Something New

Artists spent quality time together this afternoon.

Our day was quite full, and my camera didn't always go along.  But he was waiting for me when I brought Cafe Rio home for dinner.

We had a new outing planned for this evening. While gathering in the mudroom, Julia found a plate her dad had painted.  It was a pretty funny moment.

We spied the rec center from Pioneer Village last week.  Nate really wanted to go.  The center has a rock wall.

This is work!

The rec center has huge slides. This is Julia making a splash.

Nate is moving way faster than this picture indicates.

Which explains the splash.

Julia especially liked the lazy river which pushes people around in circles.  She called it the ruffle.

I have to say that I felt quite sheepish that I had never taken anyone to swim here before.

I have voted in this building, but I've never gone farther inside.

I don't exactly want to give a commercial for the rec center, but this was a lot of fun.

We spent all our time inside.  There are more slides outside.

We were doing just fine.

If you are wondering where Julia is, um, so were we.

Jacob worked hard at the rock wall.

I worked hard with my camera.

I might get Nate to start lifting weights so he can pull himself up.

I will say that the water made this quite tricky.

As the evening went on, the line for the slides got shorter and shorter.  This is Melanie's splash.

This is Jacob's.

Everyone had fun.

Nate preferred the blue slide.

Julia liked the green one.

I asked Nate if he was having fun.

Definitely.

My camera jumped into fine form while at a red light near my house.  What a fun outing!

I Want To Live Here Forever!

Ben anxiously engaged with my perler beads this morning.  I spent extra time with him because today was his last day here.

All of us went on a walk before breakfast.  

I did my best to keep up with the kids on scooters.

These three waited for me at the bridge.

I love the bridge.  It's a wonderful place to take pictures.

Today was Bradley's last day with us, also, but he was most interested in spending quality time with Nate.

I am not certain that everyone loves it when I ask them to stop and smile for me.

When Ben is smiling at the camera, he's also saying, "Cheeeeeese."

But he normally doesn't smile at the camera.  He normally doesn't stop, either.

Bradley had never been to the creepy bridge before.

We go under, up and across, and sometimes, yes, I put down my camera and grab kids.

Nate asked if he could have Sprite with his breakfast.  His mother said yes.

A small miscommunication with the guy behind the counter allowed Bradley to have Sprite, also.  He was very pleased.

Most of the kids ordered French toast.  Don't ask me how I know it's delicious.

I can't believe I took this picture, but it's mine.  I'm also the one who spilled Julia's syrup on her plate.

This is the only thing I have ever ordered for breakfast at Kneaders.

On the way back, Dave took Bradley and Nate to the other side of the river.

Don't worry about us throwing rocks at each other.  The river is too wide for that.

But we definitely threw rocks.

This is not a quiet place to be, but it's still easy to hear the rocks clunk.

Sometimes I get carried away taking pictures of kids throwing rocks.

Maybe just a little.

I'm actually taking pictures of us having fun.

Pretty soon Dave took the boys back around and we headed home.

Bradley walked with Nate, and Dave rode with Ben.

It was pretty cute.

My camera always looks for beautiful sights.  This one was in my front garden.

After Ben's departure, I took three kids to the tramp place.

They all like dodgeball.

It's hard to get good pictures when they are in the dodgeball pit, but I keep trying because they spend so much time there.

Julia likes variety in her tramping spots.  It's easy to get good pictures of her jumping.

Bradley did some flips for me.

He's a natural athlete.

Many grandchildren have tried to walk on this narrow strip.

I've seen many attempts, but I've actually never seen anyone walk on it before.

However, an older boy could walk almost the whole twenty feet.

Nate and Julia watched him and then did what he did.

They went farther than any of my other grandkids have gone.

And my camera got some fun pictures, too.  Word to the wise:  Move fast.

Another word to the wise:  Don't play dodgeball with Bradley.

Late in the day, Dave and I took two kids to the pool.

To my surprise, I took more pictures of Dave than either of the kids.

He was king of the pool.

Word to the wise:

Get out of the way of the engineer with the guns.

The evening was beautiful, and my camera and I had a great time.

We got home to the smells and sounds of people finding dinner in the fridge.  This wasn't my meal, but it was someone's.  She had milk with it, so I think that made it ok.