County Fair

I took the kids to the Davis County Fair on Friday. We stood in the extreme heat all day for the opportunity to look at a petting zoo. (They wouldn't even let the kids touch the animals, despite the giant "Petting Zoo" sign hanging above them... how lame is that?) At least they had a cool fence that the kids could swing on, so all was not lost.



The kids also went on a pony ride. I couldn't get any good pictures, because Makelle had a death grip on my arm the entire time, but afterwards she started saying, "more, more!" and trying to run back into the arena. I asked Corbin if he had fun and he rolled his eyes and said, "ya Mom." I can't believe he is already getting to the 'talking to my mom about my feelings' isn't cool age.



After the ponies we passed the little carnival area and they talked me into blowing $4 on a little motorcycle ride.


Then we went onto the booths where some lady was selling cheap (as in cost and quality :) toys out of banana boxes and I once again caved and offered them more money, so they could each pick out one souvenir. (This is why moms shouldn't go the fair on their own, I needed Caleb for back up support when they pull their cute little faces out wanting something.) In typical Corbin/Makelle fashion Corbin went for the most boyish thing he could find and Makelle immediately gravitated towards the girlie accessories. So in the end we went home with some little action figures and a few new bracelets.


We ended the day watching the educational tiger show and seeing some dogs compete trying to jump the farthest off a platform into a pool while the kids ate a picnic dinner. Being a stay-at-home mom is the best.

Playtime

This summer we have spent a lot of time outside playing and riding bikes. Corbin decided it was high time Makelle learn to ride a big bike like him. He is so good at always trying to teach her how to do everything he deems important.

Thumbs Up

Makelle was playing with Corbin's sunglasses the other day. We told her she looked cool and she promptly agreed.

Camping with the Walkers

We went on our annual camping trip with the Walkers up by Causey Dam. They brought their canoe and kayaks up so we got to play on the water all day Thursday. Both of the kids kept wanting to get out of the canoe, so I finally tossed them both in the water. Makelle screamed until her dad pulled her back in, whereas Corbin decided it was incredibly fun to get pulled along behind the canoe on a little rope. It turns out a tiny little 3-year-old can create quite a bit of drag and make a lot more work for the parents left paddling inside. He also got pretty upset that I wouldn't let him dive off of the 20 foot cliffs like all of the teenage boys he saw up there over the weekend. Crazy child.






Corbin caught a couple of fish for the first time. He even felt the tug and reeled them most of the way in himself.


We borrowed the pictures from Harm and Derek's blog, but also couldn't help but borrow this text as well:

Melinda to Caleb: Why did you teach our son to play with fire?
Caleb to Melinda: I taught him the rules.
Caleb to Corbin : Do we poke people with our fire sticks?
Corbin: No
Caleb to Corbin: Do we pull our stick out of the fire?
Corbin: No
Caleb to Melinda: See?

We found our own private little grove next to our campsite, which was perfect for playing cards in and for caging the kids in, since it was virtually surrounded on all sides. Perfect :)


We played with glowsticks after it got dark. Useful, not only for entertaining adults and children alike, but also to ensure you can easily follow your pitch black dog, should she start to wander too far from camp. (This is suppose to say Makelle, you can sort of see it, right?)

Camping

We took the kids camping this past weekend for a quick overnighter up Farmington Canyon. It was a blast. There is something so great about being surrounded by the outdoors, kids just love it. We did everything from hiking to relaxing around camp to cooking over a fire to roasting marshmallows to sleeping in a tent.



To Caleb's great annoyance, I may or may not have been a know-it-all and accidentally landed us wandering around much longer than planned on our little hike. Caleb of course, used this experience as an opportunity to teach Corbin about how the Israelites were forced to wander the wilderness for 40 years as a punishment for being wicked, thanks friend!


Caleb has a long standing love of IBC rootbeer... we like to practice the whole 'avoid the very appearance of evil thing' :)




Corbin and Makelle both had smores for the first time, they definitely discovered a new love.



Corbin has always been a great, deep sleeper and we could put him to bed anywhere. Makelle tossed and turned and whined ALL night long, apparently she doesn't like the rock hard ground. SOO girlie!

Fireworks

We watched/played with fireworks a few different times over the past several days. The Walkers brought the kids some sparklers on Friday, we sat outside the stadium and watched the Provo fireworks on Saturday night and last night we had a bunch of people over for the annual Miller Family Tank Wars.

Pledge of Allegiance

We attended the Andersen Family Reunion this weekend and Corbin worked really hard all week to learn the Pledge of Allegiance so that he could recite it for everyone with his cousins.


Next year we'll work on being in unison :)

New Favorite Toy

I got tired of my wooden spoons always disappearing and of finding long sticks snuck into the house, so I gave in and bought the kids some foam swords--they are both in love.


