This is How we Roll

I was looking at pictures in Picassa and chose one to upload to blogger. I must have messed up because all these pictures were here. If I don't have to wait for the upload, I might as well share them.

This is how we roll:
This was a couple weeks ago- we walked to the grocery store and Madi wanted to ride her bike (yes, she is too big for her bike, but it'll do for now). The grocery is close (about a half mile) so although it is a really busy street we let her do it. Shayne insisted on pushing her and sometimes she would pull him.

But then Shayne decided he was done with the stroller and needed a ride. Despite the picture he loved it. They do this a lot now and Madi is attentive enough to pull his legs back on her lap when they start to fall. They crack me up.

This is how they like to go when we walk to the mailbox

 

But this is MY favorite way to roll.  Kids in the trailer and we're off.
Saturday we took the wash trail (this time with Dad!!) and headed back to Red Sunset to show him our new obsession.

No spash pad here, but sprinklers will do

 This is the top of one of the awesome slides... a little fast, but really fun when they have the courage.

And below are just three of the reasons that I LOVE THESE KIDS!

yes, it is on. (Why spend $20 on a toy vac when you can spend $8 and it will partially clean my floors?)

Glinda the good witch is into scuba and western wear

Walkin' to the library... the kids love this place as much as I do.

Mom, you should blog this

You might think the Las Vegas heat killed us and that's why I'm not blogging.  Actually, that's not it.  The truth is we have just had so much fun that I am ridiculously behind and have no interest in catching up.  I'm not patient enough to upload all the photos to fill in the gap between now and the last post.  But, I will give you a brief post about the last few days and maybe (read: probably not) I will fill in the gap later.  And the reason I am finally back is funny to me.  After I took a picture of Madi in her dress (you'll see in a second) she said, "Mom, you should blog this!" "Blog what, Madi?" "Blog my dress because it is so beautiful and special to me!" So, here you have it...

Today:
On most Wednesdays we go to our wonderful friend Jan's house.  Today was one of those days and it was particularly exciting because today was a finishing day.  Jan is an incredibly talented (and extremely patient!) woman that we met through church.  Every Wednesday she opens her home to all the women of the ward to join her in crafting and sewing.  Recently she was working on Princess dresses for her granddaughters and Madi got a little jealous.  She has previously never cared about princesses (my fault for lack of exposure) but just this last week the concept clicked and she has been dying for her very own princess dress.  Today was the day.  I cut it out last Wednesday and then have been sewing this week and finished it today (Okay, really Jan finished it because she did the last step- the zipper). Madi insisted on wearing it home over her clothes even in the 100 degree weather.  Here is Madi in her new Purple Princess dress... (don't look too closely, its for dressup.)
Oh, and it might be her Halloween costume too, so don't think less of me for showing it off twice.

Yesterday:
 I've been wondering lately if the pool water is still warm enough for swimming so last night after dinner we headed to the pool to find out.  It was a little on the chilly side,  but Madi still got right in and Shayne wasn't far behind her.

 

Monday:

No pictures here and this tidbit is more for the locals (if there are any locals that read my blog :o)

Monday we headed out for a bike ride and rode from our apartment to the Pitman Wash (we got on at Green Valley and Windmill) and the rode to the Arroyo Grande Sports complex and park. (*JILL... I found a way to come see you!! Call me!)  It was such a fun ride and the kids were awesome in the trailer!  I haven't been enjoying biking around here because every street seems so busy, it is hard to get anywhere, and it is really tough to squeeze by the bus stops that are every 100 yards on all the streets near us.  But, if we take the wash trail we only have to endure 4.6 miles on roads like that and we get access to 10 miles of trail (roundtrip).  We road between 8 and 9 miles and I LOVED it!  I've missed being on a bike.  Oh, and for the locals, that is a really fun park too.  They have the fun big slides like at the Mission Hills park and it doesn't seem as dirty as a lot of the local parks seem.

Overall the kids and I have had a not very productive, but pretty fun week.  And all the while poor Kevin is killing himself studying Nephrology (I don't know if that is even how you spell it, but Kevin could certainly tell you).  Kevin is super stressed and studying extra long hours.  He is amazing because even after a tough day of studying with minimal breaks he always comes home and is thrilled to see us and a ball of energy for the kids.  We are so lucky.  (Sorry, I had a little Ilovemyhusbandblog moment... so unlike me.)  Kevin's schedule doesn't vary much, he studies hard all day everyday and tries to make it home for dinner and then often studies again after his hour with the family.  We're trying to squeeze extra fun in on the days he is off to keep him sane, but his weeks feel pretty long.

Since I probably won't post back (at least not now) here are a couple pictures from last weekend... These are my shout out to an awesome Dad who is incredibly committed to all the things that matter most.

Monday the 12th Kevin didn't have school because he aced his Friday test so we went to the park and splash pad where he was a big kid with the kids...just like they like him

Shayne went with Kevin and Madi came from behind to help when he "got stuck" in the tube slide :o)

I'm no photographer, but this was a cool moment.  And sorry to Kevin for not doing it justice.  He was launching this big boy but I always caught the pictures at the wrong moment.

 

Thanks for reading the blog even though we go on such long breaks! (and then I post such long posts.)  

Rest assured, we are still alive.