4th Fun

We were in Melrose for the big "Riverfest" activities. The kids got to go on some rides down at the park and watch the parade on Saturday. Gavin loved the parade. He most liked waving to the princesses. It was very cute.

Gavin and Maddie on a car ride.

Isaac, Gavin and Maddie on the train ride.




Jacob on the train ride.

"Bucketheads" waiting for the parade.

Gavin waiting for the parade.

Gavin thinks he's four, like his brother. He tries to do whatever Jacob is doing. Climbing on park equipment. Jumping and touching tree branches. Riding bike. Jumping into the pool. Monkey bars. Jacob is pretty fearless, so Gavin has big shoes to fill...

Gavin literally trying to fill Jacob's shoes.

Last week it was finally time for Sports Camp. Jacob has been asking about it ever since I signed him up in March and mistakenly told him about it. Lesson learned not to tell a young child about something "so fun" so far in advance. He enjoyed three mornings of soccer, basketball, t-ball and gymnastics. They played t-ball in the gym with tennis balls, so one morning after "camp" a mom asked her little girl what they played that day. With a shrug the little girl replied "tennis, I think".

The boys and I hit a local beach with friends before heading up to Melrose on Thursday night. Fred had Friday off, so we enjoyed a long weekend. On Friday we hung out with the Rosenbergers, swimming in their pool and playing cribbage with Alyssa while Joe was still recovering from knee replacement surgery. On Saturday, Fred helped with chores while Joel and his fam were at the Grand Canyon and then we headed to the Ward Springs 4th of July parade. Always a wild time, but a little wetter this year. Jacob got a whole bucket of water dumped on him towards the end of the parade.

Jacob and Isaac before the parade.

The kids had a bad cough over the weekend, making sleep difficult for all of us. But we went to the lake despite the illness and enjoyed a gorgeous day out there.

Gavin loved this duck.

Jacob and Fred enjoyed fishing off the dock. Can you see the big fish?

Then they enjoyed canoeing, since the battery on the boat was dead and we couldn't go boating.

And then floating around on a tube. Plus playing in the sand and jumping off the raft and paddle boating. It was a fun filled day.

This week Jacob started swimming lessons. He's doing the Little Minnows class that he did last summer too. He's a bit more of a fish this year. He'll tell you "I can swim by myself without my floaties." And he can doggie paddle to keep his head up momentarily. He can also float front and back and he swims underwater with his arms at his side and his feet kicking. He's a bit advanced for his minnows class, but he was supposed to be 4 and a half for the level 1 class.

Other random note: Jacob has been obsessed with monkey bars this spring/summer and can do them rather well. He has ripped holes in his hands from all the work he's done on them. Ouch!