Little swimmers

Kyle & Emily have been taking a few swim lessons this fall over at the gym. After the third lesson (and lessons for several weeks this summer), things are really starting to click for them.  So after this lesson, they decided that they could tread water.  So we went on an adventure to the deep end where they treaded water the entire way there and back!  It was really quite impressive!  So before we all got out, I took this little video of them treading across the shallow end to show off their new skills. 

Cubbie fun

The Cubs are in town!  As Cubs fans, we had to go to the Cubs game!  Nevermind they were in no danger of making the off-season or that the Padres could, we just wanted to see the Cubs!  But first a snack stop!

Kyle & Emily LOVE the sandy area seats!  And even more fun is digging with your friends!  Claudia & Sophie came with for some fun the first night.  It's really cute seeing Kyle play with Claudia - she's 8 - as he hangs on her every word.

And the next night, their friend Carter came with us to the game.  They all had a great time running around and playing in the sand which was quite a mess after some rain.  Emily was especially happy playing with Carter because he liked the necklace she was wearing. And the Cubs won with a run scored in the top of the 9th!  As it later turned out a few days and games later, the Padres could have had a chance at the off-season if they had held on and won this game.  Go Cubs!!

Monkeys

As you well know, Kyle and Emily really like monkeys.  In fact, Kyle often says he wants to be a monkey when he grows up.  He truly loves monkeys. When we were in Dominican Republic this past winter for Karen & Pete's wedding, Kyle and Emily were so excited to see, touch, and hold a real live monkey!  This little monkey's name is Gaby and I believe she is a squirrel monkey.  She was light as a feather.  I think they said she was only a pound or two.  Needless to say, she was a sweet little monkey and Kyle and Emily were thrilled to hold her. 

Howdy partner

After a fun dinner in Old Town with Jacki, we went through some of the shops. I love these Indiana Jones pictures of Kyle and Emily!

The Moser

Kyle is really interested in numbers. One day, he asked us what is the biggest number. We know infinity is the largest infinite number, but turned to Google to show him how we can look things up. And there we learned some large finite numbers: Googolplex (or as Kyle says, googleflex), then Graham's number. And the other night at dinner, Kyle asked which was bigger - a Googleflex or Graham's number - when we discovered another, larger number, the Moser. And we've helped to clarify that infinity is larger, but it's not a finite number.  And here he is 'counting'.  I unfortunately stopped the video too soon because when he was done, he declared, "I'm really good at counting.  And I am a monkey."  Of course!

Day at the beach

Jacki came to visit this weekend and we had a great time with her!  It was crazy hot out so we hit the beach one morning.  It was quite the morning for the beach as we were treated to a glimpse of dolphin training.  We don't know if it was Sea World, the Navy or someone else, but it was pretty neat to see!  Not very often that you go to the beach and see such a show!

More pictures from our Jacki weekend

A few more pictures from our weekend with Jacki.

We went to Michael's because they were doing an American Girl craft.  So Emily took I Love Crystal, her American Girl doll there to make her a birthday cake.  

Making silly faces into the mixing bowl

Hugs goodnight for Jacki

Hair dressers

How this reminded me of my childhood... Kristin, Karen, Tommy, Kimmy and I would put curlers in my dad's hair for beauty shop and play with his toes like we were doing his toes, but his toes were army men and we'd take them out for ice cream. This weekend, Kyle and Emily played beauty shop with my hair while we enjoyed the Bears game. Go Bears! (Who WON(!!) against Dallas). Emily very intently brushed my hair, which felt wonderful, except when she pulled it. Kyle joined in on the fun and even let me purr on Miko while he did some brushing. What a way to watch a Bears game!

Jeff's triathlon

This weekend Jeff did the triathlon in our neighborhood. About 2 weeks prior he learned that he didn't actually sign up for the sprint distance, but rather the Olympic distance, the only distance they were offering this year. He did GREAT!! And he arrived home from a business trip the evening before at 10:30pm and the kids hadn't seen him since Monday. The kids and I went to watch and cheer him on the next morning.

Jeff coming out of the water from a 1500m swim.

Jeff about to leave on his 26 mile bike ride. Uphill twice. Really uphill.

And he's off...

On his way back in.

Now time to run 6.2 miles. Kyle really wanted to run with him. And Emily too. Jeff obliged. So they ran some short distances with him and LOVED it. The evening before the race, Kyle told me how he really, really, really wanted to do the race with Daddy. Look out triathlons, Kyle can't wait to race!

Clean plates

This was a pretty momentous event! Kyle and Emily both cleared their plates tonight! Now they aren't really expected to clear their plates, but there are some meals they just love and tonight happened to be a new one and a big hit for them both! We had green lentils with rice. In the lentils, I also included onions, carrots, tomatoes, freshly ground cumin & coriander, and a dash of cinnamon. To top it, there was a tiny bit of butter, feta and cilantro. And they gobbled it all up! They were both pretty impressed with themselves.

Miko plays piano

Kyle sure does love his Miko. He goes everywhere with him and even plays the same games he plays. This morning, Kyle & Emily were having a concert in my room. And Miko was playing the piano with Kyle.

Sleeping monkeys

These pajamas were too cute to pass up for my little monkeys. They were both so excited to wear them after they finally made it through the wash (which is actually just one day in our house since I'm of the load-a-night school).

You think he likes monkeys?!

Sleeping monkeys