The last of the HOT days!

Today was such a blast.  We spent most of our day outside doing this!  I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner.  The girls just flew off the bottom of the slide with the water running down it.  I couldn't believe how much they both loved it and weren't afraid!  Check out the videos...Adah is fearless!  She seriously would not let me hold her hand and was really good about getting up as soon as she hit the pool.  These are the good times!  I am so blessed to share it with these two beautiful girls!

The Steele's Visit!

Unfortunately, I don't have any fabulous pictures to share, however I still wanted to keep the memory alive by documenting it! 
Today we had a great day with some really good friends.  Micah and Jamie Steele's family were in CF because Micah had some business meetings to attend.  It was a good opportunity to see them so I took her up on the idea to meet.  The girls and I came to mom and dad's and stayed the night and then met up with Jamie, Isaiah, Naomi and Levi at their hotel for an early swim.  The water water was a bit chilly but the kids didn't mind.  I wasn't a huge fan of getting all the way in the water so Adah mostly played on the stairs but Kezzie does a great job swimming without assistance as long as she is wearing her life jacket/floaties.  After it had been a while and we knew we were close to being done swimming we all piled in the hot tub to warm up.  Once we were all done swimming we got all cleaned up and dressed and went out to lunch together.  The kids were showing signs of really needing naps so we headed back to mom and dad's to hang out and give the kids a chance for some down time.  Jamie and the kids had to leave around 3:30 to meet Micah.
I cherish Jamie's friendship so much and the sweet advice she gives me.  She is a stay at home mom who homeschools her two oldest children and most importantly she is a wonderful Godly women.  She always has something to say that makes everything in my life make more sense!  I love you Jamie and can't wait to hang out again soon!

A special day!

Today was an extra special day spent at Lost Island Water Park!  I got to spend the whole day with Keziah and got to see Austin around every once in a while too.  Adah was with my sister Emily (thank-you so much Emily and Adam for taking her for the day) for most of the day and Adam for a little while in the evening.  It was the first time I had ever left her for that long and I'm pretty sure the first time she had ever been left without Keziah around.  It was by far a wonderful day for Kez and I.  We had so much quality time with each other.  She had such a blast and talked about it the whole way home (well, until she crashed).  We got invited to go with our friends and their daughter who is Kezzie's age.  They were chaperoning the youth group at Harvest Church in New Hampton.  Abbie and Kezzie had a lot of fun together too!  Kezzie and I even went on one of the bigger slides that has a bottom on the tube and holds five people (even though we were the only two in it).  She LOVED it but said she didn't want to go again!  She had her eyes closed the whole way down I think!  Her favorite things were the wave pool and lazy river.  I think she liked them the most because she was fully covered in water and 'swimming around' is her newest talent.  The whole day was exhausting for the two of us but so much fun!  Aside from eating lunch there, we treated ourselves to some chocolate dippin' dots which Kezzie thought was pretty neat.  Austin got to bring a friend (Logan) and we enjoyed meeting up here and there to say HI, but they pretty much kept busy by themselves.  Logan had never been to Lost Island so it was a lot of fun for him too.
I am so thankful for days like this.  And I can't wait to do it again next year!

Fourth of July!

