UP

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to the drive-in to watch "Up." It was such a cute movie and they had a blast there. This is a conversation that stemmed from that.

While out on the mountain watching Camden rock climb, Kota had to go to the bathroom. Darrick took her over in the bushes to go.

Kota: "I've always wanted to do this."
"Do you dig the hole before or after?"

Every time that Kota goes to the bathroom since then, she calls me in and asks me the same question. "Do you dig the hole, before or after?"

The funny little things that they pick up on.

I have since then been called as cub master, that's right over it all. Yes me who knows nothing about it. It wonder if it is a sign that I am never going to get any boys, so to take advantage of doing the scouting thing now. :) Anyway the girls think that it is pretty cool that I am going to be a wilderness something or other expert. (Like Russell from the movie.)

Camden has been busy

Right after we moved here Camden learned to ride a bike as well as jump rope. I think that she jumped rope for a week straight. She kept asking me and asking me to post about it, and here I am, finally doing it. She has even moved up to a bigger bike now. The other day we even ventured to ride across town. Nice work Camden.

Camden missed the last little bit of preschool when we moved. I felt bad when she had to miss her graduation. I decided that we would do something special for her here and do our own little graduation. I just told her that it was her special day. We made her a little cake and had a little ceremony for her. She was not too excited about that. She does not like all of the attention on her. She didn't want to wear the cap at first, but we finally did squeeze out a smile. We were proud of our little graduate.

Camden also recently started a rock climbing class. Busy girl. She loves it! They go out for 3 hours once a week and climb. She does really well. She was a little timid about it at first, but does better each week. She is still learning to trust that her teachers will catch her if she falls. It has been a lot of fun watching her. What a great kid she is!

Our new little hobby

We have found a new hobby. This is a big fishing area, so we decided to give it a try. The rec center in town was doing a fishing derby for all of the kids. The day before we went and got poles, worms, and headed off to the small lake to try it out. I have to admit, I was not in the mood to go at all. I had so many things to do around the house and felt like I was so far behind on everything. I was a little upset, until Kota caught a fish. We hadn't been there long at all. It was so cute she reeled it in by herself too. That made the whole fishing trip worth it for me. It was so cute. We forgot the camera, luckily we only live a couple of blocks away and I ran home to get it. When I got back Kota wouldn't get near the fish, not even for a picture.

We stayed there for a little longer before we were ready to go. Camden then informed us that we couldn't go until she too caught a fish. A couple of minutes later, she did. She brought it in all by herself. They had a great time.

The next day was the derby. We didn't catch anything. The pond was surrounded by kids. They had a lot of fun things to do there. The girls got to shoot bow and arrows. Camden got to shoot in a simulation thing and actually shot a few elk. Smokey the bear came. There were a lot of other great things to do as well. They sure did a great job with it.

Later that night we decided to go fishing again. We wanted to try another pond here in town. We pulled up, got out our Barbie and Princess fishing poles and went to it. Six casts and six fish later, we were pleased with the results. There was a man there with his granddaughter. They said they had been there for 2 hours and had caught 2 fish. We caught a few of ours deep and had to take them. We gave a couple to him, let a couple go and brought a couple home. The man said to us, "People might laugh at you for using those worms and poles, but hey I'm not laughing. You've made a believer out of me." Pretty fun. We have since had some more luck out there fishing. I think that it is going to be a regular occurrence.

Kota's dance recital

Kota had her dance recital at the end of May. Since we moved at the beginning of April she missed quite a few of the practices. I practiced and practiced at home, she's 3 and her attention span is short and she only wanted to practice when she wanted to. Since we had already paid for her costume and the recital fee, we decided to go back for it. By the time the recital came, both Oakley and Camden had the dance memorized, we hoped that Kota did too. Kota did awesome!!! She was the cutest little bumblebee. I think that she had a good time. When we picked her up after it was all over, she was beat! She looked so tired, but was really excited that her daddy gave her flowers. She also got flowers from her teacher, which she gave to Camden (Camden got two set of flowers at her last recital and gave one to Kota, it is rubbing off.) Anyway, she did so good and we were so proud of her! What a cute kid!

I hate ticks!

I appoligize for the strong language, but this is one time when I think that the word is appropriate. We love Colorado, and our new area. It is amazing, despite the trampoline tradegdy (which we were able to salvage by the way). There are so many fun things to do around here, that we can be at in no time at all.

A couple of weeks ago some of our friends were here and we went hiking with them. Later that day, Darrick found a tick dining on his leg. This past weekend we were out doing some hiking. Friday after hiking we got in the car and I saw a tick on my leg. So we got out to check everyone and Darrick had one on his pants too. Luckily the kids were clean. Monday we went hiking with some friends. During the hike Darrick found a tick on him and later we found one on Oakley's sweatshirt. Yikes! Well we got home and checked everyone over extra good. This morning I got up to turn the sprinklers on and when I came in there was a tick on my sock. I don't know if I picked it up in the yard, or if it was there before. After that I was extra paranoid, and I decided to check all of the kids again. When I checked Kota, sure enough, a tick! Feasting along her hair line. Unfortunately Darrick had already left for work, so I had to take it out. I decided to take her and the tick in to be checked out just in case. I was able to get all of it out luckily and the doctor said that it is not the kind that carry Lyme disease. Thank Goodness! I think that we will just hang out indoors for the next little while until things dry up a bit. Ticks or not, we absolutely love it here! I just hope that I can stop itching and having the heeby jeebies sometime soon!

Trampoline Troubles!

We finally broke down and bought a trampoline. We have wanted one for sometime, but haven't had a yard or place for it really. Well we do here. Darrick did all kinds of research on the best trampolines. He checked out consumer reports, watched a bunch of YouTube trampoline videos, etc. We were trying to find the best one that the kids would be safe on. Well we looked and looked and finally I just went to Wally World and got an inexpensive one. They are little. Right!?And it still had the net. They have loved it! They have been out on it at least an hour a day since, sometimes the whole day. We felt like it was a great purchase.

Well last night I was sitting in bed reading and I kept hearing something outside the window, so I went out to check and see what it was. The Trampoline was gone! Was I imagining this? So I got Darrick and we went out with flashlights to check things out? Would someone have stolen it? Surely not in this neighborhood. There is a big pond behind a few houses down that has gotten pretty deep this time of year. I went down to walk around it and sure enough. I found a piece of the trampoline. I thought for sure our tramp was down in the bottom of the pond. The winds here pick up in the afternoon and evenings during the spring. A lady then came out of her house with a few of the pieces of our tramp. She said that the wind had gotten so bad it just blew by and that it was down behind a house a couple of doors down. We decided to wait until morning to find it. Sure enough. We found it this morning. We're not sure how salvageable it is at this point, yet we don't know if we want to put it up again until the winds die down. Thank goodness we got the least expensive trampoline, or this would even hurt a lot more! I am not excited about having to tell the girls about it. I guess that we all have a good lesson to learn.

Happy Easter!

Easter morning we woke up to an inch or so of snow on the ground. So much for an outdoor easter egg hunt. Luckily it was gone by the time that we got out of church.

Camden was so excited and thought that we needed to leave something out for the Easter bunny. She had been planning it for weeks. She decided that carrots with sugar on them and one of her colored eggs would be the best treat! I am sure that he loved them.

The girls all ready for church. It is too bad you can't get them all to look and cooperate at once.

Camden on the hunt. She was determined to get the high egg. And she did!

Kota all excited and dancing around as usual after the hunt.

Oakley was all upset when she realized that she wasn't going to get anymore candy.

The girls all had a great Easter and were as happy as can be. (And who wouldn't be after all that candy right?!)