It was so cute, but I couldn't take a picture since I was afraid of what Austin would do when I left for the camera.

Besides the orange and green cars, Erik loves spoons. He will crawl all around with some and even hold one while he's nursing, as if he's eating his meal with his utensils. Which brings me to where he doesn't want to be like the others: he doesn't care for table food at all! The other day he found a piece of bread on the floor that Austin dropped and when he picked it up, he looked at it and then threw it down on the floor. He didn't even put it in his mouth like he does with every piece of stick and dirt! I have to admit, though, that the past couple of days I've been able to feed him a little bit of baby oatmeal. So cross your fingers that he will continue to enjoy some kind of food so he can sleep better at night!

His last favorite is climbing through the chairs and under the table. He thinks it's his own special fort. He's getting pretty strong in his arms crawling through there too!

He's growing up way too fast!

A Sweet Surprise

We decided it was high time for another camping trip, something we hadn't done since Karissa was a baby! Things just kept coming up each summer (other vacations: Zion, Puerto Rico... and babies: Austin was born in the summer). We really wanted to see the Sleeping Bear Dunes up near Traverse City on the "pinkie" of the Michigan hand. It was rated the most beautiful place in America on Good Morning America. We had also read the legend of the dunes last year in a children's book Victoria got from the library, where a mama bear and her two cubs swam across Lake Michigan from Wisconsin to Michigan to avoid a fire. The cubs couldn't make it and ended up forming the two islands just off the bay of the "pinkie" and the mama formed the big dune as she waited for her cubs to arrive. So sad and sweet!

Jason's parents had just bought a camper and thought it would be fun to meet us up there. It was to be a surprise for the kids, so I had to bite my tongue! After a much shorter day at work, Jason came home and we left for a very long 4 1/2 hour drive (it took 6 hours due to traffic, weather, and getting lost!) No matter, the kids were still very excited to go camping. Austin kept asking, "Are we camping yet?" They were very surprised and excited to see Gramms and Abuelo there. They also loved the camper! It was nice to have around with a crawling baby and all the sandy, dusty, dirt.

Erik's first camping trip!

There were crafts for the kids to do at the campsite.

The biggest highlight and main idea of the trip was to hike the "big dune". It was the perfect day for it, though it was much longer than we thought and I had to turn around and nurse Erik, who was with Gramms sleeping when we started on the hike. I did get to go back to the point where I left to help Jason with Austin come back, so at least I got a good work-out! Victoria went up the main dune about 4 or 5 times, just for the fun of it. Karissa and Austin did surprisingly well with all the steep climbs and deep sand.

This is the first dune and the biggest- called the "Big Dune". Abuelo was the only one around me to take a picture of the steepness. It was super steep with very deep sand. Running down it at the end was the best!

The point where the sand ends is actually where the steep dune starts.

Victoria at the top of the "Big Dune" the first time.

The rest in between dunes.

I believe the island out there is one of the baby bears. Waaaay down below on the shore, overlooking Lake Michigan and the islands is what they considered the most beautiful place in America. If we didn't have so many little ones, we would have gone to that point, but at least we got to see it.

We also visited the visitor's center about the area, had some good picnics, a great campfire dinner, and a dutch oven monkey bread dessert. The kids enjoyed some playgrounds and especially a dip in the bay. Austin surprised us all by his bravery in the water, which was a little nerve-wracking. There were no waves, so he just kept walking out in the water and chasing ducks. He also surprised us the night before by running into the camper and slicing his forehead open. Jason got to him first and promptly put pressure on the wound, but when I saw him, all I saw was tons of blood dripping down his face. It was hard to tell with Jason's hand in the way, so I thought it was his eye that was wounded. He even had blood coming out of his mouth! Jason and Kay took him to the urgent care, where he fell asleep, it being his bedtime. He got four stitches and woke up for the last one. He's very excited to get to wear a band-aid all the time. In fact, right after his accident the first thing he asked for was a band-aid. Silly boy!

 This water was turquoise from a distance the day before due to the clouds and winds.

 It was great to be with Jason's parents and see a beautiful part of our country.

Gymnastics

The kids just completed a 5 week course of gymnastics on Saturdays. Austin did a parent-and-me class and Jason was able to take him every time. Victoria and Karissa took a beginner I/II class that met right afterwards. They divided the kids in the class into two groups, according to their levels. There wasn't an age limit for the class, they just had to be 4 or older, so Victoria was in a group that had a couple of kids her age, and then there were two girls who were 10 and 11, so it looked kind of odd since they were so much taller, but she liked being with the "older" girls.  Karissa wasn't the youngest in the class, but she was the smallest.

The last day was when we took pictures and the girls were able to participate in Austin's class and Austin was able to participate in theirs. It was fun for them to get a bonus lesson, but it also made for only easy tricks in the girls' class and I didn't get some of the harder things on camera that they did earlier: like Victoria doing a forward roll on the balance beam (with a spotter, of course), the girls' working on back bend kick-overs, and Victoria working on pull-overs at the bar. Oh well, they might take this course again next year, since they liked it so much. Victoria got to do some good ol' fashioned gymnastics conditioning as well- lots of sit-ups, push-ups, and super splits! That part didn't even scare her away from wanting to try it again another time.

Austin did well and had a great time!

 Look at that grin!

 Karissa's group did a few things harder than Austin's group, including walking backward on the balance beam, but for the most part it was the same things, just without a parent assisting.

 Jason wasn't assisting here, he was just in awe of Karissa's skills :)

 Victoria learned the real way of doing a back bend. Karissa finally got it right before this picture, then she was distracted by the camera.

 Kicks on the beam.

 A unique pose!

 That white stuff is chalk flying around. They got a little out-of-control with it!

I had almost as much fun watching them- I just love gymnastics!

Lucky 13!

Jason and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on Saturday, though the actual day was yesterday, the 31st. It's interesting how much our expectations changed this year with a nursing baby who doesn't want to be with anyone but Mommy and with Jason's job that doesn't give him a break! It doesn't matter, we had fun and we were happy to be together for our two hour trip to Outback and IKEA. I wanted to buy new bedding for our bed, since we've had ours for 13 years! I'm still working on pillows, so pictures will come later. Since Outback is not far from IKEA, where we got our bedding from, we thought it would be nice and easy to eat there. I enjoyed eating my food slowly and not having a child on my lap for part or all of my meal. Shopping was not as stress-free as I had hoped, since we had to hurry back, but it was easier with no children! Our celebration being simple, yet enjoyable, reminds us that we love each other no matter what we do and there is a time and a place for everything.

Jason brought this beautiful bouquet of flowers home yesterday with my favorite flower and the flower of love. You can't tell how big it is here, but it's the biggest bouquet ever!

I love you Jason!