today

Today Katie had her first swimming lesson. She didn't love wearing the goggles, until her teacher found some purple ones, and then we were set. She's such a little fish.

Later, we went to Oma's to hang out. The kiddies were making up stories with the Fisher Price folks, and the following went down:

Alex: Do we love daddy?

Katie: Oh YES! We totally love daddy.

Alex: Do we love mommy?

Katie: Well, not quite as much as daddy.


At least my little barnacle Max is still all mine. :)

lakeside

Here's a little blast from the past. As kids, we went down to Lakeside a few times for AT&T family days. On Aug 10 we took our own troops down to there. I was trying to make up for missing the carnival every time it was in town this summer. Boy, was that a great call. Unlimited wristbands and all the ladybug rides they could handle.

Max took a little warming up, but once he rode one ride, he was all in.




Katie's favorite ride was NOT the roller coaster.

A bunch of people from the ward were actually down there that night, so the kids even had little buddies to play with.

It's nice that our little guys are so close in age, because they were all happy riding the kiddie rides - just the right pace for everyone, although I personally thought that canoe was never going to make it back around on it's 20 foot 'river.' Funnel cake for dad and snow cones for the kids, and lots of great people watching for moi. Good summer fun.

zoo babies

Here are some pictures to tempt you, Mag:

That's right - 4 adorable baby tiger cubs, just waiting for you to come and check them out! You have about a year to come out and seem them, before the keepers say they get too big and start bugging their momma too much and get shipped out to other zoos.

There is also a baby orangutan - buried under that blanket on the front right. 10 weeks old, and she'll be with her momma for at least 7 years, so you've got time on that one.

We missed the baby flamingo, but got to see the polar bears get fed. Boo at the Zoo is coming up . . .

katie

Perhaps I need to ease up on the smack talk while playing the Wii:

Katie to Oma: Watch, and learn!

(With 'appropriate' intonation, no less!)

seriously?

The Maxster and I ran some errands today. At the DMV, a lady - one of the other patrons - asked if he was my grandson. REALLY? I understand that it IS, technically speaking, physically possible that I COULD be his grandmother, but do I really LOOK like his grandmother?

Note to self: spend less time with toothless people waiting to register cars for their 18 year old sons who have 'had a little trouble with the law,' and more time with the young women, who think I'm cool for trying to knock them off of tubes being pulled behind speedboats.

glendo state park

The last week of July we took a little trip up to Wyoming to Glendo State Park with some friends, and it was AWESOME! The reservoir was HUGE! The water level was 126% - the flooding knocked a lot of campsites out of commission, but it sure looked cool. We had the whole beach to ourselves most of the time, and almost the whole campground as well. The drunk Russians added a little spice at night, but otherwise it was pretty quiet.

It was crazy hot, but luckily we had some rain to cool us off in the afternoons.
We did a lot of creating with sand.
And a lot of burying.
Katie is a FISH! She swam and swam and swam, and did a great job in the kayak too.
Alex's blue bucket rarely left his grasp. It got lost in the lake for a little while, but Super Rog came to the rescue and reunited Alex with his favorite lake tool.
Mike's dog rarely left his side. He and Rog took the sailboard out, and Chase followed them, eventually climbing up on the boat. Apparently, sailing with a lab is not the easiest thing in the world.
Court was really great at coming up with different games to play. She spent a lot of time jumping through that floaty - and she and Michael came up with an obstacle course on the beach. I did NOT win that contest of speed.
It was blazing hot most of the time, but luckily we found a little spot to make a fort in some shade.
By the time dinner rolled around each night, everyone was usually pretty cooked. Here are Katie - 'not tired at all' - and Court right before Katie fell asleep AGAIN eating dinner.
I've been a little afraid that RV camping was going to turn our kids into wimps, but OtterPop breaks in the afternoons, ice cream on the dutch-oven cobbler at night, and having a place to lock up boys at nap time have made ME a wimp! Good luck getting this girl into a tent again!
On the way out, we stopped by the Red Cliffs for some jumping. I should have snapped a picture of one of the many signs warning 'NO JUMPING OFF THE CLIFFS,' but there were too many people leaping off the edges to get a good shot. Katie is fearless!

This is one of my favorite trips ever. Great location and easy-going friends to hang out with - I even saw Deb actually relax! Perfect getaway, and only a couple hours away.

summer adventures

This is how much fun Max had on the squeaky train in Loveland.

Things got better by the end of the ride.

The water is always a good time.
When Rog came swimming with us, even Alex went down the slide.

The County Fair was another good time. Tractors, animals, and now Max has his own stick horse to ride around the range on.