Kids and Biking

This was a few weeks ago at the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy or Draper. We met Tamber's family there, and Ali was so happy to see Jessica. The kids all enjoyed it. Cori thought she was old enough to just take off and wander by herself at one point, so I had a heart attack while we all searched for a good 25 minutes until one of the staff finally found her.


After we went to a McDonnalds, where Isaiah took Trumy to the top of his first playplace. It was love hate relationship. He alternated the crying with the laughing all the way up.


After, when it was time to go, Ali attacked Jessica... She is her best friend and Ali did NOT want to leave her!

This is what our car often looks like when we get home from a trip or even just a day at Robyns house. So sweet and innocent when they're sleeping, eh?

When we went to the store a week or two ago, I was dramatically sobbing about how big Isaiah was, and how he used to be the little one that rode in the cute little shopping carts, and now he's so big... so he runs over and hops in with a big grin.

Every time the weather teases us with a warm day, the clouds and snow or cold rain roll back in. this was one of the almost warm days that we were able to to out to a park. Cori and Trumy and I had a nice little picnic at castle park, and we played around for a half hour or so- then it was too cold. I want summer!

Swinging was both their favorite, but Cori also made a cute little friend she ran around with for a while.

We had 3 kids with cavities, cori only had 1- it was her first, and she hated getting it done, even with the meds. Ali had the most, she had 6 0r 7- so they decided it would be easiest to give her a shot for her to sleep, so they could do them all in one day. I don't think we'll ever do that again. I didn't like it at all. Not only was she super stoned and loopy for an hour or two after, she was sick and puking ALL day long. She was miserable.

Trumy is our second little vampire baby. Cori's side top teeth came in first too. I think it's awfully cute- hard to get a good pic. All these pics come from my phone, because it is what I always have with me, but obviously not the best quality.

This is my favorite... Trumes love to look at water in creeks and rivers, and really enjoys robyn's house. Cameron dipped him down so he could touch the water, and he LOVED it. He was so happy... splashing and giggling. Every time Cameron would bring him back up, he would cry to go back down again.



Here's a video, you can kind of hear his giggling between all the splashing!

Trumes had a poo explosion while we were working in Robyn's yard, and after I cleaned him, he happily crawled up the stairs naked to the bath. He loves the stairs so much, he got to the top, went back down, and crawled up again (twice) before continuing on to the bath. Kathy was scandalized.



I am stupid, and forgot on my phone I can't turn it when I'm videoing, so if you want to look at this (poor quality) clip of Cori and Truman going on a wheelbarrow ride, you'll just have to tilt your head.



We are so proud of Isaiah... The kids didn't take gymnastics from November to March, because we just didn't have the money. And 2 weeks after they're back, he is doing his back handsprings, and almost his back whip! By the time I videoed him this day, he was tired, and only landed one on his feet, but he can do it. On Wednsday's lesson- he did a round off 2 back handsprings in a row. It's really something to watch him get the big long body up in the air like that! on the side you can see Ali practicing a little too. She is still getting better and better at her back handsprings, and almost can land her whip and tuck.

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So when Cameron and I were dating, he took me snowboarding. I'd never been. Not even skiing. But he faithfully promised he'd teach me. We went with a couple of his buddies, and Cam and I headed to the 'bunny slopes.' After 5 or 10 minutes or so, he was bored. He said... "I think you've got the basics, you need to go on a little bigger hill." I looked scared, but he assured me it wouldn't be a big deal. Next thing you know, I'm in the lift with him- headed to the top of the Brighton mountainside. I swear we just kept going up for EVER. I was so scared. How was I possibly going to survive the way down? Well, he helped me off the lift, and we went down the first hill. I fell 15 times probably. He waited at the bottom. Impatiently. I understood- he loves snowboarding. When I finally got down to where he was, I said- "I'm going to fall 1000 times on my way down, whether you're here or not... Why don't you just head down and have fun." He said, "Are you sure? (0.5 second pause) OK, bye!" I had fun still and although I thought I wouldn't survive, I did. He wasn't at the bottom when I finally reached it, so I just got back on the lift and headed up alone again. and again. All day- for hours. He never bothered to check on me, just hung with his buddies all day. A couple guys I rode up with were really nice and cute, they couldn't believe Cameron just ditched me. I should have gone home with them. ;-) But anyway, we all had fun in the end.

My point in telling this story? 10 years later, I finally give in and let Cameron buy me a mountain bike. I've always hated bike riding- I don't know why. But I have been trying to get back in shape, going to the gym every day so my before and after picture don't look the same, right? Cameron thought biking would be a good activity for me, and I finally agreed. So Wednesday Robyn needed our help moving the remains of 3 giant pine trees. I was glad to do it, because Cameron was too lazy to watch Truman so I could go to the gym that morning, and I still had a calorie burn to hit. After a few hours of that, it was about 6pm, and Cameron said-"Let's just go on a "little" bike ride." After my snowboarding story, can you guess where this is heading? Well, he didn't abandon me on a mountain top this time, but that little bike ride? Half way up a mountain, two hours, across the canyon two cities later... yeah. About 15 minutes in, when the trail got so narrow it was crumbling down the 100 yard steep drop off as I rode, I knew I was going to get more than I bargained for. Mud puddles, gravel pits, sandy slopes, huge rocks and holes, up and down up and down...

Cameron snapped this pic of me with his phone on our ride.

But crazy enough... I totally loved it. I guess it's because in the last couple months I've been constantly pushing myself at the gym or wherever I'm getting my workout in... I've learned to actually enjoy the challenge instead of hating it.

So of course Cameron is totally stoked- I told him I had to get a helmet, because I know the chances of me crashing are well above the 50% range! So he went to the bike store today and bought me some awesome accessories for my bike. He wants me to love it, because it's always been one of his favorite activities. All these 10 years I've said to myself I need to just learn to like if for his sake, but just dreaded getting into it, because like I said it was always my least favorite. I would much rather play baseball, basketball, soccer, hike... but biking was always his thing.

Anyway, I'll let you know if I survive the next ride...