Vegas Baby!

4th (somewhat) Annual Mother's Day (or pretty close) Weekend in Las Vegas!

A highlight of our June trip to Phoenix was going to Las Vegas to meet up with my Aunt Linda and cousin Amy. For us, what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas. It either needs to be crammed in your suitcase or walked off when you get home! Our four days went something like this (not always in this order)

Eat. Drink. Shop. Relax. Repeat.

Arizona-June 2010

Here are a few of the highlights from our recent trip to Arizona.

The Main Event: Toy Story 3 in IMAX 3-D!

Everyone was dressed for the occasion-Pixar shirts and Movie Shorts.

(Movie Shorts-shorts with cargo pockets, necessary for sneaking candy into the theater when no one with a purse is invited!) Will, Uncle Kevin and Grandpa were the VIPs who saw the IMAX 3-D version. Mike, Grandma, Collin and I settled for the regular version a few days later. Poor Collin had to sit on my lap, his hair soaked with my tears as I watched Andy go off to college!

Collin LOVED swimming in the pool!

In keeping with the theme, Grandma got him a "Foody" towel.

Uncle Kevin selling soup with SARRC

Diving for Dollars.

This is a game Grandma invented. The player who recovers the most dive sticks gets to choose a numbered upside-down dixie cup containing money, anywhere from a penny to a dollar. The player with the most money at the end of the game wins five bucks. For those of you who are fans of Friends, it is was very reminiscent of the episode where Chandler invents cups to give Joey money! I believe the final score of Will vs. Grandma was $7.32 to $0.26.

Will and Collin at the Sugar Bowl in Scottsdale. Collin had been on a BRAT diet after some pretty nasty diapers. This was the first thing he'd seen that wasn't bananas, rice, applesauce or toast in a few days. He finished his sherbet AND Will's dreamsicle drink!

Costco cake to celebrate Father's Day, Bridget's return to Phoenix and my birthday. Rumor has it they are still eating it.

Collin eating one of Grandma's lemons, as if it was an orange.

Flying with Children

I have decided that flying with young children is a lot like running. If you do it regularly, you stay in shape and it isn't painful. Going a year between trips will knock the wind out of you and leave you sore for days. Last year I took two solo trips with the boys, before Collin was a year old. In the past year the only trip I took was just grown-ups. Clearly, I am out of shape.

Now, it wasn't all bad. Will is now a seasoned traveler and drags a suitcase for us.

I'd like to personally thank Steve Jobs for creating small, lightweight devices that play movies, tv shows, music and audiobooks.

I would NOT like to thank Frontier airlines for losing a suitcase, not having a tracking system to track lost luggage, placing Will in a exit row alone and blaming us for it, yelling at Will and I for him having to use the lavatory after the plane left the gate and for charging us an extra $30 to check a 4th bag and then offering FREE gate checks when we got to the gate. I'm so thankful Mike was with us this time. I think if I had been alone you may have seen me on the evening news.

Kindergarten

What an incredible year.

At our fall conference we wrote down our hopes and dreams for Will in kindergarten.

Yoga Dad wanted Will to enjoy school and learning.

Teacher Mom wanted him to master the skills necessary to be ready for first grade.

We both wanted him to make a diverse group of friends.

I think the most important thing Will (and I) got out of kindergarten was something neither of us could have anticipated or dreamed of.

Will learned that he is the only one who can place limits on his success.

He spent the better part of the year telling me he was going to read at a level 30 by the end of the year, to which I responded with more "reasonable" goals and reminders that meant lots of practicing home. Like the monkey bars, I had a idea of what was reasonable and possible and it wasn't the same as Will's idea. Guess who was right?

Maybe everything you need to know about parenting you learn when they are in kindergarten. Provide them with structure, a safe warm place to learn, fruits and veggies, and a damn good kindergarten teacher and get out of their way.

Thank you Mrs. R-H for an amazing start to school!

June 6th

Becoming parents changed our lives, but losing our child changed us.

June 6th marks the day we met and said goodbye to our daughter, Caroline, a day we were changed forever. It is a hard day and a hard time of year, but it is also full of reminders of how supported and blessed we are.

The boys send pink balloons to Caroline in honor of her birthday.

Will thought it would take a long time for them to get there since they had to go all the way through space. He talks about Caroline sporadically and shared the other day that he had a dream about her. She talked to him in his dream and she looked like Mrs. Rollie's baby.

It is hard to know what Collin understands. We got a card in the mail from NILMDTS sharing that a donation had been made. He asked "dis?" which means what's this? I'm not sure exactly what I said but he carried the card around for awhile and said "sister."

Thank you to the Leverenz, Kruse, Auger and Friedman Families for your donations to NILMDTS and to all of our friends and family for kind words and prayers.

Memorial Day Camping 2010

Memorial Day weekend marked the first camping trip of the season! I wasn't prepared for the difference in prepping for a camping trip as a stay-at-home mom (last season) and a back-to-work mom (this season). Items we forgot included: towels (beach, bath, wash-you name it, we forgot it), Collin's booster seat (which resulted in only one tumble off the picnic table bench) and a cooler (yes, a cooler! although it really limits your caffeine and alcohol consumption when you can only chill one beverage at a time in the mini-fridge). We are lucky to camp with experienced families who provided us with a few of those items.

A year has passed since we began this pop-up adventure and the boys are definitely a year older. Will is not quite 7 and big enough to roam with the big boys, who are 8, is happy to hang with Allie, the middle-schooler, yet a little bit bummed when Katelyn has girlfriends to play with. Collin is now mobile and thinks he is also going 7 and able to run with the big boys. Luckily, Allie and the 'tweens think babies are cool and love to play (babysit!) with him.

Collin enjoying the pool with Paige, Allie, Andrew and Mike

Lindsey, the baby-whisperer, got Collin to sleep twice!

My boys chillin' in a raft (on the grass!)

Collin enjoying breakfast in a booster provided by the Adams! People with 4 kids have everything! I think it is appropriate that Collin is eating strawberries and drinking Silk in this picture, as our camping food choices are the source of many questions and jokes!

Collin's new love of camping (after successfully smearing pancakes and blackberries everywhere!). Last year his expressions said "Are we seriously STILL outside?" while this year he is happy to play all day with Auntie Soup and Grandpa Chad!

Monkey Bars

For quite some time I've been hearing occasional chatter about the monkey bars-one kid is learning to skip, another kid can do the rings-and I've noticed the familiar scabby palms, but I think I just pictured my experience with monkey bars. Hanging from the first bar for awhile and then falling.

The other day I was able to go outside during my prep to see Will at kindergarten play day. As I got outside they were heading to the big toy (that's Minnesota for "playground equipment"). Will hopped on the monkey bars and started to swing! I was shocked. I had no idea he could do this! I was SO glad I had my camera and was able to catch him in action. Go Will!