And They Said, "Let's Go Swimming!"

We spent our summer at the pool taking swimming lessons - Miles and I hung out in the Infant/Toddler class singing "Ring Around The Otter," learning to climb out of the pool (elbow, elbow, knee, knee) and NOT learning how to blow bubbles.

I'm a water slide junkie, so this was my favorite part

The boys - Luke, Daniel, Miles and Scotty

Kate took Level 1 by herself and after a brief freakout in the beginning, learned to do all sorts of crazy things. She floats, she treads water, she jumps off the diving board and swims to the side. It's amazing how far she's come in 7 weeks... and for only six bucks a session!

Katie took some great video on our last day of lessons. Click HERE to check it out...

Kate and Miles

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Say Hello To Feather

Heather really threw us all for a loop and finally started blogging. She's going to be a stay at home mommy soon, so I'm hoping for lots of posts, now that she has lots of time for important stuff like talking on the party line during nap time and commenting more on this blog. Heh.

Her blog is called "I See Little People" and her link is all up on my blog roll. Congrats, Feather, that means you're Somebody now.

Who Told Him That He Isn't A Baby Anymore?

So, Miles.

He's 16 months old. Already.

I looked at him tonight and truly realized that my baby is a toddler.

Little by little I am doing less for him and he is doing more for himself.

He's discovered that whatever Kate has looks much better than what is currently in his hand.

Still. Hates. Shoes.

We're not hearing much in the way of talking, but he makes his opinions known in a way that is pretty clear.

He runs. To the pool. Deep end, please.

And he no longer wants me to feed him.

http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/d91775c19471824d4fe1bdf1fa29d484?index=0

Yes.

The Fairy Tale Festival

On our last day in Iowa (yes, this is the last Iowa post - Katie has already come back, so I need to wrap this up) we ended up at a Fairy Tale Festival where we met knights, walked through old houses and had root beer and popcorn...

When we arrived they loaded us all up on this train (I use the name "train" loosely since it was being powered by a lawn mower) and drove us to an old train station for a story with the conductor.

Amelia, Hank and Kate

Kerstin, Baby Haddie and Katie

Amelia

I think Iowa agrees with her...

A Psalty Sing-Along

Man, I gotta finish up these Iowa pictures...


I think Katie's parents might be unsure of my salvation status because during our four day stay, I visited their church three times. The youth of their church put on two musicals and the second night was Psalty the Singing Songbook. Remember him?

On the way, Amelia busted out with a Psalty song:

http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/e2f61c5742615d51cdf19424b80cfac8?index=0

Kate followed up with this:

http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/a96b6f3eeb4edcd61c3e97841c4b6878?index=0

The ladies

The Fourth Of July - The Iowa Way and The Arizona Way

It was drizzling in Iowa for the 4th of July parade and Katie bought all the kiddos matching shirts...

Amelia and Kate

Independance Day in Arizona and temperatures hovered around 117 degrees. The shirt still worked though...

For the complete story on how we all ended up in a chigger infested field to watch fireworks, you need to visit Spice and M-Dog's blogs - it was an enchanting evening for sure.

This is how most of the night went... "Hey ______! Smile! Over here! Whoops, I just lost him/her in the grass... where'd he/she go?"

Beef Jerky - a Fourth of July favorite....

I believe my two favorite moments were singing "It's A Grand Old Flag" with Owen and washing out Miles' mouth when he bit through the glow stick.

Happy Fourth! (or Seventh, as it were)

Old MacDonald Had Some Chickens, But Don't Chase Them...

You learn two things quickly in Iowa - one, everything is five minutes from Gary and Betty's house. Old MacDonald's Farm is within walking distance and on Friday (after the crack of dawn horse riding and a trip to the mall for Starbucks, time at the play area, and giggling at natural mothers, "What am I? An un-natural mother?") Katie, Karoline, the girls and I (not ME, Gary) went to check out the animals. I'm pretty sure we brought three of our own...

Anybody see anything in the background? Anything at all?

Even with all of the live animals, this part was the biggest hit.



Two, Kate is still weird no matter what state you're in: