Summer Fun

This Summer, Lydia seems to have two favorite things. One is riding bikes with her friends. I never knew she could ride her tricycle so well because she has only ridden on our small back porch, but once we took her out front, she took off! Naturally, our little daredevil likes to go fast!
The other thing Lydia loves this summer is swimming. We signed her up for swim lessons, and though it was hard for her to restrain from splashing the first day, she has really got the hang of listening and having fun.
She seems kind of bored when they aren't in the water.
I finally got Colton a tie, and man did my little missionary look cute! Lydia decided to get in on the cuteness with her own tie.

Way Behind!

We have been traveling a lot lately, and in area's without internet, so here goes what has promises to be a very long update.

First- Colton is walking- everywhere. I love to watch him toddle all around the house, carrying random objects that seem to have some significance to him. Lydia is now always saying, "No baby." as she puts HER food, or HER toys on the kitchen table where he can't reach.

We went to Ohio for Lydia's birthday and Father's day. As always, it was fun. We had a joint party with her cousin who turned 4 the next week. Naturally, Lydia started out the fun with her cousins with a mud fight.


Last week we went to my families house in Idaho for the 4th of July. It was great! We spent most of the time at my parent's mosquito infested cabin at Palisades reservoir. It is BEAUTIFUL! This was our 15 minute hike. It got cut a little short- not because of the kids acting up, but because of the mosquitos.
The four wheelers were a big hit. Here is the reservoir.
My parents brought up their boat. Oh so much fun! Colton wasn't a fan of the staight, I mean life jacket, so he only went on one short ride. Lydia liked the boat, but she like being off the boat and in the water even more, despite the teeth chattering temperatures.
Lydia riding the banana boat. Mike and I rode it together and accidentally flipped it a few times. We didn't care for the cold water as much as Lydia.

Lydia enjoying the water at a dock we stopped at.
Mike wake boarding. I love that you can see snow on the mountains behind him. We both enjoyed wake boarding, but I think it was most fun for us on the banana boat. Mike rode solo and Dad tried to throw him off. We told Dad to slow down when the banana boat was vertical and all you could see was one foot sticking up in the air, but I think they were both kind of enjoying it!
The grand girls in varying stages of saying cheese.

A drunken horse or a tired grandpa- I'm not sure which.


Playing outside.
And of course the 4th of July! Dad brought a flatbed trailor to watch the fireworks so we all cuddled up in camp chairs and enjoyed some ice cream- compliments of Reed's Dairy.
Enjoying the fireworks with Grandpa.

In the afternoon we had a picnic at my aunt's house. We got a picture with most of the great grandkids. We got a family picture. Dad even had the tractor washed. (Thanks for taking them Aunt Shelly)

Lydia in the grain.
Mom and Dad- the one's who made it all possible. Thanks Mom and Dad! Hope you can recover from all the fun!
Sorry to any family and friends who we missed while we were in Idaho. We were only in Idaho Falls for about 24 hours and the rest of the time was spent in Palisades. Hopefully we can catch you next time.

Family Photo's

We finally had our family photo's taken and the kids were wonderful for them! Thanks Kayli for taking them! They turned out great. These are a couple of my favorites. I just did a collage too, but now I can't find where I saved it. Drat! I had so much fun making it, but I don't know if I had enough fun to start it over.

The update around here is that I just got over bronchitis. (not fun and not recommended) and Mike had success with an experiment which has resulted in a paper published with his name on it! Hooray! We are so proud of him. Other news includes we unplugged our TV (at least until football season) and are both finding it good for our family. I really don't like TV, but Mike loves the sports and even Lydia enjoys her ESPN time with Dad.

A whole lot of . . .

I'm afraid this post is going to be a whole bunch of random. And really, that is what we do most days- a bunch of random stuff. One saturday we took Lydia and Colton on a bike ride to the water fountains at Purdue. She had a great time! A few days later we took them swimming at the pool at Purdue. The shallow end there is 5 feet, so Colton and I didn't last long, but Mike taught Lydia how to doggie paddle and I began to wonder why I even signed Lydia up for swim lessons this summer when we have a built in teacher that is as good as they come.
Lydia was playing the backyard a few days ago while I was cooking. She came and got me to show me how she had planted her flowers! These are her chore flowers. They are styrophome flowers glued to a pipe cleaner with a picture of a chore on each. What a green thumb!
I pulled into our apartment one evening and was practically accosted by this lady wanting to give me these strawberries. They were leftovers from a farmers market that were donated. They made a delicious strawberry cheesecake that was enjoyed by many at our Enrichment night last night.
Colton and I at the Purdue fountain.
We went to Ohio for memorial day. Colton had a fever and didn't feel well the whole time, but he was pretty good for Papa during the parade.
Lydia rode the horse in Ohio. Thought this picture turned out well.
We had family pictures taken a few weeks ago. The kids looked so cute I just had to take some photo's of my own. But like all pictures, I couldn't always get everyone to look at the camera. It seems our back fence was much more interesting.
Lydia was still willing to say cheese. And I must say, my white towel hanging out on the line to dry made a great backdrop.
And another random thing. This mama duck and her adorable ducklings camped on our back patio for an afternoon. They made great company.