The fourth of July weekend there were a lot of grumpy Smith's! Usually this time of year we would have been up to the river several times by now and wouldn't have dreamt of being anywhere but at the river for July 4th celebration. This year was different...we didn't have a choice. We haven't been to the river even once! The water has been way over the lots so it hasn't even been a possibility. We didn't want to let this ruin our festivities though. I pulled my camper to mom and dad's and decided to camp out there instead! No big deal...it was still camping, just without the river!! It was fantastic to be around family! We went Saturday evening, got all set up and put the kids to bed. I couldn't convince Brian to come...I'm not sure why!! That night was interesting to say the least. The girls didn't fall asleep until at least 11. I was way beyond that and then had to pee in the middle of the night causing me to have to get up and go into the house! It was fun! Ha Ha!  We weren't scared off though!
Sunday we got up and went to church. When we got back, my mom's family started arriving for a family get together!  We had so much fun sitting around, eating too much and doing a lot of talking and laughing!  It was such a blessing to see my Uncle Craig especially since he has been battling cancer since last October.  He is getting better though and successfully made it through a bone marrow transplant the last couple months. 
Austin spent some of his rock-picking money on fireworks so later that night he had plans to put on a show for us all.  Most of the family went home but Wayne and Jane and Craig and Thelma stayed and stuck it out (Emily and Adam's family is in between houses so they are currently living at mom and dad's)!  We had a campfire and roasted marshmallows and made s'moores.  I tried to keep both girls awake but as time went on I realized it wasn't worth it as Adah was growing very tired.  I think she made it until 9!  Kezzie made it through almost all the fireworks which was almost 10:30!  She thoroughly enjoyed her s'moore and a few sparklers before the fireworks started!  By the time I put her to bed she was looking pretty loopy!  I was excited because Austin actually even stayed out in the camper with us that night (he opted for air conditioning the night before)!  But it wasn't until after a good game of Mario on the Wii (in the house) that Austin and I snuck in the camper to go to bed (it was midnight!).  We all slept good that night!!  Monday morning we all got up and went inside the house for some breakfast.  We were kind of exhausted from being outside all day Sunday so we stayed inside most of the morning.  After the kids all napped, Ethan, Bennett, Austin, Keziah and Adah went out for a swim in the little kiddie pool.  Brian went home sometime Sunday afternoon so the girls and I were anxious to get home and eat supper with him since it was the day of the fourth!  It was good to spend the evening with him before going back to work the next day! 
What a great country we live in!  I am so incredibly blessed to be an American!  God bless all the men and women who fight for our country's freedom every day!  Happy Fourth of July!

Pool Time!!

More pool time!  The girls are having a blast in our own back yard.  They just love it!  Adah especially loves the slide going into the water.  She tries all kinds of tricks-climbing it, jumping off the end of it, whatever she can get away with!  Kezzie is working on putting her face in the water and holding her breath so she mostly practices that!  In the photos she is using the goggles to look at Adah's feet and Adah (with her new ornery 'tude) is trying to get her to stop...it turned into a fun, laughing game so it was ok!

Beach, Pool and Sprinkler Fun!

 

Earlier today we went to the beach at Airport Lake.  I didn't take very many pictures but I got a couple good ones of Adah.  We  had a picnic in the grass after we were all done swimming too!  The kids have so much fun when we go there and we are almost always the only ones there other then the friends we meet there.  I hope this continues as this is one of our favorite spots to hang out!  After we went home for naps the girls woke up and we went outside to have fun in our own yard.  It was just way too beautiful of a day to stay inside at all!  I took plenty of pictures this afternoon to make up for not very many this morning!  They all enjoyed the Clifford sprinkler (that thing is old...from when Austin was a little kid), and especially enjoyed the little slide leading into the pool!  I think this is going to be where we hang out most of the summer!

 

Fun in the Sun!

Today we met some friends at Airport Lake and did a little swimming.  The water was super chilly and there was a pretty strong wind but we just couldn't wait to get outside and get in some water.  The public pool opened this last Saturday so we went yesterday but the water was super super chilly there too.  I'm sure all it will take is some warmer weather for a few days in a row and we will be set!  The kids didn't care one bit that the water was so cold and had a blast playing!  Adah was a little timid at first not wanting to leave my side and unsure of the moving ground beneath her feet, but it didn't take long and I was the one that didn't want to let go of her!  We will definitely be going back here really soon! 

Mini Vacation!

Kezzie is showing us her swimming skills!  I couldn't get the better video to load so this one will have to do!

And here is Adah 'jumping' off the side into my arms!  She giggles so much when I catch her!  And when I set her back on the cement she gets super excited to do it all over again!

