2011 summer vacation - week 3

 

This week started off with a trip to Riverfront Park in Spokane with Grandma and Mike.  We stopped at Dick’s Hamburgers on the way to have a picnic lunch in the park.  On our way to the benches the kids and Mike got up close and personal with a squirrel.  It’s really hard to get a feel for how close it is in the photo, but it was only about 2 feet away.  Unfortunately it never did get brave enough to grab the bread out of Mike’s hand, but the kids thought it was really neat being so close. 

After that we fed the ducks for a while.  We stopped at a bread store and scored loaves of older bread for $.25 each.  The kids each had their own bag and had lots of fun feeding the seagulls, ducks, and geese.  One goose in particular even ate out of our hands!

We spent quite a bit of time on the bridge that crosses over the river.  The kids were pretty fascinated watching the water rushing by underneath, and I grabbed a few pretty cool shots.

Here’s a pretty cute one of Derk, Mike, Asher, and Bri!  Asher and Mike are best buds. 

Apparently I took no pictures between Monday and Friday.  Oops!  But on Friday Asher and I went to Silverwood together and had a great time!  It was a chilly and overcast, but the rain managed to stay away until the very end of our day.  I even got him to go on Tremors!  He was so brave in line, but then once we got on the ride he got super scared and hated it.  Poor little guy!  He clung to me and whimpered for almost an entire hour after that ride.  Funny and sad at the same time!

Here’s my sweet boy, totally tuckered out after our busy day!  I love how he fell asleep while holding the bag of kettle corn we bought!

And to finish off the week, baby Benjamin was finally able to come home from the hospital!!  Logan was so sweet and wanted to read his brother a story right away.  He loves polar bears, and he shared his new polar bear book that he just got for his birthday with his baby brother.  It melted my heart!  He is the best big brother.

James is totally in love with his newest son.

Nana was finally able to hold Benjamin for the first time!  Here she is cuddling her cute grandsons! 

Derk and the kids hadn’t been able to see Benjamin yet since he was in the NICU, so they came to pick me up from my sister’s and got a chance to meet the little sweetie!  We all loved our time snuggling Ben, especially Kyrie.  She cannot get enough of him!  Makes it slightly tricky for us since I can’t get enough of him either. 

2011 summer vacation - week 2

This week started off in the best possible way – a new baby!!  My sister Abby went in to be induced first thing Monday morning, and I went and spent the day with their boys, Logan and Noah.  We did lots of crafting:

And lots of mess-making :

After a fun-filled day, we headed over to the hospital to meet little Benjamin!  The boys cuddled their new brother for a bit, and then James took them home to put them to bed while I hung out with Abby at the hospital for a bit.  Here’s James with all 3 of his boys! 

On Tuesday Derk and I took the kids to Cherry Hill for some frisbee golfing before I headed over to help with Logan and Noah.  Cambria just loves the camera! 

Kyrie loved the lilacs (which bloomed for a long time this year!), just like her Nana, and I thought the trees were so breathtaking:

Cambria found her own tree that she thought was amazing, too.  She named it the rainbow tree!

I really love this photo.  It really captures just how much Bri looks up to Kyrie and wants to do everything she does! 

Little Ben ended up aspirating amniotic fluid and had to go into the NICU at Kootenai Medical Center.  Abby spent some extra time in the hospital, and I was so grateful that I was here to help them with their other boys during this scary time!  Wednesday I picked the boys up, and we went to Story Time at the library with Katie and Jonni.  The kids were such good listeners for the stories, and they had fun making their steering wheel craft at the end.

After dropping the boys back off with James, I headed over to the hospital to visit with Abby and snuggle little Benjamin in the NICU.  Poor little sweetie. 

We ended the week with a trip to Spokane’s Manito Park this afternoon.  The Japanese garden was absolutely stunning!

The kids all found stuff they loved at the garden!  Asher and Bri wanted to take home every single pinecone they saw.  Kyrie would have brought home that pillar, too, if we were able to move it.  She thought it was just beautiful (and it is!).

The week didn’t go quite as planned (mostly just with sweet Benjamin being sick! ), but we still had a great time! 

