Independence 2015

On the 4th of July, we had Kerry and Lana here as well as Brennon and Katie. It was great to see them even if just for a day and a half. We hosted breakfast for a few neighbors, and let the kids decorate their bikes and scooters for the neighborhood parade.

Ready to ride!

Kara and Evie both went with scooters instead of bikes. Kara had it pretty easy with her electric scooter.

Somehow Evie is always the last kid to finish.

They think it's pretty neat to check out the fire truck.

This year, only Evie was little enough to participate in the rubber ducky grab. The others had to dive for quarters in the big pool.

And she was super happy to get a "patriotic duck".

Ben made us a yummy dinner, and we went to the fireworks later that night. I guess I didn't take any pictures there, but you know, sometimes we get distracted by all the excitement.

Visit wih Papa and Grams

Kerry and Lana came out to visit us last week. We had a great time with them! We decided to go to the zoo. It was a very hot day. The sting rays were pretty active, so that was fun. Ben bought some food so the girls could feed them. They were a little scared.

The new polar bear exhibit was open, so we checked that out.

On another day, we decided to drive through Lone Elk park. We did see a few bison hiding back in the trees, but couldn't get too great a view of them.

But we were thrilled to happen upon this family of raccoons. They were pretty cute. Further down the road, the girls spotted another one getting into a trash can. He popped out with a happy meal, which he took back to his tree. They got a kick out of that. They have been talking about it all week, and telling all their friends.

Lone Elk didn't take very long, and we saw fewer animals than we thought we would, so we also stopped by the World Bird Sanctuary. It was a pretty temperate day for walking around, so that worked out well.

I think we ended up counting 11 bald eagles while we were there. That's the only bird they kept track of how many we saw.

I love all of the artwork/donations that are displayed everywhere.

Bald eagle #12???

They sure liked these chickens with funny haircuts.

Kiersten had the best attitude of the day, and was just so happy to be there. She can be such a sweetie.

They even had a few Dodo birds!

The girls liked this particular Dodo the best.

We always have to have a tea party when Papa and Grams are here. The girls were very excited for it, and asked every day until we finally let them host the party.

We also got to take them to their first major league baseball game. It was a pretty nice day for a game. They even got a souvenir replica world series ring to take home. We were sad that they had run out of the rings before we arrived, but a nice couple gave them one of theirs.

Poor Kara is having a rough time adjusting to her braces. She can't eat most of her favorite snacks. She already popped a bracket by eating chips, so we are now being very strict. But we've found a few things that she likes. No popcorn, chips, nuts, chewy candy, or gum.

We rarely stay for the entire game when we have the girls with us, but we wanted to stay for fireworks, so we made it through the entire game. The Cardinals lost, but it was still very enjoyable.

The fireworks were pretty great, and the girls were just happy to be spending the evening with their grandparents.

Father's Day of Fun

The girls were excited about giving Ben his Father's Day gifts this year. Kiersten gave him a picture frame she painted with a picture of the 2 of them inside. 

Evie was very excited to give him a new basketball. It wasn't hard to talk her into wanting to give him that. 

They also helped me make breakfast for him. 

Karalee gave him a best dad trophy. She thought it was pretty cool. I'm not sure what he'll do with it. I guess maybe display it in the basement?

These 3 hooligans sure love their daddy!

We went to see Inside Out with some of our friends. It was a cute movie and I think everybody liked it. The girls were excited about this display for the upcoming Peanuts movie. I guess that's another one we'll have to take them to see when it comes out. 

I'm not sure my kids even have any clue who the Peanuts are, but they sure thought it was cool to sit in this chair. After the movie, Kara wanted to take Ben out for pizza. So we had lunch with friends, and then enjoyed the rest of the day together at home. 

Tee-Ball

Evie is excited to be on a tee-ball team for the summer. She is pretty thrilled to have her own glove and cleats.

Yay Green team!

She is still learning, but slowly improving. She is finally able to catch the ball, so that's a big improvement.

Today after she hit the ball, everyone was saying, "run, Evie!" She got overwhelmed, and then picked up the ball to hand it to the other team. Then when everyone was saying, "no, run to first base", she went back and picked up the bat and started running with it, until the coaches told her to leave it. Then she ran back to home plate to set the bat down, and finally ran to first. As soon as she was safely on base, she grinned and waved. It was pretty cute, and I don't think she really knew why everyone was laughing. She was a good sport, and laughed right along with us.

So far she is loving it, and I think maybe by next year she'll really understand what she's supposed to be doing. She's definitely in good company with the other 4-6 year olds. There was maybe one kid today who seemed to have a grasp on how the game works. It's fun that they can all figure it out together.

Swim season

The girls have been keeping busy with swim team this summer. Evie is very excited that she made the team this year. She has really struggled, but at least she's doing it. I almost didn't buy her a team suit because I didn't think she had a good chance to be on the team, but I'm glad I got it for her.

Kiersten has really loved swimming this year. She is one of the slowest in her age group, but she keeps improving, so I have to remind her that she's going in the right direction.

Kara has been doing pretty well too. She sprained her foot last week, so that has slowed her down, but she's hanging in there.

We have also spent lots of time hanging out by the pool aside from swim team.

It's nice to have Evie swimming confidently now. She only wore her swim vest once, and now she doesn't need it. I still feel like I need to keep a close eye on her, but she really does fine.

Ben raced with a few of his friends a few weeks ago. He got beat, and it was pretty funny.

One day last week, the lifeguards kept calling everyone out of the pool for thunder. Just when it was almost time to be able to get back in, there was more thunder, so I gave up and took the girls home to run through the sprinklers. They had a grand time.

It gave me a chance to weed the flower bed. I didn't mind getting sprinkled, because it was really hot out there.

Evie hasn't shined quite yet in the swim meets. She is terrified to jump off the block, even though she does it all the time at practice. At the last meet, one of the coaches finally just pushed her in.

She does okay when a helper is in the water with her, even though they don't actually touch or help her at all. I think it just makes her feel more safe. She has done really great at practice this week, so I have high hopes for her next meet.

Kiersten keeps setting new personal bests, so that's really all we ask of her. She swam a no breather lap at practice the other day, which was something she was really working for.

Kara was getting better, but her hurt foot has slowed her down. She also swam with her eyes closed when her goggles fell off, and ran into the wall pretty hard. With that and getting a frenectomy and braces in the last two weeks, she's had a bit of a rough time lately.

Go Castle Pines Crocodiles!