This weekend I turned 30 years old!  I can't believe it.  I feel like I am officially getting old.  I mean, seriously, I am only 10 years away from 40!  Anyway, to celebrate as a family we decided to take a little trip together.  We haven't gone anywhere for a long time so we thought this would be perfect.  We went to the indoor water park in Dubuque.  The Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark.  It was wonderful and just what we needed!  There were 3 bigger slides perfect for Austin's age, a lazy river, a basketball hoop area, and an area no more than 2 feet deep.  Adah and Kezzie had a blast.  They each enjoyed jumping off the edge to me.  Kezzie learned how to swim with a life jacket on and did awesome keeping her legs down so she wasn't wobbling all over.  She learned to hold her breath too!  Brian did great hanging out with the girls in the shallow end while Austin and I went and did our own thing on the big slides! There are two slides right next to each other so we had a good time racing each other to the end and back up again.  There's areas you have to climb up and through making it a challenge to get there fast.  Austin came up too fast in one area and hit his head really hard.  OUCH!  Kezzie was even allowed to go down 2 of the 3 bigger slides on my lap and really enjoyed that.  She even went down the other big slide that required an inner tube and was completely enclosed and dark.  On this particular slide she wasn't allowed to sit on my lap and instead had to sit by herself on the double tube with me.  That didn't seem to bother her at all and said she had fun!  I was really happy with how well everybody slept that night too.  We had the two girls in our room with us and Austin was out in the living room on a hide-a-bed.  The rooms were completely dark so the girls slept really well and Adah slept late!  After getting the girls to bed Brian, Austin and I hung out in the living room watching TV, eating junk food, and playing Angry Birds on the iPad!  Kezzie was up at 6:15 like usual on Friday morning and after I got her set up with a cartoon and some cereal, I went back to bed for another hour!  That was nice!  Probably not so nice for Austin since he was the one out in the living room with Kezzie watching TV!  While Brian and I got everything rounded up and Adah fed, Austin and Kezzie went down to the arcade where they blew through $10 earning a bunch of tickets to get some prizes for them both!  They had so much fun since it is basically a Chuck-E-Cheese!

 After a couple hour swim Friday morning, we requested a late check out and loaded our things to head over to our friends' house, who lives in Dubuque, and we stayed a night with them.  They graciously watched our kids for us while we went to a movie and out to eat for supper!  We went to Source Code (very good movie) and ate at The Star (wonderful food).  Saturday my friend and I headed to a consignment shop and got some good deals on clothes for the kids.  After Adah took a much needed nap we hopped in the car and headed to Independence where we celebrated Bennett's 3rd Birthday (post coming soon)!  It was a great couple of days away from home and just doing something we all enjoyed together.  I am so greatly blessed to have such a wonderful family!  And I am really looking forward to what Brian and the kids got me...a gift certificate to a spa in Cedar Falls.  I should be able to get an hour massage and a haircut or something!  And all without kids!  What a blessed 30th birthday!

Swimming!

This weekend was the last of our Christmas celebrations.  My dad's side of the family got together for our yearly celebration!  Even my Aunt Jill was there.  I haven't seen her since last years' family get-together.  She brought her grandson Owen and two of her three kids (not so much kids anymore!).  It was so great to see them.  They stayed in a hotel in CF so we were able to go over there and swim with them last night.  The water was pretty cold but after a while we were able to relax and enjoy it.  If it weren't for the girls, I would have been out of there in a heart beat!  They were just having way too much fun (even while their teeth were chattering)!  A little before we were going to leave we decided to warm up in the hot tub.  It was far from hot and more like a nice warm bath so the girls were even able to get in it.  They liked that a lot more!  We then headed to mom and dad's to spend the night.  We went to church this morning and afterwards everyone came over for a big lunch.  Not everyone was around last night so it was great to get together today too!  Aside from a couple of missing cousins, the whole family was together again! 

New pool!

Since I can tell that I am not going to make it to the public pool this summer, I finally decided to go out and buy an inflatable pool. It was cheap and it will provide a lot safer hours of fun! It is perfect size for Kezzie to get used to putting her head under and it even allows her to jump in and make a splash (which she loves). She is just way too daring in big pools so it would be really hard to keep her in the baby pool area at the public pool. Maybe we will give it a try next summer when she can float on her own and Adah is a little bigger. By the way, I didn't match their suits on purpose! A while back we had a family reunion at Byrnes park in Waterloo. We swam when we were there and unfortunately when I took off Adah's little swimmer I pulled her suit off at the same time. It all got turned inside out as it was wet and sticky coming off and went directly into the park's trash. This called for going out and getting her a new one. Luckily they were on clearance at Target but the only one that was close to her size was a 9 month one that just so happened to be the same one that I bought Kezzie at the beginning of the summer. I guess now they match...but not on purpose!

Kindermusik & Swimming!