2011 summer vacation–week 1

We took off for Idaho late Friday night (or early Saturday morning, depending on how you look at it). We left around 1am or so, the idea being to get the first chunk of the drive out of the way while the kids slept. Never. again. The kids were actually fine, but the cats. Oh, the cats! Actually, just Zelda. She’s the high-strung one. Thankfully Isis just goes with the flow. Anyway, Zelda just cried the entire first few hours. Then once I finally dug out the anxiety drops I’d bought (note to self: keep them much more handy on the trip home!), she’d just calmed down when she puked! All I can say is thank goodness the cats were both crated because otherwise our brand new van would have been christened with cat vomit. We pulled over, and I got her out on her leash to clean her off while Derk cleaned out the cage. Not even a half hour later, she pooped all over her cage. Let’s just say we very nearly left her on the side of the road at that point (okay, not really, but I can’t deny it crossed my mind…). After that I probably overdosed her on the anxiety drops (not really, they’re homeopathic, but I did give her more than the bottle says, I’m sure), and she was quiet the rest of the drive to St. George. Once we got to Grandma Dean’s house we all took showers first thing. Then we took Grandma out to lunch at the Mexican restaurant Derk’s uncle owns. Then it was back on the road to Salt Lake where we were going to spend a couple of days.

Monday morning we headed out of Salt Lake and stopped in Pocatello to attend Anoni’s first birthday party. It was so fun to finally meet Anoni and to have a little break from the car. We had a good visit, and their girlies really enjoyed playing with the cats (and I’m sure they really enjoyed getting a break from the crates!). Isn’t her little tutu just precious?!

We arrived in Coeur d’Alene around 1am Tuesday morning. On Wednesday all of the cousins from my side went to the park and had a blast together. It was so fun to have them all together.

Thursday we went on a hike around Tubb’s Hill with Jessica and her boyfriend Mike and their dog Clyde. I got so many gorgeous scenery shots! How I miss living in the Northwest. The day was cool and overcast, but it was perfect hiking weather. I also had no idea how much attention Great Danes get! Almost everyone who passed us on the trail wanted to stop and talk to Jess about Clyde.

Sunday we went to my Mom’s house and celebrated Logan’s 5th birthday. I tried to get a shot of these 3 cuties sitting on a bench together, but you can see how productive that venture was…

The cousins had a lot of fun jumping on the trampoline, running amuck through Nana’s house, and eating cake.

We had a really great first week!

Last day of school

Well, we made it! The school year is officially over. Very had to believe we’ll now have a 4th grader and a 1st grader! Here’s a cute look at these kiddos on their first day of school compared to how they looked today on their last day. Asher especially has grown up a lot (even in height, believe it or not! ).

Kindergarten graduation!

Today was Asher’s kindergarten graduation.  Very hard to believe the school year is almost over (tomorrow)!  We are SO ready for summer, but it’s very hard to think about not having his wonderful teacher next year.  Mrs. V was truly amazing and will always hold a special place in my heart for the wonderful way she loved our boy!

Here’s the cute banner they made and had hanging at the front of the stage.     We have no clue which one is Asher’s (although we could pick out some that we could most definitely rule out), but we had fun trying to guess. 

 

Here’s Asher walking into the ceremony with his classmates (he’s in the jeans and striped shirt, if you couldn’t tell). 

Here’s Asher taking his place on the stage.  I love how he’s looking for us. 

 

Then they sang a few songs.  Asher kept rocking out through the whole performance, and we even had people comment to us afterward about how funny he was.  He even started doing an air guitar at one point, although I didn’t have the camera rolling to catch it.  I did manage to catch a few funny poses, though.  Sorry the video quality isn’t the best.  My camera doesn’t like to be clear when I zoom…

 

 
After that it was time for their “diplomas.”  Here’s Asher’s teacher calling him over.  The other lady standing next to Mrs. V. is their principal.

After that, they did a cute slideshow of all the kids throughout the year.  Here are a couple (pictures of pictures) of Asher having fun in class!

Then it was back to the classrooms to pick up a few things, like his final report card and some other school papers.  While there, one of Asher’s friends was desperate to give him a hug.  The pictures will tell you how he felt about that…

And of course we had to get a picture of him with his teacher!  I seriously cried after this.  She is just the most amazing lady, and I know Asher wouldn’t have had nearly as good of a year if she hadn’t been his teacher.  She mentioned that she wanted to teach an older grade next year, so we hope she’ll be teaching first grade and get Asher in her class again. 

We’re so proud of you, Asher, and all you accomplished this year!