Swimming

At the beginning of the Spring we decided to sign up for swimming lessons. The kids WERE NOT thrilled, but they know that they have to take them so they can be safe (and because mom thinks it will be fun:).







So, here we go at the end of June, thinking it will be so fun to go swimming outside BUT IT IS SOOOO COLD!!! Poor kids--they already didn't want to go and then you add freezing water to the mix!



Oh well, Justin did GUPPIES (AGAIN!) He did that level last year and screamed all the way in and out the pool. However, this year he was a star. He jumped and swam without help and even did a couple of BOB's!! He loved it and I was so proud of him. What a difference a year makes!!

Seth did really well too. But he will not put his head under water and he would not jump into the pool (even though the water only reaches his stomach :) He can swim without a floaty and without help for half a pool and he is doing great. Of course, they will not graduate him to the next level until he puts his head under water!! Oh well, he may be 10 and still be with 4 year olds, maybe that will motivate him! jajaja

Look how cold they look!

Seth and Kaitlyn goofing off.

SETH SWIMMING ALL BY HIMSELF!

Seth not wanting to jump!

Six Flags

The kids have been wanting to go to Six Flags for ever!! Finally a couple of Saturdays ago we spent the whole day there. We left around 9:30 AM and did not get home until 10:30 PM!!



The kids love the rides and the water Park. But Seth's favorite was the roller coasters. He is tall enough that we can actually ride BIG ROLLER COASTERS!! I could not believe it! The two of us went on a big rollercoaster. I was screaming like crazy and he was laughing all the way. It was so wonderful to see how grown up he is and how fun much he had.

Justin loved all the rides but did not want to try the big roller coasters, only the small one in the kids area. It was so funny, because the first ride we did was a bus and he looked so scared but as soon as it was over he said: "IT WAS AWESOME!"

We all went on the teacups together with daddy spinning us in circles. Justin laughed the whole time, his head rocking in a slow circle, and repeated 'faster . . . faster' with a distinct resemblance to a drunken sailor.

He also loved the water park and getting splashed and going in the lazy river.

Abby was scared of most rides. We tried one of the baby rides. She was crying at first, but then she warmed up to the idea of HAVING FUN!!! She is a funny girl! She is so brave in some things and so wimpy in others!! She makes me laugh.

It was a really great day filled with junk food, good company and just plain fun!

Theater Class

During the summer the boys participated in the Sommers Village Players. It is a small theater group for kids. They divided them up in groups according to ages and had 2-hour classes every day for two weeks and at the end they put on a play. It was wonderful!

This year it was "Why Mosquitos buzz in peoples ears". I was not sure if Justin was going to like it because when we play theater at our house he never looks very excited about it. However, he loved it! He got to be the monkey!! It was very fitting. Seth was the iguana and he had all his lines memorized by the 3rd day!

We went to see the performance and they did wonderfully. They remembered their lines and they spoke loudly. I am so proud of them!

Graham, Emma, Grace, Michael, Erin, Rachael, Emily and Kaitlyn were all doing the theather camp together. There were lots of kids from Church!

!

Learning to ride

At the beginning of the summer, Seth and Justin learned how to ride a two wheeler all by themselves. It was amazing! Seth borrowed Kaitlyn’s bike (one of our really good friends). Of course, since Kaitlyn is a girl, the bike was pretty small and purple with cute little pink tassels and a pink horn! :) However, Seth did not care since he REALLY wanted to learn how to ride a two wheeler. I had been putting it off, since I thought I would have to run right along the bike for hours until they figured it out. Also, I could imagine all the crying and whining because they fell and they probably would need a bunch of band aids! So, I was not very thrilled when Michelle (Kaitlyn’s mom) told Seth to try the bike without training wheels!

You can tell that Seth was not too sure. He wanted to, but had some doubts.

Seth put one foot on the pedal, the other one on the floor, gave himself a little push and off he went!! AMAZING!!! In the first try! He was riding a bike all by himself!! And there was not amount of running along side him involved, and no band aids!

Of course, Justin could not be outdone. So, HE had to try to ride a two wheeler too!! Well, I went to my car and got the box of band aids all ready, because, as many of you may know, Justin is accident prone.

However, he surprised me too! It took him about 6 tries, but in about 15 minutes he started to ride! The ride was a little bit bumpier than Seth’s, but HE DID IT!! (Also, Seth is 6 and Justin 4!). I am so proud of my independent confident kids and so thankful for a friend like Michelle who pushes them to try new things and knows how to use the tools to remove training wheels!

ALOHA!

Well people, here we are again. I figure that I have to post at least once a month , and this month has been AAAAAWESOME! We went to Hawaii for 8 days, left the kids with grandparents and off we went on our first adventure just Nate and I (and Michelle and Eric:) Our first adventure without kids. I was so worried I would miss them so much (especially Abby), which I did..BUT we had a great time and we knew they were having a blast with grandma and grandpa!









