Tennis for #2

Adler had his first tennis lesson last weekend. I'm pretty sure he's not the next Andre Agassi - as evidenced by him hitting the ball the wrong way - but he seemed to have had a lot fun.

About 40 minutes into the hour long group lesson he stopped, took of his shoe, pulled a lego out of it and gave it to me saying it wasn't very comfortable. I have no idea how he made it that long with that thing in there.

1st of 2nd

Yesterday was Landon's first day of second grade and, of course, we had to take a few photos to commemorate.

Adler, who doesn't start school until next week, slept in and had to be woken up just in time to go drop his brother off, which is why he's wearing his jammies and carrying a 'to go' breakfast.

firefighter

Papa's birthday

Papa's birthday was a few weeks ago and my brother nicely organized a big family dinner to celebrate.  He brought most of the food and dessert and I was able to bring the few things he was missing.  We all went swimming and then went back to my parents house for a big taco bar and pie.  Unfortunately this was the only picture I got, but its pretty sweet of 2 of his 4 grandsons on his lap.  

Earth Week

Okay, one more post about the end of the last school year that I thought I should actually get up before the next school year starts.

Landon's school had "Earth Week" and one of the days was bike to school day. We got the whole family involved including Alder and Papa and Grandma. After all the logistics, which included Grandma driving the van to take Adler to his school after we biked to LT's school, I'm pretty sure we ended up driving more than we otherwise would have. But it was fun for everyone and it doesn't hurt to expose the kids to other methods of commuting, even if we didn't actually reduce our emissions that particularly day.  

Sleepunder

 A good friend of mine isn't a big fan of sleepovers for her kids (and I have to say that I agree). I let Landon go when invited so that he doesn't feel left out and happily agree when he asks to have a friend spend the night for his sake, but its not my favorite activity.  My friend, instead of sleepovers, has what she calls sleepunders.  Basically that entails everything you would do at a normal sleepover (play, eat dinner, watch a move or play games, have a treat, get ready for bed), but when its time for bed, the kid goes home.  Brilliant!  This week, we didn't intend for that to happen with a sleepover, but it did.  Zack came over after camp on Tuesday, we played outside on the trampoline, did some legos, ate dinner, created perler bead art, had some ice cream, got ready for bed and got into bed.  Landon and Adler fell asleep quickly.  Zack was not so sure about the idea.  I never want kids to be afraid when they're sleeping here, its supposed to be fun.  After awhile and his insisting, we called his mom and his dad came to pick him up.  I still consider the night a success, the boys had a lot of fun!

Date with my little guy

 While Brian took LT to his first NFL game, Adler and I got a special date night!  We had a birthday/housewarming party to go to, but then we had several open hours for us to do what he wanted.  I asked him what would be fun and he had a whole plan that was slightly surprising to me, but really enjoyable!  First he wanted to go to a bookstore and get a firetruck book (he has never really been into fire trucks, so this was the first surprise).  Next he wanted to go to Noodles and Company for dinner (not a huge surprise).  After noodles, he wanted to make rice krispy treats (very surprising, we had never done this before!).  It ended up being a really fun evening with lots of one on one time. 

 At the bookstore, we did get a fire truck book, but we also found this very fun dinosaur puzzle (and he has been very into dinos).  It was fun to put together with him while the rice krispies were cooling.

I hadn't made these since I was a kid!

LT's First NFL Game

Thanks to uncle Steve (and his season tickets), I got to take Landon to his first NFL game last night. It was just a preseason game and we only stayed for the first half but it was still a lot of fun and someday he'll be able to tell his kids that he got to see Peyton Manning play (turns out Manning came and gave a surprise talk at his school the next week). The night was one of those first experiences for a kid, which was really special to me to be able share with him (part of which is eating junky food at the stadium).

helping get ready for baby

We received a hand-me-down crib from some friends and the boys helped me put it together this weekend. When I asked them to pose for picture to show off their work, rather than standing next to it like I'd expected, they just jumped right in!

School Project

At the end of the last school year (I figured I should finally get around to posting it before the new school year started) LT's class was leaning about mammals. As part of the unit, each kid got to choose one mammal as a focus of their study, which included making a diorama of the animal in its habitat.  

   Landon went with humans as his mammal. I'm pretty sure that's not what his teachers had in mind when they gave the assignment but it did technically meet the requirement and everyone went with it. I was really proud of him and I love that his school and teachers embrace and encourage creative thinking.

Meeting at Stanley

 Landon's good friend's mom and I are sharing "room mom" duties this year for their class.  We have had a lot of meetings recently, but luckily our 5 kids get along great.  We met for 2 hours at the school last week and the kids all disappeared.  We found them out on the side yard doing water/sand stuff and all sad that our meeting was over!

Painting for the baby

 My mom was so kind and offered to paint the room for the baby.  Landon and I went to the paint store and chose the color together and then grandma painted.  The boys wanted to help, which was a little helpful, a lot cute and made for a little more repainting due to splattering.  Regardless, I am glad they could be part of creating their new brother or sister's room.

Sweet Adler

Adler really loves his new brother or sister.  He is constantly checking on it and giving it hugs and kisses.  Last night he tried to sit on my lap (mostly gone at this point) to read a book and ended up just snuggling with the baby.  

Surey Bike

The boys and I have had a bucket list of things to do this summer, but as usual, we are down to the last week before school and still have more things on our list than we have time for.  Yesterday, Brian played golf with some friends and so I had the morning with the boys.  At the last minute, I remembered renting one of these fun bikes at City Park was on our list so we headed to the park.  Unfortunately neither of the kids could reach the pedals so the man power was all up to me with my large belly.  We had a nice morning despite the very slow ride. 

Sleepover

Landon's buddy had a sleepover at our house.  These two are amazingly loud and silly, yet two of the easiest kids to get to sleep when it is time.  They played all kinds of "talking games", ate dinner, watched the Lego movie and then when it was time for bed, literally no problems.  They got dressed, brushed teeth, I put them in bed, told them they had 5 minutes to talk quietly to each other and then I turned out the light and heard nothing until the morning.  This picture says it all.  These two have a great time together, even when they brush teeth :) 

Great day

 We went back to our much loved trail at Lair of the Bear with some dear friends.  The main bridge that crosses the river was damaged in the floods last year.  My dad and I weren't able to figure out how to do our regular loop when I was there earlier this summer, however, after some research, I was able to find a different bridge and take these little hikers on one of our favorite loops!  Its a little longer hike now, but still the same beautiful views and these 4 did an amazing job!

 Rock collecting hikers.

Afterwards, we headed back to Denver to the food trucks at Civic Center.  We hit up the PB and J truck!  Whats better than a smores pb and j after a long hike?  Yummy!

Isaac turns 7!

 Isaac turned 7 this week and we were so lucky to spend the evening with him and his family.  We went to Patzcuaros for dinner and then for ice cream.  Landon thought it would be funny to dip his whole face in the ice cream for this picture and they all laughed hysterically.  Boys....

Hiking days

 One of my favorite things to do is hike (guess I take after my dad).  It has been so fun this summer to see our kids enjoy it as much as I do.  In the past week and a half, I have been lucky enough to go 3 times!  We took Nicholas and our kids to Red Rocks and went on a pretty tough little hike, all 3 finished it with lots of energy and happy smiles.  At the end were some pretty steep stairs, Adler literally jumped up them and ran, amazing.

 While Brian took the boys to grandpas house for a "boys weekend", my dad and I were able to get out for a great hike up Chief Mountain.  Beautiful views and my incredibly fit dad!

Baby #3 has friends too

I feel so lucky that each time I have been pregnant I have either met several wonderful new friends also pregnant or had several old friends pregnant at the same time.  Not only does it make going through the pregnancy a bit easier, but I know the baby will already have friends.  This time around, my good friend Roxanne, whom I have known for 22 years is also pregnant.  She also has two older kids, though somehow we have staggered our kids and never been pregnant at the same time.  The two newest additions are due less than 2 months apart!  We had a nice girls dinner the other night and she suggested getting a picture of the newest ones.  

Zoo with the Medina girls

Renee sent me a last minute text this week to see if we were free to go to the zoo with her girls.  These four have such a great time together, no matter how long we go in between seeing each other.  Ice cream is almost always a must when these kids are at the zoo together, but for some reason Landon thought it would be hilarious to hide his ice cream for the picture.   

Beach

 We spent a morning at the Escondido beach.  Landon and Adler spent their time building sand castles with me while Nicholas and Papa played in the waves.

Uncle John's house

A trip to southern California wouldn't be complete without a visit at Uncle John's house.  This time was no exception.  He has several of these old toy tractors, a trampoline, dirt, games and many other fun activities.  The three boys played outside together for most of the day there.  

Legoland

 After a quick trip to Seattle we took the 3 boys and flew down to San Diego for a Legoland adventure.  At the last minute, someone suggested that staying at the legoland hotel was very convenient and incredibly fun.  We splurged, and stayed there for 2 nights.  It was well worth it, definitely the most kid friendly hotel we've ever stayed in.  The lobby has this huge pirate ship (above) with buckets of legos and tunnels to crawl through and build in.

 The rooms are brilliantly laid out for families.  Each room has 2 areas, one with bunk beds for kids (and a trundle if you happen to have 3 kids) and then a queen size bed in the other room.  They're separated by a bathroom.

 Each room has a theme (we stayed in the pirate themed room) and all the wall decorations are made out of legos!

 When you check in, each kid is given a scavenger hunt in which you find out a code to open the "treasure box" in your room.  The treasure box was a lego set, and it was replenished each day you are there!  One for each kid in the room.  The pool even had floating legos for the kids to play with while in the water.  

 The next morning we got up and used our early access to go into the park.  The boys rushed to the "coastasaurus", a relatively little roller coaster.  They were all so happy to be in the park!

 The entrance was maybe 50 feet from the hotel.

 Ads waiting for the coastasaurus.

 And Nicholas.

 Adler wasn't old enough for the big kid driving school, but luckily they had a little kid driving school.  All 3 earned their drivers licenses.

 Nicholas and I escaped for a bit to go on this big pirate ride.  Neither one of us were sure what we were getting ourselves into, but we got SOAKED!   

 For a short time, the actual set from the Lego movie is on display at Legoland.  It was massive and took more than 6 years to build.  The people working in the display area sent these two on an "I spy" hunt to find various things in the display.  They were entertained for well over an hour searching through the model for small unique things.

 A hot day calls for dippin' dots. 

 Smiley lion.

 Legos everywhere in the hotel lobby.

 The hotel has a contest each evening.  This months theme was to build a robot (with legos supplied in each room).  I was so proud of these two for entering the competition, which was actually quite large and intimidating.  They didn't win, but they sure made a unique "flower power robot."