The rest of the Ashton Family Vacation

With 2 new babies in the fam, we had plenty of fun just hanging out at Mom and Dad's house.  Here's Jaden with his baby cousin, Kaylee.

Bradley was occupied by the blow-dart gun that Grandpa had fashioned for him.

Lots of time just sitting out on the deck...

... and playing around outside.

Man, this kid is cute!

I love how Dad tried to sneak into this picture. :)

As Jaden says about a certain teeny-bop singer.. "Kare is hotty-hot-hot!"

One night, after all the kids went to bed, we had a game night at my house.  Doesn't it look like we're having fun?  Fool's Rook can be a little stressful!

But Charles must have had a good hand.

Kare seemed a little delirious that night, it was hilarious.

This picture was during the conversation where Charles pointed out that as long as he had known her, whenever Kare wanted something from Dad, she called him, "Daddy."  This started a whole new direction of commentary.  We were all wiping our eyes from laughing so hard.

One night we tried a baseball game.  Keyword: tried.  It lasted about 10 minutes... if that.  But it was fun. I think we should do it every year.

Poor kids didn't know where to run.  None of them! Haha!

After the game, we celebrated Bryce's birthday.

The kids made Bryce a "Birthday S'More."

Look at Dad changing that diaper.  What a Grandpa!  :)

This was the dance party.  Unfortunately all my good videos are too long for Blogger.  Nathan's got some pretty awesome moves.  :)

This was fun.  Let's do it again next month. :)  We missed you, Alli!

First Day of School

 Jaden's school switched from year round to traditional.  I have mixed feelings about the change, but so far it's been okay.  His teacher in Mr. Men and from what I hear, he is a crack up.

I don't  get too many details from Jaden about school, but I know he is such a good student.  The first thing he does when he gets home is pull out his homework, get through it as fast as he can and then spends the rest of his time until dinner outside with the neighbor kids.  I never have to fight with him about his homework.  (Knock on wood!)
 
*****

Kaleb started his 3rd year of preschool at Sunshine Square.

When we met Miss Michelle, we were very clear in filling her in on Kaleb's record of being extremely shy and taking forever before uttering a single word.


On the 3rd week of school, she pulled me aside to talk about Kaleb's behavior.  I was pretty sure she was going to say that he just sits there quietly, but his lack of participation is becoming a problem.  That's usually the case.


Instead she told me that he and another kid are playing around and having a little too much fun, to the point of becoming a distraction. Kaleb also likes to make the other kids laugh by falling out of his seat.



I couldn't suppress the smile, "Really? Uh-I mean. Really."


I told Charles the good news and he said, "Poor kid. He just can't win."

*****

Bradley started his first year of preschool and is also at Sunshine Square.   He loves to go to school to see his friends and to see "Miss tuh-weesa!"  (Miss Teresa)

He is our first kid to hop the "timid barrier."  He talks not only to his teacher, but ALL the teachers.  They all think he is sooooo adorable.  Which he is.

It has been fun having 2 kids go to the same school.  It's like pulling teeth trying to get them to tell me what they did at school that day.  But with 2 of them, they are so excited to tell each other about everything they did. I just drive and listen.

Bradley is so cute.  I catch him singing songs that he has learned, and he is seriously SO excited about every little thing he does or brings home.  He's just a happy kid.

Since his birthday was the week before school started (pretty sure he is the youngest in the class) I got to go in one day and bring cupcakes.

This is his tiny class of 6. Only 1 girl.

For his birthday he also got to bring in his favorite thing to do... magnet blocks of course!

Last week while driving home from my mom and dad's house for dinner one night, Charles was making a right-hand turn.  The light was red.  Charles made his turn.  Bradley got so upset.

"That light was RED Daddy!  You-you-you-you not supposed to go. You-you-you supposed to STOP."

Not thinking much of it, Charles just said, "You're right.  I should have stopped."

Then I heard Bradley muttering to himself in his carseat, "I'm gonna tell Miss Tuh-weesa. My Daddy didn't stop.  And the light was red."

A whole week later, on the same drive home, we came to the exact same red light.  Charles made his turn.

A distraught little Bradley, almost in tears whined, "Daddyyyy! You did it again!" A big frown on his face.  Poor little guy.  At least we know that he takes what he learns in school very seriously. :)

Kaleb's Solution

K: Mommy, I like cats. We should get a cat. Do you like cats?
M: Umm... not really.
K: Why not?
M: Cuz all they do is pee... and poop... and shed.
K: (thinking...) Well maybe we can put a lock on our shed so they don't pee or poop in it.

East Canyon

We have been vacationing in East Canyon... my whole life.  I think.

Even when I lived in CA, we came here in the summers.  We'd meet up with a bunch of my cousins, and my grandparents would stay overnight in their camper-thing.  Good times.  :)

My little family loves going up to the condos, and we LOVE swimming in the pools.  The boys would stay there all day if they could.

This year, part of our Ashton family vacation was spent up there.  (End of July.)

My dad used to do this to us girls when we were kids.  I think 13 was the highest number of rotations we ever got... or maybe that was someone in the Collins family... I don't know.

I think it's fun to see my dad do this with MY kid. 

And here's Nathan showing us his mad water skills.  What a stud.  :)

This isn't the best video to show this, but I love how spastic Kaleb gets when he is excited.  He either dances, yells, or belts out in his own made-up song.  The video I tried to upload showed him doing karate moves underwater.  He's so entertaining.  :)

Kaylee and Curtis... so cute!

I like how Kare seems to be mad-dogging the little girl who may be invading her personal space.

Wonder when Bradley will realize that "Baby Nathan" is no longer a baby... and that he's only 1 year younger.

Charles and I took the little boys out for a walk and found...

Bradley didn't seem too interested.

Throwing rocks is way more fun.

 

We forgot the bug spray and were getting eaten alive.  But we decided to introduce the kids to the game of mini-golf anyway.

Not too bad for their first time. 

But they still got bored pretty quick.

Kaleb left to go climb on top of all of the miniature buildings, and he swears he saw a snake, which freaked him out and he took off running back towards the condo.

Bradley had fun playing his own way.  Abandoning all rules he decided to just place his ball at the end of each hole and go from there.  This was much more fun. :)

Even after his 12th time, he still got excited.

Here's Mom on baby-duty, back at the condo.

This was the next day, back at the pool.

Bradley was so brave.  He wanted to jump to Charles, and kept telling him to move back more and more.  More than even Charles was comfortable with.

Jaden tried so hard to break his record...

... and his back.

All the boys sure have fun swimming with Grandpa.  :)