Waterworld with Joshua

When we moved here, little did we know there were so many cool things to do around here.

Waterworld is one of them. I've only been to a couple of water parks in my life (one of them was in France) so my opinion isn't worth much but I'll still brag that this one is the best in the world! It is huge and very family friendly. Although Josh isn't 3, there were plenty of cool rides to do with him.

I think his favorite ride was the voyage to the center of the Earth; a giant tube ride with fake Dinosaurs, and freaky sounds and lights. He was really quiet during the ride and I was afraid he was going to come out of it terrified, but instead he jumped out of the tube and said "Dinosaurs, so much fun! Do it again!". And he called the tubes "boats" the whole time we were there.

It was a little difficult for him to wait in line so long (up to 40min for a ride!) but he did amazingly well and we managed to do 5 rides in one afternoon and let him play almost an hour at the toddler area (which he loved too).

Our friend Heidi watched William while we were there and even made us dinner when we came home! How lucky we are to have such wonderful friends!

Preschool and Summer catch-up

After a week or so of diligent attempts (or not), I had to admit to myself that #3 on my list will not go on. Yes I'm a chocolate addict, but I haven't reached the repenting stage yet.

I'm still working on the rest of the list though.

So, the summer is over... basically. Josh goes to preschool two mornings a week and he's ecstatic (so am I). We're slowly getting used to our new schedule but it still kind of feels like summer with the extreme heat, the afternoons at the playground and the dinners outside.

Monday was Joshua's first day in Preschool. He was exceedingly proud and excited. This is him on our door-step with Russell before school.

He was there for almost 4 hours. He had breakfast and lunch there, and he told me he played with an airplane and cars. I also noticed he started singing a song I didn't know that day, and he picked up a new phrase that he loves to use: "understand?" It's only funny if you imagine him saying it with a very stern, almost angry voice. It shocked me at first (because we've never used that exact phrase with him... at least not in English) but knowing my child I am not surprised he had to be disciplined and I'm glad for once I didn't have to do it.

We did some pretty cool things these past few months that I haven't had time to document, so I'm going to throw it all in here.

Skateboarding with Daddy on our way back from the library

(notice the big grin AND the strong grip)

Anne U. White trail with our Friends the Fergusons.

Have I already said we live in the most beautiful place on Earth?

Ready for a 3-mile hike, Josh insisted on leading the way the whole time (he always does)

 I'm a fan of the hands on the backpack.
A tired/bored William

 The much anticipated cascade (a little dirty in my opinion). Happy at last.

The way back: on Daddy's shoulders of course

Aren't they cute!

Soccer Club!

One of Joshua's favorite things is playing with balls so I had to take him there.

It took him a few times to get used to the rules (can you guess he wasn't very interested in taking turns and playing games rather than shooting the ball in the goal?)

Practicing knocking down/straightening the cone using only his feet,
Really tempted to take the ball and start running around... but he managed to wait
The tail game
Chasing the biggest kids around
Cute William messing with the soccer club equipment

William's 1st birthday!

July 16th. We didn't plan anything special. Our friends the Jacksons had watched our kids the week before so we could go to the temple so we watched theirs, and William had two big buddies to play with on his birthday (one of them named William as well).

It started raining a little bit so we picnicked inside.
 

Strawberry shortcake, presents and Grand-Maman's card

Colorado Springs

We took a couple of days off to go visit this amazing city only 2 hours away from where we live. We were mesmerized by its beauty.

Seven Falls

We took an elevator (inside the mountain) up to a platform where we had a stunning view of the falls.

 

Josh admiring the view

Then we climbed up the stairs along the mountain and the cascade to get even closer.

Don't look down William!

and then back to the cabin where we stayed one night:

they had a pool, which got both William and Josh really excited
William having his own kind of fun

Still in Colorado Springs: The garden of the Gods

Notice the excitement of being hooked to a trailer loaded with 2 kids.

I didn't make it very far and then Russell kindly offered to switch bikes and rode a woman's bike for the rest of the visit.

Amazing view

I said I wanted to work out...

Le Kiss hat

Je ne sais pas trop d'où me vient l'obsession mais je suis complètement accro au crochet depuis quelques mois. Une de mes voisines m'a donné le patron d'une robe adorable qu'elle avait fait pour sa fille l'année dernière et depuis je suis mordue.

Et même si je n'étais pas complètement obsédée par le crochet, je ne pourrais pas m'empêcher de fondre pour ce petit bonnet inspiré par les populaires chocolats "Kisses".

J'ai trouvé les instructions dans un livre emprunté à la bibliothèque "Too cute crochet" de Cynthia Preston.

Depuis j'en ai fait 3 (un pour chaque babyshower à laquelle j'ai assisté ce mois-ci). Tout le monde l'adore et j'ai hâte de le voir sur la tête d'un de ces petits bébés.

J'ai aussi fait des mini bottes (style Uggs) pour une amie mais j'ai oublié de prendre des photos. Elles était un peu comme celles que j'avais faite pour William il y a quelques mois, mais encore plus mignonnes.

Summer burnout and new goals

Why is it that for the last 2-3 weeks I've been feeling like throwing a pity party every single day?

I could write down a hundred reasons for it. Actually I have...

But after spending more than an hour, adding to the list, crossing off things, editing, reformulating, I've realized it wasn't helping a bit.

So I decided to take my mind off of it and start a new list. A list of things I want to do. So here it is:



1. Read a book in German

2. Make a quilt

3. limit snacks to 2 pieces of chocolate/day (haha)

4. Teach Joshua to poop in the potty

5. Be in bed by eleven, be up by 7am

6. Read scriptures before getting up.

7. Make a shopping list and stick to it

8. Get a zumba DVD from the library (or buy one), and try it a least 3 times before giving up...

9. Memorize my social security number

10. Write a blog (working on that right now, yeah!)

11. Read a scientific magazine

12. Exercise for at least 10min. every day

13. Learn to saw

14. Take my hubby to Morocco

15. Teach William to go down the slide by himself

16. Teach Joshua to swing by himself

17. Try at least one of the hundreds of recipes I have bookmarked

...



Ahh! I feel so much better already. Now let's hope I can cross a few things off the list before my kids have left home (especially #4) and before I add a hundred more.



Now I don't want to seem ungrateful because we've add a pretty awesome summer.

Our trip to France was fabulous (I gained 5 lbs!), the kids reached some really cool milestones (William is walking, Joshua is "almost" potty trained), Russell is basically done with his thesis... Ikea opened in Denver (exciting right?!)!!!



We took Joshua on a canoe a week ago (he'd been begging to "row the boat" for weeks after seeing a group of kids kayaking on the creek). He had so much fun. He threw a bad tantrum when we returned the canoe. We can't wait to do it again.

Last Friday our friends the Jacksons watched Josh and William while Russell and I went on a date. We went to a Moroccan restaurant on 28th street. The owner speaks French and he was super friendly. They had an awesome belly dancer and really good food. Only warning, the bill is salty as we say in French (it's pretty expensive).