Lakeside

The kids have earned passes to Lakeside Amusement Park every summer in the summer reading program since we've lived here.  For weird reasons, validity dates, weekends, hours, me forgetting, and the only lukewarm reviews I've heard of the place, we've never used them.  Yesterday though we decided to give it a shot, simply because we had absolutely nothing else to do.  We pulled up at 3:00 and I expected to stay two hours tops.  Once I saw the ten kiddie rides that were up and running I didn't think we'd last that long.  Despite my reservations about the little rides, the kids had so much fun.  Kelton could ride the kiddie rides all by himself and thought they were awesome.  "Ride!"  He'd call out, "Ride!"  

One of his favorite were the little turtle coasters.  The track had a couple of bumps that would make him smile.  Because it wasn't very crowded he was simply move from one car to the next without ever exited the ride.  Getting him off was tricky.  

The girls favorite ride in Kiddieland was the Kiddie Coaster.  It was definitely the most thrilling of the all the rides there and Kelton really, really wanted to ride.  I thought he was too small so he had to stay with me while the girls rode.  

Luckily for him one of the ride attendants finally mentioned that he could ride if he wanted to.  Well that was a dream come true.  He had the goofiest smile while waiting in line because he was so excited.  

We wedged him between the two girls so he wouldn't fall out and they were off!  His smile as he dropped over that first ledge was huge!  There was absolutely no fear there just pure joy.  He rode that roller coaster fifteen times in a row and his smile never faltered.  

Before we knew it, it was 6:00 and the rides over in the main area of the park were open.  Cambrie was dying to go on some of the bigger rides so we wandered over to see what our choices were.  She found the spinning Round-Up and thought it was awesome. 

McKenzie could ride on a handful of them by herself too.  Her favorite, but one of the few I didn't actually take a picture of, was called Heart Flip.  The two girls sat in a giant heart facing each other, and they could spin their carriage as it whirled around.  They stayed on that ride three times in a row before I convinced them there were a lot of other really fun rides.  As we walked deeper into the park I realized that we needed dinner.  I didn't plan on staying as long as we had and our snacks were gone.  We ordered some pizza to hold us over the rest of the night and then we went looking for more adventure.  

(I tried capturing how Kelton eats pizza but he was too fast.  He starts from the edge and works his way down kind of like an ear of corn.  I think it's cute.)

We found the big wooden roller coaster, the Cyclone Coaster.  Cambrie was old enough and brave enough to do it alone so I sent her off to have a good time while I rode the Merry-Go-Round with Kelton and McKenzie.  Well, McKenzie didn't want to be left behind so we got creative.  Technically she was tall enough to ride, she just needed a grown-up.  I couldn't be that grown-up so we adopted an extra family to watch over her while she rode.  She said the ride was scary but so much fun!  I have crazy roller coasters in my family.  We used the same technique again so she could ride the Spider and I was so grateful for Connor and Stacy for saying yes. 

 (Waiting for sisters on the Spider)

I looked at my watch and was shocked to see that it was 9;00!  Holy cow!  I didn't see that coming.  The kids all were able to choose one more ride as we left the park.  McKenzie chose the Satellite which was very similar to a Dumbo-type ride.  Well, I still had a couple coupons left over from the Merry-Go-Round and Kelton was pretty tired of just watching his sisters have all the fun, so I decided to suck in my stomach and hop on the ride with him.  I figured the stress of a Dumbo ride wouldn't be too much for Avocado to handle.  (That's the girls' current nickname for baby).  Kelton loved taking control of the up and down lever.  We went up, down, up, down, up, down, just that fast too.  Cambrie's last choice was Zoom, which was one quick drop down the tower.  I love her excitement! 

 Kelton chose one more ride on the Kiddie Coaster, which turned into two more rides, which turned into me dragging him away because he just wanted to keep going.  Sorry dude, it was 10:00 and WAY past your bed time.  I was starting to look like the lunatic who lets their two-year-old stay up all night.  Even though I had exhausted kiddos, it was one awesome spontaneous day.

(No really, this is our last ride.  We promise Mom.)

Vail....ah!

Last weekend Jeremy had a work retreat up in Vail.  I knew he was going to have a good time, but what I didn't know is that he had such a good time that he would invite us up too!  He finished with his work stuff Tuesday afternoon, so I packed up the kids that night and drove to Vail for one quick night and one long day to spend doing whatever we wanted.  Holy cow.  I completely fell in love with Vail.  I could totally see my family living there and being very happy.  Now the only question is, how do we find a place we can afford?!  But that's besides the point.  The kids loved the playgrounds we found.  We found a pirate ship, and what seemed to be a tulip bulb garden themed parks.

The kids also loved riding their bikes everywhere.  Our hotel was centrally located and that coupled with all of the pedestrian walkways through the town meant that we were surrounded by beauty everywhere we went.  We didn't have to worry about locking up their bikes since there were hundreds of bikes throughout the city.  

Wednesday morning we woke up and decided to go on a little hike so we could find somewhere pretty to take some baptism pictures of Cambrie.  Note: we decided to take a "little hike."  Well, we found a the perfect spot not fifteen minutes into our hike and took a couple really pretty pictures.  

After that we decided to keep hiking to see what we could see.  Before we knew it we had hiked for one and a half hours and were past the point of no return.  The girls had a choice to make, we could either turn around and walk the next one and a half hours downhill, or we could keep going and ride the gondola down the mountain.  They chose the gondola ride.  

Unfortunately for all of us we were not prepared for a three hour hike.  I had my diaper bag with one water bottle and a handful of snacks in it, plus Cambrie's baptism dress.  We didn't have the hiking backpack for Kelton, and I was definitely not dressed for the occasion.  At least I had some sunscreen in the bag for the kids.  They were real troopers.  Most of the hike was in the shade and it was gorgeous.  It was a little muddy because of all the afternoon rain showers, but we managed to stay pretty clean.  Around hour two we had to start carrying kids.  Kelton had been up and down until then but now he was strictly up.  McKenzie took brief rests on Jeremy's back, but they just kept climbing.  I could not have been happier to reach the summit.  

I was not prepared for the party up top.  There was a zipline, ropes course, tubing course, and food!  By now it was 1:00 and we were all starving!  I wanted to scream at all of the people waiting in line, "I'm a hungry, tired, pregnant lady who just hiked three hours up this mountain carrying a toddler.  You rode up on a comfortable gondola ride that took five minutes.  Let me through!"  I didn't, I held my tongue, ate my chili, and was much happier after that.  The kids definitely earned their gondola ride down the mountain, so we made three trips.  The ride operators didn't mind and the kids had a blast.  

After the long hike we cooled off by splashing in the fountain.  It had cooled down significantly by then and we didn't last long but it still felt nice to cool our feet. 

I wish we could have stayed forever, but Kelton was long past his exhaustion point and we needed to get him home.  After I buckled him in his car seat he fell asleep in two minutes flat.  Poor guy.  It was an amazing day trip and one of my favorite memories of the summer.  I love the mountains!

Vail Village, where our hotel was.

15 Weeks

15 weeks along and all is well!  Baby is moving, heart is pumping, and I'm starting to look like there's a human growing inside of me.  I'm not as tired as I used to be.  That could be because my first trimester is over, or it could be because I'm not training for any races right now, yahoo!  Either way my daily naps have tapered down to once-every-three-or-four-days naps.  I was never really sick, but sometimes I still get headaches and halfway through my meals I decide I don't want to eat that any more.  It really makes meal planning rough.  I just scheduled my ultrasound to find out if this little bean is a boy or a girl and I am on pins and needles waiting.  I don't think I've ever been so anxious to know.  I can't share what I want it to be here, just in case the future bean reads it and thinks there was some mistake.  Just know that I am dying to know now!  Let's be honest, I've never really considered myself a patient person.  Just 25 short weeks to go...ha!

8 is Great!

