There's a first time for everything...

As the weather has been milder (yeah right - as if 92 was mild!!) we've been venturing outstide a bit more. Actually, because we've had some rain clouds moving in, the breeze blowing through has made it seem like it's cooler :-) Anyhow, Kevin and I have been taking advantage of the weather and trying to get out more with Kaeden. After Lake Las Vegas this weekend we headed over to the park, trying out Kaeden on the swings. I actually took video then went back to grab some stills, cuz the looks on his face are priceless!!

We also had his 9 month check up today - no surprise Kaeden's in the 90th percentile for everything, height, weight and head. He's healthy as can be, and the doc says to feed him more babyfood and less formula and water at night so maybe he'll sleep through the night already (fingers crossed). So today, after the park, instead of his lunchtime bottle I grabbed the carrots instead.

Typically I've been very proud of the fact that Kaeden is a clean eater. He gets food around his mouth, sure, but otherwise I've rarely had to wipe down the high chair - until today. He's been trying to suck his thumb mid-bite the last couple days, and today was no exception. Only this time, he successfully got a mouthful of thumb and carrot, and it went all downhill from there!!

Holy Hotness Batman!!

I'm sure it's been more than unusually hot for everyone, but in Vegas that means triple digits - and we've had over 100 days for the past two weeks. It's 100 by 8 am and stays that way until close to 10 or 11 at night. Rough! We've been holed up in the house during this mega-heat wave, until today. It actually clouded over and rained a little! Not much, but the cloud cover offered us a brief respite from the 110 degree day it was (dropped down to 104) so Kevin and I packed Kaeden up and went for a drive. We drove down to Lake Las Vegas, a man-made lake with resorts being built all around it. With the breeze blowing it wasn't so bad walking around, looking at all the people swimming and on private beaches, the golf course and the resort grounds. We stopped for a bit to sit in the grass - which was Kaeden's first time in grass!

Crazy, he's 9 months and has yet to be in grass, but true. Whenever we go by the park it's at night on our walk, and he's usually asleep in the stroller by the time we get there. So, we sat down and let him walk in the grass...and he immediately picked up all his limbs, refusing to put them down on the pokey stuff! He had a look of complete disgust on his face. We laughed and laughed, tried to sit him down and he'd just look at you like you're torturing him. When we had him walk (holding a finger) he picked his feet up so fast, he barely touched the ground! To his credit, I even thought the grass was rather pokey, but it was so great to lay down on it and have a cool back and smelled wonderful. Kevin and I decided we miss not only the green but the ability to just sit down in it for awhile.

We left Lake Las Vegas and headed up to the Temple. I've not been there since we moved so Kevin (ever thoughtful guy he is) took us there. Not much grounds to just walk around on, so we drove through the parking lot and then took a pic. By then we were all hungry and Kaeden's cheeks were thoroughly red and hot, his hair all wet and curly, so we called it a day and headed home. But boy, was it great to get outside for a little while!

Shark Reef Adventure

My good friend Anne-Marie and her family moved to Las Vegas almost a year ago, and yesterday we were able to get together to go see the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay! I love the Shark Reef for two reasons: 1) for a small aquarium it's got some great attractions, like the sharks and 2) because I'm a teacher me and a guest get in for free! So we didn't have to pay a thing to go see it - and we had a great afternoon! I had so much fun being with Mason and Brooklyn (Anne-Marie's kids) cuz it showed me where I'll be in a few years with my own kids, and I love being able to walk around and listen to them call for Nemo and see how fascinated they are by all the big fish. Brooklyn was a pro with the self-tour wand. She would ask what number the tank was and then punch it in and listen to the man talk about those fish. It was hilarious to see her walking around with that wand to her ear!

Kaeden didn't want to stay in his stroller, he wanted to watch all the fish too, so I carried him most of the time and he just looked and looked. He particularly liked the tunnel where the fish swam all the way around him. He laughed and talked a lot in there. At the end is a fake shipwreck with plexiglas in the holes of the hull, and people get to stand and watch all the super huge sharks and turtle and sting rays swim by. I had Kaeden lean against the plexiglass, but he didn't like it much, couldn't see what he was leaning on.

The Shark Reef is a great way to kill an hour, or an afternoon in our case, and I think everyone had a great time, I know I did! Kaeden was ravenous when we got to the car and downed a bottle and a half, then crashed for 3 hours, so I know he had a good time!! I'm so glad I got to go with such great friends!

Fireworks and Visitors

Oh how I love the 4th of July!! It has got to be one of my favorite holidays of the year, and it officially marks my 1 year anniversary for blogging! This was the first event I talked about, mostly cuz I was pregnant. This year I was particularly excited cuz my baby was outside the womb and we were going to have a barbeque with some friends of ours in the neighborhood. We had food and festivities all planned, and then the plans fell through. I have to admit, I was really bummed. I was determined to still have a good time with just my little portion of the bbq food and my little family, but my heart hurt a little.

Then, low and behold, my Marine brother Tieg comes knocking on my door! He was in town for the weekend and stopped by! Totally changed my day and made it the best! We took Tieg's new truck to grab a bite for lunch, had fun talking and playing with Kaeden and watching movies.

As dusk fell I pulled out my bbq fixings - hot dogs and pasta salad and sugar cookies with flags in the middle. I don't have a grill so I seared the dogs in a frying pan but the boys ate them just the same! Then we grabbed our traditional root beer and bag of cherries and headed outside for some fireworks!! That's my favorite part of the evening. From sparklers to fountains to big bangs, it's such a colorful night.

Tok loved jumping at the lights at first, then he got a little scorched and watched from behind us. Kaeden skipped his afternoon nap and so was pretty worn out by night's end, but watched all the lights as long as he could. Didn't care for the screaming sounds as much, but we all had such a good time! (Note: there is music with the video below, so if you'd like the maximum effect, turn off the blog music to hear! And watch for Tieg's dancing in the middle-makes me laugh every time!)

Happy 'Da Da Da Da' Day!!

Hooray for dads! We had a fun day playing with our newest dad, Kevin! Candy from church, orange julius with lunch (free today!) and playing at the park. Thanks for all you do for us Dad!!

And special wishes from your very talkative son... :-)

Marine Corps Visitor

As many of you know, both my brothers are in the military. Taury is in the Army, training in Texas. Tieg is in the Marines, and just returned from his first tour in Iraq. He was given leave for a few weeks and returned to Montana. While there he bought a new truck and so he drove back to 29 Palms instead of flying. Las Vegas just happens to be on the way, so he stopped by for the night and to see us all. I was so excited!! Tieg is such a great, funny kid, and I hadn't seen him in almost a year! He joined us at PF Changs for our anniversary dinner, and then we all played with Kaeden at the house. Tieg couldn't believe how big Kaeden is (no one ever can! he's the biggest baby on the block!) and Kaeden instantly took to Tieg. I am so glad he stopped by..I love you bro!

5 Years!!

Happy Anniversary!! It's been 5 years since Kevin and I said "I do." Couple a pics to bring back the memories for those of you who were there...and if not, here's us 5 years ago!