Dr Cole

Cole really loves to "play vet" and take care of all his animals, and lately he has really loved playing doctor with daddy. On Friday, Derek twisted his ankle while he was mowing, and after Cole heard about it he said, "Stay here, I'll be right back. I'll get my doctor kit and I'll fix you." He proceded to do a little assessment complete with listening to Derek's knee with his stethoscope and giving some "shots." Then this morning we could not get Derek to wake up. I told Cole he better check daddy out and see why he won't wake up, so he ran and got his doctor kit and tortured Derek until he woke up. It's so cute to see him do his little assessments, he looks so serious when he is looking in Derek's ears and trying to take his blood pressure. Who knows, maybe there is another future doctor in the family, or maybe just a "face painting guy."

New Goggles

Cole was so excited this week to get his first pair of goggles. He can't wear them yet in swimming lessons, but he loves to wear them when we are out swimming. He loves to look underwater with them and make faces at his daddy. He feels like such a "big boy" and looks pretty cute too! Yesterday he put them on himself before we even left to go swimming and wore them around the house. They were upside down and the strap was partly on top of his head, but he was very proud of the accomplishment. He is trying to be more daring in the pool, but he is still a bit timid. He loves to jump onto the steps and stay underwater for awhile now blowing bubbles, but he is still scared of being alone on the noodle and doesn't do "airplane" yet by himself. I think he can totally do it, but he likes the security of us holding on. Yesterday he started doing airplane with me just holding his earlobes, so pretty close to doing it by himself and I was very proud of him. I know once he learns to trust the water he will start being more confident, but I think he is doing great for now.

California Vacation

Ok, so I have totally procrastinated blogging about our vacation because it seems so overwhelming. Probably because I am such a picture-taking fanatic. I managed to take about 800 pictures over the course of the week, of course probably 90% of Cole (sorry in advance for all the slide shows). It was such a fun week and Cole loved being with the family nonstop. That was probably his favorite part of all-especially waking grandma up every morning at 6am. All fourteen of us stayed in a beachhouse between Mission Bay and the beach, it was a bit cramped, but we all had a blast. We mostly spent our time at Seaworld, the zoo and the beach.



Cole liked the beach, but is not a total beach bum yet. He went in the water more than last year, but was content to stay in the sand and build castles and find sand crabs. His favorite part was actually smashing all the castles. Caden was a total mad dog when it came to the water. He loved being in the ocean. Even when he was shivering with blue lips he tried to run back to the water. They cousins had a lot of fun together at the beach. Derek loved boogie boarding, and vows next year to perfect "the long board".

We went to Seaworld three or four times over the course of the week. Cole really loved it, especially the starfish. He was so gentle with them and set them softly back in the water. He would say "oh they're so cute." He also enjoyed the shows, but his favorite part was the Bay of Play. It was such a cute area for the kids complete with rides and best of all the Sesame Street buddies. We was able to meet most of his favorite characters and was so excited!! He was absolutely crazy on the treehouse, he climbed up the rope ladders like a little monkey.

Although he loved Seaworld, it is no suprise that Coles favorite place was the San Diego Zoo.
We went to the zoo twice, and it was so fun to show Cole some of his favorite animals that he has only seen in books. He is really into Tarzan right now, so he absolutely loved the gorillas. He named all of the gorillas at the zoo after the Tarzan characters and sat and stared at them for a while. Cole also discovered his dream occupation at the zoo. After examining a boy whose face was painted like a dog he said, "when I grow up I want to be a face painting guy who paints other peoples faces. That would be awesome." He talks about it all the time; today he actually said that is what he wants to be for Halloween, a face painting guy. The best part of our zoo trips was definitely feeding the giraffes. Cole really loved it, and as we walked out he was so excited and shouted "I did it, Yeah!" Caden got up close and personal with the giraffes too! Mitch held him up so high they were rubbing faces.
Cole also loved Belmont Park, he went on the carousol and the crazy submarine. He was so proud of himself, and he loved it when we cheered for him. He played a game to throw baseballs at a target and won a dolphin, with daddy's help. He was very excited. With some taunting Derek braved the big dipper, but I don't know if he will ever go again!