Cambrie has been counting down to her birthday for at least a month.  I would receive a count multiple times a day.  I was also just as excited for her birthday to come as she was!  This year she was able to have a huge friend pool party.  But since we couldn't have that party on her actual birthday we had a small family party before Jeremy left for work.  Her cake was in the works for her friend party so that morning she asked for a birthday smoothie.  The candle didn't want to stay upright, but the smoothie was still a delicious birthday treat.  

We had to be super sneaky shopping for her birthday presents this year since she had to come with us to the store.  I think we still managed to surprise her though.  She was really excited about McKenzie's gift, a Nerf bow and arrow.  She's pretty good with it and hasn't shot anybody in the face yet.  

She was also equally excited about her main gift, her own sewing machine.  We have already gone to the store to pick up the supplies for her first project, a stuffed turtle.  I will definitely post pictures of that when she's done.  

She had to wait three whole days before her friend party.  The morning of the party was a little overcast but we didn't think eleven girls would even notice the cold with their new noodles and squirt guns.  Little did we know but the pumps at the pool were broken and it was pretty chilly.  Luckily the girls were super creative and built some pool-side forts to play in while they ate their pizza and cake.

  When they were brave enough to get in the water they had water fights (those water guns really soaked me!), 

swam with their mermaid fins, and just had a great time.  

Finally it was time for cake.  Cambrie designed her cake herself and while there were a few artistic touches she didn't know about she was really happy with how it turned out.  

I can't believe that this little girl is 8-years old.  She loves reading, coloring, making crafts, sewing, having play dates with her friends, riding her bike, playing soccer and now she loves surfing.  It's so much fun watching her grow and mature.  She's starting to ask for the salon chair instead of the airplane chairs when she gets her hair cut.  She actually wanted to go shopping for a birthday outfit and chose the whole thing by herself.  And is already counting down to fourth grade.  What?!  Let's make it through third grade first honey :)

Ahoy Pirate Kelton!

Kelton woke up the morning of his birthday super happy.  He hopped on his bike, grabbed his balloon and rode like a madman all over the house.  I don't think he had any idea it was his birthday yet, but he sure rose to the occasion.

  

Since it was Sunday we held off on the celebrations until after church.  I was a little worried that he would come home too exhausted to party but he held on pretty well.  When he saw the figurines on the cake he immediately started singing the theme song to Jake & the Neverland Pirates and tossing his head back and forth (his sign for Jake).  He was a little confused when we told him to blow, but once he figured it out he couldn't get enough.  

After about five rounds of blowing out the candles I realized that I had forgotten about his pirate hat and sword.  We pulled them out and staged some more photos of him blowing out his candles.  Luckily he still hadn't had enough and blew them out at least six more times.  

Finally it was time to eat the cake.  Jeremy showed him how to take a bite out of the cake before we cut into it, and while Kelton thought it was funny, he also thought it was too sticky.  

But my boy didn't care about the rest of the mess.  He stabbed his cake and tried to fit the entire piece in his mouth at the same time.  

Three happy cake-filled kiddos.

The girls couldn't wait for him to open his presents.  We told him there were toys inside and he was very excited to rip open that paper.  

McKenzie gave him a pair of slippers so he would stop stealing her princess ones.  Cambrie gave him a froggy playground ball that she plans on playing with as much as her brother.   We also gave him his own suitcase so he won't be pulling Tinkerbell through the airport anymore, a dinosaur puzzle, Matchbox cars, and some pool toys.  Grandma and Grandpa gave him a Jake & the Neverland Pirates towel, so once again he doesn't have to use a princess towel at the pool.  

When he saw Nana and Papa's gift of the basketball hoop, all he could say was, "Big!"  

This little dude is 2-years-old!  He loves watching movies, riding his bike, jumping on the trampoline, eating pancakes, sneaking popsicles, splashing in the kiddie pool, wearing monster T-shirts, giving hugs, making silly squishy faces, eating gummies, climbing on almost anything, and playing with his sister.  We sure love him a lot.