Summertime

My kids found this comic strip in the book "The Days Are Just Packed" by Bill Watterson, which they checked out from the library on the first day of summer vacation.  Hyrum has been adamant that it has NOT been summer until today (who taught that boy to read, anyway?).  So these past 2.5 weeks of non-summer summer vacation have been a bonus!

Now that it IS summer, we're going to continue with sewing and cooking classes for Sabrina and Roderic, swimming lessons for Roderic and Hyrum, lunch at the park at least once a week, eating a popsicle or two each day, reading for the Summer Reading Program at the Library!, writing in Summer journals, hiking, swimming, and riding bikes.  We'll add camping and traveling to visit family and anything else to keep our days just packed!

Happy Flag Day!

 The first holiday with our newly painted house!

 We had a little bike parade.  Even Leo got in on the action.

It's GREAT to be 8!

Roderic turned 8 last Tuesday, it rained and rained.  He got to open all his presents and then Ryan and I took him out to dinner alone to his favorite sit-down restaurant, Fiesta Guadalajara.  He liked the one-on-two dinner and was a little surprised by the talk we gave him during and after dinner.  Yet, we think he took it all in stride.

Friday was a spectacular day.  We (I use the term loosely) went on a hike to Table Rock with Daniel & Michelle and family.  Ryan, Daniel, Carson, Sabrina, Roderic, Hyrum, Ethan, Hailee and Jaron hiked up to Table Rock while Michelle, Kallise, Leo and I went strolling along the Boise Greenbelt.  About 5 pm more family came rolling into town for Roderic's baptism. 

He was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by his father.  Both sets of grandparents were in attendance along with Daniel & Michelle and kids, Shanda and kids, Carson, and many friends.  My awesome visiting teacher made cookies for refreshments because she asked me in April what she could do to help me out (after spending several days at my house in February painting) and that is what I came up with.

Saturday was cold and rainy.  And yet it was Cub Scout Day camp, so we bundled up Ryan and Roderic and sent them on their way to the "Quest for Excalibur".  He got to go through Squire Training (the station Ryan was running - an obstacle course), leather punching, catapult building, a game of kick ball, and knots.  All the boys in his pack were so cold that they left right after lunch, before they did archery or shooting BB guns.  Roderic said his experience at day camp was awesome!

The Magic Bike

In February, a family moved into the house across the street with a boy the same age as Hyrum.  With a little prodding from the moms, by mid-March Hyrum and Marion were good friends.  Starting in April, they have spent every. single. afternoon. together playing outside.  Hyrum has had several days of sun-kissed cheeks because I forget to put sunscreen on him.

Marion has a bike that is magic.  It is a Huffy Rock It with 12" wheels.  It doesn't have training wheels.  For the longest time, the boys would ride around the cul-de-sac on their 3-wheeled bikes and occasionally, Hyrum would pull out his yellow bike with training wheels, but it wasn't as fast as the 3-wheeler.

In mid-May, next door neighbor Rachel started to play with the boys in the afternoons.  Rachel started to show some interest in riding a two-wheeler and her mom helped her out a bit but she was still quite wobbly.  And then it was the last day of school for the older siblings.  June 1, 2012.  Rachel and Hyrum played outside all morning long.  Marion was at school, but his garage was open and since they are all good friends, Rachel and Hyrum got his bike out and started to balance ride it.  WITHOUT ANY HELP FROM THEIR MOMS.  Rachel got pretty good on it, so she decided she would try her own 16" bike.  She never looked back and just went riding around the cul-de-sac.  Hyrum, upon seeing Rachel ride a 2-wheeler, decided that he too could ride on Marion's bike.  And he did.  Then he came inside and got me to watch him go!  It was fantastic!  I was so excited to tell Ryan, but he was in training meetings all day, so he didn't learn the awesome news until dinner.  (We showed him the movie I took of Hyrum riding in the morning.)

Soon after lunch, it was time for me to ride to the school to pick up Roderic, Anna and Lily.  Hyrum said he wanted to come along and then Rachel wanted to go as well, so we rode all the way to the Jr. High to pick them up.  Happily, these 3 kids were so impressed and surprised that their 5-year-old brother or sister could ride a bike!  And they praised them for it, which was just what the little ones needed to hear.

That afternoon when Marion returned from pre-school, Hyrum and Rachel were so excited to show Marion what they could do, let alone everyone else who came to our street!  We asked Marion if he wanted a turn riding his bike and he replied that he was going to wait to do it with his dad.

On Saturday, we took the training wheels off of Hyrum's bike and Ryan saw him ride live.  For the next several days, every time Rachel or Hyrum were playing in the front yard, they spent a lot of time riding their bikes.  The next Wednesday afternoon, Marion decided he could learn to ride on his bike BY HIMSELF.  I tell you it is a magic bike.  It teaches kids how to ride!  Awesome.