Whoa

Now that's a big bear!

Bad to the Bone

He's got his tat*, his ATV, and he's ready to take on the world.

* Notice what the tatoo says? It was courtesy of our library's summer reading program. I do think it adds an extra badness to his appearance :)

Red Rock Canyon

While David was "gone fishing" this morning, I took the boys to Red Rock Canyon -- it's a series of trails of varying difficulty in a beautiful canyon of red rocks :). We had a good walk, and now I have a better feel for the layout of the trails. There are lots of easy trails, but even the medium-difficulty trails really aren't bad (I accidentally led us on one of those for a little while and even Peter did fine). I'm looking forward to getting out there again!

Stroll Down Memory Lane - part 1

When Babies Attack

Who can bake a rainbow?

The Campbells can!

Joyce sent us a recipe for turning a regular white cake recipe into rainbow cupcakes, so we decided to try it out as a special treat for Pentecost. It was a hit! The boys helped to mix the colors and put the batter in the muffin tins, and they've *really* enjoyed them as treats this week.

Swim lessons

Today was the last day of swim lessons for Jack and Thomas. They started in the first week of May and had 2 lessons a week. I can't believe how fast the month has flown by!

I'm really proud of the boys for doing so well during swim lessons. Jack surprised me by being very eager and willing to learn how to swim from the get-go (usually he tends to the more cautious side). He listened very well to the swim teacher and really seemed to enjoy the lessons. Thomas was very nervous to begin with, but he rallied and ended up doing a great job listening to the teacher, getting his ears wet (he really hated this!), and trying new things. Thomas even began chatting to the swim teacher all the way through the lessons, which is a pretty good sign that he's comfortable :).

Jack and Thomas both seem to be much more comfortable in the water now, and it was a great start that we can build on over the summer. My goal by the end of the summer is for them to even more confident and able in the water.

I would probably continue them in the next set of swim lessons immediately, but T-Ball starts in a couple of weeks and I just can't do that many activities at one time. I'm sure there will be a time in our lives that the kids will be doing a few different activities at one time, but for now one at a time is enough :). T-Ball wraps up at the end of July, so I might put them in swim lessons again at the end of the summer.

First Fishing Trip

Yesterday morning we took the boys to a kid-friendly fishing lake not too far from us. They had a great time! David caught the first fish, and then a little while later Jack caught an even bigger fish (he was so excited!). Thomas (with David's help) tried his best to snag one, but he didn't have any luck this time. Peter was mostly content to throw pebbles into the lake. It was a beautiful day, and the boys are eager for their next fishing trip.