First Family Golf of the Season

The weather had been absolutely gorgeous lately and we have been taking full advantage of it. We headed out to the golf course and let the kids run around a bit, play in the sand traps, and Rylee worked on her golf swing a bit. Rylee is getting pretty good about listening while we help her try to learn how to swing her club, and she probably makes contact 50% of the time. Nolan loved playing in the golf cart and finding every type of dirt on the golf course. His favorite part of the course was the sand trap and he had a heyday in it. For some reason he also liked hitting the golf ball against a tree, which is why Nolan does not get Pro V1's says Daddy. We are hoping for more of this weather, because we had a great time out at the golf course all together.

Welcome Spring!

Spring weather has finally arrived for us, and I could not pass up a chance to get out and go to the zoo. When we got there Nolan was sound asleep and Rylee wanted to go play at the playground, so we started there. We have never been to the playground at the zoo and it was really cute and Rylee had a blast. After the park Nolan woke up and we went to check on the animals. Sadly, our baby giraffe past away so I had to tell Rylee that "he went to a new zoo!" Luckily that was enough to satisfy her and we moved on to a new topic. The best part of the day were the tigers. The three baby tigers, that are not so little anymore, were right at the front of the cage splashing in their water. Rylee used to be scared of the tigers but today she went straight up front and just stared at them for over 10 minutes. We finished the day on the carousel and Nolan is still not a fan of it, but hopefully he will be by the end of the Summer.

Nolan taking a nap

Climbing the net

Down the snake slide

Laying in a turtle shell

Checking out the elephants

(Love Nolan on his tip toes)

Not wanting to stop looking

The tigers playing

The tiger coming to play with the ball

Up close and personal with the tigers

Excited to ride the carousel

Nolan excited, but the ride has not started

Not quite so excited anymore

Sitting on the big elephant that used to terrify us

Holding Nolan on the elephant

Fire Station

This morning Rylee's preschool went on a field trip to the fire station. I thought Nolan would really like it too, so he and I tagged along. When we first got to the fire station all the kids got plastic fireman helmet, and of course they were all super excited about their helmets. The kids watched a Sesame Street episode about fire safety and then they learned how to "stop, drop and roll!" After the video the kids got a tour of the fire truck and the ambulance. The fireman even pulled out the Jaws of Life and showed the kids. Many kids thought it was mean that they would cut someone's car in half, Rylee, however, thought "dat is funny." The fireman put on his entire uniform, including mask, and it freaked Rylee out, but Nolan thought it was really intriguing and walked right up to the fireman. The kids all seemed to have a good time and Rylee pointed out about 4 more firestations today while we were driving around.

Ready to go on the tour

Both classes in front of the fire station

Checking out the Jaw of Life

Cute little girl

My best attempt at a picture with Nolan wearing the helmet

Nolan going to see what the fireman was doing

Nolan sitting on the truck

Rylee smiling for me, she was very cooperative today!

Wii Boxing

Earlier tonight Rylee asked me if she could play the Wii and I told her we could play once Nolan was in bed. When I came downstairs from tucking Nolan in she had the remotes out and was sitting on the couch waiting to play. We played a few different games, but boxing was by far her best. She won every game she played and even knocked out a couple people. Not sure if this is a good thing to be teaching my 3 year old, but she sure loved it. She played about 6 games and then told me she needed a break because her arms were tired.

Punching

Very Focused

Had to stand up to really get into it

The knock out

The Amazing Tower

While Grandma Kathi was here she and Rylee played lots of blocks together. The first night she was here I had a wedding shower and when I walked in the door I saw this incredible tower the two of them had built. They had every single block on there and it collapsed about two seconds after this picture was taken. It sure was fun having Grandma here for a few days and we miss her already.

Nolan's Weekend

Nolan spent the weekend in Temecula with me at a soccer tournament. I am biased because Nolan is my own son, but I honestly do not think there is a better baby out there when it comes to being in new places and being passed from person to person. This weekend was a bit different because I only had one set of parents and myself to take care of all 18 girls at the tournament, so I was very busy. Between getting the girls ready for games, feeding them, taking some to the urgent care, and coaching games Nolan was as happy as could be. During the games he would sit in his stroller and watch the games, or sit on one of my injured players laps, and at two of the games he even fell asleep in Valerie's (aka Grammy's) arms. On Friday afternoon I had to take two players to the Urgent Care and we were there for over 4 hours and I did not get home until after 9:30, but Nolan didn't care. He let the girls take care of him and Grammy put him to bed, and the next morning he was just as happy as normal. It would sure be a lot harder to do my job if he was not so cooperative and did not have so many people that loved him!

Exploring the Hotel

Sitting with the girls on the plane,

staring out the window

Rylee's Fun Weekend

Nolan and I headed to Southern California for another soccer tournament this weekend and Rylee stayed home with babysitters and Daddy. She got to go to the movies and see "How To Train A Dragon," she got lots of new things, and she got to play and play with lots of fun people. On Thursday afternoon she played with the Campbell's. She got to go watch Jensen's soccer game and play at the park. On Friday she spent the entire day with one of the parents on my soccer team and I am pretty sure she got spoiled rotten that day. On Saturday she went with Caity to the movies and shopping, and Caity officially wore her out! Caity even got Rylee her first pair of Vans!
She spent the evenings, Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday with Daddy. From everything I have seen and heard the two of them had an absolute blast. Every night for bed they would watch the Masters and Rye would fall asleep in Daddy's arms watching the golf tournament. They went shopping together and Rylee got a Chelsea Uniform (my favorite English Premier League Team) and an Elmo Golf Head Cover. The two of them also spent some fun time practicing writing letters and playing at the park.
It is so nice to have great friends and a great Dad for my kids. I never once worried about her while I was away and not only was she safe, but she was being taken care of better than anyone could ask for.

**All weekend I kept getting picture messages of all the fun things Rylee was doing, and I have to share the pics because they are adorable.

Worn out from day with Caity

Her new Chelsea Uniform

Practicing her name

Having pancakes with Daddy

Fun at the park

New golf club head cover

The End of A Fun Day

As a parent you always know it has been a fun, busy day when your child passes out on the couch at 6:30p. Such a sweet girl.

Easter Egg Hunt

We had a little bit different Easter Egg Hunt this year, because of company and naps we ended up doing an evening hunt. The Easter Bunny stopped back by to hide a few eggs for the kids while they were taking a bath. While we still have way too much candy, the Easter Bunny did mix in a few dollar bills and change in some eggs instead of candy, it was a big hit. I was not sure how Nolan was going to do with the hunt, but with a little help from Caity he did great, probably better than Rylee did. Rylee was way to excited to see what was in each egg, then she was to go get more eggs. She also wanted to eat candy along the way, instead of just getting as many eggs as she could. After we gathered all of the eggs we put all the candy in a big bowl together and then went and put the money they collected in their piggy banks, I think this was both of their favorite parts.

Easter Baskets

The kids were so excited, to get their Easter Baskets. We woke up and their baskets were downstairs waiting for them, so they quickly headed downstairs together. Rylee was so sweet because she was more excited to help Nolan see what was in his basket than she was to see what she got. Eventually she did go look at her basket, and both kids loved their presents. Both kids got new swim suits, sun glasses, a stuffed animal, a shirt, and a toy. Nolan's toy was a bubble lawn mower, and Rylee's toy was a new Leapster Game. Nolan thought his Buzz Lightyear Sunglasses were really fun for about one minute and then he would laugh and take them off, but we will keep working with him. Rylee got a new pair of Tinkerbell glasses because her other ones went missing after our last road trip to Las Vegas. Nolan's swim suit was a pair of boy's board shorts and a rash gaurd, and Rylee's was of course a Tinkerbell one with a cute cover up to go along with it. To finish off each basket was a chocolate bunny that Rylee was the most excited about.

Rylee's Basket

Nolan's Basket

Rylee's New Game

Nolan's Sunglasses

Rylee showing Nolan his candy bunny

Rylee's bunny

Nolan's Bubble Mower

Rylee's presents

Nolan's Presents