Road Trip to Great Grandma's House

In August we took a family road trip to visit Ethan's Great Grandma Bea (Stacy's Grandma) in Missouri. We traveled through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma and then we arrived at Grandma's! Ethan has always proved himself a good traveler as we travel back and forth to California by car every couple of months and he did very well on this trip as well. He kept himself busy coloring, watching movies and playing with his toys!

We packed our lunches each day and found a national park or other touristy spot to picnic at and get out to run around for a little while before heading out on the road. We traveled mostly on Route 66 and even found the building that Ramon's Car shop from Pixars Movie "Cars" was designed after. It was a fun roadtrip but we were glad to finally make it to our destination.

When we got to Oklahoma we stayed with my Uncle Don, Aunt Jeanette and cousins Morgan and Carter at their lake house. Ethan loved floating on the lake and jumping into the water and of course going on boat rides with Uncle Don. It was a ton of fun and great to spend a couple of days hanging out with family. Then we headed off to Grandma's house but first we were so close to 3 corners (Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma) that we tried our hardest to keep Ethan up to check out a tourist spot, he wasn't very pleased with us nor was he impressed but hey were parents and now we can say "we took you there one time", and it wasn't 10 minutes into the car ride that he got to finally take a much needed nap after 2 days of playing in the lake!

We enjoyed a week at Grandma's house just relaxing and visisting. Ethan and I had been at Grandma's the year before so Ethan felt right at home back at Grandma's and loved spending time loving on "Grama Bea" and of course getting tons of hugs and kisses. It was fun to chase after lightening bugs with Ethan in the same back yard that my sisters and I use to, and to stay up late watching girly movies with my Grandma. And of course Ethan was overjoyed to get his very first trike - thanks Grandma! It was wonderful to spend almost 2 weeks as a family traveling and visiting family.

Keeping cool on a hot summer day

July proved to be super hot here in AZ! We spent lots of time in the pool, running through rain when we got a few drops (and there was only a few) and treating ourselves to some yummy frostys after church one sunday! Ethan and I regularly found ourselves in our new above ground pool in the afternoons to keep cool and have some fun in the sun. The pool was deep enough for Ethan to practice his swimming and to go after dive sticks which is his favorite pool activity.

July was here and gone before we knew it, John was away for a few days for kids camp and a leadership retreat and we were counting down the days to our big summer road trip to visit my uncle and his family at their lakehouse in Oklahoma and then to see my Grandma in Missouri. Did I mention is was incredibly hot in July, I am glad that fall is on the way;)

Goofy Golf

Disclaimer: No children or adults were injured on this adventure! Ha Ha!

Before it got to warm out we took Ethan goofy golfing for the first time. Its something John and I have always enjoyed doing as a fun date night and we couldn't wait to take Ethan for a family outing. Ethan loved the idea of hitting the golf ball with his club, like most boys I imagine throwing, kicking and hitting is especially fun and even better when it is allowed and encouraged by mom and dad. We let some people play around us as we were moving a bit slower then usual with a two year determined to get the ball in the hole, but it was so much fun that we will be sure to do this again!

Busy June

Well as you might tell from the lack of posts this summer it has been a very busy one to say the least! In the beginning of June we headed to Forest Homes Summer Camp with our GCC students and enjoyed the cooler California weather. With John traveling a lot this summer is was nice to tag along for this one, unfortunately I was not very good at getting pictures taken this camp so here is one of the boys enjoying a snack in our wonderful room overlooking the lake!

After camp John was off for a missions trip, so Ethan and I had to find ways to keep ourselves busy and our minds off of daddy being gone! We enjoyed swimming, going to the splash pad at the mall and being silly around the house (and really anywhere we went)!

Towards the end of June Ethan took swim lessons from Mrs. Parker and was swimming like Nemo before we knew it! She taught Ethan the importance of water safety, how to get out of the pool should he fall in, the basics of swimming and his favorite getting dive sticks! We were also able to attend our very first movie together as a family and see Toy Story 3! It was super cute and Ethan did great, I think he was a bit overwhelmed at the size of the movie screen but loved seeing his buzz and woody in action while enjoying popcorn and a slurpie. It was a busy and fun June and July didn't slow down much for us either, more on that later.

