BYE BYE TRAINING WHEELS!

They are finally gone!

We have tried before to get rid of these beasties but Tyler wasn't quite ready. Yesterday was a different story! We had Kurt home again and Ty wanted to go on a bike ride so Kurt thought it was prime time to take these off - Tyler agreed. It went smashingly!

Hayden was pretending that he was afraid of Ty and that encouraged Tyler to pedal even more!

Freedom!

Hey, where are your shoes Hayden?

A captive audience - oh wait, Hailey, open your eyes!

Tyler wanted to test his skills out on the open road! He was great! (Just for the record, Kurt is on my bike . . . his bike has a flat tire and as you can see, I have VERY short legs!)

And just for the record again - Hailey is on Hayden's bike.

On their way back from going around the block in which Tyler never fell!

How in the world can Hailey see anything?

Hayden didn't feel like going for the ride so he just shot a few hoops!

Tyler is chomping at the bit to get out and practice today. I am happy for him.

Congratulations Pat on your new Baby!

Well, it's finally here! And Pat's excitement is almost uncontainable.

Her Baby - her 2010 Camaro.

Of course Kurt had to check things out on it. We tried really hard to keep Pat grounded by continually trying to pop her bubble but she would have none of it!

Kids got a chance to pose by it. Tyler is the fortunate fellow. He gets to go to lunch with Aunt Pat today in the car. After hearing Pat come down the street I was truly second-guessing whether Tyler needed to go for a ride in the car . . . I want him to live!

This is Pat listening to me tell her all about how important to me Ty is, speed limits, police intervention - you know - all that. I tried to ignore the fact that there is one of those gadgets that detects if radar is in use suction cupped to her windshield. Maybe it isn't too early in life for Tyler to see how Law Enforcement handles speeding tickets?

Just kidding. Pat assured me she was going to drive safe. She also has a phone built in to the car, I believe it is an OnStar thing so I got to call Tyler and talk to him. It was cool.

Here they are backing out of the driveway . . . calm down stomach . . . it will be okay . . .

All joking aside, I know Pat is very excited. She has been waiting for this car, I believe, for over a year. They took a long time to build it.

Like I said before,

Congratulations Pat!

Crazy Days of Summer!

Since school let out for summer, family members seemed to hit the ground running! The kids got out of school on June 3rd and both Hailey and Hayden were enrolled in Summer Camps that began on the 8Th!
The 5Th and 6Th, Hailey and Hayden spent those days with their Dad at a job he was working at Star Mule Days. Hayden left for Grandma's on the 7Th and it was off to the races!

Both the kids had a very long week but when Grandma brought Hayden back we got to spend a little time at a local park.
This park is pretty unique - it is built with the handicapped in mind so they can play along with kids that don't have handicaps. They have a big play set area that is wheelchair accessible, a music area, water fountain play area and a rock climbing area. There are covered picnic areas, a football field, baseball diamonds, (I think soccer areas), large wide open spaces and even a fishing pond! The park is not even close to being finished but it is so big they are doing it in stages.

ANYWAY, Grandma brought us over there one afternoon to hang out for awhile and I didn't quite get a lot of pictures of the kids running around but I did get a few! Hailey missed out because she was in the last day of her camp but I am sure we will get her over there sometime this summer!

We also brought with us a football, some camp chairs (not enough) and a baseball and some gloves.

Here the boys are tossing a football - they had a lot of fun even though Tyler almost hit a family having a picnic at a bench close by ( we moved after that)!

Is that Joe Theismann or Hayden?

Grandma kicking back in the shade!

I really want to get some of these rocks in my back yard - they were cool and actually fairly high up! King of the Hill!

This kind of activity is perfect for Tyler! Keeps him busy!

You can't tell in the shade but his feet weren't quite touching the ground. I wanted it to have a dramatic effect.

Tyler conquering one of the smaller hills!

Hayden pretending to come close to falling off a tall rock.

Hayden encouraging Tyler to climb the tallest rock there - he made it up with a little bit of a struggle.

Tyler was thrilled he made it to the top until he looked down! He immediately squatted down as close to the rock as possible and got a very concerned look on his face. He wanted down . . . NOW!

We had to really coax him to get him down. He started to get a touch teary but I stood at the bottom to let him know I would catch him if anything happened.

Even though he was a little frightened I believe he had a good time - I think we all did. I didn't want to leave but there was dinner cooking and things to do. I made a mental note to myself that I definitely wanted to get to the park with the kids more this summer. It's simple, free and lots of fun.

Quilting - Progress!

Well, here we are! In the final stages of the top of the quilt! I am pretty excited about this.
These are the rows of blocks, sewn together in rows of three. The pieces off to the left are what are going to be put around the outside of these blocks and then there are some green strips to follow those and the top will be done.

I am really looking forward to seeing this done. I almost can't wait to get started on another one!

As of right now I am finishing up on sewing all of the block rows together! I think I might make the last installment of this with the finished product.

Schools Out For Summer!

After Hailey's entrance into the house this afternoon screaming "I am a Freshman", I knew summer had officially started!

CONGRATULATIONS KIDS!

The kids are all excited for summer but I can see the exhaustion on their faces! This was a busy year and I know they are looking forward to some down-time (which also may include a lot of traipsing around our part of the state with their Dad with work) but they love it!
They have all worked very hard, have gotten fantastic grades and have really grown academically. I am hoping that we will get a lot of time at the park, the library and good time with family and friends during the summer!

I am sure there will be a lot of events and situations that will make for great posts during their summer break and I am looking forward to getting to share them with all of you (all five of you)!

BRING ON THE FUN!

Woo Hoo!

Just a SHOUT OUT for how happy we are for Hailey! She also has received the:

Presidential Academic Excellence Award!

Kurt and I keep looking at one another and wondering where

all our kids have gotten their great brains!

Congratulations to Hailey, Hayden and Tyler for all of their hard work in school this year!

Time With Dad!

When I realized that Kurt actually had the day off I wanted to make it something special for all of us. Kurt has been VERY busy lately and we really haven't seen a whole lot of him the last couple of weeks and I know that things are going to pick up even more with all the summer shows and such coming up. So, I thought it would be fun to have a barbecue with him and maybe play some catch or something.

We ended up not getting to barbecue because the propane tank was out of gas so we ended up cooking them inside (sad, they taste so much better cooked outside)! But, I wasn't going to let that dampen the fun until someone suggested that they watch " a little " of a movie while eating. Well, no one can just watch a little of a movie so they ended up watching the whole Star Trek movie. This was the older one about the Genesis program.

We finally got outside around 9 p.m. and it was really nice out! Played some basketball and catch. It was fun. I think we need to do that more often!
Here are a few pics - I didn't get to play much B-ball due to the "boot of hindrance" but, I did what I could. It is really hard to do a lay-up when you can't bend your foot!

They are trying to give Tyler plenty of chances to make a basket - this was funny.

Hayden wanted a turn!

Hailey got a little close to the camera -

Kurt trying for a half court dunk! He did this forward and backwards - not too successful but we were there for him.

Who is bouncing more, Ty and the ball or me and the camera?

It is hard with this camera to get a good moving shot. After you press the button it takes a few seconds to actually take the picture and then the person is done what they were doing and walking away, hence this picture.

I didn't get any catching/baseball pictures because I actually got to do that because we were just standing apart and doing that plus it was getting dark and hard to see.

I hope we will get to do this again soon. I had a good time and I know the kids did too. We all love spending time with Dad!