Gymnastics

When dance ended in June Lauren decided she wanted to do Gymnastics...and she loves it....and she is really good.  I think this will be something she sticks with for a while.  She loves to run on the trampoline, the bars are her favorite, and she is getting really good at the balance beam.  Last week was the last session for summer so parents were able to come in and take pictures, and the kids got a medal at the end. 

Can you see the muscles in her arms? 

This is not as easy as is looks...go ahead...try it at home...I did and I was no where close to where Lauren is.  She was the only one in her class that could do this!  Way to go Lauren! 

Jumping up on the vault. 

I snuck in a few pictures several weeks ago.  This girl is amazing on the bars! 

Lauren adores her teacher, Ms. Allie. 

Standing proud with her medal.  Gymnastics will start up again in a few weeks.  We are going to move Lauren up to the next class since she did so good this summer.  We can't wait to see her excitement each week when we go to gymnastics.  It is really a lot of fun. 

Cute Summer Pictures

Say cheese!

Mark scaring the girls!

Looking through the Disney autograph book.  They love those books. 

Wordless Wednesday

Zoe is 7

Zoe is our wonderful golden retriever.  She is such a great dog!  We got her a few months after we were married, so really she was our first!  She gets a little neglected at times, yelled at a lot by me, crawled on and stepped on, but gets tons of attention from Mark and the girls.  We all adore this dog. 

Each year for her birthday she gets new tennis balls for playing catch in the back yard.  She gets a bone filled with peanut butter, which she will chew on and lick for hours (so much we have to take it away and make her rest when her gums start bleeding!) and a stuffed toy to chew on and rip apart within hours.  We learned early on to quit buying the stuffed toys because they were ripped apart and stuffing was all over the house literally within hours. 

Both girls got her a monkey for her birthday.  Lauren got her the blue and yellow one here.  One week later she still has it. 

Addison got her this monkey.  If you look real close you can see the white stuffing on the carpet and Zoe pulling out more.  That monkey only lasted a few days. 

We call Zoe our big screen TV as we have spent a fortune on her and her allergies and constant itching and licking of her paws.  She is now on allergy shots that she gets twice a month.  I think they are finally starting to work (8 months later.)  Maybe now we can get her off the antihistamine and steroid she takes each day! 

Happy Birthday Zoe!!

Susan G. Komen Run

Race for the Cure

by

Mark

On Sunday, Ashley raced in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure race.  While I told her many times how proud I am of her, I don't think she realizes exactly how proud I really am.   See, my wife is not a runner.  She never really has been.  But this race was important to her.  She has several family members that have endured breast cancer, and wanted to run in support of them.  Over the last several weeks, Ashley has shown a dedication that has been an inspiration to me.  Many times over the last 8 weeks, Ashley has woke up at 5am and ran in the morning.  She woke up that early for two reasons:  1) It has been blazing hot this summer and 2) She didn't want to miss time with her family after work. 

Ashley, know this...you have made me, your girls, and I am sure your whole family so proud of you.

Enjoy the pictures below.

These are the names of the women in Ashley's family that have endured breast cancer. 

Run, Ashley, Run

Ashley ran with her friend Mandy

Lauren and I made signs to cheer Ashley on.  Addison had more important things to worry about.

Little Addison just chillin'

While I went and got the car (we had to park a country mile away), Ashley and the girls went and played in the fountains at Crowne Center.

Staycation Day 2- The Afternoon

Mark found a great bookstore, The Reading Reptile, in Brookside that we hit Saturday afternoon after Deana Rose.  It is just for kids and it was a great place to hang out for about an hour.  The was a play area as soon as we walked in that the girls played in for a while.  Addison spent most of her time there, while Lauren and I searched for a book. 

After the book store we hit Baskin Robbins, which was just a few doors down.  It tasted so good on the hot day.  Lauren loves to snack on popcorn, so that is what she got.  Addison loved the cotton candy icecream. 

After the book store and ice cream we decided to head home.  Lauren was really tired, but just could not fall asleep in the car.  We were going to go out to the Legends to shop and go out to dinner, but we decided it as just too hot.  So we headed home, Lauren took a late nap, and then we headed to I-Hop for dinner.  Mark and I decided breakfast for dinner sounded awesome.  Little did we know that kids eat free from 4-10 PM so dinner was cheap and yummy!

Staycation Day 2-- Deana Rose Farm

Saturday morning we headed out to Deana Rose Farmstead.  Since it is such a long drive we really don't get there all that often.  We were there for almost 3 hours and it was HOT!!!

The girls loved feeding the baby goats.  The bigger goats were a little to aggressive for the girls so they just stuck to the baby goats.  We also saw the new turkey coop and a couple pigs covered in mud!

This was the first time we went fishing and we loved it.  Mark said this was his favorite part.  Lauren and Mark caught a few fish and both girls loved it! 

If you look closely you can see the fish, Lauren is looking at it! 

Addison wanted to touch the fish too.  No fear in this girl! 

Lauren was a little freaked out by Daddy swinging the fish around.  Poor Addison got squished!  I don't think it even phased her. 

Lauren was very cooperative and I got some great pictures of her around Deana Rose.  It is a great place to take pictures of the girls. 

To save a few dollars we packed a lunch and ate in the back of the 4-runner.  The girls thought that was the coolest thing ever!  After lunch we were going to head back in for some more fun, but it was so hot we decided to head to our next destination.  Brookside, to hit The Reading Reptile (a book store) and Baskin Robbins for snack!  Nap time...

Staycation Day 1-- The Afternoon

Our plan for the girls to take naps in the car worked great for Addison.  She was asleep instantly.  Lauren just can't get comfortable any more and hardly ever falls asleep in the car.  But, for the rest of the day she did fine.  We put her to bed early and she was up early the next morning ready for another fun day. 

In the afternoon, we headed down to Union Station to see the Dinosaur exhibit.  It was a little pricey, but I guess it was worth the money.  The dinosaurs were life like, huge, moved, and made noises.  Those things combined scared Lauren and Addison a little but, but we were still able to enjoy the exhibit. 

It only took about an hour to go through the whole exhibit, so we decided to hit Science City as well.  Tickets were only $5 since we had already purchased tickets to the dinosaur exhibit.  I am so glad we went.  The girls loved it! 

She is growing so fast and quickly becoming a young lady and not my little girl.  She just looks do grown up in this picture. 

And this one...is the cutest thing ever.  Don't you just love that smile and those gorgeous eyes?  Even though she is only 22 months old she was still able to find many things to do at Science City that kept her busy. 

We were planning on going out to dinner as well, but we were wiped out.  So on the way home we stopped and grabbed a pizza.  Addison fell asleep again, but Lauren never did.  Day 1 of our staycation was a blast.  More to come tomorrow...