Summer Time Fun ... part 3

It feels like summer has been over for a long time, but the calendar says that today is actually the last day of summer. Either way, I thought it was about time that I posted the third and final installment of "Summer Time Fun." There were lots of memories made this summer, but I think for this post I will stick to those included in the collage. You can probably tell that this is all about SWIMMING! My boys LOVE to swim! Lucky for me, Minneaplis has a lot of wading pools and community pools (most of which are free).
There are a wide variety of experiences to be had depending on where we go. One pool we go to has no water features and is only about 1 1/2 feet deep, but the boys often request this one. I think they like that it is the same depth everywhere. Then there is the one with a 10 ft. rock in the center with water spraying in all directions from it (sorry no pics of that one this year). They also love the Splash Pad, which has no standing water but arches, fountains and sprays all over. We also have one a few blocks from our house (the one with the mushroom waterfall in the middle). The kids really liked this one because the workers (not lifeguards) there are often their Tball coaches and they usually had water fights with them. And it was great to be able to run up there on the spur of the moment.
This year we also made our first trip to the Crystal Cove pool; it is the community pool for our neighboring city. The kids have been dying to go there because we often drive by and they've been taunted by the water slides they could see but had never been on. So I finally broke down and paid to go. The first time was so fun, we ended up going a second day. And I've told the kids we will probably get a season pass next year, so we can go all the time. They are very excited! Both Bryant and Benjamin can go down the big waterslides by themselves and there is a little slide for Grayson. It's also great, because so many friends from church or school have passes so you usually have someone you know there to play with. Even Connor got to play in the water at the Crystal Cove and he thought it was great.
The other nice thing about most of these pools is that they usually have a fun park right beside them. So after swimming for a while the kids could go over and swing, slide, run and climb.
I guess that about sums up August ... lots of swimming and playing at parks. We even made it back to the Chutes and Ladders park during the last week before school started. I didn't take pictures this time, but this is a cool aerial shot (just scroll down a little to see). Hope you enjoyed reading about our summer fun ... and hope it tempts you to come visit us in MN! We love to have visitors!

A Trip to the Dentist

Our last week of summer included a trip to the dentist for the boys. It was Grayson's first time and he did great! He loved getting to ride in the chair and was happy to show the hygenist how big he can open his mouth. He loves his new toothbrush and flossers, but our dentist also lets the kids pick out a toy if they are good. This is always a highlight of our trips to the dentist.

Bry is an old pro at the dentist now. He loves to get his hands on any of the equipment she will let him try (usually just turning on and off). You can't see it well in this picture, but this instrument had a neon blue light that looked really cool. He really wanted to try this one, but it was not to be. Even with a little extra time in the chair this visit, he still had a good time. (He had sealants put on 4 of his permanent molars; that's what the blue light was for.)

Benjamin has a before and after shot for his dentist visit. Before we went he had a couple extra teeth. The two in the front were getting wiggly, but taking their time coming out. I was glad we had this appointment so the dentist could take care of it for us. (The same thing happened with Bryant.)

And here is the after. Benjamin was so excited to have the dentist pull his two teeth. I walked back to check on him after filling out papers and they were already out. They put them in a fun little treasure chest for him to take home and that went under his pillow. Of course, first he misplaced one of the teeth, so we had to leave the tooth fairy a note to let her know it was suppose to be 2. She just had to look inside his mouth to see he was telling the truth. This first time customer was very pleased with the tooth fairy. Five year old boys don't get a dollar bill every day! (I was afraid he would lose that too! So far, so good.)
The best part of the trip (for me) is the report of "No Cavities!" Hopefully we will have a lot more visits with the same report, but we will see. Grayson has really deep groves in his molars ... if we could only put sealants on those teeth. But they don't do that for baby teeth. At least he loves to brush his teeth.

Four months old!

I'm feeling behind in my updates, so much has been happening that I would love to share with all of you ... but I'm going to try and catch up. Connor is really 4 1/2 months old now. At his check-up he weighed 16 lbs. 13 oz. From these pictures you can see that he is a very happy baby most of the time. He loves to play with toys now and can stay pretty content lying on the floor with toys for quite a while ... if I could just keep his brothers away a little longer! He loves playing with his feet ... it's great to always have a "toy" with you.
His brothers LOVE him and would be by him 24/7 if possible. They especially love it when they get him laughing so they will do just about anything to make him laugh and once they get one laugh they do it over and over and over and over and over (get the idea?) again. I've put on some of the pictures that he seems to be having the most fun in ...

I added this one for the silly look on his face, but it's also a good shot of his arm. Yes, he's a pretty chunky baby - lots of rolls. Here you can see that he doesn't have a wrist, just a line ... same for his ankles or cankles as Rehn calls them. My friend commented one day that it looks painful to bend his arm. He has such a kissable face, though ... I can't resist it!

Did I mention that he is teething? No sign of teeth, but LOTS of chewing. We were worried he was going to start sucking his thumb, but he just chews on it and he does the same thing if I try a pacifier. It has increased a lot the last week or so though. I'm actually trying to feed him some cereal here, but he kept putting both thumbs in his mouth. I guess one wasn't good enough.

A couple of other milestones ... he is now eating baby cereal. I think we will be adding some fruits or veggies in the next week. So far he just gets a little cereal before bedtime, but he seems to like it a lot. He has also started rolling over ... both ways. He startled himself the first time he did it, but when I started clapping and smiling he decided it was fun.

We are slowly getting into a schedule and his naps are getting longer and more regular during the day ... which is really nice! I don't think I will ever get tired or watching a baby learn and grow. I love the look on his face as he realizes that there is a lot he can do and control. Lots of milestones to come ... can't wait to share them all with you.

Summer Time Fun ... part 2

July didn't want to be overshadowed by June, so our fun adventures continued. We enjoyed spending the 4th with some friends. The afternoon was spent at a park for a picnic lunch with one family. Then another family joined us for fireworks at a different park in the evening. The kids loved the fireworks. This time we sat on the other side of the street and were a little closer to the show ... but we also ended up with tiny balls of ash falling on us. Didn't know that happened! At times it seemed like (and sounded like) we were being rained on. I think we'll stick to the other side of the street next year. We still enjoyed the holiday. The boys also liked the sparklers and fireworks we set off at home. That seems to be a tradition now.

The next week we celebrated Grayson's birthday and the day after we went on our only vacation of the summer. We rented a cabin a few hours north in the Brainerd Lakes Area. It was a great 4 days. Lots of fishing, playing games, swimming and relaxing. The cabin we stayed in was perfect for what we were looking for and very reasonably priced. It had a playset for the boys, a deck with a grill and a huge yard to play bocce ball. We decided to go out to eat one of the nights and we ate at a place called Grizzly's. (That's why the boys are by that large Grizzly!) The boys ... especially Bryant ... love to go fishing, so we went several times. Each of them caught at least one fish. We really couldn't have asked for a better break.

We also spent many a day at one of the local parks/wading pools. The kids were always laying out to dry up this year. Most of the pictures with water are in the next collage, but we did spend a lot of time at the pools in July.

July was also the month for Tball. Bryant started practices in June and had games in July. Benjamin had his class "Little Sluggers" in July. I'll have another post with Tball pics later. Connor contined to get bigger and seems to enjoy going along for the ride, wherever that may be. He really is a good baby ... pretty easy going. He turned 3 months in July.

The month ended with Rehn's surgery on his knee. Not really a fun last week of July, but he was ready to get it fixed. He completely tore his ACL back in late February but with a baby on the way, we had decided to wait to have the surgery in the summer. He's still recovering, but in six months he should be back to normal. It's hard to run, climb, swim, etc. with a bad knee so we are grateful he was able to get it fixed.

I think that about covers July and this collage ... check back in for the report on August! (I'm tempted to do it now, but it's late and I'm exhausted, so it will have to be another day.)