First bike race

Ever since Kadyn has learned to ride his pedal bike he's been asking to be in a bike race. After watching the Criterium he really wanted to be in one. So, we thought we would sign them up for a kid's bike race this past Sunday. Of course they changed their minds once it was actually time to decide if they wanted to go or not. However, last minute they both decided they did in fact want to give it a shot. Not only that, but Kadyn decided he didn't want to do the 2-4 year old bracket since it was only 50 yards. No, he wanted to do the 5-7 year old bracket which was 1 lap (probably equivalent to 1/4 mile on a track but with a slight uphill the 2nd half). They both did so well. I am so proud.

Sitting in the shade before the start of the race. It was the first time in over a week that the temps were above 80 let alone 90 degrees. 

Kai's bracket went first. I was shocked he did this without his brother! SO proud of him.

And he's off.

Since he's still wobbly on his pedal bike we opted to have him ride his strider. Great decision! He flew. 

Just crossing the finish line. He was so proud.

Kadyn getting in the line-up with the 5-7 year olds...look how little he looks. It was at this point that we wondered if we had made a mistake letting him race with the older kids.

And yet, he held his own! He finished in the top 1/2, if not the top 1/3 of his group! Way to go buddy!

What fun to watch them compete with such great attitudes. Way to go boys!

July in full bloom

We've had unseasonably cold weather as evidenced in the picture below. Pants and a sweatshirt. Yup. The boys had a fun time showing everyone around the High Desert Museum again. However, towards the end I ended up having to bring them home early as one decked the other resulting in many tears, and 2 time outs. My boys? Shocker, I know. ;)

Below is our beautiful skyline. I made the kids go on a detour on way to Grammy and Pops house to take a picture of how beautiful the mountains looked. It's amazing how much snow is still up there. It's a good thing there wasn't that much snow 6 years ago or our wedding would have looked very different. 

 We spent the past week with T-mom (Greta's grandma), Uncle John, Aunt Linda, and cousin Kathryn. Surprisingly I don't have any pictures. The only one I have is below, but shhh. Don't tell Grammy because she doesn't like the kids lifting up those rocks.

This past weekend if finally warmed up again. We spent this past Saturday morning at the Children's Festival. The kids have thoroughly enjoyed it the past few years and even more so in getting to spend it with Gracie and Elliott this year.

 The Festival has all kinds of games and prizes for kids to play and my boys eat it up...literally.

And another of our favorite summer activities that also happened to be this past Saturday is the Criterium. The kids got a kick out of how fast the racers went. And even more of a kick out of getting to see Aunt TT and Laila Belle for the first time in 7 months (again, no pictures). Towards the end of the race and after we said goodbye to TT and LB we headed over to the new frozen yogurt place downtown. Yummy.

waiting for the race to start

Kai is checking to see if the racers are about to blow by again.

And, in case we hadn't packed enough in to that day (we also went swimming at the town pool and to a bbq dinner before the race at Grammy and Pops with the fam), we headed down to watch the hot air balloon lighting. We kept the kids up way, way past bedtime. But they had such a great time. What a wonderful day.

Kai checking out the hot air balloon way off in the distance.

The owners of these cute shoes abandoned them in order to run faster while they played chase.

I am so glad that the weather finally warmed up.

Goodbye binkie, hello bike!

As I've mentioned, Kai has officially moved out of his crib in to the bottom bunk under Kadyn. We had a goodbye crib party complete with cake. Kai had officially crawled out of the crib back in March and climbed up to snuggle next to his brother all night. Despite his new found abilities, unless he was literally sleeping with Kadyn, in the same bed, he didn't want to be out of his crib. But it was time. Additionally, just a few days later, we had Kai gave up binkies. Mean parents, I know. I was afraid to comment on it too soon because I didn't want to jinx either of these. However, he's done amazingly well. Yes, we've had a few late nights (in fact, as I'm typing this he is still awake...he's become master bedtime delaying manipulator). Yes, we've woken up a few extra times in the middle of the night. But, the binkie and the crib is gone and he's still napping.

