Jack Rides a Bike!

Today Jack achieved a big milestone - riding a bike by himself!


One of my summer goals was to get Jack riding a bike like a proper first grader.  We worked on it most days.  I realized his bike we got for his 5th birthday is just too big for him to handle.  I got a glider from craigslist to teach him to coast, then a medium sized bike also from craigslist as a step in between.  Now we have a ridiculous pile of bikes in the garage, but I know Sam will use them all too it's justified!

Jack overcame a lot of fears for this.  He was poorly motivated to learn, but tonight we couldn't get him off it.  He finally got that awesome sense of speed and freedom that a kid feels on a bike.



(Sam insisted on a picture too, of course)

Down the rabbit hole

I haven't played video games in a long time.  I have other things I'd rather be doing with my free time (mostly knitting).  But this new game has sucked me in.

I downloaded the free Pokemon Go app for Jack, but very quickly realized the game was for me.  

It's really a great game.  Despite how (very VERY) buggy it is, I've been playing it nonstop for three days.  I don't feel bad about that, because the game requires you to walk and explore the town in order to play.  Here's my screenshot and selfie in play:

Read more about the game on your own; I won't bother to explain it thoroughly here.  I will say that not only is the game addicting, it's exercise, and a social activity.  We can't believe how many people are playing!  We just came back from one of our local playgrounds and 4 out of every 5 people we saw were also playing!  

Plus, it's been great for Ben and I to have something to share about between us.  

If you know anything about the game, then be excited for these screenshots:

I'm a gym leader!!

Probably not for long.  :-) The Arvada center was a CRAZY busy place.  Tons of pokestops, tons of players.  We even stopped to chat with a family who had taken their bull Python out for a stroll while they hunt Pokemon.  Sam loved that :-)

Happy Fourth!

We spent the holiday in Grand Junction visiting both Waterhouses and Masons.  The kids had a blast!  I didn't take too many pictures, but I have these at least:

I spent most of my time doing a puzzle :-)


The boys showed off their swimming skills.




Tuckered out Sam every afternoon (of course, he stayed up late each night in exchange!)



I made a flag cake!



Sparklers and fireworks on the third, after dinner with all the family together.









More swimming, with a surprise frog visitor.





Releasing him in a safer place.



The boys were positively pickled after hours of swimming on our last day.





Sam nodded off before we crossed the town border on our way home on the 4th.



Within an hour of leaving I got this photo.  So glad it got done!  Sad I couldn't do it all while I was there though.  I picked on too big for the weekend.
 

We drove through Vail during their fireworks display.  Perfect timing!  Jack declared "Those fireworkds really saved the day.  It's a good thing we saw them.  It was almost the worst Fourth of July EVER."


We had no idea fireworks were so important to him :-)  Noted for next year.