Camping=FUN

Another camping trip has come and gone. We went camping last week for a few days and it was wonderful. The weather was great, it rained alot, but didn't ruin our time. We got to hang out with some great friends and did lots of relaxing.










camp Gibbs

cool dude

the petting zoo at Mormon Lake Lodge, Ryder did not like Arnold (the pig)

Big boy hangin' on

cutie

Future hunter?

Splash 101

Ryder started Swim lessons!

We signed Ryder up for splash 101 swim lessons. He has gone to 2 classes so far and is doing as well as a 19 month old could be expected to do. His attention can only be held for so long before he decides that he needs to do his own thing. Good thing the lessons are only 30 minutes! My little man is so brave around water it's scary. The pool we go to at our gym has a beach entrance and he will just walk out until he can't reach anymore. Poor guy will be on his tippy toes with his little head bobbing up and down.

Class starts out in the shallow end with sinking swim toys. We set them on the bottom and let the kids grab them up. This is to get them used to the water. We spend almost all of our free afternoons out at the pool, so he's very used to being in the water. The next thing is to get them to blow bubbles in the water, wash their face, and get their hair wet. Then we practice seal walks (laying on your belly and moving in the water) and monkey crawls (holding onto the side of the pool and moving along the wall), crawling out of the pool, floating on his back, kicking his feet, jumping in the pool and even going under water. Ryder does so well with closing his eyes and holding breath when going under!

Ryder with his swim teacher Skyler

Ryder and Daddy practicing monkey crawls

Camping FUN! !

We are home from another great camping trip. We left late Tuesday night, and I mean late. We didn't get up there until 3am. We figured we better leave at a time we knew that Ryder would be sleeping. That and the fact that I worked all day and nothing was packed until I got home. He doesn't last too long in his car seat. We stayed until Sunday morning, and the days flew by, it felt like we were only there for 2 days.

This trip we went up north to Mormon Lake and camped with some friends. It is such a treat to get out of the heat for a few days and let Ryder play outside. We get to kinda sit and relax and let him explore around camp. When I say relax, I have to say that camping is alot more fun, but definetly not as relaxing as it used to be pre Ryder. He only had 2 incidents this trip, a bloody nose and a little knot on his head. Little boys, what can you do!? He got soooo dirty, I mean dirt on his face, all over his clothes, on his diaper and down his diaper and in his diaper!

We spent our days playing around camp. Ryder had some buddies (Grace, Chase, and Kellan) up there to keep him busy and follow around. We went on some Rhino rides, which is Ryder's favorite thing to do. He loves the Rhino.

Love this silly face he's making.

Rhino boy

Ryder loved gathering and playing with rocks. It made me nervous that he was lifting them over his head that way. Look at that big rock, such a little muscle man.

Dirty boy

Tree stump fun!

Looking at the little flowers

Ryder and his friends.

Faces

18 Month Appointment

Ryder had his 18 month Dr appointment this afternoon. He measured in at 32 1/4 in, and weighed in at 25 bls 8.5 oz. He is in the 50th percentile for both. What a change, he used to be such a lil chunker and was way up in the 90th percentile.

The Dr came in and Ryder impressed her and had her laughing right away. He was really showing off his jibber jabber skills, he just talks and talks. His Dr said that by his next appointment, at 24 months, he will probably be using full sentences.

Ryder is getting in some of his molers and had a fever all day yesterday. We thought it was just do to the teeth coming in. It turns out that he also has an ear infection. This is the first one he has had, and the day has not been fun. We got some antiobiotics for the infection so hopefully it will clear up quickly. His eczema is also flaring up, so we got some perscription cream for that as well. Other than that he was perfectly healthy and right on track with all of his milestones.

At 18 months Ryder knows his hair, eyes, nose, ears, teeth, mouth, belly, toes, feet, knees, and fingers. He can also name several of his flashcards like firetruck, doggie, shoes, fish, bus, truck, baby and ball.