We now have kindermusik on Tuesdays for the summer session. And as a perk Emily and her two boys (Ethan-almost 4, Bennett-2) get to join us! She is trying to ready Ethan for pre-school and what better way then to get him into a room with a bunch of other kids where he has to listen and follow directions! He is doing excellent with this! Kezzie is also enjoying it. Not as much as the winter session we were in previously but still likes the activities. She is very shy when it comes to pretending in front of others and there is a lot more of it in this class. Since Austin would be a huge distraction to Ethan, I make sure he is elsewhere for the duration of the class. This week I had it lined up for him to go to his old sitters house (Nancy) whom has an underground pool! She arranged to have some of the other kids that were in daycare during his time to come and swim with him, so he had a great time. Once kindermusik was over the girls and I then got our suits on and got in the pool too! It was so much fun and a perfect hot sunny day too!

Sprinkler Fun!

(click image to enlarge)

Today was the perfect day to jump around in the sprinkler. Unfortunately our lawn had just been mowed and not raked so we had to do it in the driveway. It was still so much fun though. Adah and I sat in a lawn chair and just watched while the other two played. Austin brought out one of his old and very weathered remote controlled cars (in case the sprinkler ruined it) and raced it through the water making it skid out. Adah had a blast watching it go all over the driveway. I think this was a first for Kezzie but she surprisingly didn't mind the water in her face as much as I thought she would! And lately she has a thing with catching ants and carrying them around (unknowing that she squished them to death) as if they are her friends. So she spent quite some time doing that as well!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's birthday, so to celebrate we all met at the Wingate Hotel in Cedar Falls to swim. Since I was just there with some friends I knew this pool was really nice so I called there and it turned out they have a public swim rate. All the kids had a blast. It took Ethan a bit to get warmed up but once he was in he loved it. By the time Ethan was ready to get in, Bennett was ready to get out so it worked out pretty good! The pool was really busy even though we were there by 9am. Austin had fun playing catch or volleyball with Keith. Adah slept almost the whole time but needed to eat about 10:30. Keziah and Rylan enjoyed just floating around in the inflatables that Emily and Adam brought (and for the record...Keziah HATED these inflatables last year or any for that matter)! Bennett had fun throwing around a sponge ball and Ethan was enjoying jumping in to Emily or floating around on the inner tube. We stayed until about 11:30 and then went to Pizza Hut for lunch. It was a lot of fun. Happy Birthday Mom...hope you enjoyed your celebration!

Friends...

Wednesday we had the privilege of meeting our good friend Jamie Steele and her two kids in Cedar Falls. Jamie and her husband Micah were in town (they live in Dubuque) for business and when Jamie called I jumped at the chance to get away for some girl time. We came to their hotel on Wednesday night and ate dinner (see the photo of the kids having a picnic on the hotel floor) and then swam until Kezzie needed to go to bed. I then headed over to my parents' for the night since Jamie and I wanted to get together the next morning also. Austin had school obviously so he wasn't able to come with me. Adah just slept while we were at the pool, as you can see in the photo. Keziah had a blast with Naomi and Isaiah. I thought it would take her a while to warm up on Wednesday night but she just wanted right in the water. Before I knew it she was jumping to me from the side and before we left she was begging me not to put my arms out to catch her (which I refused to do). She knows how to hold her breath, she just does it at the wrong time. When we went back in the morning we swam until the kids looked like they had enough. By the time Kezzie was ready to get out she had learned how to keep her body straight and let the life jacket do its job. I got to a point where I didn't feel like I always had to have a hand on her. She kept yelling 'I'm foating. Look I'm foating.' It was adorable to see her excitement. After swimming, we just hung out in the hotel room and the kids had a snack and vegged out on the bed watching cartoons. Jamie and I had great conversation. Even though it had been 2 years since I last saw her, it was like we had just seen each other the day before. She is such a blessing in my life...I just hope it isn't another two years before I get to see her again! Thanks for the mini retreat, Jamie!

Summer's End

I think a good sign that summer is coming to an end is the public pool closes. Today was our last time going before it closes this weekend. Since we are a small town we have trouble having enough staff with students going away to college so our pool closes well before labor day. Kinda stinks! It's been a really fun summer at the pool. Kezzie is a fish and has grown a lot in swimming this year. Hopefully we don't have to start all over again next year. Austin will miss it too. He has spent many of his summer days hanging out here with friends (eating candy)!

