Mommy's Helper

He did a good job because the floor is clean! I totally didn't prompt him to get the vacuum. I keep both the toy one and the Dyson in the closet together. Lately, as I get out the vacuum, Alex's eyes get wide, and he flies to the closet for his. He's becoming such a toddler! I remember Madison and Luke doing the same thing with the same toy...ahhh, memories.

Pictures...

I had the kids' pictures taken today, and here's what we were able to get. The group one...ahh, yeah. Luke did the best overall, and Alex definitely did the worst :)

A New Leaf

Madison has been asking to take dance lessons for quite some time. Due to our remote location, dance instructors from Yuma won't come out here to give lessons. So, I have been looking at dance studios, both researching them online and visiting them in person. I found one that seems to be the right fit for Madison. She's starting lessons on August 11, and she's taking a "Combo Class." It's a combination of ballet, tap, and jazz. I think she will love it. The class runs one hour each week, the whole school year. I never took dance of any kind, so this is new to me as well. We'll see how it goes. It is a 50-minute drive to the studio, courtesy of road construction...usually "only" 45 minutes to the studio! My neighbor Kellie also signed her daughter up (same age as Madison), so we can carpool some. I am looking forward to watching her learn throughout the year!

Because of her class being a combo of stuff, she doesn't have to have a specific color leotard. Guess which of these two was her pick? She has the ballet slippers too, and we are waiting on the tights and tap shoes to come in the mail.

Super cute, in my opinion. Her hair isn't long enough for a bun, so pigtails or the Princess Leia look will have to do!

Day in and Day out...

Well, it's too hot to go outside right now, so we're trying to play nicely inside. Yeah, that's fun.

Alex loves his rocking horse.

The kids play well (for a few minutes!).

Luke enjoys the "Barrel of Monkeys" game a lot.

Madison loves anything related to her dollhouse. She's setting up for a wedding in this picture.

Swim Lessons: The Finale

The kids finished swim lessons today, and they have done really well this summer. Madison is diving (along with swimming well), and Luke can jump off the diving board and swim to the side. I can't believe the progress they have both made. It's been so great to watch over the summer. The kids have had lessons Monday-Friday, 45 minutes each. Madison's class had a total of six kids, if they were all there! Luke's class had closer to 10 kids, but again, they were rarely all there. Today, the last day, both classes had just two kids each, my kids and another kid :)

Madison, the Diver

I don't think adults remember the coordination that comes with learning how to dive until we watch a kid try to learn that same coordination. I watched A LOT of belly flops before we got to this :)

She loves diving, and I hope that wherever we move next, we have good access to a pool. I might have created little fish with the swimming we have here!

Luke LOVED his class. He was the youngest in his class, and he was their biggest daredevil. Luke was always the first one willing to do anything, and he begged from Day 1 to go off the diving board. They spent this last week on the diving board and on the water slide (it's pretty tall...about two stories tall).

Luke (and Madison) loved their swim instructors. These two girls taught the lessons last year too, and Luke would talk about "swimming with Miss Sonny" everyday.

This is the intro class, so they have kids afraid to even get in the water. Miss Ashley is standing a few feet from the ladder, and the goal of this section is to get the kids to push off the ladder and swim to her underwater.

Luke loves to swim underwater. His biggest challenge is that when he comes up for air, he forgets to breathe! He does come up, look around, and goes back underwater. We always laugh because he has to come right back up for an actual breath. For a three-year-old, he's doing VERY well!

These swim lessons are really fantastic. The classes are SO small, the instructors are Red Cross certified, so it's a very legit class. They are great with the kids, and for a whopping $21, you can't beat it! 45 minutes a day, five days a week in two week segments=priceless!!!

We will continue with swim lessons next summer up until we move. We hope to be here long enough for Madison to do the last level, Level 4. There, they work on the breaststroke and the butterfly (worked on freestyle and backstroke in Level 3). For Luke, they said he would be ready for Level 3 next summer right away, but I might restart him just to get his memory working about swimming...we'll see.

I'll tell you what...while I have really enjoyed the kids' lessons each day, Alex and I will NOT miss sitting out at the pool for two hours each morning roasting. It's been up well over 100 just about every morning, and man, it's been hot and tiresome (and very humid the last week). I've been the only mom there for the two sessions this time around; no one else had kids in both classes. I've been sharing that misery with Madison's preschool teacher, as she's been assigned there with the preschool kids who are there for lessons each day. Carol (her teacher) and I were very excited to finish the lessons!

Funny Comments in the Car

The kids say funny things all the time, and I need to document them more.

We ran errands this afternoon/early evening, and I took them to Arbys for dinner. Now, we rarely go to fast food places, so they are delighted when we do go. The kids LOVE Arbys.