In other news, Lydia had a speech evaluation today and qualifies for a speech intensive preschool. Hooray! Hopefully that will help her get up to speed- and should be fun too!

Colton has big news. He is embarking on the world of walking. I would classify him in the league of babies that have taken their first steps! On Tuesday he began to step . . . step . . .plop without any encouragement- just because he wanted to.

I suppose that is about it. All is well in Indiana. We miss many of our friends who are traveling for the summer, but we too will be joining their ranks when we go out to Idaho to visit Grandma and Grandpa Reed. We can't wait!

Nauvoo

Last week we went with our neighbors to Nauvoo. They have a daughter and son both Lydia and Colton's age. We shared a three bedroom hotel room and let the girls have a sleepover. We all had a good time. I've posted some pictures to highlight. This is an example of one of the buildings. It is actually the Browning gunsmith shop, where Browning guns got their beginning. This was one of the nicest houses in Nauvoo. The Brownings had 12 children. One infant they buried in the backyard, and the other 11 they took to Far West where they lived in a one room cabin for 5 years because the prophet had asked them to stay and help people there. That's some faith.
Sorry it's crooked. We were waiting to see the blacksmith shop and just goofing around. Lydia learned to play duck duck goose and now whenever I sit on the floor, she walks around me, patting my head saying, "duck, duck, duck"
Colton and Isaac also waiting for the blacksmith shop.
The blacksmith shop: one of our favorite buildings. We watched them make a horse shoe and they gave Lydia one of those "prairie diamond" rings. She was elated! Mike and Lydia are in front of a real wagon. They were only 11 ft long by 3 ft wide. Can you imagine packing everything in that much space?
Monument of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in front of the Nauvoo temple.
Group picture in front of said monument. Not too great of a picture, but you get to see everyone.
Lydia and Elsie (BFF) sitting on the temple steps. (In case you don't know, like you Dad, BFF stands for Best Friends Forever. )
Lydia and Elsie with what is supposed to be a sheep. They had just made the rope that is in Elsie's hand, and then they were given the doll that is in Lydia's arm as an attempt by the elderly missionaries to keep them quiet.
An oxen ride. Those were some big boys!
Making rope. You would spin this wheel to tighten the rope and spin the strands together.
In the bakery. I can't imagine being a baker using these hot ovens- which were considered nice for the time. I guess I shouldn't complain about the labors of cooking dinner.
Like all good family vacations, some of us were exhausted.
And of course, the temple. The woodwork and spiral staircase are gorgeous. It cost $1 million dollars to build- the first time. Imagine the labor and love that went into that building and then to have to leave it.
Our last stop was Carthage. We didn't get many pictures because, lets just say our kids weren't being reverent by this time. This was probably the most spiritual place we visited though. I'm glad we took the time to go there. Praise to the man who was the instrument in ushering in this last dispensation.

Unihibited

Lydia had her cast on for 3 weeks, but she didn't let it slow her down at all. She got it off Friday and was a happy girl. She kept bending her elbow in amazement. "It' moves!" her face seemed to say. Before I go into what we have done over the last three weeks, it should be noted that the cast in these pictures is not the same one she started with. Lydia had her short arm cast on for not even 48 hours and she managed to pull it off. (She was quite proud she got it off, I might add) We immediately went back into the office and they put a long arm cast on- past her elbow so she couldn't pull it off. A little cumbersome, but she was a little champ. So- here is what we have done. We grilled in the backyard. A favorite family activity.
Colton attacked Lydia's spaghetti-o's as soon as she left them unattended.


There was a father/son campout, but mike didn't want to take Colton. Go figure- he was set back by the fact that he can't nurse him. Well, we brought the campout to the boys, but it was Lydia who had the most fun with it. We set up the tent in the living room, Colton had to sleep in his lonely crib while we all watched Marley and Me. Lydia ended up falling alseep on the ground, between our air mattress and the zipper door. Aparently the air mattress leaked, but I had no idea until my much larger sleeping partner abandoned us around 4:00 AM for a much softer mattress upstairs. Mike was a good sport.