The Falls Swimming Pool

7/11 After I picked Austin up at the church we had plans to meet Emily, Ethan and Jamie at the Cedar Falls swimming pool for some fun. We haven't had a chance to get to a water park this summer and although this is the town swimming pool, it is definitely a step up from our town pool. There are a few cool water slides, a lazy river, a kiddie area and a larger big kid area where you can play basketball. We spent most of our time in the kiddie area which also consisted of a splash pad, a slide, and a play gym type thing. Keziah absolutely loved the kiddie slide and could have spent all day just on that. I might have let her if she didn't need my assistance going up the ladder and a hand going down the slide. Austin and Ethan had fun together and Kezzie and Ethan had their moments too! Jamie mostly just relaxed in the sun! You gotta admit she is one of the cutest almost 40 weeks pregnant women you have ever seen?!! We had a good couple of hours there and then went out to eat at Mulligans. To top off the evening we enjoyed some ice cream! It was a great time and a beautiful day spent with my sisters!

Backyard Fun!

7/6 After a weekend of camping we just couldn't stop all the outdoor fun! We drug out the sprinkler, filled the baby pool, brought out a couple drinks and snacks and spent the rest of the afternoon outside. Austin was with his dad since he missed his dad's weekend to be at the river with me. Even with Austin gone, Kezzie had a blast getting in and out of the pool and playing with the 'dog' (our sprinkler is Clifford the big red dog). She really wanted to go down the slide but it was too hot so I pulled the hose over and sprayed it. She thought that was pretty fun and soon was carrying buckets of water over and dumping them on the slide. The slide cooled off and she definitely needed my hand to guide her down since it was so slippery! And what better way to top off an afternoon of swimming then to play in the sand! I guess it's going to be a bath night!

Waverly Pool

Jamie had the day off Friday so we decided we would try to skip Kezzie's nap and head to the pool for the afternoon. This is only a day after venturing to the New Hampton pool so a lot of water in one area was still fresh in her mind! She did really well! She was ready to swim from the get go! I was even able to get a life jacket on her and take her in the big pool area so we could swim with Austin. She did not mind her jacket at all and kept pushing me away to let her go! What a little fish! After only an hour and a half though she was more then ready to rest her head. She does not do well without sleep so we headed home to put her down for a nap! It was fun while it lasted at least!

I need to also make note for my own reference that as of 1/1/09 Kezzie is no longer taking a morning nap. Every time I try to give her one (because she is showing signs of really needing one) I lay her down and she falls right to sleep. I still wake her up an hour later thinking this will allow her to nap in the afternoon only to find that when I lay her down in the afternoon she will not fall asleep. This routine has happened twice and it is two times too many! So I am no longer laying her down in the morning. Her new routine is: lunch at 11/11:30 and nap at 12:30/1. She still only naps 1.5-2 hours but at least she is rested for the evening! Isn't it great when they start changing things up?!

Summer Time Summer Time Sum-Sum-Summer Time!

I love that it is getting nice out and we can finally spend some time in the pool. Austin finished school June 2 and has a pool membership. Kezzie is free so I just pay for myself to go...I think this will end up cheaper then a family pass (since Brian doesn't swim)...I hope! So far we've been there once. It's hard since Kezzie naps at 1:30 and that's when the pool opens. By the time she gets up we can go for maybe an hour before we have to come home to make supper. I keep telling myself this is just temporary...that is until another baby comes along! Someday maybe we can all enjoy the pool together at the same time! Until then Austin has been riding his bike there to meet friends. This is the first year I have been comfortable with him doing that. It's a struggle for me to let him walk out the door every time but I can't make him sit home either! Plus, he has a blast going. In these pictures you can see what a great big brother he is. He loves spending time with Keziah now that she is older and more fun to entertain. This being her first time in the pool this year she was really scared. We walked out of the locker rooms and her whole body started shaking. She was shouting 'ater' (water) over and over as if she didn't like the fact there was so much of it in one area! After a half hour of calming her down I managed to get her to go in the baby pool. From that point on she was having a blast. She would get in and out and get back in over and over! Before we knew it we had to go home! That was the tricky part...getting her to leave! We'll be back though! When we can't make it to the pool her little inflatable pool does just fine. She seems to have just as much fun playing in this as at the big pool! Hey, whatever gets us outside!