Summer 2009: Part I

Now that summer is about over, I figure it's about time I post some pictures of what we've been up to. Basically two things - boating and the aquatic center. But I took about a thousand pictures (or maybe 265, but it feels like 1,000) so I'm doing it in Part I and Part II. First off, boating! We have had so much fun boating with the family this year. Both Caiden and Paige went on the kneeboard (with Casey, of course). We had been trying to convince Caiden all summer to do it by himself, but he was NOT interested. He finally achieved that (for about 2.5 seconds) a couple weeks ago. (There is a funny video at the end that will explain it all). Then just 2 days ago, we were getting ready to go out and he said "Dad, I'm gonna wakeboard." Of course, we didn't really take him seriously. It's not the first time he's made a statement like that and then gotten on the boat and decided "umm....next time". (Not that I blame the kid). So we just kinda said "yeah, ok bud, you do that." And what do ya know? He did.

This is actually the second time he did it. The first time I forgot my camera and was totally kicking myself. But he promised he would do it again so I could get a picture. He's so light that he could almost stand up on the board without the boat even moving. It was so cute to see how excited it made him that he actually did it. True, it only lasted about 4 or 5 seconds each time, but still, I definitely wasn't trying that at age 5. Go Caiden! You rock!

Little Miss Paigey driving with daddy....

Caiden and Keenen on the tube

Caiden "pretend" surfing with Papa and my brother, Rodney....

Almost everytime we went out on the boat, Paige would fall asleep. Only one time did Caiden fall asleep, but I love that she used him as a pillow.

Paige getting ready to knee board with daddy...

My brother and his family came to visit for a week and we spent nearly every minute of it on the boat. We really have been getting into the surfing thing lately. This is my sister in law, Jessica, trying it out.

Caiden and his cousins, Lauren and Tanner.

One of my favorite things is to watch Casey out on the wakeboard. He's too modest to admit that he's pretty darn good, but I'm not. So there. Ha! Anyway, most of the pics I got of him are blurry because of my dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb camera, so there is a video below that better shows his skills.

Caiden kneeboarding with Casey...

...and Paige too. She's so little and Casey's so big that every time she went she would get splashed in the face the whole time. But it must not have been too bad, because she was always the first to volunteer...

That's me trying out the surf board. Now my skills are not quite the level of my husband, but I was just happy that I got up. I was worried about not being "attached" to the board and every time I crashed I instantly thought the board was going to crash onto my head, but luckily it did not.

Casey doing a 360...

...and a flip...(I know there's a technical name for it but I just call it "cool flip.")

and Casey surfing...

The first video is of Casey wakeboarding. The second is of Caiden kneeboarding. I mentioned before that we couldn't convince Caiden to go alone. But while my brother was here we convinced him to go with Casey and then Casey would let go and we would immediately turn around and go pick him up. The funny part is after Casey let go (and after my obnoxious scream) Caiden saying "go get dad! go get dad!" Obviously he didn't think we were going to and therefore bailed...