We stayed with our amazing friends Jeff and Joni (Joni and I were roomates at BYU and Jeff and Nate were roomates too). We have been keeping in touch through the years and they invited us to come to see them. Of course, we could not refuse! We had so much fun with them. It was amazing to see how even though time goes by, you can see someone after 4 years and pick up right were you left off.






Here are some of the amazing things we did:



We arrived Thursday afternoon and we went exploring to the lagunes. They are about two blocks from were they live and they are so beautiful! Of course, I went swimming right away and then we watched our first sunset in Hawaii. Joni and Jeff live in the Ko'olina Resort area and we were able to enjoy all the commodities! It was awesome!!!






Friday we went to the same lagunes in Ko'olina and had breakfast at the beach. The food was delicious, it was a buffet and the birds kept trying to steal the food from the bar! In the afternoon we went to Waikiki, where we went to the beach, we went shopping and then met our friends for a beautiful dinner by the ocean. Waikiki beach was not that great, but the shopping was amazing!










Saturday was one of my favorite days. We wanted to go boogie-boarding, and we wanted to see BIG WAVES! We have gone bodyboarding often, however, it is always hit or miss... it all depends on the waves. We figured Hawaii had to have GREAT waves. So we went to Sandy beach or THE POUNDER (once we heard that name we got really excited but also kind of scared). However, we were determined to ride some waves. So here we come with our wimpy little boards, and looking all turisty(is that even a word??) Anyway, as soon as the lifeguard spotted us, he came and told us how the waves were really strong and that that beach had the higgest percentage of broken necks and broken backs in the whole country. So, we paused, we looked at each other, and we figured it would not be a good idea to get a broken neck on our second day in Hawaii!! (well, it would NEVER be really okay, BUT especially not on our SECOND day in Hawaii:)

They directed us to another beach. something with an M and a lot of vowels and k's. I can't remember they name! Makapu'u Beach I think! The waves were unbelievable and it was so much prettier than the other beach, so we had a great time! Joni joined us later and brought lunch and lots of snacks.

That night, Nate and I went out for a romantic dinner and walk on the beach. It was so romantic and just so nice to talk, walk hand in hand and enjoy a beautiful night.

Sunday, we went to Church for Sacrament Meeting. I was really curious to see what church would be like and it was so nice to see how the Gospel is the same not matter where you are. Then we went to Pearl Harbor and it was absolutly amazing to see all the history behind the place.

After visiting the USS Arizona memorial, we went to Diamond Head, which is a volcanic crater. It is quite a hike and there are lots of stairs, but the view is espectacular once you get to the top!

Monday was another fun-packed day. We woke up at 5:45 and went to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. It is a beautiful Natrual Preserve with tons of reefs and corals and fish that are so close to you when you swim that you can touch them!

After snorkeling we went to lunch, we had some Greek food. It was really really good!

After we ate we were ready to go on the rest of our adventure. We found a hike to a hidden waterfall. It was not that hard of a hike, but it had rained so it was so muddy and slippery!
We had a blast trying to go over rocks and muddy paths and once we got to the waterfall it was so worth it. There was a rock that you could jump from into a the pool of water and I was so SCARED!! It was not that high, but it was kind of unerving. But we did it and it was great!

This was one of the things that I always wanted to do: swim in a waterfall!Tuesday we did water sports: We tried a banana boat (which is a small boat shaped in a banana shape that can sit 6 people and then a motorboat pulls you around), the bumper tube rides and the jetski. It was awesome! Very adrenaline pumping! Nate got a little too comfortable for my taste with the jetski!

Tuesday afternoon, we went on a Snorkeling Sunset Cruise. It was so beautiful to see the sunset from the boat and kind of amazing to see all the fish swimming around us in the middle of the blue ocean. I was so worried that I would see a shark swimming right at me!!! We did not see sharks, but we saw tons of dolphins swimming right along side the boat!!

Wednesday we got up at 5:45 AM once again and we had to be at the Kaula Ranch at 7:30 to do a tour in ATV's. It was really cool to see the sites while driving an ATV and we were even able to take a picture where they film LOST!!!

In the afternoon we went to the north shore and then we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We stayed for the different presentations and for the Luau! I want to learn how to dance like that!!!

Thursday was our last day so we got up and said goodbye to the beautiful beaches of Ko'olina
and headed to the water park! I liked it even though it was smaller. It still had some amazing rides and since we didn't have the kids we were able to try all the rides at least once! Nate was even able to try surfing!

It was sad to say goodbye to our friends and a wonderful week!


But at least we left in Style! We ended up renting a convertible car for the week, (the company did not have the middle size car that we had reserved, so they gave us a convertible instead) Poor us!! :)