As part of the binkie exchange Kai got a new big boy bike. I posted a very small picture a week or two back of him riding his pedal bike without training wheels by himself. He's one very determined little boy. Though still getting the hang of braking, he's doing awesome.
Here's the progression of him getting his new bike...

Even though Kadyn knew what Kai was getting he wanted to close his eyes too. 

Oh what a big boy we have already.

Summer Lovin or Lovin Summer?

I mentioned in the last post that we've been busy. Just in the past month alone we've had the pleasure of spending 4th of July weekend with Uncle Brian, Aunt Jen, and cousin Carly, and the past week with Tmom (great grandma), Uncle John, Aunt Linda, and cousin Kathryn. We learned to kayak, stand up paddle board, went to the Summer Fest, the Children's Festival, participated in our first ever bike race, watched the balloons light up the Old Mill, watched the Criterium, Kai gave up both his crib and his binkie in exchange for a big boy bike complete with peddles and no training wheels, spent 4 days with Grammy and Pops so Mommy and Daddy could go to Chris and Kelcy's wedding (shares the same anniversary of Mommy and Daddy--Happy #6!), welcomed new baby cousin Ben Bergman, got to see Aunt TT, Uncle Jesse, and cousin Laila again, Daddy stained the house and redid the decks, we were in the pet parade, lit off our first ever own fireworks, showed all our guests the High Desert Museum, and Kadyn's been in summer camp 2-3 days a week. Phew. I'm tired just looking at that list. We're making the most of summer...even if it has been the coldest summer in ages.

Oh my have we been B.U.S.Y

To use the word 'busy' almost doesn't seem enough. We've been having such fun with the boys as well as all the visitors that July has brought. One of our favorite things to do has become Stand Up Paddle Boarding.

Stay tuned for a bunch more posts over the next couple of days.

Another momentous occassion

Kai has learned to ride a big boy bike...complete with pedals and no training wheels. I am so proud of my boys. I just don't know when I blinked to make time go by so quickly; they are growing up too fast. I'll need to guerilla glue my eyes open to keep them from opening and closing.

Extreme Diaper Riding

Nothing quite like a boy in his pull-ups and converse riding his trike. 

4th of July Weekend

We had such a wonderful 4th of July weekend. It was jam packed with fun. We started off the weekend on Friday by going on an 'adventure' with Mommy. We had such a great time picking out special things for Cousin Isak (who is going to be a big brother VERY soon), our soon-to-be new little cousin, and our Cousin Carly. We went on a special date and even got to pick something out of our own from the Dollar Store. Mommy even tried to teach us to play baseball; fortunately a very kind passerby showed her how to teach us the proper bat hold. Good thing Daddy came home shortly thereafter to make sure our technique continued in proper form. 

Saturday was kicked off by meeting up with Uncle Brian, Aunt Jen, Cousin Carly, Grammy and Pops at the park. Mommy was nervous that I would be sad that Carly wasn't my age, but we took to each other very quickly. 

 Kai showed off his baseball skills with his new bat and ball (his pick from the Dollar Store).

 And we were very excited that Carly likes to hunt for bugs and play in the dirt.

 Saturday afternoon we threw a late birthday party for Carly. We made sure there were party hats and blow horns.

 And what's better than hunting for bugs with our party hats on?

 Oh, yeah, that's right...running through a sprinkler is better.

 On Sunday we went to the High Desert Museum. Mommy thinks Daddy looks pretty hunky in this picture...Gross.

 And for the 4th of July we decked out our wagon and participated in the Pet Parade--we even took Boulder this year! We had so much fun, even though our expressions didn't change a whole lot...we were on stimulation overload.

 And we took a detour on our way home to swing by Mother's Cafe to grab smoothies.

 That night we went to Nana and Papa's for a bbq. We played lawn games, had too much sugar, and were introduced to our very own fireworks for the very first time. Both of us even got to stay up way past our bedtime to see the fireworks on the butte. The highlight was throwing pop-its at each other's feet. We even saved a box of pop-its for Grandpa and Cousin Isak since they couldn't be here to celebrate with us.

Kai's new stance and walk--hands in his pockets...I LOVE it!

Telling Papa how to properly open the pop-it box.

 Catch if you dare!