Sky Sox Game

We took the kids to a Sky Sox game a couple weeks ago.  We went on $2 Tuesday so we were able to go for about $10 including parking which was nice because it took the pressure off of staying the whole time to get our moneys worth. Paul had a lot of fun and was really enjoying watching the game as well as the planes that were on their way to land at the airport. Samantha didn't like it quite as well (at all). We did luck out that it was a double header and started at 5:00. That meant a lot of people didn't start coming until later so we weren't fighting crowds and worrying about the kids bothering people. I was especially glad when Samantha started howling and telling everyone she was a coyote. We ended up leaving after about 5 innings, too long for Samantha and too short for Paul. The funniest part was as we were leaving Adam was telling Paul that they could go again just the boys and Samantha started crying and asking why she couldn't go. She said "why can't I come, I was just bored the whole time!?" I told her she and I could go to a movie while Paul and Adam went to a game, that seemed to work for everyone.

Paul having fun

Samantha's position

Camping Part II

The kids had so much fun camping the first time that we decided to take them one more time this summer. We went up with Adam's best friend and his family. The kids had a great time again and now are asking to do it in the backyard (I've told them I can't take them up in the mountains again, it's too hard).  One nice thing about this site was that there were rocks to climb. Samantha had a great time climbing and actually did a good job of getting up and down on her own. She did a good enough job getting up high that Adam told her she wasn't allowed to climb anymore because it made him nervous.

The cute kids (as you can tell Samantha wasn't thrilled about stopping her exploring so I could take a picture)

Bowling

One thing we tried this summer was bowling. We went last summer and while we had a good time, it was super chaotic. I think Paul was just a little too small. This year Holly took the kids a couple times and Paul LOVED it and kept asking to go again so I finally broke down and took him. It was a little difficult with 4 kids (Samantha, Paul, Alex, and Caity) but we still had a great time. I was using my old camera so the pictures didn't turn out too great, but I love the video of Paul's technique. 

The bowling ball under my shirt :)

The Fourth

As Adam and I were talking about the last few years and what we've done over the Fourth of July I realized that we had never taken the kids to see fireworks. Last year I was gone, the year before that it was raining, and before that they were just too little to take to a big show. So we decided this was the year we'd do it all.

We started out at the parade and it was super hot. Luckily we ran into my friend from high school and her family. They were nice enough to let us crash their party and share their canopy so we had a bit of shade. Even with the shade I was uncomfortable and we left before everything was over. Samantha had a great time taking pictures of all the animals in the parade, and the people, and her feet. Some of them were actually pretty good. 

Samantha loved all the horses

They have a renaissance festival right near our town, so they brought up some of their animals for the parade. Samantha and Paul both liked the elephant the best

After the parade we went home, took naps and then had some friends over for a BBQ. It's funny how much happier my kids are when they have friends around. I don't think I saw either of them the whole time we were home. After eating we headed over to Palmer Lake for the fireworks. Before the fireworks started they had some live music and Paul was having such a great time dancing. He was obviously getting tired and he was starting to get a little crazy. His dancing was all over the place and it quickly turned into wrestling with Adam. Samantha wasn't interested in dancing, she was to busy making a house for herself out of the chair and blankets so she could be a dog. Figures. It ended up being a great show and the kids were amazed at how big the fireworks actually are when you see them up close. Luckily we had an easy time getting home too, so the whole process was fairly painless. I am sure we'll end up doing it again next year!

Movie Night

The kids had so much fun camping that they keep asking to do it again. Every day. With the fourth of July and Adam's school schedule we knew that wouldn't really be an option for at least a few weeks. I decided it would be fun to set up a tent in the living room and watch a movie. To make it even more fun Adam set up a projector so the movie was playing really big on the wall in the living room. It turned out really fun...now the kids are asking to go camping every day but they are also asking to set up the tent for a movie night every night. 

Camping

Every year I have wanted to take Samantha and Paul out camping. It was always so fun for me as a kid and I want them to have some of those same experiences. We tried once last year and it did not turn out too great. Paul had a really hard time sleeping (not surprising since he was only two) and that meant that the rest of us had a really hard time sleeping. We woke up the next day exhausted and went home as soon as we could pack up. Even though it was rough I think the kids had fun and so we decided to try again this year. 

Luckily our ward was having a camp out so a lot of the planning was done, we just had to show up. It turned out SO fun. The kids had friends to play with and they ended up sleeping really well. They actually got more sleep than Adam and I because we kept waking up to check on them and make sure they were warm enough. Samantha played with a friend and her dog the whole time and just sobbed when it was time to leave. Paul also had a little friend that he spent the whole day with.

We mostly stuck around the campsite and let the kids play, but we did venture out for a few minutes to go fishing in a nearby lake. Samantha was having fun making "flower boats" (basically flower blossoms that would float) and Paul was helping Adam fish. Unfortunately our trip was rather short because Paul fell in the lake and ended up soaking wet. He was not too happy and we had to head back to the tent to change. Hopefully we'll get to go camping at least one more time this summer before this baby comes!

Father's Day

These kids have the best dad in the world. The. Best.