Nebraska

on our way to iowa to celebrate my grandfather's 100th birthday, we worked in a trip to omaha to visit my friend bre & her family :) bre & i met in college, both aspiring psychologists, & both ended up being elementary school teachers? funny - huh. right now though, bre is a stay at home mom of two precious little ones, evan - who will turn 2 in a few days :), & reese - just about 10 weeks old. i like to call bre super mom!! her hubby, jon, & tommy were like 2 peas in a pod..and kennedie enjoyed playing & bossing around evan, after getting over her initial shyness. besides seeing & spending time with friends, the highlight of the trip was getting to go out on the lake with the vingo's! this was a first for kennedie, being on a boat, & she did really well. she listened for the most part & abosultely LOVED jumping into, swimming & tubing on the lake! i think it was my last post when i mentioned the fearlessness of boys - well when it comes to water, kennedie definitely has that fearlessness! here are some pictures from our great day on the water:

loving the wind in her hair

 

seriously the best life jacket/float we've bought so far! got it at costco & it worked great! but fair warning, she's a petite little girl - it wasn't as successful for mr evan - who may be younger but is a good 3-4 inches taller & almost 10 lbs heavier - boys!

breakin for a snack

the kids watched intensely as the boys took turns wake boarding - they were so serious - the kids that is!  they asked if daddies were ok when they fell & didn't let them out of their site!

 

kennedie could've jumped off the tube all day! she also went tubing with tommy & i and did a fabulous job, even when we had to bail - she just wanted to do it over & over :)

shot of the mommies & their babies

we had such a great time & the trip was far too quick..but lucky for us they are coming to colorado soon & planning a stop in glenwood (how convenient for us!) and will hopefully be joining us for a bit in florida in december!! we can't wait!

squirt guns!

the dollar section in target is my favorite section of the store! i find lots of great stuff for school & stuff for the little lady in my life too :)

on our last target trip, i found small squirt guns...3 for $1 if you can believe it! so it was home for an afternoon backyard adventure..aka water fight!

it took a little coaching, but kennedie caught on pretty quick - she's such a smart girl :)

once she got the hang of it, she was on the attack! she went after daddy first - since he had been taking advantage of her lack of skill during her lessons...

 

next, she turned on me...after i taught her how to shoot - how rude ;)

she finally got to get daddy back...he had to break to refill & she took full advantage :)

pleased with herself for learning so quickly & looking forward to many more family water fights ;)

park play date

again, a couple weeks ago...so many things to blog, so little time (how am i going to be able to keep this up when i actually have to work all day??) kennedie got to have a park play date with her favorite pal calvin - which meant that mommy got to see her friend amanda = win win! 

 new favorite swinging position is belly down :)

(mommy trying to get a good angle for her shots)

it's amazing to me the differences between boys & girls...even at the young age of 2 (& even before i'm sure) - what struck me in particular this day was calvin's fearlessness climbing on the big rocks & kennedie's timid approach. after many tries, she finally reached the top of the rock & was even able to climb from rock to rock :) 

and of course, the slide was a hit as always - we at least ever since calvin taught kennedie how to climb the disks to get up to the big slide!! 

bowling night!

ok - think i got the kinks worked out with the blogging issues i've been having - here we go!

 

a couple weekends ago, we had a family bowling night!! it was tommy's idea and we had a blast! kennedie kept it together & was all about the game for about 1/2 of our hour on the lane :) she got to wear some great bowling shoes & even got her favorite color bowling ball - what a lucky little girl! daddy tried to share his wisdom with her - hold your arms under the ball & push the ball fast :) 

and mommy took lots of pictures - because it's what i do!!

my pretty green ball

STRIKE!

family fun :)

splish splash

kennedie's new favorite backyard activity - putting her slide into her mini pool :) 

= so much fun!!!

 today she did it naked - but i don't think i should post those picts ;)

making an ocean

we woke up to a dreary, cloudy morning (but SO thankful for the rain we've been getting) - which is perfect weather for some indoor arts & crafts :) 

we had some left over bubble wrap in a couple different sizes that reminded me of a project i did with my preschoolers a couple years ago - we made a bubble print 'gold'fish to go with our book brown bear, brown bear what do you see? so, i cut out a couple pieces of the bubble wrap, got some paints together (note to self - need more paints in more colors!), cut out some fish & star fish (this could also be done after the painting/printing is done on a whole sheet of paper) & set up a spot on the floor to begin our project - all while kennedie had breakfast :)

our next step was to paint the bubble wrap - kennedie did a great job! 

once the bubble wrap was painted, i showed kennedie how to put the shapes on top of the bubbles and press to get the bubble print on the paper :) i think this was her favorite part!!

showing off her orange fish :)

 after the fish had time to dry, i grabbed some blue recycled tissue paper & glued them to one of our paint 'drop clothes' to make an ocean to put our fish in. i put the glue on & then kennedie stuck the fish onto the paper :) 

the finished product is hanging in her playroom...we might add some other ocean things - like seaweed or other animals another time :)

it was a super easy, fun project this morning & didn't take long! it was also a cinch to clean up - just washed both the brushes & the bubble wrap (to be used again) & put everything away!

happy 4th of july

we had a firework-free 4th :( but made the most of it by taking in the parade in vail & hosting a small bbq at our place! 

the 4th of july parade in vail is a huge attraction for tourists & locals alike! there are always TONS of people. this was our 2nd year attending with amanda & calvin - our favorite pals! calvin's daddy, jim, is in all of the parades as part of the lawn chair drill team - it's pretty neat & a huge hit at the parade. we were a tad disappointed this year, not with the parade itself, but at the huge (we're talking like 5-15 minutes) delays between floats, bands, cars, etc in the parade....including the lawn chair team - i think we had to wait about 15 minutes for them to come around the bend - but it was worth it! they never fail to entertain :)

though this parade lacked in the candy arena, kennedie & calvin got pleanty! the little cuties even had people coming up to them & handing them candy because the big kids around us were snatching it all up! the kids got mini flags they waived around, showing their patriotism no doubt ;) & leis they wore for a while - well at least for 1 picture.

at the end of the parade this year, a couple was getting married & a flash mob was secretly planned...glad we headed out the opposite direction! i'm sure it was a fun celebration, but the crowds were immense & we all needed a nap after our morning in the sun & parade fun! 

here are some of my favorite picts from the parade:

 when we got home, kennedie napped, tommy napped & i started prepping (cleaning) the house for our bbq guests. after tidying up, i started on the desert for the party - a flag cake - super simple, & while it baked, i got a little nap in too! i wanted to post a picture of the cake because it turned out so cute - plus, i don't bake/cook often, so i took a picture as evidence :)

we had a great bbq, with just a few friends. it was great to spend some time together. the rain didn't get us down - the kids had a great time playing, the boys played darts in the garage & the girls chatted & kept an eye on the little ones :)

maybe we'll get to see some fireworks next year!

happy anniversary

tommy & i celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on june 27th :)
we celebrated by going out for our favorite dinner - 50% off sushi at nozowa!

happy anniversary to us!!
and yes, that is a boat load of sushi & we finished it all :)

at the car wash...

we turned washing the cars into a family affair :)

kennedie loved it all - whether she was scrubbing, spraying or covering her legs in the bubbles.

she helped daddy clean mommy's jeep - then helped mommy clean daddy's car