Olympic trials up next?

We went to Max's birthday party today at a gym run by a couple of hard-ass Russian gymnasts (Max, his parents, and the whole dang party of friends minus us, are Russian!). The boys had A TON of fun! :)

Batman....or girl?

Hard to tell.... sure looks fierce tho! ;-)

Teeth cleaning

Logan had another teeth cleaning appt this morning but since Jon is out of town right now, I had to bring Callum with me. It actually worked out nicely since it gave Callum a chance to see the hygienist and dentist in action. And thankfully, Logan was a perfect model through it all.

In addition to the cleaning, we did x-rays for the first time. Logan was a champ! Perfect x-rays, no cavities and we talked about (and looked at) his new teeth growing under his gums, which will come up once his baby teeth fall out (something he's been concerned about since a friend at school just lost his two front teeth!). :)

Smart kiddo

Anytime I say "no" to Callum he tries to kiss me.

Ha!

Dinner

I'm pretty sure summer means you can eat anything for dinner.   

Moments when I love being a Mom

La familia

We had decided to take the kids to see a movie (Brave - loved it!) Saturday morning before Alicia's birthday party, not realizing that would make us a couple of hours late to the party (we mis-read the start time!).  So, we went straight from the movie theatre to the party, which meant, unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me to take fun pics of the family.  :/

Luckily, others DID bring their cameras, phones, etc.  So, here's a quick shot forwarded to me, of the Negrete/Riedy family members that made it out on Saturday for the celebration!  :)

A nice day to have brunch in Coronado!

Gorgeous day!

Taken driving super fast on the bridge over to Coronado, so the buildings have a slight curve to them (unintended but  cool effect). :)

A night out

Pic courtesy of Amanda, who asked us to pose like we just met and were puppy dog in love. Notice how I look the same as always and Jon has some cheesy squinty eyed look?! ;-)

We thought we'd catch a movie with Jon's siblings last night (Alicia and Paul graciously babysat), but ended up just hanging out and telling stories instead. 

Lighting the candles

We're in San Diego celebrating Alicia's birthday. 

Feliz Cumpleanos Abuelita!

Running thru the mall...

...to see Brave. It was great! :)

My adorable kiddo

"School bus"!

Callum calls any bus a school bus. So, on the bus ride to the car rental stop, he was absolutely THRILLED to be (finally) riding on a school bus. So much, in fact, that he threw a ginormous tantrum when we had to get off to get our car. *sigh*

P.S. Logan and Jon are with us too, but I had Callum duty this trip while Logan stuck with dad. Thus, all the Callum pics. ;-)

Building dexterity

He's improving on this thing so much, it's quite amazing actually. 

Another weekend, another trip

My fellow passenger. Other than a bit of ear pressure on the descent, he was a real champ!  I'm sure the guy who braved sitting next to us appreciated it. ;-)

Chopsticks

A natural! ;-)

Argh matey!

Pirate shirts from Uncle Zane's recent trip to Paris. Logan acting like a wiggly weirdo, as usual.

(also, notice how humongous Callum's new shoes are! He's now a size 9! Gulp!)

A big boy milestone!

Since we had Callum sleeping on a regular mattress (on the floor) in Yellowstone, we thought it's probably time to convert his crib into a toddler bed. Last night was his first night in it and he did really well! :)

Mango juice mustache

Callum says to me, "Thank you Mommy! Mango juice is yummy!"

I think we may have found a new favorite for him. ;-)

Happy Father's Day to all!

The boys made Jon a couple really cute gifts at school. We also got him a couple new "skins" for his phone, and this super cool book called "Darth Vader and son" which illustrates all the various activities Lord Vader must endure, with his 4 yr old son Luke.

Logan thinks it's pretty funny. ;-)

Hope everyone has a great Father's Day!

Our little monkey

Just found Callum, demanding some yogurt. I guess he got tired of waiting for me to get him a snack?

Make your own mini Lego men

Better than any other toy in the mall! ;-)

Homemade honey!

Fresh from Logan's teacher's beehive!

Congrats to the class of 2012!

I'm not sure what was cutest, the stiff slow march the kids each did during the procession to their seats, Logan so very proud of his friends that he wanted to make sure we weren't late and sat in the front row, or the dancing, wiggling and huge smiles from all the graduates at the end.

It was a really fun evening and even without my own kid up there, I got a bit verklempt. Which means I'll probably have waterworks going on, when it's Logan's turn next year!!  :)

About to begin!

Logan's friends are graduating from Pre-K class tonight. They have so much set up - it's very cute! :)

Quiet time

We've had a big day! We started off with a delicious breakfast at Stack's (with the Jodoins and the Hicksons), then we all headed to the movies to see Madagascar 3.

After the movies we all crashed the Jodoins' place, taking advantage of their awesome pool in this summer heat!

The Hicksons needed to get going in the late afternoon but we stayed behind. The boys are (finally) all quieting down (to a movie) while we wait for Jon and Jarrod to pick up some dinner.

Whew! :)

Loganism of the day

Callum, we're best friends, right?

Yeah. 

Din Tai Fung FTW!

Deeeelish! I'm stuffed. 

Art wall #2

And here's Mommy's favorites, saved for the fancy schmancy frames. ;-)

The cool thing about these frames is that they're more like mini cabinets with hinges.  They have the ability to store tons of pages of work, and I can swap them out at any ol' time!

Loganism of the day

Mama, Yellowstone was amazing. I want to go again and see the big hot water squirting out of the ground! [Old Faithful]

Art wall #1

I've been wanting to do something for a long time with the kids' artwork but nothing I've found is all that impressive, so we finally made do with the simplest of solutions: twine and clothespins.

The boys LOVED putting their artwork up for display. :)

Homeward bound

Goodbye Montana! Goodbye Wyoming! Goodbye Yellowstone! We had a blast! 

Squashed penny

Logan was very excited to show me his new treasure. Look Mom! Daddy put in three dollars and I got this flat penny!

Wine anyone?

Total damage done during our week here.

Note, I don't actually drink (save for a couple sips from Jon's glass) and Jill probably has one glass a night, since the bottle is usually done by the time she's going for her second! ;-)

Steamboat Geyser

We had a shorter day out to the park today, since it was raining, we're all getting tired and the Cables have an early departure tomorrow morning.

So today we checked out the Norris Geyser Basin and took in a few more geysers, hot springs and fumaroles. We did a 1.5 mile hike which tired everyone out!

We ended our outing back at Canyon Village for some grub and chocolate malt shakes. Yum!

Double rainbow!

We haven't been hit too hard with bad weather but we have had a couple rains during our week here. Yesterday, we enjoyed a gorgeous double rainbow. Eric commented that we are surrounded by, and have seen endless, natural beauty during this trip. I couldn't agree more! :)

A serious hike!

Uncle Tom's Trail is a half mile trek that takes you from the top of the Canyon to the base of the 308 foot high Lower Falls. 

You lose 500 feet in elevation during the hike, so you can imagine how steep the descent (and then climb!) is. Logan was a champ and conquered the roughly 600 steps (roundtrip) by himself! Whew!! :)

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Wow, is that yellow stone I see along the canyon? ;-)

Today was all about Yellowstone's Grand Canyon and the Upper and Lower Falls (the latter is seen in the distance here). Breathtaking views all around, as you can imagine!