Summer 2009: Part II

The Aquatic Center!! We spent ALOT of time at the pool this summer. Probably about 2-3 times a week we would come. I would pack lunches and Caiden and Paige loved playing with their friends and I enjoyed chatting with mine. It's a rough life to live, but hey, someone's gotta do it, right?

Caiden and some of his best buds, Ian and Adam...

At the beginning of the summer Paige just about drove me crazy. She did not want to swim or play in the sand, just eat....THE ENTIRE TIME. The pool opens at 11 and by 11:15 she was done with her lunch and trying to eat Caiden's. No matter how I tried to hide the food, she would find it as soon as my back was turned. Little stinker. But by the end of the summer, she discovered swimming and playing in sand and also her new best friend Adam.

Paige eating again...

Paige and Adam in the sprinklers...I love how they are covering their eyes...so cute!

Caiden and Ian LOVED the lazy river. Caiden is just barely tall enough to see over the tube, which works well when he is trying to hide from me when it I tell him it's time to get out. Here's a funny story. Today we were at the pool and it was time to go and I was telling them to stop at the unloading part (you kinda have to walk yourself off to the side) and they both kept saying "we don't know how to get out. we can't remember." Yeah, sure. So then they would get to the unloading part and "accidentally" miss it. They went around 2 more times and I was starting to lose my patience. Caiden kept saying "mom, we can't remember how to do it!" So I said "well, maybe when we get home I won't 'remember' how to turn on the wii." Slight pause. Then he said "well, actually, I think I can figure it out this time." And that was that.

This is Caiden at his Level 2 swim lessons this year. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the teacher he got, but he did good anyhow. He achieved diving for the torpedos....

...the back float....

...and jumping off the diving board both frontwards and backwards...

My brother and his family came to visit a couple of weeks ago and Casey and my brother both tried the waverider. The wipeout shots are my favorite... (especially Casey's)

I love this shot of all 5 kids. They are so cute!

And this one too. This is at home while they all played with play dough. I love Lauren and Paige's faces the most. Hilarious! Caiden had to be cool and mellow just like his cousin Tanner of course.

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...

Little entreprenuers

Caiden and Paige decided to host their first lemonade stand a few days ago and it was pretty darn cute. (Except for one MAJOR tantrum when Caiden thought Paige was stealing all the money. After a little time in time-out and me assuring him REPEATEDLY that Paige was not STEALING the money, just HOLDING the money, he returned. ) But aside from that, they had a great time and I got a kick out of watching them. Even though it was I who made the cookies, made the lemonade, set up the stand, created the sign, poured the lemonade, handed out the cookies, and cleaned it all up, it was still fun. Caiden had quite the song and dance going for the cars passing by. In the end they made a whoping $9, not the $30 that Caiden set out to make, but still more than the $2 or $3 I imagined. I'm thinking the 8 people who bought from them (including dad) must have thought they were pretty cute because most of that $9 was in tips. Paige was in charge of the selling the cookies, "you wanna a tookie?" and Caiden handing out the lemonade. He sometimes got ahead of himself and just handed the people a cup full of ice, forgetting all about the lemonade. Good thing I was around to help.....

Paige loves to pretend her toys are microphones and loves to sing into them. On this day it was a jump rope. I caught her sweetly singing and pulled out the camera. Usually, she gets really embarassed if you catch her and then refuses to keep singing if she knows you are watching. But, to my surprise, she said she wanted to sing the ABC's. As soon as I clicked "record" this heavy metal rocker voice came out of her. I about died laughing.

4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!! To celebrate, I decided to be brave and make the 19 hr trip to my parents house in Pagosa Springs, CO all by myself!! Casey had to work (but you know that never stops me) and so I went without him. I am glad to report that Caiden and Paige did AWESOME! Thanks entirely to the DVD player! I'm not sure how my parents did it with 4 kids from Louisiana to Colorado straight without this incredible invention. In fact, at times it was almost....peaceful. The only fight was who got pick which movie to watch, but once the head phones went on, it was silent! There were a few more potty breaks than normal, but we made good time and no speeding tickets either! (Because there was quite a bit of that going on).

Highlights of the trip:
* hanging out with family and Caiden and Paige goofin around with their cousins
* watching my dad fly in formation over the Pagosa Springs 4th of July Parade
* Caiden riding on Papa's Harley on the way to church
* seeing an old friend we grew up with in Louisiana and her 2 cute kids
* going to the carnival (except for the one crazy lady at the spinning chili pepper ride. Seriously,
what was her deal??)
* watching fireworks (and Paige sleeping through it all)
* BBQ-ing and eating food I didn't have to cook!
* realizing my mom is slowing becoming the Cat Lady (Mom, you can feed Ruffy but don't touch him!!)
* graduating from the "easy" level on Guitar Hero to MEDIUM!! Yes, I did!

Caiden and Harrison hanging out in the hot tub...

I love watching my dad when he flies in formation. He is the one on the far left (I think). These aren't the best pictures but it was so sunny I couldn't tell if I was getting them in the picture or not and it's not like I have the best camera here...

I love Caiden's "sunglasses" in this picture. He is a funny kid.

Our friend Michelle (Harrison) Watabe...Her husband and 2 kids joined the crazy Peart family for the weekend.

Sisters....(sorry it's a blurry picture)

Paige spotted this pink car at the carnival and LOVED it! She rode this ride twice.

4th of July BBQ

...riding with Papa in the "jeep with no doors or windows!"

This is how Paige arrived at the place where we were going to watch fireworks. She was even riding in the jeep when she fell asleep. Now that's a tired girl.

The Peart, Hunt, and Watabe families...

Seriously rockin at Guitar Hero. Casey doesn't understand how I can hate video games so much and yet love Guitar Hero. But I say, how can you play this and not wish just a little bit that you were a rock star in a band??? The video below features Jessica on vocals, Kelley on guitar, Kim on drums, and Maddie on bass to Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train". Yeah, I know, we rock.