Thursday, July 28, 2016

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.

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(Sam insisted on a picture too, of course)
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Sunday, July 10, 2016

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 :-)

Thursday, July 07, 2016

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 :-)
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The boys showed off their swimming skills.

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

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I made a flag cake!

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

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More swimming, with a surprise frog visitor.

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Releasing him in a safer place.

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

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

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