Smores

A couple of weeks ago it was so beautiful out that we barbecued and ate dinner outside - which if you know me you know that I am not that found of the great outdoors but something just compelled me:) Then after cleaning up we decided to finally break out the smores kit I had gotten years and years ago. It was so much fun and it was Ethan's first smore and he was in love with the huge piece of chocolate that he discovered as he picked the smore apart. I just love how Ethan dives into something, figures out everything that is in it (in case mommy is hiding something in it that he does not want like a vegetable - eww) and then starts with the best stuff first! It was a fun night and something we will be doing more this summer for sure:)

Go DBacks!

The other night we were able to go to the Diamondbacks game thanks to some extra tickets that some friends had. We always enjoy heading to a game, getting a hot dog and cheering on the Dbacks! Unfortunately we did not win but it was still a great game and Ethan was fun to watch as he cheered on his team and helped lead us in all the clapping! Thank you Galloway and Kane family for a wonderful night:)
Oh I almost forgot the best part: The Bobble Head or as Ethan calls it Mine Bobble! He carried his treasured bobble head all the way to the car and lovingly placed it on his dresser when we got home:)

Ethan's Guitar

If you know Ethan you know he loves music! It seems like he is always dancing to some beat, singing a song or playing music. Ethan started using some of his Geo-trac track as a pretend guitar and passing out other instruments to John and I to be apart of his band! So John had brought out his guitar for Ethan to check out but he got so into he actually cut a couple of his fingers on the guitar strings. So then we were on the hunt for a guitar for Ethan. Now most of the toy guitars we found were just not going to cut it because they are buttons that you push and not strings and we would show them to Ethan to check them out and ask him "is this your guitar or should we keep looking?" to which he would reply "no". So we went to Toys R Us and they had several kids ukuleles! So they have actual plastic strings so Ethan can't cut his fingers and the strings seem durable enough to take the rock stylings of Ethan!

Water Fun for an AZ kid

As the temperatures climb higher and higher towards the dreaded 100 degree mark we have been finding ways to play outside and still stay cool. Ethan and I went to the San Tan Mall which has a great outdoor play and splash pad area for kids, its nice and shaded and there is plenty of seating for parents. It took him a while to get into it but once some young ladies showed up Ethan of course got right in there to show off and have some fun!

We have also had some water fun in the backyard! I turned on the sprinklers one afternoon for Ethan but he was not the biggest fan of all the water getting in his eyes, so instead I put the hose on a rotating old style sprinkler and he was a bit happier with that. Mostly I was the one getting wet and having fun in the water while Ethan watched and refused to follow my lead (hence the lack of pictures of Ethan having fun in the pictures as I was the only one in the water). Then this past friday daddy came with us to a water jet area in Gilbert at Liberty Market. Its not shade covered like San Tan but I think the water jets are more fun, although they seemed to intimidate Ethan this year. Last summer I couldn't keep him out of them but this year he was a bit more cautious and it took Daddy to get him in but both boys had a great time!

Summer is off to a great start here! The weather has been nice so far and soon the pools will be warm enough for us to get in (I don't get in until its at least 80!).

Ethan Turns Two

WOW! Ethan is 2, we can not believe how fast time has flown by but we are loving each and every day (even as we enter those dreaded terrible two's!) This year Ethan's birthday landed on Easter so we had our big celebration the following Saturday. His birthday theme was "Choo Choo Look Who's Turning Two!" and it was completely appropriate as Ethan is really into trains these days. I of course always like to try and create him a unique cake (a little hobby of mine) and this years was really fun! The train engine was made with a Wilton cake pan and then I made some additional loaf cakes to make a coal car (with jelly beans for coal) and no train would be complete without its red caboose! The track was made with kit kat's and black licorice. It was really fun to make and turned out really cute, but most importantly Ethan loved it!

Ethan doing his "all aboard - choo choo!"

We had a wonderful time celebrating Ethan's birthday and the blessing he is in our lives :) Ethan really gets the whole present process now and was enjoying unwrapping all his new toys and gift and then giving people hugs and telling them thank you! He was however not a fan of the icing from his cake getting all over his hands.