(If you turn up your volume you can hear Makelle yell "cheese" when she notices the camera and runs off.)

Bonfire

We swam most of the day today and then threw the kids in the shower and got them all cleaned up before deciding to take a mini trip up Farmington canyon for the night. It was fun to get out of the house and hike around exploring 'the forest' as a family. We even built a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows before heading home for the night. Who knew kids could get so dirty so fast?

Little Fish

You can definitely tell that Corbin has grown up with a pool every summer of his life, because he LOVES the water. This year he was actually old enough to take swimming lessons and start to learn the correct way to swim.

He became best friends with the all the other little kids in his class within about 2 minutes and got so excited to go swim with Miley, Collin, James and his teacher, Kayleen, everyday. He did awesome and passed off the requirements for preschool level 1 within the first few days (submerge head, blow bubbles, move arms and legs simultaneously, etc.) and then his teacher let him move up and start working on the next level.


At his level they basically work on teaching him the right form, while supporting him in the water. On his own, he can jump in and paddle far enough to get back to the edge, float on his back and sort of tread water.

Makelle made friends with all the younger siblings of the kids in Corbin's class. Somehow three of the four kids had family dynamics nearly identical to ours, so she had fun at his swimming lessons as well.

Everyday on our way out of the rec center we would have to stop and let the kids play on the rock wall. Corbin can climb maybe 2 feet off the ground on his own, but loves it and is so proud of his own mad skills :) Makelle jumps around on the landing mat, only her feet never actually leave the ground... I love toddlers, they are so fun!

So proud of this kid

I am so impressed with how fast Corbin learns. He knows a few dozen little words by sight and can sound out most short, phonetically correct words. The biggest challenge is finding good books for him to read, because he has a ridiculously good memory and starts to regurgitate sentences the second time around, rather than actually reading anything. Thank goodness for libraries.

And so it begins...

Good bye real world, the World Cup has officially begun and thus we won't be interacting with you for the next month or so.

Let's just say, Caleb is happy.

Rainy Day

It rained on and off most of the day today. Lately the kids have gotten used to going out to play for at least a little while every day, so it took some extra effort keeping them entertained today.

While Makelle was napping Corbin and I worked on writing together. I was SOOO excited for him, as he is finally getting able to write his own name legibly (I know I am using the term loosely :) He has been trying to accomplish this for some time for the sole purpose of wanting to fill out his own name tag at the library during story time, like all the big kids do.


Proud Mom moment.

Party Animal

Apparently our entire neighborhood was born in the late spring/early summer, because Corbin has been to a half a dozen birthday parties lately. Sometimes he has a hard time accepting that it isn't his birthday, but for the most part he does really well and has fun playing with all his little friends.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

I think summer is finally starting to show up in Utah. It has been such a cold spring, we are excited to get outside and play!

Caleb took the day off on Friday and we went on a family adventure. I had to run in and meet with a client in the morning, so Caleb packed some oatmeal and took the kids to breakfast at Carl's Jr. (Corbin hates the food there, but LOVES their play place.) Then we all went to the Living Planet Aquarium.




Makelle is getting to the age where she finds things just facinating and will stare and point forever. Corbin is getting to the age where he wants to rush through everything and ran from exhibit to exhibit as quickly as possible. So it was an interesting balance trying to hurry Makelle along while slowing Corbin down and trying to teach them each something new along the way.

After the aquarium we stopped at In-N-Out on the way home, because Caleb can't drive past 106th south without getting one of their yummy hamburgers. Corbin developed a love of french fries dipped in cinnamon applesauce.

When we got home Corbin got to go the the neighborhood Popsicle Party to celebrate the last day of school. He obviously didn't understand what we were celebrating, but enjoyed running around with all the kids and eating popsicles.

Back at home we had a late nap and quick dinner before Caleb and I had to leave for our soccer game. We won. 4-0. It was a fun game, we (meaning primarily Caleb, not I) actually made good passes and set up plays. Much better than the whole team running around in different directions with everyone doing their own thing. The kids got to visit Grandma and Grandpa's house while we played, where they of course got spoiled and had a fun bonfire roasting marshmallows.

It was a long, but fun day. And it is so great to still have the whole weekend left. We love vacation days!

Makelle's First Haircut

I trimmed Makelle's hair today. I don't think it really qualifies as her first haircut, since I only cut about 1 cm off of 10 different hairs, but all the same she looks pretty cute now--in a bald, boyish sense :)


It obviously wasn't long enough to need an actual cut, but there were a couple of spots around her ears where she was sprouting little wings. So I trimmed around the neck and ears to get rid of the couple of long fly-a-ways she had. As you can see it made such a HUGE difference!
Before:
After: