Off schedule

So last summer we had some very organized days. With just about every hour accounted for with activities from the park to cleaning to free time. 

For our little clan that system worked out pretty awesome. Jocelyn always knew what was next and Cecily looked forward to some free play. 

This summer I have decided to go freerange on the kids and for the first week or two have no schedule outside of chores and meals. My plan is to get all the resistance out is their system until they are begging for more organized days. I think Jocelyn is about two more days from cracking. 

Bohemian Summer

So the winter in Colorado is amazing we totally love to see the snow falling and building our snow forts, but Colorado was created for the Summer time. Growing up in Arizona Summer time represents a very different experience. One of spending a lot of time indoors or spending the day in the pool. Whatever the activity was, sun burns and sweating was sure to be involved. In Colorado there is still sun, but its not trying to kill you or steal your soul.

This summertime we have themed it our Bohemian Summer. It will be a time of perception changes, looking at things for the first time, and spending our days like gypsies in the woods. We are also planning on spending time in local museums and other civic attractions.

I am also planning more than just play. I want to take this time to instill in our wee ones a sense of community. So we are going to be participating in several volunteer actives throughout the summer. We want to make sure our kids know that there is more to the world than their iPods and cartoons. We plan on using the next few months to build some great memories and experiences cause those are the things that will last.

Katie has started a Pintrest deal with a ton of awesome summertime activities the kids are beyond excited to try them out. We'll do our best to keep ya updated on what ones we tried out.
http://pinterest.com/katiediddesigns/summer-activities/

Jocelyn's Blog

If ya ever need a less guarded view of the family check out Jocelyn's Blog. 

http://jocelynatlarge.blogspot.com/

Hibernation is over

Well the snow has melted the grass is green and we are so excited to come out of our hibernation. Today marks the first day of summer and we are out soaking up the warm 72 degree day.

Our maidan park trip for the summer was to Lee Martinez. A park on the northside if town that was a playground ( not our favorite) but also has some breath taking trails and natural areas of cottonwood trees that surround the Poudre (poo- der, awesome right) River. 

So on this visit we found there squirrels, two, snakes, and a blue jay. The kids found several tree forts and a couple of secret streams. In a month or so the water will be warm enough to go swimming in. 

Birthdays and Bubbles

Another awesome busy week bites the dust. We were all over the place this week and I loved it. When we first moved up I had some crazy cold/ respiratory deal so I was not able to run for a couple of weeks. Now that I am feeling better I have been hitting the ol trials. This altitude deal has been a killer. It is taking a lot of work to get even close to the distance and pace I was running before, Ill get there though. I spoke in church on Sunday, that's always fun the two smallers almost let Kate sit and listen but they had others things to do. Alright enough about me on to the kids.

We have these amazing flowers popping up everywhere.

This last Sunday was also Finny's second birthday and she had a blast. She loves babies, she will carry them all over the place talking to them, feeding them, and putting them to bed. So for her birthday we got her a new baby and some playpens and other baby stuff. She almost had a panic attack trying to play with them all at once.

One Thursday last week we made out own board game. The kids decided on a cookie adventure where you are chased by angry dogs who try to eat you. Its basically a coked out version of Candyland, it was fun to design and a blast to play. A definitely redo activity.

Taking the bored out Board game

We had joined up with our libraries summer reading program and Jocelyn has read two or three books a week. She has all her stars filled in (that equals 5 hours of reading) and is waiting till next week when she can turn the paper in for a prize. It's been so awesome to see her really come into her own with reading.

Our exploration of Fort Collins parks brought us to The Gardens at Spring Canyon. Its a cool community style garden with a walk around park. There is a koi pond, fairy land, secret garden, and a Dr Seuss house. Its a little more low key then some of the other parks we visit but I found it relaxing and very uniquely designed.

Dr Suess house and the fairy garden

Joc finds her zen

How cool is this garden on the roof of the ramada?

Jocelyn found a book in some box that has 1001 paper plate crafts. So we bought a 100 pack of pap plates and made us some fishes. It was the simplest design the book had, I didn't want to get too carried away with the crafts.

Monday was Memorial day and to celebrate I took the three olders to the Lyric Cafe. Its a small hole in the wall hippie employing movie theater and cereal bar. It was way cool and in the morning they show free cartoons for a couple of hours. We were the only ones in there watching Tom and Jerry toons. It was really fun and a cool little theater. Also a repeat activity.

We spent the evening at our way cool pals the Jacksons. We did a bit o BBQ and playing with their rabbit. They have a bunch of older kids so Jocelyn felt a bit left out but Cec and Ash played with their 6 year old son Dylan, who is by the way the only thing Ash will talk about for the last week.

The kids and I loved the splash pad and river swimming of Fairground park last week that we scheduled it again We invited Dylan to come to and everyone had a blast. Joc told me that its fun to bring new people even though they are not her friends. Too true.. It was colder like 75- 80 degrees, but you got used to the water pretty quick. Despite the cooler weather the kids got braver and swam across the river this time. Ash tried to follow but got swept up in the current a bit so we walked across together.

Finny came and wiggled between them.

Finny came with us today and she did pretty good. The water was way too cold for her so she kept her distance from the river. She really loved the splash pad though. However there were about 100 kids there this time and so loud. It was hard at times to keep an eye on all five of the kids. Still a blast and we'll most likely be back next week.

Saturday we hit up one of our favorite parks Spring Canyon. It has a way cool play ground and a nifty little splash pad. But we didn't go there for the play stuff we were making giant bubbles. I found a DIY for a giant bubble maker and soap. It took a while to get the solution and technique right but once it came all together we were making some giant bubbles. At one time we has about 20 kids and 5 or so parents trying to chase down the 3 foot bubbles.

