A man named "Hello" - and a few other laughs from the kids

On Saturday night, we tooke the kids and headed to Kings Island with our friend Trevor Casper, only arrive just before a thunderstorm, so we changed our plans and went out for Mexican. Our server was very friendly, and he decided to teach the kids to say Hi in Spanish. Jacob and Claire were both very good at saying "Hola," but Jacob was convinced that it was the server's name. He kept calling out "Hi Hola!" every time he saw our server.

On a related topic, it's going to be a while before we allow our kids to go to a restaurant without strapping them into a booster or a highchair - the restaurant only had 1 highchair, so neither child wanted to be in it. Instead, they ran around the booth like crazy! We won't make that mistake again.

I called home today and Jacob and Claire nearly beat Dani (who was upstairs getting beds ready for naps) to the phone. What a great surprise it was to get to talk to a very excited Jacob and Claire - I think I had to say hi to them once every 30 seconds!

A cute side of Claire comes out when Jacob throws a fit or when a baby is crying. She quickly finds a toy that she thinks will make them happy and puts it next to him. If that doesn't do the trick, she'll look for something better. This, unfortunately, does not apply when the cause of the fit is her taking something away from Jacob!

While I was at training, I got Jacob a little t-ball set and brought it home for him. He had a fever Friday, when I got home, but he was so excited to put the ball on the tee and hit it. It was really sad watching him feel so miserable but want to play outside with the tee ball set so bad!

I like to tell people that our kids don't do anything if they're not doing it big. They are over-the-top happy but can throw some big tantrums. I think that the fact that they get to do it together makes life twice as fun most of the time, but can often be twice as frustrating! That is probably the case for mom and dad, too!

A Day on the Lake (oh how I miss these days)

Saturday we went wakeboarding with some friends that we recently discovered have a boat!  I was so excited.  Truthfully, I am a waterskier, but I was so happy to have any time on a boat.  I big thanks to the Ellis family for sharing the fun with us and letting me drive your nice boat.  I really look forward to a day that Jared and I can have a boat to share with our family and friends since it is something that I grew up loving to do with my family.  I cannot wait for this summer to get to Wyoming to ski with the family (I LOVE WATERSKIING).  We also might have a chance to waterski with all of Jared's cousins in Idaho...can't wait.   Anyhow, this was the second time ever that I have tried wakeboarding, which at first seems a little boring once you learn to ski pretty well, but I will admit that the more I wakeboarded the more fun it seemed.  Turning is different and was taking some getting used to, but I was getting the hang of it, so I decided to make some fun and try to jump on the wake, I did get a pretty good hop and land, but promptly face planted.  Face planting on a wakeboard hurts way more than face planting on skis because your feet are just stuck in the board.  My neck is pretty sore still, but it was worth the fun.

Jared got to try wake surfing and was pretty good at it, he got right up and then got to play around on the wake for quite awhile.  
Claire was SO good, she loved just being on the boat, she also loved having a life jacket on.  She was so calm and just content to sit and ride along, you barely noticed she was there (except for her adorable little face).
Jacob didn't love the boat as much, he wanted to be held the whole time and was concerned if Jared or I were in the water or behind the boat.  He eventually fell asleep on my for a few minutes, but I think that this picture pretty much sums up his feelings about the experience (trying to block it out).
Kiddos rode on the the tube with Jared and actually really enjoyed it.  You would have never known by watching Jacob, he just buried his face and pulled his hat down over his eyes and held it there for the whole ride, but every time Jared asked if he wanted to be done he would say "no no."  Claire was propping herself up and taking in the whole experience!  I can't wait for the next time I get on a boat (hopefully there is a waterski involved).

Red River Gorge and Natural Bridges

Ok, I am FINALLY posting the pictures that I keep saying I will post, I kept putting it off because there are so many of them, but I finally decided to post a bunch and get them on so I might eventually catch up on my blogging.  We had so much fun on our trip with Matt and Camie's family and Rob and Holly's family and Jared's brothers who joined for a bit of the adventure.  The pictures are not in order, but I will just give you a quick tour of our trip.  

Our great cabin was lakeside and the lake was this nice little thing with clear water, canoes, and a paddle boat, we enjoyed all of them!

Taylor and Andrew were (are) such great uncles, here is Taylor with Ellie and Clayton by the fire pit.
We enjoyed SOOO much good food.  Jared and I made some new dutch oven recipes that are for sure keepers.  Rob usually ate at the kiddie table since he is so small and all.  (This picture was taken Sunday after we attended the tiny branch in Beattyville).
We did some great hikes.  This one was a short walk to overlook Red River Gorge, it is beautiful (or should I say GORGEous).
The two men in my life!
This hike was to a big natural bridge, we are actually on top of it in this picture...next year I will not carry my kids anymore!  They were really great though and had a great time, Lydia was such a great little hiker.
We played in some water, the kids were throwing rocks and Claire discovered if she holds on real tight she can pick up several rocks to throw so she doesn't have to bend down so much.
Taylor and Andrew came down to climb and were nice enough to let Jared, Rob, and I join them for awhile.
I discovered that climbing barefoot on sandstone is nothing like climbing barefoot in the canyons in Utah.  I really have missed climbing.
This is the great place we rented...it was so perfect for our group.
Rob, Ellie, and Lydia by the fire.
Jacob and Clayton were great buddies (unless they were tired or hungry).
After all of the toddlers had a fun bath they all needed a drink and a book together.
This is on the hike to the natural bridge.
As is this!  (Jacob is reaching for his snack...he loves food).
It was a fantastic trip, we had perfect weather and so much fun.  We played a lot of games and enjoyed the outdoor activities around, I hope we get more chances for these trips!

Kentucky Charm

This is the beautiful framed picture that is hanging on the wall in a Pizza Hut in Kentucky (right next to the Can-tuky Diner with backwards letters and all).  We ate the buffet at this Pizza Hut on our way to our Red River Gorge/Natural Bridges cabin vacation!  (It was a great trip by the way and I really do promise to post pictures, there are just so many of them that it seems really daunting right now).  I hope you can click on it and blow it up to read the letters on the plaque... "Our Hometown".  I just really got a kick out of the whole thing, it is actually a pretty nice really big frame with matting, a little plaque, and actually hung on the wall, but the picture is...missing?  blank?   In the defense of this little pizza hut, it was a small town, not much going on, so maybe to them a blank space is as good as a picture of the hometown.