City of Rocks

Here is my belated post about our camping trip to City of Rocks in Idaho. We had a lot of fun. I was a bit worried about the trip considering I don't really like camping and we had never been camping as a family. Turns out I don't mind camping-- except the sleeping on the ground part. I don't think I'll ever come to like that!! (I may have uttered the words "I hate you" to Miles after a very sleepless night on the ground, but luckily he understands that I'm a little grumpy in the morning!) The boys loved every second of it. We were fortunate to have Miles' parents and nephew come with us. There are tons of rock climbing routes there and Scotty was able to do a couple. Miles also taught our nephew Reed to climb and he took right to it and loved it.

Our campsite had a huge rock in it and the boys were in heaven! Collin quickly found a little shortcut through the rock.

There was even a secret hideout in there.

We brought along Collin's personal assistant, aka Grandpa Steve.

And we brought Grandma Geri to be our personal photographer. She did her job well at over 900 photos!

We bought these little construction trucks and gave them to the boys and they spent hours and hours playing with them. Luckily there was not a shortage of dirt to push, dump or flatten.

Scotty climbing.

Scotty's collection of rocks and sticks stashed in the secret hideout.

We did a fun little hike and *tried* to get a family picture. Hopefully someday our boys will be able to hold still and look at a camera for more than .5 seconds!

Miles was able to go on a climb with some friends. They climbed the peak to the left of the big peak- 500 feet!

Miles' view from the top.

Reed and Scotty experimented with breaking rocks with rocks. They were trying to get in touch with their caveman instincts.

It was a beautiful place to camp with huge outcroppings of rock all over. The boys loved being able to climb to their heart's content. This was a favorite climbing spot for the boys. We lost a few pair of shorts and pants that were shredded from sliding on rocks, but that is a small price to pay for a fun filled family weekend! Grant was the winner with two pair of shredded items. He even shredded right through his diaper!

We can't wait to go again!

Potty update!

Grant is killing this potty training business. He has been doing so well. Today was his 7th day in a row accident free. Yep- he's awesome. He had a few accidents the day after training- they all happened in the bathroom while getting ready to go. He just had to figure out the timing. Then two days later he had another accident when he was playing outside, waited a bit too long to come in and didn't quite make it. But other than that he has been our dry pants kid! And he's so proud of himself. He feels like a big boy now and he wants to be a big boy all the time. Like when getting dressed and undressed, buckling his car seat, putting his shoes on, etc. If we dare to suggest that we help him (because we are in a hurry and can do it much faster ourself!) he yells "No! I do it myself! I a big boy!"

He even wants to drive now, but we're putting our foot down on that one. :-)

He is a super duper pooper!

The title of this post is one of my favorite songs from the video It's Potty Time! Check it out here- it's awesome!

Collin was so excited with all the potty talk this morning that he decided to give the potty a try.

Unfortunately, he didn't realize the child seat was not down and fell in! It was so funny!!! By the way, so far we love this toilet seat. You can see the child seat that is integrated into the lid and is held there by a magnet. It works just like a normal toilet seat and lid but with the bonus of the little seat that the kids can pull down and use.

Grant had a successful potty day!

We had lots of treats and drinks.

Lots of big boy underwear.

And lots of successful self-initiated trips to the potty!

It's a long tiring day for me, but also a fun day. It was fun to spend the one on one time with Grant and to see him work so hard to master this skill. He really did a great job. I'm sure he'll continue to do well. I love him!!!

New adventures

We embarked on a new adventure last weekend- our first family camping trip! I was nervous about it because I'm not a huge fan of camping. And I hate sleeping on the ground! But we ended up having a lot of fun. I will post some pictures and tell about the fun things we did.