The kids have dubbed every Wednesday to be doughnut day. Some Wednesday we will go and buy a doughnut and some we will make them. This last Wednesday we made our own. Got a tube of biscuit dough fried them in some oil, rolled in sugar and made some magic. We also busted out the sidewalk chalk and went to town.

Well I am pretty sure that I covered this last weeks basics. Till next time.

From Asia to Horsetooth

So we are in the middle of week three of being back in Colorado and it is starting to feel like home. We still miss friends and family back in Arizona but we move on. Asher especially misses his best friend and cousin Johna. He is always talking about him and how tall Johna is, all the things he has taught him, and all the things that he is going to do with him when he comes for a visit. The girls are a little more settled and don't seem to miss too many of their old friends.

The planned daily activities are a miracle. So far we are on week two and despite a few departures from the schedule here and there we pretty much stay on track the whole day. The kids love knowing what activities are coming up and they never tell me they are bored.

Last Saturday the city had a very quaint Asian Festival at our local library. It was small and perfect. It was about the educational piece instead of some crazy kids in Anime customs. The kids got some face painting and loved it. 

We have started going to the library on a regular basis and all the kids signed up for the summer reading program. Cec is less excited about it than Joc but it should be fun. Every morning we do a couple pages of math or reading problems I found on a website we spend about ten min working on the sheets. Just enough time for them to want more but not enough for them to get overwhelmed. I just want them to remember how to sit and do some sort of school, not necessarily learn any new concepts, so we do a lot of review type work, even Ash and Finn get in on the learning.

Since the weather got warmer yesterday (it was nearly 90 degrees) we decided to go the the Fairgrounds park to play at the water park deal and the river that flows through the park. The water was still pretty cold so the kids really only got in the water above their knees if they fell in.

There was one point when we were under a bridge and I was teaching Joc how to skip rocks that I had an awesome dad moment that I was teaching my daughter to skip rocks. It was cool to imagine that I was living right then, in a moment, that my be a memory that she keeps with her though her life. It may even be one that she tells her kids about someday. So despite the fact that she sucked at skipping rocks it was a very profound moment for me.

The above bridge is where we got some family photos a couple of years ago

Fort Collins boasts some 50 parks and natural areas and we are really taking advantage of them. Most of the parks have traditional play ground fun on them but there are several that have a river or creek running through them. The creektastic parks are quickly becoming are favorites the below photos are from a Edora park, its surrounded by a trees and has a bunch of college kids playing frisby golf.

The kids found a family of ducks a little ways down the creek, that was a thrill

Since our new ward doesn't start till 2pm (not as bad as it sounds) we spend the time before church to writing letters. We write to my brother Andrew on his mission every week then we supplement every other weeks with cousins and friends from Arizona. So if you want on the pen pal list let us know or send up a letter.

Today was our Mt. Picnic day so we took the 25 min drive to Horsetooth Reservoir. It was an amazing drive into the lower foothills. It has been cloudy all day and the darker sky punctuated the mountains and caused the lake to looks very ominous. We even saw some deer on the way up. Kate took some time off and came with us but she misunderstood where we were      and only wore flip flops. She was a good sport and still when on a quick hike down to the water. It started to rain so our stay at the beach was cut short, but still a beautiful hike and some way cool memories.

You can barely see the deer down there in the middle

Up for next week: Finn's second birthday and I'm speaking in church. WeeHaa.

Mother of Summer

This last Sunday was Mothers day and we had so much fun. Anyone who knows Kate knows that she loves fancy foods and breakfast. So this year the kids and I made her some awesome stuffed french toast. We skipped the whole breakfast in bed cause it never works out the kids always end up spilling the food in our bed. The kids and I got Kate a couple of cool things to celebrate her. Kate has some vintagey Pyrex dishes and she has been looking to expand the collection for years. So we found a cool set of bowls from an Etsy seller.

We also got her a cool QR code art from another Etsy artisan  we put it in a nice frame. You need a scan app on your smart phone to read it. Go ahead and give it a try.

When Jocelyn was born Kate's mom brought us some lamb and potatoes so I thought we could recreate  that meal for this mothers day. So we crockpotted a leg of lamb, potatoes, onions, and rolls. We used the new bowls and it was a hit. There were so many left overs that we were able to make some lamb gyros a couple of days later. We also had a couple of great video chats with Moms and Nanas back in AZ. I know that its only been a couple of weeks but we missed our Moms and it was great to visit with them. Love you Moms!

 

Here's my hot wife and awesome kids.

So with the move interrupting the last couple of weeks school we started summer early this year. Until now I have let the kids run around  unattended I am pretty sure there was a day or two that a couple of the kids weren't dressed. So after the 100th "I am bored" "Whats to eat?" I figured it was time for a daily schedule. So I came up with a bunch of daily, weekly, and monthly activities. Then I had the kids plan out each day with a couple of actives per day. Then I made a daily schedule on a dry erase board so the kids can check off each activity. We are a couple of days in and it is working out perfectly. The kids love knowing whats happening and can be patient cause they know when the fun stuff is coming. Joc gets a little (really a lot) crazy when we get off schedule a bit but its great to teach her how to be organized but be flexible. We'll keep you updated about how its working out.

So today when we went to the library I met another stay at home Dad with his kids. It was fun to chat because I seem to be the only dude with 20 moms when I take the kids to public places lately. This guy felt the same way so we had plenty to chat about. He told me about a cool stay at home Dad site that has tons of ideas and resources for dads. They even have a national conference that sounds pretty interesting. 

So all in all the first two weeks back in the CO have been eventful, awesome, and just what we wanted.