Happy 3rd Birthday!

It was nice to be in Utah to celebrate our son's birthday. 3 years! Wow! He firmly declares "I'm 3" instead of "I'm 2 1/2". We had a little party with family in grandma and grandpa's beautiful backyard.

This is the sweetest dog. She is his "Favorite dog" and he like to give her big hugs.

His cousins Emily, Becky, and Aunt Alyssa in the background were some who joined us to celebrate.

The birthday boy received "Zen Ties" from his Aunt Vincenza and Uncle Adam

Thanks for the help opening packages, Uncle Adam!

There wasn't any slobber after he blew out his candles on his Finding Nemo ice cream cake. Of course the ice cream was green and the cake chocolate.

Bones for Aunt Vincenza

The new puzzle kept them busy.

Thanks for coming to celebrate, Uncle Chris and Nicci!

Week in Utah - Going for a ride

Grandpa was looking forward to good weather so that daddy could rent a motorcycle and the two of them ride together. Tuesday night after renting the bike, mom and dad went on a date and saw Half-Blood Prince. Then early Wednesday morning, before it got hot, daddy and grandpa headed south to meet up with another friend and then begin their loop. They rode down to Utah Valley, up Provo canyon, past Deer Creek, Jordanelle, Echo and Pineview Reservoirs, then down through Ogden Canyon. The temperature went from very cold to very hot by the end of their ride. They had a good time.

Week in Utah - Silver Lake

We had a wonderful trip to Utah. The thing we enjoyed most was being able to escape the summer heat in the valley and head up to the mountains. At the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon in the Brighton Loop the temperature was 20 degrees cooler and the scenery breathtaking. We hiked around Silver Lake and found plenty of things to see.

A shot of Guardsman Pass

We climbed up our own version of "Pride Rock" and he promptly wanted to slide down

The water was nice and cold! What a fun outing.

4th of July, 2009

After a productive morning (cleaning the car, little boy's haircut, and small household projects) we headed down to Newport Beach to play with Grandma Carol. We swam in the pool then had a yummy dinner. For Fireworks we watched the Newport Dunes show. We had originally thought that we would pay the $50 to park and play at the resort all day, but in the end found a great spot to sit and watch for free. Daddy dropped us off at Jamboree and PCH, then parked the car and walked 1/2 mile. Here are a few things that we saw and did.

Going

Going

Gone

I'm speechless.

Somewhere in that Thomas fabric there is a warm little boy

He emerges to throw some pops with Daddy

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Playing with Hannah

I had to post some pics of our playtime with Hannah. She went with us to the library and signed up for the summer reading club. The week's prize was a paint set and we had a nice time out on the patio being creative. I threw one of my old t-shirts over her cute outfit and the kids went to work.

It is interesting to see how differently they create. My son definitely marches to the beat of his own drum. He loves mixing and pouring, so instead of putting any paint on his paper. He dripped water into the different colors on his tray, then dripped them back into his little cup. We also pulled out some finger paints at the end. The thicker consistency added more dimension to his blending of paints and water.

What a fun day with our friend.

Swimming Lessons

We hadn't done formal swimming lessons with him since he was 6 months old. Why we did it then, I don't know. This time around it was just the kids and the teachers.

Day 1: He was so excited to go swimming. He followed his teacher down the ramp happily, but then something snapped and for the next 25 minutes the 4 teachers took turns taking him out in the water while the rest of the class sat on the step playing. He cried and screamed for me the whole time. I was a good mom and kept back, letting the teachers do their job, all the while worrying about the emotional scars this would leave on him. He got out of the pool and I wrapped him up in the towel and he says with a smile "Mom, that was a fun swimming lesson!" --repeated at least a dozen more times on the way home and during lunch. Maybe tomorrow wouldn't be so bad after all.

Day 2: He was so excited to go swimming, again. I made sure that he had a snack and used the bathroom. He wouldn't get in the pool. "I have to go potty!" was his excuse. Not wanting to create problems with our successful potty training experience, I took him to the bathroom. It was just a stalling technique because he didn't do anything, and it took me 20 minutes to finally get him in the pool. He screamed the remaining 10 minutes that he had to use the potty. His teachers were so patient. Same as Day 1, he got out of the pool and exclaimed "Mom, that was a fun swimming lesson" over and over again.

Day 3: He didn't want to go swimming. I bribed him with going to the library or something. I also tried to point out ahead of time that they had little water squirters that all of the children could play with, and that maybe he could squirt his teacher in the face. Well, that worked! It was all smiles the entire lesson. And he didn't let go of the squirters as long as he was in the water. He interacted well with each of the teachers and other children. Interestingly, there weren't as many "Mom, that was a fun lesson" comments afterwards. Every lesson since was easy.

Skip to Day 8: Diving board day. I overheard his teachers commenting that this was the same kid who screamed for two days straight. If you zoom in on his face you see that there is no fear, only joy!

On the way to the diving board followed by our new friends Nicholas and Selene


First jump is with a teacher

"Again!"

Oh yeah!

Thank you Caroline!

He has learned to close his mouth so that he doesn't swallow water. Next goal is floating on his back. It will take much more practice and many more swimming lessons, but I feel like his skills are improving and may help to counter his daring personality in the water.