Summer of Fun - Week 3

Jenelle just got back from camp Id Ra Ha Je (stands for - I'd rather have Jesus). This year I signed her up for the horseback ride. Jenelle was very nervous because she is afraid of heights and a horse is rather tall. The day before camp she was asking me a million questions about horses. What does it feel like? How high up will I be? Will I fall off? I spent the day reassuring her and she seemed very excited about it.

We dropped her off on Wednesday. She did the three day camp. She could have done the six day camp, but she didn't want to. The first day they did a hay ride. The next day they had game time, chapel time and swimming. The third day was the horse ride. She had a great time! She was nervous at first, but the counselor just walked her around the ring. She ended up steering the horse herself! She even played "red light, green light" with her horse. When I picked her up from camp the first thing she said was, "I want to ride a horse!" I'm excited for her, but now do I need to the horse thing on a regular basis?

Jenelle had a great time at camp. She even took two showers there. She chastised me for not packing shampoo. The day before leaving I asked her if she was going to shower at camp. She said, "No. I don't need to." So I didn't pack any shampoo. Jenelle washed her hair twice, but didn't comb it a single time. It was a snarly mess by the time she got home.

Curt and I enjoyed our time together. We went out to dinner a couple of times and went tubing down the Platte River. It was quiet, but nice. Next year Jenelle will go to the longer camp and Curt and I will get out of town. It's our only opportunity to have a few nights away without Jenelle.

Summer of Fun - Week 2

This was a much better week. Jenelle had VBS at our home church. They always do a great VBS. The theme was Saddle Ridge Ranch. We have been listening to VBS music for a long time now. The songs are cute, but they are the kind that get stuck in your head. I find myself singing them in the middle of the night.

We went to the pool and had several play dates. I've been doing a good job of having an activity almost every day. Jenelle loves her friends. She played with Eme this week. They rode their bikes. She went over to Gwen's house and played in their sprinkler. We went to the pool with Ben and Isaac. On Thursday night we went to the concert in the park. The kids ran around (non-stop) playing tag while the adults talked and listened to the music.

Jenelle has also been taking tennis lessons. This year we are taking lessons somewhere new. The Ken Caryl Rec center lessons have been great so far. They play a lot of fun games that Jenelle usually ends up winning.

Summer of Fun - Week 1

The summer of fun has begun! The first week was a little rough on mom. Jenelle had a VBS in the morning and a VBS in the evening; with an activity in between. The evening VBS was free and I thought Curt and I could take advantage of the free babysitting.

We were WAY too busy. We were rushing from activity to activity. There wasn't much down time or relaxing going on. Remember my earlier posts about having to rush in the morning to get Jenelle to school on time? We were rushing to three activities a day. I was ready to pull my hair out by the end of the week. Summer is supposed to be relaxing, fun and low stress. Not this first week. We'll do better next week.

Happy Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day weekend. It started on Saturday with Dumpster Day. Each summer our home association sponsors a dumpster day. You can take unlimited crap in your yard/house to the garbage truck they have set up in the neighborhood. We took a big load over with yard stuff. We even took a load of Chris' yard stuff.

Then we went for a hike. (We couldn't have daddy working the whole weekend.) We went to Lair O' the Bear for a nice hike. Afterward, Curt grilled up steak. His favorite grilling food.

Today we went for a bike ride in Waterton Canyon. Luck was on our side and the wind pushed us up the canyon. We had to fight the wind going back down, but at least it was downhill.

We got dad some presents, too. He wanted some stuff for the computer. I'm not really sure what he ordered. We got him some new socks and a tie, too. He lost his one good tie and the other one is a throwback to the 70's. So now Dad is all set up to look nice, but has no where to go.

UNBELIEVABLE!!!

I need to interrupt my blogging about our vacation with this special announcement. Jenelle has learned to ride a bike! We are throwing the training wheels away. Chris was taking Zack out to practice today and she invited us to come along. I thought it would help Jenelle to see Zack trying at the same time.

We went to the park where they have a nice little grassy hill. Zack hopped on his bike and took off. No problem. Each time he went faster and farther.

Jenelle's confidence was really low. She was really scared. Before we left the house she was lying on the couch with big tears in her eyes telling me she didn't want to go. We prayed about it.

She tried Zack's bike out first because it was the smallest. Curt ran with her on the pavement around the park so she could get a feel for it. Jenelle was very tentative and frustrated with that so we switched to riding on the grassy hill without the pedals. She just coasted down the hill trying to find her balance. She did great. After trying that out we put the pedals on. She cruised down the hill pedaling her feet. Each time she went a little farther.

She even tried riding on the pavement and made it halfway around the park by herself. She needs work on getting going by herself and dismounting, but we'll practice that next time. We even got out the bigger pink bike and she was able to ride that. We took Zack out on the pavement, but he was too nervous and couldn't keep his balance.

I'm so excited for Jenelle. Last year when we were practicing, Jenelle really struggled. She was always in tears. We decided to give it a rest. We bought her a 2 wheeled scooter and I think that helped. She was able to scooter around and find her balance on a less threatening 2 wheeled vehicle.

We went to Dairy Queen afterward to celebrate.