Sunday Funday!

We had more free tickets to use up at MOA so we headed there Sunday morning. Mikko loving the train ride with Daddy.
He is getting his crazy hair back - guess it is time for a haircut. I'm not sure Kid's Hair ever wants Mikko back (lots of snot and crying), but I do tip good.

David and Mommy riding the Log Chute. David has no fear of the huge drops - Mommy does.

Mikko content riding the escalators.

Reversal of roles - Mikko pushing David.

Riding the Ferris Wheel - the whole family.

My super star boy.

Mr. Mikko

David got a trampoline for his birthday. It is in the living room and the boys are constantly hopping on and off it.

Crafts at 8:00am. We made a beautiful vase. I even let him sprinkle it with glitter - outside of course.

David showing off his project from school. Healthy fruits and vegetables.

Birthdays - Grandma Carol and Daddy

We made a cake for Daddy and Grandma Carol. It was a confetti cake with sprinkle frosting. So Very David!
Busted. David trying to eat the whole piece at once.

Kiddie Table.

Cake eaters


Video of Leah and Mikko eating cake and "talking to each other"

Video #2

Gustie Night

Happy Hour!
As if Amanda doesn't have enough to do...she brought a whole meal for us to the hotel room, complete with dinner plates and real silverware!

Swimming in the hotel pool.

We had a fun Gustie Girls night at the Embassy Suites. Again, we rented a hotel room so the kids could get together to swim and play. Then the kids left and we had a fun night of drinks, food and lots of girl talk. A much needed respite for all of us and an occasion we look forward to!

Albuquerque - I still don't know if I spelled that correctly???

We brought back David a super fancy rock (a geode) for his treasure chest/collection box and a postcard of Route 66.
Mikko got a Route 66 metal shot glass to practice drinking out of. Damon's idea which was brilliant. I'll assure you that it will only be used for Mikko's milk and water.

Lunch in Old Town - super yummy quesadillas.
Walking around the Plaza
We went on a "Journey of Discovery" around Albuquerque. That is what the tour guide kept calling the tour and I couldn't get enough of it. It was a pretty "interesting" tour. One stop was the Fruit Basket of Albuquerque.
Chili peppers everywhere.
Overlooking Albquerque and the Sandia mountains.

We went up the longest tram in the world to the top of a mountain - 2.7 miles up. A little "courage" was needed to make it up.

Beautiful sunset on our way up, up, up.

The view from the top was unbelievable.

Watching a storm cloud pass over Albuquerque from the mountain top - one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

Damon went on a tour of Acoma/Sky City - a Pueblo town built up on a mesa. The oldest continuously inhabited community in North America.

View from on top of the mesa.

He took a hike down the mesa.

________________

I went to a Deferred Compensation conference in Albuquerque with Mark. Damon got to come along. Had a great conference and a little bit of free time to explore. I've never been to the southwest. Loved the dry warm weather.

BIG THANK YOU to my parents and Carol for taking such great care of the kids. Loved getting the great reports about how good they both were. They have the greatest grandparents. Getting them fed, dressed, both to different daycares. Amazing!

Greta's 5th Birthday Party at Pump It Up!

We all whipped out our cameras for this moment. David and Greta were both sitting still and listening to instructions at the same time.
Bobby was such a good big cousin helping Mikko.

I think David went down the slide 100 times.
I took Mikko numerous times and it wore me out big time because I had to carry him up. uuuggghhh.

Silly cousins/best friends.

Another amazing cake by Carrie. She even made that amazing crown out of gum paste. Seriously amazing. Besides making Greta's cake this weekend, she made some cupcakes for my work friend's daughters party.

Greta loved the Hello Kitty headphones we gave her.

Mikko was covered in pink frosting!

Happy 5th Birthday Gretzky

Greta had a super fun party at Pump it Up!

The kids bounced themselves silly!

We love you Ms. Greta!

David is a Cool Cat

Today David moved to a different class at Preschool - he is now a Cool Cat - the oldest of the Pre-schoolers!

Camping!

We actually got a family picture amongst the chaos!

We scored an awesome "Cart In" site. A little bit of work but a lot of reward for a camp site. While Damon loaded the cart I assigned David the task of finding twigs to help start the fire.
Setting up camp. It was a beautiful site right on the lake. David loves to help Dad set up the tent. Mikko just wandered around picking up rocks.

We took a short hike and found a playground. The tire swing was a big hit.

David insisted on wearing his tie-dyed shirt he made at 4th of July weekend - he is super proud of it.

Mikko the monkey. Modern Family reference if you watch that show!

Mikko's turn on the tire swing.

Heading back to camp to start dinner. David wanted to catch bugs - luckily there weren't many this weekend!

Helping daddy make the campfire.

Again...Don't Blink - that is how long Mikko sat in his camp chair.

I told them they could each bring one truck along to play with. Predictably - they both wanted to play with the same one at the same time. Damon ended up sneaking it back to the van to avoid the ongoing conflict.

Best dollar ever spent at the $1 section at Target. The little capsules you put in water and a sponge animal emerges. We spent a half hour of of pure amazement of which animal was going to morph from the gel-covered capsule. They EVEN took turns pretty well.

Hot dogs for dinner with corn and pringles. I also brought cantelope to which David exclaimed..."Mommy, my favorite, you are the best". He actually ate more cantelope than Pringles - a healthy victory.

Snuggles by the campfire. Mikko started to get really tired. Of course, when I WANTED them to nap in the van on the way to camping, they wouldn't. So typical.

David loves super burnt marshmellows. Probably because it is really cool to start fires : )

I covered his big face scabs with bandaids so he wouldn't pick at them. Looks pretty rough. All boy! Our stockpile of bandaids at our house has really grown.

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset across the lake. It was a great lake for canoeing. Next summer we are going to bring the canoe along.

Mikko loved his glow-in-the-dark bracelets.

Morningtime. We all snuggled into one room of the tent because it was so chilly. We were all so tired we didn't even change into our PJs before be. Not a great night of sleep. Mikko slept between us for warmth and he was like a little kicking furnace between us. He woke up crying in the middle of the night at one point. Luckily our nearest neighbors weren't too close, but I'm sure they heard him.

Coffee by the fire in the morning - my FAVORITE. We watched the fog lift off the lake and watched some duck hunters hiding in the weeds calling for ducks.

I absolutely destroyed the pancake breakfast I had planned. So, Mikko had Pringles for breakfast while we packed up tent. Not my best Mommy moment, but I made up for them with pancakes for lunch when we got home.

Well, we did it again. Last summer I vowed that we would not go camping this year because it is so hard with young kids. At times I wished I had listened to what I said last year, but other moments I was so happy we went. Camping is hard alone, yet tossing in two busy and curious boys and 2 dogs - Yikes. As I'm typing this the fun of it overpowers the stress of it. Mikko almost tripping into the fire, the boys fighting over trucks, and a very sleepless night. But watching David catch a toad, Mikko's bright eyes as he got to run down a hiking trail, and watching Damon help the boys roast marshmellows. Priceless memories we'll always have. Next year when we pack up the van to try it again, the anxiety of it will overwhelm me, I know. But I know we'll do it, because that is what parents do for their little loves : )