But, tonight I am getting ready for our adventure tomorrow- Grant is being potty trained! I feel he is finally ready (he is three and a half) and I am mostly excited to have him trained. Some days he thinks he's ready and some days he doesn't, but I'm sure he'll do great. I think of all the stuff that comes with a newly potty trained kid- remembering to send him to the potty when going somewhere or when out and about, taking along extra clothes just in case, making frantic stops on the side of the road for them to go...ahhhh what fun! But over 2 straight years of having 2 kids in diapers is plenty, so we're looking forward to moving on. When I told Grant this morning that today was the last day he's going to wear diapers he responded with "I'm growing littler. I need diapers." He's so funny!! Hopefully tomorrow night will find him happy with his new potty trained status!

Summer!

Nothing says summer than practically giving yourself a brain aneurysm while blowing up the kiddie pool under the blazing hot sun.

But, see Grant's face?

And Collin's face?

Those faces make it all worth it! Even when the unknown hole in the pool requires repeated blow up sessions while two boys are splashing me like crazy!

They started out splashing high.

The tongues really made a difference.

They splashed low.

Then they decided to jump in to get really good splashes.

They also had some swimming sessions. They were swimming around and around the pool. Quite entertaining to watch!

A few days ago we turned on the sprinklers and the boys had fun playing in them. They especially loved the one right by the trampoline.

We love summer!!

Muffin Tin Monday

We had a semi red, white and blue muffin tin meal. Happy 4th of July!

We had raspberries, corn, watermelon, grapes, strawberries and hamburgers.

Stop by Muffin Tin Mom to see more MTM posts.

Day Out With Thomas

We were so excited to take our boys to Day Out With Thomas this year. We went when Scotty was 3 and Grant was a baby and we had so much fun we were excited to do it again. We told them we were going to go on a train ride but didn't tell them about Thomas. When we pulled up they saw him and started yelling "Thomas!" It was a fun day!

Posing in front of Thomas.

They got tattoos.

Grant was scared to get one, but he was brave and did it and was glad he did.

They got balloon animals and gave the conductor their tickets.

Collin got bored and amused himself by crawling under the seat. (And probably annoyed the people sitting behind us!)

We played a little mini golf.

And they had a lot of fun playing with trains. It was a fabulous day!

Resemblance

I guess Collin does look a little like me.

Random pictures

My friend Jodee posted this quote on her blog and I really love it.

"Extraordinary moments can happen in the middle of ordinary days. I was on a mother-daughter dinner date with Calli, who was nine at the time. Through a mouthful of macaroni and cheese, Calli giggled as she recounted a game of freeze tag she played during recess that day. Then it hit me... I will spend eternity knowing Calli as an adult. But tonight, right here, right now, and for the next few precious years, I have the rare privilege of knowing her as a child. What a gift to experience the children in our lives as children! For a brief moment during the journey of mortality, we get to watch them laugh, learn, experience, grow. Yes, in the middle of an ordinary day, it was an extraordinary moment." -Hilary Weeks

These are some extraordinary moments that I want to remember.

A new JoAnn's opened in Tooele. We went to check it out and I let the boy's pick out a little wooden thing to paint. Collin chose an airplane and Grant and Scotty found a little treasure box.

The boys love this show on Qubo called Mighty Machines. It's a show that features different kinds of mighty machines- construction equipment, fire trucks, trains, airplanes, etc. It's a little boy's dream show! And they all sing the theme song- it's so cute!!

This is Scotty helping me clean the bathroom. Dressed in his "cowboy" shirt, cowboy hat and cape! What do you wear to clean the bathroom?

Collin was helping me make salsa one day and I had him try the lime. Can you tell if he likes it or not?!?

Poor Grant- he was running around the kitchen table one day and ran right into the side of my chair. He hit so hard that the chair moved a little- with me sitting on it! The bump on his forehead in this picture appeared within about a minute. This one took a lot of kisses and hugs to feel better. But he's a brave little guy and was back to running around in no time.

Another fun outfit choice!

There's Collin- hanging out in the stroller, eating a popsicle, watching the storm clouds roll in.

This is the face of a little boy that had a lot of fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house!