We had such a fun week. It was so nice to totally forget about all the stresses going on right now at home and just enjoy time with the family. Everything is also so much more fun with a child to share it with. Cole is such a sweetheart, and I love seeing the excitement in his eyes when he sees new things. I am greatful that my parents arranged this vacation so our whole family could enjoy the week together.

New Beginnings

Growing up in Young Women's we would have "new beginnings" every year, and I think today counts as a very important new beginning for our family and an exciting day for Derek; it was his last day of work at Dressler Courier. Derek has been driving all over the valley, racking up countless miles on our poor car for almost three years now, and it is definitely time to move on. I think he is most excited about never having to wear the uniform again (it is a cross between a pro bowler and a Bashas employee:). He is in total vacation mode since tomorrow we are heading to Mission Beach, so I think the reality of moving across the country to start law school hasn't sunk in completely. It's kind of a bittersweet day for me since now I will have to increase my hours at work, but there's an end in sight...three years down the road. I think it is going to be a very busy and exciting year for our family.

Happy Birthday America!!!

This past Friday we celebrated a very important holiday I sometimes take for granted, the Fourth of July. We are so blessed to live in this country and to experience the freedom's we enjoy. Often I think about the fireworks and the BBQ, but not the real reason for the holiday, the birth of our nation. Luckily, Derek absolutely loves the Fourth of July, or is it just the boneless pork ribs Steve makes that he loves so much? We explained the holiday to Cole as America's birthday, and since our family makes a pretty big deal about birthdays, or at least I do, I think he realized that the day was special. Now if he could only figure out who America is:) I don't really expect him to understand, but we had a good time singing happy birthday to America a few times that day. What he loved the most was spending time with the family.

In the afternoon we went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a BBQ. Everyone was in the pool and had a blast. Caden even went swimming in a waverunner float, and after a while he really enjoyed himself. Mitch and Lexie picked up some sparklers and snakes in New Mexico last week, and after dinner we lit a few, even though it was still light out. Cole held the sparklers for a little bit and loved watching the snakes grow.
That evening we went to Grandma Walkers, but Cole was so exhausted he slept the entire time. Derek chowed down on some of the beloved boneless pork chops Steve grilled and swam with Brandon, Dakota and Caden. We planned on watching the fireworks with Brandon, Dakota and Caden, but they started late. After 45 min of waiting, the boys were exhausted. Cole watched a few go off from the car, and then we called it quits. He was one tired boy, but he had such a fun day!

The Children's Museum

Today we went with Amy and Aiden to the new children's museum that opened in Phoenix. This is one of the first weeks that it has been open, so it was completely packed. It was hard to navigate through the people to follow Cole around. Cole was a little nervous at first, but he quickly warmed up and had a blast. He made a magic wand out of tissue paper and paited a house green. He was pretty covered in paint by the end of the project, but he loved it. They boys also played in various rooms that they had set up, one was like a little store complete with a checkout, one was a kitchen where they made pretend pizzas, and one was like a house; it was pretty cute.
Then they ran though a tunnel play area and had so much fun. We completed the outing with a trip to the golden arches, Cole was so excited to get the Mantis toy from Kung Fu Panda, and he can't wait to get Po the panda.

Momo's Birthday

Last week we celebrated two birthdays, Clint's on the 27th and Momo's (AKA Romi) on the 28th. On Clint's birthday we ate ethiopian food at Blue Nile, which was a lot better than I remember. Then on Romi's we ate at Tia Rosa's, saw Wall-E, and had a party at mom and dad's. Cole snuck his little head in and helped Momo blow out the candles, he just couldn't resist.

Cole loves Momo so much; she is such a great aunt and he has so much fun with her. He loves playing hide and seek and pretending they are flying to Africa and looking at wild animals on a toy airplane at mom and dad's.