Happy 4th Of July!

We packed our holiday weekend full of fun and are appropriately exhausted today as a result. Kennedy and Patrick both cooperated nicely by sleeping in a bit on Saturday, thus enabling us to push the whole nap schedule back for the day. We spent some of the morning at the Marina, checking out "Star Spangled Sparks." The kids were excited to watch an Army helicopter land on the beach, and to play in the bounce houses. Then we went home for Addy's morning nap, followed by lunch and fun at Kurt and Mal's house. Patrick had been itching to get over there and play with all of Carson's new birthday toys, and we all had a nice time. We then headed home for Addy's second nap, and for Patrick to spend two hourse refusing to nap. We gathered up foodstuffs, lawnchairs, etc and headed to Dan and Janie's house for a yummy BBQ. Then it was off to the church parking lot, which conveniently has a great view of the Nugget's fireworks show. We got home about 10:30 PM, which is like a million years after the kid's normal bedtime, but they did great and have been catching up on sleep today. It was a really fun 4th. Hope you all had equally nice days!
Kennedy ate AT LEAST 5 peices of watermelon at the BBQ.

Manly men, shucking that corn. They did it on the BBQ and it was delish.

Cute kids, at the cute kid's table.

Kennedy was just eating all night long. Here she is going to town on Mal's pastries.

Carson and Patrick playing a little soccer.

Setting up camp at the fireworks. Since we didn't eat enough already, we had a few MORE snacks there.

Patrick's all blinged out and riding a decorated scooter. Janie's very good at fun holidays!

More bling, for Kennedy and Carson.

Sean spent most of the night taking cool pictures of glow sticks.

Right before I made those boys move back about six feet from the road....

Here's Addy, ready to crash, with glow sticks on her baby wrists and cookies smooshed in both hands.

Happy 4th, all!

Carson Is Two! (going on 12....)

Yay for parties! I LOVE parties!

I love this shot. Kinda wish her binky wasn't in, but what can you do?

Best buddies. This was right before Carson took a gainer off the bench.

The Nemo goggles were a game prize and both kids LOVE them.

The birthday boy, getting set to tear into the presents with his Mama.

Since Carson is pretty much family by now, I decided I better post a few pictures from his birthday bash yesterday. Patrick and Kennedy both love "Carson-buddy" lots and lots and had great fun at his party!

Mouths Of Babes

Patrick: Mom, Michael Jackson died! The guys on the news said he died and people are sad.
Mom: Yes, I heard that. Do you know who Michael Jackson is?
Patrick: No, but I DO know that now he needs to get resurrected so that his body and spirit can get back together and make all those people happy. Guess they'll just have to wait till Jesus gets back here to earth.

Good to know, kiddo.

Lake Tahoe 2fer

Hiking Spooner Lake
We got up (relatively) early and headed to Tahoe this morning to hike around Spooner Lake with the Grover's. It's a 2 mile-ish loop around a small Alpine lake--perfect for the kids.

Addy's ready to roll!

Patrick took this picture--not bad for a 3 year old!

Kurt, Carson and Mallory. We all played a lot of "1,2,3, whee!"

A happy camper, at least for this photo. He griped a lot about the unjustice of being kicked out of "his" hiking backpack.

Addy's first caterpillar encounter. She loved it. And tried to squish it.

Between a rock, and...a rock. Silly girl.

Beach Time at Sand Harbor

After the hike we drove up the road a bit and parked over at Sand Harbor on Lake Tahoe proper. We had a picnic and the kids all got in the water and dug in the sand for a hour or two.

Patrick has always loved playing at the lake.

Kennedy was discovering it's delights for the first time this year.

As was Carson. They all have such a good time together.

As you can tell! :)

After a little more snacking and playing, is became evident that Kennedy couldn't hold out forever, even though she did really well skipping her morning siesta.

Time to get in the car and have a NAP! It was a good day, all around.

Victorian Square Splash Park

95 degrees here, people. Summer's here-gotta hunt out all available water play places!

Addy braving the "middle of the big waters," according to Patrick.

That would be my scary-brave one year old. She's pretty much insane.

Patrick finally got up the nerve, when properly bribed with M&M's.

Some kids managed to balance their playground balls on the water jets--pretty cool!

(I love his "lamb-to-the-slaughter approach, followed by the gleeful retreat. Drama, drama!)

Cute Retro Girlie

We inherited this cute little dress in a bag of hand-me-downs and I hadn't put it on Kennedy until today. SO cute! I kind of love it. It helps that I was way into Care Bears in my own childhood. These photos also showcase Addy's love of primping. Every morning she sits on the counter, gets her own curls styled, then brushes her teeth, kisses her reflection, and otherwise entertains herself while I put myself together for the day.

Kennedy is 14 months old today and becoming every bit a toddler. She has so many words and signs at her command, and is really starting to act like a big girl. She surprises me every day right now with her new ways of communicating, asserting herself, learning to take direction, and fitting into her big girl skin. I love her right to peices, and really, it's all I can do most days not to snatch her up and smother that face with kisses. Who am I kidding--I do that every day, whether she wants me to or not! We love our Addy! The other day I told Patrick he was "the cutest," and he immediately corrected me, "No, Mom. Addy is our cutest girl ever! I'm a great, smart, and good big boy, but Addy is the cutest one here!" I'm glad he's smitten with her as well, although just between you and me, he's still the cutest one here, too. There can be two cutest ones!

Happy Father's Day!

He was adorable up there, singing with the Primary kids. He had his Patrick-imp smile on the whole time but.... he managed to sing it straight. No whoop-de-do's in church! Whew!

Wild Island

Patrick is very proficient and does the slides by himself, or helps Carson and they go together.

Kennedy is a lap rider--this time Mal was taking her and I was on "catch" duty for the boys.

I love her lopsided piggies. They start out even, but she plays hard!

Having a little snack break. It wears them right out!

One of the walking distance perks of our apartment's location is being just a couple of blocks away from the water park. Mallory and I decided to buy a season pass this summer, since all of our kids are still free (until they turn four). The kids have been loving going, although the weather has been less than cooperative, with all these rainy thunderstorm days this past month. Hopefully our usual hot, hot, hot summer will kick in soon enough. The best part of the park for my kids is the "Little Lagoon," with it's zero entry splash pool and kiddie slides. They also get a kick out of the Lazy River and the Wave Pool. Here's a few pictures and video of the fun!

I don't know why the color is so bad on this video but you get the picture. He likes it. A lot. Over and over and over and over...