Swim Lessons

The kids took swim lessons for the first time this summer.  They got to go for two weeks.  Best thing ever.  Last year both of them were really timid in the water.  This year, it is much much better, and I think a lot of that has to do with swim lessons.  They each got their own 30 minutes for 2 weeks.  I have to admit, I got kind of tired of them, but the kids loved them for the most part.  Some days it was kind of like pulling teeth to get them to go and swim, but really they did great.  

Kamdyn is fearless.  Last summer she had to be holding onto one of us at all times (probably didn't help that she was too small to fit into the floaties!)  This year, she is totally happy floating around by herself.  In fact, she's one you have to keep your eye on.  She has no problem just jumping into the pool, whether you are ready and waiting to catch her or not:)  Her swim lessons consisted of a lot of telling her instructor what she wanted to do:)  But really, she's two, so I didn't expect a ton out of her.  I really just wanted to get her more comfortable with the water.  Well that mission was definitely accomplished!

 Eli did an awesome job too.  He is by no means a daring kid.  He is pretty timid and not adventurous at all.  So you didn't have to worry about him just jumping in on his own:)  He can touch the bottom of the shallow end this year, and that's a huge help.  He's not nearly as scared of the water now knowing he can touch.  But he really is an awesome swimmer.  He loves to swim to the deep end(in his floaties) and climb up the ladder.  Over and over.  He is even fairly comfortable going underwater.  It's still not his favorite thing, but he doesn't freak out if it happens.

 And this little man was hanging out with us too.  He was too young for lessons, but he sure does love the water.  I had to ban him to the pool house after a while.  He is such a mover.  It's nearly impossible for this kid to sit still.  Unless he's sleeping, he's moving.  Needless to say, I got tired of holding a wiggly little monster.  So he was banned from outside.  He was cracking me up.  He was playing with toys for a while, but then discovered he could see us from the doors, so he just kept pulling himself up on the door and banging on it.  I think he was hoping I'd spring him from his prison.  Didn't happen.

 She tried to entertain him though:)

 And before he was banned, I had to take a few pictures of him.  Just because he's so cute:)

Tanganyika Wildlife Park

Look at me go.......it's hasn't been five weeks since my last update:)  And I even had to be intentional and go upstairs to get my camera, then take it back downstairs so I could upload pictures.  That's progress people!  Anyways, last week we took the kids to Tanganyika Wildlife Park.  We haven't been there since Kamdyn was about 6 months old.  Mostly because that place costs an arm and a leg to get into!  We get spoiled with our zoo membership!  Can only afford to take the kids to this place at least once  a year:)  It is 9 dollars just for Eli!  Thank goodness the younger two were still free.  Ok, enough about the cost.......even though it's expensive, I like to go here every once in a while for a change of pace.  It's so cool how much closer you can be to the animals and that you can pet some.  We made the mistake of telling Eli he would be able to animals.  The first thing he wanted to do was pet the giraffe.  We told him he couldn't pet the giraffes, but there were other animals he could pet.  He never dropped the giraffe thing.  He just really wanted to pet one!  Can't blame him......I would pet one if I could too.  I told B I wanted a pet giraffe.  They are so cool.  Don't know if I'd like cleaning up that poop though.  But the coolness factor just might make it worth it! 

To the pictures:  

Checking out the rhinos.  We were literally like 6 feet away from this thing.

 My handsome blue eyed baby enjoying the view:)

 We couldn't take strollers in, so daddy and the kids went in to check out the kangaroos.  They wouldn't pet any of these:)

 Bunnies!  Eli loved petting the bunnies.......Kamdyn refused.......that girl is so funny.  She's totally fearless when it comes to most things, but she refuses to pet a sweet bunny.  Go figure!

 Turtles.  The second we sat on the ledge to look at them, all of these turtles come "rushing" over:)  I think they thought we were going to feed them......man are the trained or what!

 Tanganyika has the awesome park.  There is a massive slide (seriously, you go SO fast going down this monster thing!)  Everyone had fun playing....even the biggest kid of the family:)

 So thankful they have a daddy that is willing to do things with them and take them places!

Penguins!  The water looks very unnaturally blue, but man it looked nice.   I was ready to jump in for a swim!  The penguins didn't feel the same way apparently, because they were all huddled in the back in the shade.

That was our trip.  The kids had fun, which makes the cost worth it.  And they had a honey badger (if you haven't seen this you tube video, you should go watch it......but it is three minutes of your life you won't get back:).  It is kind of funny though.)  So Brian was really excited about that......I think it was worth the cost of admission to see a honey badger:)

Catch up Post #2

Some more of what we've been up to.  I think this may catch me up to current time:)  Sweet!  Now I just have to stay caught up.  And twice in one week, don't expect that all the time!

Friend birthday party:  Eli and Kamdyn's good pal Brooks celebrated his 3rd birthday.  Brooks is one of the kids I watch while I'm up at the dance studio.....so really, they are more like more siblings to our kids......only better because they aren't around all the time to get on their nerves:)

Parker wasn't happy I wasn't holding him.....

 Not sure what these two were laughing about, but it was funny

 The whole bunch, minus the 4 babies.  We got a lot of kids running around on our play dates!  Bring your ear plugs if you join us....it's loud.

 These two are only about 2 months apart.  I'm pretty sure little Eli (that's his name too) could eat Parker for dinner though.  He's a big boy and definitely has Parker beat in size!

Swimming:  Granny and Papa's pool is open!  Eli has been swimming a couple of times.  Kamdyn went just this once.  She's more of an in and out of the pool kind of girl.  She can't keep still.  I'm a bad mom and haven't taken them swimming much.  I'm sure Eli would love to go more.  I'm not a big swimmer....I like to float more:)  So the idea of going and hauling the kids around the pool doesn't sound very appealing to me.  I'd rather be lazy and relax.  Good thing their daddy likes to swim with them!

 More botanica:  This time though we got the surprise of seeing 2 of their three (Hutton) cousins there.  The kids were thrilled!  Nice for me too because they had kids to run around with.

There you have it.  That's what we've been up to the last several months.  Lots of fun stuff.  Wears me out.  Or maybe it's just our kids.  Either way, bedtime cannot come soon enough in our house!

Hi, my name is Krista.......

................And I'm the world's worst blogger.  I wish I had some grand excuse for why I haven't blogged in 5 weeks, but I don't.  Basically I'm just too lazy to upload my pictures from my camera and put them on a jump drive so I can update this thing.  So I'm just going to do some catch up posts.  Summer is here, so we've been busy busy busy.  Lots of fun things to do with friends (and daddy too because he's done with work and soccer...YAY!)  So bear with me, this one has a LOT of pictures.  But I will keep the narrative to a minimum.  All anyone really wants to see anyways is pictures of our adorable kids:)  I got a new camera lens, so I've been going a little bit crazy with the camera.

So here goes.....                                                   

Easter:  It happened way back in April:)  Sad I know.  I had intentions of doing an Easter post in April, but the pictures sat on my camera for about 3 weeks too long.  Then I just didn't care anymore.  So here's a few from the day over at granny and papa's with the cousins.  I didn't upload any of the egg hunt.  Really, it was just a lot of us pointing out the eggs anyways:)  

Trying to get group shots may not get any easier as they get older.  But as my sis-in-law and I always say, bodies count (nevermind that our middle was too much of a busy body to be in this picture....Eli and Beth look cute:))                                            

Playing around with my new lens in the wheat field:  I love wheat fields.  They are so beautiful.  And for some reason, I have been obsessed with the idea of having pictures of our family, and the kiddos in an uncut wheat field.  Good thing we have a field behind our house:)

 This isn't even that awesome of a picture, but I thought it was so cute how Parker had is arm around his sister.  He loves his big brother and sister.  And they sure love him too:)

Botanica:  Having a botanica membership is one of the best things ever!  Seriously, that place is so peaceful.  And with the children's garden now, the kids love going there.  We've been a lot so far this year.  Even better, they almost always get to go with friends.  Friends make the world a better place......

 Okay, I was playing with my camera and taking some pictures of Parker's girlfriend (aka: future wife). I was trying to get some of both of them together too.  They are just a month apart (and our boys, the first borns, are just a week and a half apart.....so thankful to have such an amazing friend to travel through the same stages of life with:))  Anyways, it was pretty halarious....

 Especially these.....Parker kept trying to take V's dress off.....he must have really liked the colors:)

 But is true girlfriend fashion, V tried to keep him in line.  She got ahold of his ear.

 Story of this poor kid's life.  He always has someone in his face.  But it really is sweet.  Just shows how much he is loved.  He was tired and we were leaving.  She kept bugging him, but eventually climbed in the stroller next to him. Such a sweet big sister!

Parks and Picnics:   With friends of course! I (and the kids too) truly have been blessed with the most amazing group of girlfriends.  All of our kids are around the same ages, so it's so fun to watch them grow together.  Now that summer is finally here, we've all been getting together a lot.  Mostly for the mommy's sakes and sanity, but the kids definitely benefit too:)

 Wagon rides:  We go on frequent walks around the block.  Eli gets to ride his bike and Kamdyn and Parker get to ride in the wagon.  They love it.  And she loves him:)  Seriously, he always has someone in his face or touching him.  No wonder he doesn't like it if he's left alone to play by himself!!

 Popsicles:  We enjoyed the first popsicle of the year early in May with friends who were over playing. They were a hit for sure.

 He's crawling.  Has been for about a month now.  More on that later.  So cute to see him getting all over the house, but man you gotta keep your eye on this one.  He's sneaky!

Okay, first update done!  I have a couple more to actually get myself caught up to current time:)  Hopefully it's not another five weeks before I do that!