They finally took the plunge!

That's my kiddos. After 4 summers of swimming lessons, my boy finally took the plunge and jumped off the diving board on his final day of swimming lessons. And the girl did it this year....3 years faster than her brother! I was so totally shocked. I hadn't even brought my camera in since it had never occurred before. I should have known. Those gotta remember moments always seem to occur when I DON'T have my camera. So after they both jumped the first time I made a mad dash for my car and the small camera that's almost always in my purse so I could take some video of them on their second attempt. I wasn't disappointed....Beka was happy to take the plunge and although it took a few seconds longer for Thomas (since they wanted him to try without the instructor, but that wasn't happening) once Miss Sarah moved back to the front he jumped. Of course, I have to be the cheerleader!! They have one more week of lessons, this time private, but I am so proud. Thomas has officially made it to level 3 (only took 3 summers to get there) and Rebekah will continue in level 2. Gonna make swimmers out of them yet!




Okay, a little post note. I tried to upload the video of Thomas, only to find out it is too big. So sorry for that little teaser. I'll have to try to take another smaller one, maybe tomorrow when they get another chance!

Been Super Busy...

busy trying to keep the kiddos busy since we came home from Hawaii. Hard to believe we've been home almost a month already. I seriously would go back in a heartbeat, and Rebekah has asked several times "when are we going back to Hawaii?" I tell her to go ask her daddy. We've participated in 2 Vacation Bible Schools last month, they've had swimming lessons every day so far and we've made several trips to the park to play. Last weekend my girlfriend and I had our annual garage sale and I made my mad money for the summer. Also have been taking care of our new greenhouse and the plants that are starting to produce inside it. Have gotten several good sized zucchini and cucumbers, and the first cantaloupe and tomatoes are just starting to grow and ripen. YUMMY! But thought I'd better jump on and add a note for those of you who are checking in on us. I was going to put Bek's dance recital video on, but it is too big, so no photos for today.

Happy Birthday Dalon!

So today is Dalon Gage's birthday. Dalon lives in Anchorage and was a fellow IRW consultant. I met her last fall when she attended one of my weekend retreats at the Alaskan Leopard and found her to be a great lady! So to help her celebrate, her friends came up with the idea of a blog hop birthday wish. Basically you just hop from blog to blog and at the final stop can leave Dalon a birthday wish if you want or just soak up the creativity shown from all the participating blogs.
If you've per-chanced on my blog first, you should go to http://tigerjct.blogspot.com/ and start there.
You'll end up at Michelle Pokorny's blog which is the final blog where there will be a link to Dalon's blog should you wish to leave her a birthday message. Have fun and click here to continue on the blog hop: http://www.moonlightscrapper.blogspot.com/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALON! I hope it's filled with only the best and ALL your favorite things!

More photos from Hawaii

So I thought I'd share a few more photos from our trip to Kauai. The kids each had their own rolling totes to carry all their coloring books, leapster games, and other items to occupy them during the 6 hour flight. Thomas sat with Chris and I got the girl. Although a little fidgety, they both did well and I saw lots of glances and smiles as they were walking through the airport. They did look pretty darn cute if I do say so myself.

We left June 4th and flew direct to Honolulu. Stayed the night there and then flew into Lihue on the morning of the 5th. We couldn't get into our unit until that afternoon, so we shopped and picked up life vests & the boogie board at Wal-Mart, stopped at the big farmer's market in Kapa'a and ate lunch. The kids were SO excited to get into the pool that it about drove us crazy. Our unit wasn't ready on time so we had to wait around for an extra hour before getting into it, then unpacked and finally allowed the kids to visit the pool. I thought they were going to go beserk when I told them we were FINALLY headed to the pool. The Bali Hai Villas have a great pool set up. This is the newest pool (they are re-doing the original) so they'll have 2 and this site will also eventually house the fitness center at the top of the hill (just out of the picture frame).

The pool is never deeper than 4 feet and there's a sandy wading pool/water spray with a rock wall separation to the main pool. There were two hot tubs, one right next to the shallow end of the pool that my kids loved to sit in and plenty of seating.


We spent some time in the pool almost every day. The 2 private swim lessons I had the kids take right before we left paid for themselves. Thomas gained some confidence which I'm sure is a good part of why he was able to snorkel and Bek's said that the pool was her favorite thing from our trip. Well that and the ice cream. But more about that on another post.

Bettter late than never...or so they say.

Rebekah was enrolled in a dance class all year at one of the local dance studios (Encore Dance in Kenai) and she had her recital at the end of May. The girls and one little boy were so stinkin' cute in their costumes and Rebekah was so excited. I think to be honest her favorite part was getting to wear make-up! But maybe she was too excited as all she could do was look for mommy and daddy in the audience and she forgot about dancing for most of the short number. She did manage to do a few of the steps and did a nice bow/curtsy at the end, but for most of it she stood there awe struck and searched the crowds for us. These are not the best pictures but it was hard with the lights and no flash photography. In case you can't figure out which one she is since they all look alike and the pictures aren' t focused very well, she is the purple flower, third from the right in the first picture and second from the left doing her bow in the last picture.

Introducing my niece!

Well my sister and her new baby just left after staying with us for 3 days and what a dollie she is. I am so excited to finally be a "real" Auntie and Jazmyne is just as precious as she can be. My kids loved having their Auntie and new cousin around and we got a couple of great shots from the visit. She lives in Anchorage so I know we'll get to see her often, but man, I forget how fast they grow. We saw them right before we left for vacation at the beginning of the month, and she's already getting bigger, more alert and changing so much.

We are back from vacation....

and truly wishing we were back in Hawaii. We had a great trip to Kauai and wished we could've stayed longer. Maybe because we came home to cold, rainy, overcast and just generally crummy weather. But anyhoo...back to the trip. We spent a week in Princeville, where we own a timeshare unit and frolicked in the sun, laid low at the pool and just generally had a fabulous time. Thomas discovered he loved snorkeling (who would've thunk it given his general aversion to water) and surfing. And Rebekah discovered that the sand at the beach isn't so much fun, especially when it sticks to your feet and personal areas. I don't know when we'll get back, but I'm already looking forward to it!