Madison calls sesame seeds "Sesame Street seeds"


On the topic of fast food type places, we also have a Panda Express. Sadly, we don't have other Chinese options in Yuma, so we've been there a couple of times.

Madison calls the place, "Kung Fu Panda" and is delighted when we drive past it. She's got Luke calling it that now.

We seem to have Jack in the Box on every corner out here. I'm not a fan, and the kids know we don't eat there. Whenever we drive by one (and it's often because they are everywhere!!!), the kids yell out, "It's a Jack in the Box...we DON'T like that place."

They have come to think of Pizza Hut as a five-star dining opportunity. Seriously, they are obsessed with going there, and I've only taken them there a few times. It doesn't help that Pizza Hut and Jack in the Box are next door to each other in the Foothills where we go to the grocery store and church. I have to hear about it the whole ride (and now they are getting ready to open a McDonalds there too!).

Madison's biggest obsession, by far, is Kneaders. It's like a Panera Bread or similar. It's good, but she wants to eat there anytime we go into town. They have a bakery with homemade cookies that come with the kids' meals, which is what she likes. She's gotten Luke to jump on the bandwagon too. It doesn't help that Kneaders is in front of our only shopping area, Yuma Palms, so anytime I go to Target, Kohls, Children's Place, Old Navy, pretty much any shopping we have in Yuma, it sits in the front parcel of the shopping center. I've gotten to where I turn early and take a back entrance to avoid it.

Ahh, never a dull, nor a quiet, moment in the car!

While Daddy is Away...

The kids and I are doing fine. Well, I am desperately in need of adult converstation, and it doesn't help that most people on post are on vacation, but yes, we're doing fine. Edward will be gone for three weeks.

Luke and I have been playing some mean games of Hungry, Hungry Hippos in the evening.

The kids and I baked chocolate chip cookies yesterday afternoon.

I made breadsticks to go with our dinner.

I tried to wait until it "cooled off" to mow the backyard. I did get it mowed, but I don't think 109 is exactly chilly.

There it is from last night...I took this just after I finished mowing, 109. At 10:00 it was still 101, so it doesn't cool off here at night like you might hope.

An Afternoon in Yuma...

This was Saturday:

HOW HIGH WILL IT GO?

I don't care if you think it's a dry heat. It's WAY too hot. To get the effect, turn on your hairdryer and stick it at your face all day...that's the intensity of the heat. It's just not humae for it to be over 100 degrees still at 10:00 at night!

And yes, I did have my cooler in the car. I think there must be a point to which even the cooler can't keep stuff cold anymore...maybe coolers should be like sleeping bags, "Guaranteed to keep cool up to xx degrees??"

Sea World, San Diego

We spent all day Friday at Sea World San Diego. Thank you, Sea World and your counterparts for the "Here's to the Heroes" program that allows military families free admission to Sea World once a year. Our last visit to Sea World was shortly after we moved to Yuma, almost two years ago, so it was nice to go back. The kids didn't remember it, and they had a really good time.

We made our first stop at the dolphin areana for the dolphin show. On our last visit, this was a big hit, and it proved to be again. I think the kids were really surprised at how much the dolphins could do.

Edward and I think we have found what all of the divers do after they leave the Olympics...this show was full of high dive divers, and they were all right on. These guys were great.

Riding the dolphins

Hot and humid in San Diego...good thing we are at a park with water rides and such.

Well, we discovered Luke is NOT 42 inches tall yet...he's 37 inches tall. Since he couldn't ride a water ride with Madison and Edward, he had to hang out with Alex and me. In doing so, he found this snake at the gift shop he had to have.

We looked at the different sea creatures and visited an area you could pick things out of the water.

We took time to watch the sea turtles (Edward and Madison ended up being gone for 75 minutes waiting in line for the ride).

After we all met up again, Edward took Madison and Luke to this Cirque du Soleil type show. Alex wasn't having it, as strollers can't be taken into the stadium, so he and I just walked around.

Madison told me that she really liked the acrobatics of this show. It did look pretty cool (from afar).

We found an observation deck in which you could watch the trainers with Shamu. The kids loved the observation deck, mainly because there was no one else there! We spent about 15 minutes just sitting there watching the trainers feed and play with Shamu.

Then, we headed into the Sesame Street play area of Sea World. As you can see, the kids were quick to hop on a few rides.

By the end of the day, Alex was wiped out. He didn't nap at all during the day, which surprised us. He was definitely tired, and man, he had a nice lounge chair with his stroller setup. He slept well that night!

Tired and very hot

The best picture of the three all day, seriously.

Sea World was a lot of fun, and we hope to go back next spring before we have to move again. Sea World is just off the I-5, so now everytime we drive by (and we drive by it a lot when in San Diego...it's in the thick of things by the airport), Luke shouts, "It's Sea World, Mommy! Can we go again?"