My toddler's cooler than yours

Word to your mother.

Memorial Day weekend

We couldn't have asked for a better Memorial Day weekend. The weather was gorgeous. The cousins were fun. The lake was beautiful. Well, the fish could have been biting a bit more ...

On Friday we drove our trailer up to Island Park for the first time. Seth had spent many, many hours beforehand getting it all ready to go (putting on extended mirrors on the pickup, greasing the trailer's hubs, checking for leaks, etc.). Everything went smoothly, and we parked it next to Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin. Our family slept in it while Kent's family, Rachel's family and Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis slept in the cabin.

Saturday morning we took it easy at the cabin and then went to Henry's Lake State Park after lunch. (Gwendolen stayed at the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa so she could take her nap.)

Analee showing her age on her actual birthday (not the day we celebrated it with family).

Rebekah wading in the lake and playing with the kiddie pole (it only had a bobber on it). 

Miriam and Seth sitting by the lake.

Miriam wearing the sweatshirt we fashioned into pants after the pants she had been wearing got soaked.

After an entire afternoon of having no luck with the fish, we went back to the cabin for dinner and s'mores.

Bekah holding Winnie and Analee sitting next to Kelsey on the swing in the yard.

Kelsey and Ana on the swing.

Seth chopping wood for the fire.

Cooper and Miriam at the fire.

The next morning, we attended sacrament meeting in the dark since the whole area went without power from about 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The doors were all opened to let in as much light as possible and the speakers spoke as loudly as they could.

After coming home and changing, we took the kids to Big Springs.

Miriam looking at the springs.

Rebekah holding Winnie.

Emma, Kelsey and Winnie riding in the bike trailer/stroller. Rebekah pushed them the whole time we were on our nature walk.

Analee wearing a net on her head.

After lunch at the cabin (thank goodness for our trailer ... despite having the power off at the cabin, we still had a flushing toilet and a working stove in the trailer), we took our girls to Yellowstone for a few hours since we already had a season pass.

Miriam, Analee and Rebekah watching a geyser at the Artist Paint Pots.

Miriam with the "umbrella" she found while waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

Seth sitting on a broken log waiting for Old Faithful. Funny story: Rather than elbowing for room on the boardwalk for a view of the geyser, we decided to sit on some of the fallen logs in the shade. Seth and I both sat on this particular log and had been on it for at least a good five minutes when it decided it had had enough. The snap was so loud that a big crowd of people on the boardwalk turned around to look at us sitting on the ground.

We had another night in the trailer, and on Monday morning we went back to Henry's for another failed attempt at fishing. This time we took Gwendolen along with us (she loved throwing rocks in the lake and petting the dog someone had brought with them), but I forgot the camera back at the cabin, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

After lunch and Winnie's nap at the cabin, we packed up and came home to find everything well here.

To see more pictures, start here.

Analee is 7

Because Analee's birthday fell smack-dab in the middle of Memorial Day weekend, we celebrated it a couple of days early. The weather cooperated with her wishes to have a picnic dinner, followed by presents, a piñata and cake.

Analee picked out the castle cake from a book of Disney princess recipes she has. I baked and frosted the cake; Analee did all the decorating.

Cooper, Miriam, Rebekah and Analee eating Ana's birthday dinner. She chose toads in a hole (an egg fried into a hole cut out of a buttered piece of toast), bacon and fresh fruit.

Happy with the birthday present she received from Mom and Dad (because she told me exactly what she wanted--a Color Wonder coloring book and markers with Disney princesses and their pets). She also received a "box of projects" from us; a Disney princess Play-Doh castle from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis; a little doll and playset from Aunt Rachel and Uncle Justin; and capris, a shirt and flip flops from Grandma and Grandpa Scott.

Her flip flops had broken the week before, so she was very happy to get two new pairs.

Kelsey and Gwendolen screaming at each other. The two played well together for a long time, but after a while they both wanted the car.

Analee swinging at her piñata. We didn't have any balloons for a paper mache piñata, so we improvised with a microwave popcorn box taped back together and decorated with gift wrap.

Of all the prizes in the piñata, I think the masks turned out to be the favorites.

(Still wearing the blindfold on her head, but holding her mask.)

