Shave Ice

One of the kids favorite treats in the summer is getting Shave Ice.  I use it to bribe them to do things - like swim fast and go to practice and clean the house.  So last night after FHE we tried a new spot.  The lines were long but they were dang good.  And HUGE!  Sophie got the "kiddie size" and all the rest of us got smalls.  Those do not look small to me!

Cowabunga Bay

Trent wanted to go to the new water slide park "Cowabunga Bay" for his birthday. So we packed up the kids and drove up. The park was fun with a small pool, lazy river and lots of different slides. Luke loved the slides and went down the big ones with Todd. He even said on his next ride he was going to lay on his back and cross his arms over his chest to go faster. I didn't bring a camera so I only got 2 pictures with my phone. Sophie was so funny. She LOVES the water. She didn't like wearing her life jacket so we let her wear her water wings instead. She never went very far away and for 90% of the day she played with her blow up turtle in the shallow end. There were these small water fountains that she loved too. She would stand over the water and then stick her face over it then just crack up. I love spending the day playing as a family.

Memorial Day

Warning: Picture Overload....

Since Todd was gone this year for Memorial Day I decided it wasn't a day for home improvement projects. Instead I wanted to enjoy my day off of work and play with the kids and have family over to hang out. Success. It was a fun filled day.

I spent a few hours filling up water balloons. Our backyard faucet didn't work so we ended up in the front yard filling up balloons. Which meant we had even more kids to play since the neighbor kids weren't going to miss out on this party.

We had a water balloon toss

I filled and filled balloons
(I even got a crazy sunburn from sitting like that for a few hours)

The kids played with bubble wands while I filled more balloons

The boys team

The girls team (with Trent)

Let the battle begin

When the balloons were gone the big kids were sent to the backyard so the younger kids could play in the water. Glen LOVED the hose!

Glen giving his dad a drink

Then Sophie and Josephine joined in the fun

Glen thought it would be fun to soak Sophie...and she didn't seem to mind it too much.

The big kids on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath

Shadow kept running under the tramp to get a drink from the sprinkler then the kids would land on his head and he would run out again. It was HILARIOUS!

Then we kicked the big kids off again and let kids under 2 jump.

My mom helped the little kids stay on the side so they didn't get crushed by the big kids.

Then we bar-b-qued and had ice cream sundaes.
Roman loved the ice cream!

Trent captured what I did most of the evening .... the dishes.

Jeannie bathed the little ones.

Trent and Tayson cheesing it up for a quick self portrait

What a great day. The only thing that would have been better would have been Todd and all of our family here. We sure did miss Steve's family - I don't know how we'll make it through the rest of the summer without them!!!

Hooray for Sunshine

Let the summer begin...







bring on the boat and the bar-b-ques I'm so ready!

Out on the Lake

I finally made it out on the lake this summer and it's a good thing we went Friday afternoon because it got very cold and rainy.


Sophie with her grandma


Tayson tubing. He won't let my dad drive fast so he gets bored easy but if we speed up the boat he won't go. He's so silly.


Claire


It felt good to ski. Although my muscles are pretty sore even from the short time I skied. I am out of shape!

Swim Lessons

All 3 kids are in swim lessons right now and they love it. Thank goodness Chelsea was willing to do the mom and tot class with Claire. I don't think I would have been much fun at this point in my pregnancy with her. Hopefully by the end of this week Tayson will be able to swim without his life jacket. He's well on his way and this is the first time in his life Luke hasn't been scared to put his head under the water.


Claire and Chelsea


Luke


Tayson

Happy 4th of July - Flashback

I couldn't find many pictures of old 4th of July celebrations so I thought I would put a few in of the kids from 2006.

Most of my favorite 4th of July memories are of the VP Fair in St. Louis. We had so much fun going downtown and watching the fireworks show and the air show (of course my dad made sure we knew all the planes since they were all from where he worked). They would shoot the fireworks off a barge in the Missouri River and you could lay under the Arch watching them up in the sky. It was amazing and free (unlike the Stadium of Fire here). The last time I went to the Stadium of Fire was the month before Tayson was born. It was over 100 degrees, and I was hot and uncomfortable and now I have no desire to ever go back. Maybe when my kids get older I'll change my tune. We always do a fun family bar-b-que and fireworks in the street now. The kids love it!


Claire's first 4th of July celebration - 2006.


Tayson and Luke lighting sparklers - 2006.

Flashback Friday

Since it's June and someday (all too soon) the temperature here will be over 60 degrees. I thought I would do a pool flashback. We lived about 2 miles from Park Charles Pool & Tennis Club and the years my parents joined were the best. We would get on our bikes and ride to the pool. This is a great memory for me and I have even created an interval workout in my spin class of this bike ride. I would ride my sweet banana seat Schwinn bike usually with Heidi on the seat with me and would race Danny. It was always our goal to get all the way up the big hill without having to get off our bikes and walk them. I can remember how great it felt the first time I did it with Heidi on the back! I was so tough. :)


My pool passes from 1980 and 1981 - yes I am a pack rat. I think it's classic that in the one when I am 7 years old I am wearing a bikini and the one I'm 8 in my hair is sticking straight up. What was I thinking leaving the house like that?


Me, Heidi and David at the pool. The best part of this picture is that Steve is in the background (to the left) and you can see 2 red motorcycle helmets next to him. I'm pretty sure neither Steve or George were old enough to ride their motorcycles to the pool. But not all rules applied to us growing up.

My Summer Races

I had a great summer and did lots of fun races.

Team Telos Triathlon (June 16)- My first race of the year was the family triathlon. It was really fun and since it was so small I got first in my age group - not a lot of competition. The best part of the race was seeing everyone out there on the road. (pictured below in another post)

Pacific Crest 1/2 Marathon (June 23) - I let Kami and Sherry talk me into training for my first half marathon. I've run off and on since High School Cross Country (go Vikings!) but training for this was the first time in my life I have ever run more than 8 miles. Kami and Traci were great training partners and I felt good when we got to the race. Of course Sherry made me start the race in the front line with all the speedy people like her so for the first 6 miles I got passed by a lot of people - but then I started to feel good and I even passed a few people in the last few miles. I was really happy with my time (1:55 - 8:48 min/miles). Sherry came back to cheer me on and run in the last 400 meters or so with me. It was classic because she already had her medal on and was holding a towel and water bottle. I never would have sprinted in so fast without her there!!! (the picture is after this race - Mindy, Kami, Sherry and I)

Freedom Run 5K (July 4) - We have been doing "fast friday" in our weekly workout which is a shorter faster run and have been trying to take some time of our miles. So this race was to see if we could run faster than 8 min/miles. Traci, Kami, Gretchen and I all ran it together and we had a Garmin to help us keep pace. I got to be "coach" and wore the watch to keep us on track. We made our goal and I finished in 24:43. Traci even placed in her age group. :)

ULCER Century Bike Ride (Aug 11) - Traci and I did the 111 mile ride around Utah Lake. WOW what an experience. We rode it in just under 6 hours (18.5 mph/avg) and that is a long time to be on a bike. It was great when we were done and I am now completely comfortable eating and drinking on my bike. :)

I am ready for a nice off-season....of course that means I'm back to teaching spin instead of riding outside. :(