He is also following basic instructions and understands if we tell him to throw something away, or put something in a basket. We will also give him something and tell him to bring it to mommy or bring it to daddy and he know what we are telling him to do.

We think he must be the smartest little boy in the whole world! :)

HOT Weekend ! !

It was a very hot weekend here in AZ and we had lots of fun activities planned and they were all outdoors.

On Friday night we went to a barbeque for J's squad. This was the first time that I was meeting all of J's new coworkers and their families. Jason and Ryder spend alot of time playing in the pool. Ryder is definelty a little water baby and a dare devil. Everyone was shocked at how brave he is around the water. I'm a little scared about how brave he is! Good thing we are starting swim lessons soon. Ryder was also the baby of the group, all the other kids were a bit older, so he was getting alot of attention. Of course everyone thought he was just so cute! :)

There he goes jumping in the pool to Daddy!

Saturday morning we headed out to Tolmachoff Farm for a family day event. We met up with our friends Adriane and little Vaughn and Liz & her husband and little Bella. We got there early about 8:30 hoping to beat the heat, but we didn't. It was so HOT. It was still a good time though. We played with some chicks, Ryder took a train ride and checked out some of the animals in the petting zoo.

Here he is on the train, riding by himself like a BIG BOY. I was a little nervous about letting him ride alone. My friend Adriane was behind him so it made me feel a little better. Just when I was thinking how cool it was that Ryder was big enough to handle this ride on his own, disaster struck! Well really not disaster, just a little accident. I was following behind the train and I noticed Ryder's head disappear. He fell in the barrel! I took off running after them and the driver must have seen the "crazy mom" chasing down the train because he stopped and let me readjust Ryder! The rest of the ride went smoothly, thank goodness.

News channel 3 was there covering the event so we asked to get a picture with the weather girl, Brittany Shipp. We only watch channel 3 news, so it was pretty neat seeing her there in person.

After the farm, we went home so Ryder could get a nap. My plan was to go the farm early and wear him out so he would take an early nap.

Then we got ready for Jesse's 1st birthday party.

Here's the birthday boy. Hard to believe he's 1 already!

Of course Ryder had to get him a quad for his special day! ! ! We even added a cute little AZ license plate with his name "Jesse J"

Driving in the Rain

On the way up to Williams it started raining pretty hard. Ryder was so thrilled and excited about driving in the rain. This was too cute not to share.

Camping Season

With the warm weather approaching J and I have started planning our summer camping trips. We are hoping to be able to go at least once, maybe twice a month this summer. It will be so nice to escape the heat and relax. We took our first trip up to Williams this past weekend. We left on Wednesday afternoon and headed home on Sunday. It was a little cooler than expected, I think J checked the weather report about 100 times before we left. One day it even started hailing so much that it looked like the ground was covered in snow. Oh well, I tried not to complain thinking that in a couple weeks it will be over 100 degrees in the valley of the sun.

Our trip included sitting around the camp fire, taking naps,going on rides, grilling hamburgers and hotdogs, eating cookies and browines, making smores, and watching movies after Ryder went to bed.

We had a great time. Ryder loved the freedom of walking around our camp and exploring. He would explore the grounds and come back with all kinds of treasures like rocks, sticks, and pinecones! ! What else could a little boy ask for?!

His favorite thing was definelty the Rhino. He would ask all day "Nano." He would even wake up in the morning and the first thing he would say was "Nano" He loves that thing and J is thrilled about that! !

We found this cute little Tot Park in Williams. It's the cutest park that I have seen. It's made especially for the little ones so all the slides and climbers are just their size. Ryder loved playing there and we will definetly visit this park again.

Here he is on his quad, getting an early start at being a little dare devil. At first he just pushed the quad around like one of his little push toys. Once he got on and realized that it was much more fun to actually ride he was off. It was so cute watching him ride around camp.