Analee happy that she blew out the candles on her cake. The breeze helped too.

To see more, start here.

Rebekah's patriotic program

The third graders at Fairview have worked long and hard on their patriotic program this year. Rebekah told us back in the fall that they were learning songs about our country. As the date of the program grew nearer, Rebekah reported that she had two speaking parts, a chime-playing part, a singing in a small group part, and lots of singing with the rest of the third graders. We finally got to see the finished product last week.

Speaking part #1. Almost all the speaking was done in tandem.

Chimes.

Small group singing.

Speaking part #2.

Standing with the rest of Mrs. Clarke's third grade class following the program.

Miriam giving Rebekah a high five.

Biking with Analee

We've resumed our mommy/daddy/daughter dates this year. In January, Seth took Miriam to a movie at the theater. In February, Seth and Andrea took Rebekah rollerskating. In March and April, we got behind. So in May, Andrea took Analee on a bike ride around Freeman Park.

On our second time around the loop, Analee stopped at various places and asked me to take her picture.

Back story for this photo: A year ago when Analee had barely, BARELY learned to ride a bicycle, we decided to encourage her by taking the whole family to Freeman Park on a ride. Analee was upset when she scraped her shin on the pedal of her two-wheeler while trying to avoid falling in the creek, but she stalwartly got back up. When we came to the big hill on the northwest side of the loop, we told her to be careful and follow the turn. Instead, we should have told her to get off her bike and walk it down. The hill is quite steep for a little girl. So instead of following the turn, she got going way too fast, forgot to steer and veered off the trail at the steepest part. As her bike tumbled in the spot of this picture, she flipped over her handlebars and crashed. Like, crashed so hard that she had grass and leaves stuck in her helmet and grass stains on her cheeks. Yeah, parents of the century right here.

Besides the photo ops, Ana also had to stop and play in the water.

Gratefully we had no crashes on this bike ride, just beautiful weather, lovely company and frozen yogurt afterward.

Rebekah's field trip

Rebekah very enthusiastically delivered a paper from the school near the beginning of the month. The third grade's field trip had been approved, and her class would be going to the Tautphaus Park Zoo and the Aquatic Center later in the month. The classes needed some parent volunteers to help, and Rebekah gave me puppy dog eyes as she asked if I could be one of them.

I didn't think I'd be a very helpful volunteer with two little kids in tow, so I told her I'd go if Grandpa Scott was available to watch the wee ones that day. He readily agreed, so off to the zoo I went with a flock of third graders.

Matthew and Rebekah look at the loose peacock at the zoo.

Rebekah in the goat petting area.

Rebekah and her best friend Jessie.

After the zoo, the kids ate a picnic lunch and reboarded the buses to go to the Aquatic Center. My little used-to-be-a-scaredy-pants-in-the-water Rebekah passed the swim test with flying colors and went off the low dive. She wanted to go off the high dive, but with at least three other classes there on field trips and a lot of line cutting by the older kids there, she never got to the front of the line and gave up. Regardless, she had a fun time, and I was thrilled to be a witness of it.

Analee's dance recital

Analee worked hard all year and performed a dance to "Ring, Ring" with her classmates at the Civic Auditorium near the beginning of the month. I shot all the pictures of her dancing during the dress rehearsal that day.

Analee was in love with her costume. So were her younger sisters. Gwendolen had to wear it to my parents' house the day following the recital, and Miriam had to wear it the day after that. The best part of Ana's dance was when they had to face the back and shake their hips; she made that little two-tiered skirt shake like nothing else.

The hair. THE HAIR. As I've mentioned before, this dance studio is extremely specific about how your dancer's hair has to be done. This year Ana's class had to have a high, curly ponytail. Analee wants to grow her hair out, but it's not that long yet; when she wears it in a low pony, the sides always fall out. So I had to come up with a way to help it stay in. My solution:

As I was falling asleep two days before the rehearsal/recital, this is what I came up with. Three French braids leading up to the crown of her head where the rest of the hair would be gathered into a ponytail. This way the wispies were forced to stay in place.

She did a terrific job at the recital and came home late that night, exhausted but happy.

Analee posing in the front yard before her recital.

To see more pictures from the dress rehearsal, start here.