Swim Lessons

I signed Harper up for a one week session of swim lessons. 

Since Memorial weekend, she's been out on the boat & been in the pool having a blast.

She jumps in with out any fear, not afraid to go under.

I figured swim lessons would be right up her alley

Day 1

Yep, real tears!  The lesson was 40 minutes long, she cried about 35 minutes of it.

She was not a happy camper.

She was having an "off" day.  Completely out of character.

Day 2

Completely different kid...jumping in with the teacher showing no fear.

The mama in me thinks she was the best "jumper" of the bunch.



Day 2 was much better...

Day 3



She's getting more

comfortable with the teacher.

Day 4....trusting the teacher a little bit more.

Day 5

She's happy so far...

Short lived- she had major separation issues on Day 5.  She would NOT get near the teacher with out Neil or I holding her in the water.

Ahhh...daddy always makes it better!

Harper ended up missing the last 3 days of the swim session. She got sick with a fever & runny nose. 

Overall, she did great in swim class.  By day 5, we had her swimming underwater from Neil to me.  The funny part, she didn't close her mouth underwater because she had a smile glued to her face.

She had a blast as long as one of us was in the water with her.

Happy Birthday America!

We had a very lazy (much needed) holiday weekend.

We chilled out, hung at the pool & grilled with friends.

Can you believe this is the same dress? 

Harper's first day as a U.S citizen.

She's grown so much since September!

Harper was a little afraid of the loud fireworks, but overall had a good time.

Next year she'll have more fun.

I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe 4th of July!

Baby Kinzley

While on vacation, our family welcomed another new baby into the family.

Kinzley Page was born on Friday, June 15 weighing 7lbs & ???oz.

Congratulations to Kevin, Manda & Kolton!

Harper loves her new cousin. 

Big Brother Kolton is ecstatic about his new baby! 



Vacation

A few weeks ago, we took our annual family vacation & went to my parent's lake house. 

We had about 25 or so people staying in one house & had more people at another house!  Needless to say, we had a LOT of togetherness.

I didn't take as many photos as I thought. With that many people, it was chaotic & noisy day & night!

The girls in the car. Bria sharing her Ipod with Harper.

Sisterly Love

Day 3- annual trip to SDC 

Bria & Harper on the froggies.

Eliot, Konner & Kaya

Ava, Lily, Kaya & Harper. 

So glad the "big" kids didn't think they were too cool to go on the froggies. 

Ava & Julian

Harper, Ava & Tori

Mom & Dad...they make this happen every year!

Lake time

Jayden, Julian & Ava hanging out on the boat dock.

Since the water is so high, we had to take a paddle boat to the dock.  The kids waited ever so patiently for their turn.

Eliot, Glenn & Susan

Ian & Eliot

This was the last day...

Thanks Dad & Mom for making this a memorable trip (again!).  The kids LOVE spending time with their cousins.  We all had a great time & look forward to next year!



Random Cuteness

Photos taken by Katie in April.

Enjoy.....

13 years ago....

Do you remember what you were doing 13 years ago? Most people won't remember.  I surely remember....Summer 1998.

I was still in school & moved to Columbia, MO for the summer to do a clinical rotation.  A classmate & I moved from Southern Illinois with our belongings, as much as our cars could fit, & moved here for the summer.  Neither one of us had ever visited Columbia before. We planned to stay in a furnished apartment.  We moved into an apartment complex & quickly discovered it was roach infested! We tried moving to another apartment within the building but again, more roaches.

We didn't know what to do, so we moved to a hotel for about a week until we figured something out.  We met a ton of people at the hospital & a guy we worked with offered his apartment to us.

He had an extra bedroom we could rent from him.  We had no other options, so we moved in. 

BUT, that's not what I remember most about the Summer of 1998

CICADA INVASION!!!!

Cute little creatures, right?

They were everywhere! You couldn't walk 2 feet without being hit by their hard, crunchy body. Dead cicadas covered the sidewalks. Dead cicada guts on your windshield.  

At the time, I didn't realize it was a cicada invasion. I remember thinking I'm never coming back to this town.

Thirteen years, later, here I am, living in Columbia. It never crossed my mind that I would begin my career & my adult life here in Mid Missouri.

They're back....

After 13 years of hibernating, they've emerged and they're loud...they can be as loud as 100 dB (like a rock concert)!

Cicadas come up from the ground every 13 years and flock to the trees. They're known for being noisy making their mating sound. When the eggs hatch the baby cicadas crawl back underground to hibernate for another 13 years.

The cicadas do not sting or bite and the season peaks in Mid-June. One expert claims that in heavily wooded areas there may be more than a million cicadas per acre.

There's no way to avoid these bugs, they're everywhere.  It's the talk of the town right now.

Especially this story....

Check it out

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20070101-10391704.html

Unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky taste testers. 

Memorial Weekend

We went to my parent's lake house over the holiday weekend.

Our car ride took about 4 hours, which was the longest Harper has ever traveled by car (that we know of).  We left Friday evening, thinking she'd sleep for most of the trip...wrong.  She was not a good traveler at all!

 We were about 10 minutes from the lake house & she kept crying saying her "body hurts" & then.... she barfed.   You see, I don't do puke very well, I gag also.  I was worried how I was gonna handle it. Suprisingly, I remained calm.

Luckily, (or not so lucky) Bria was in the back, next to her & got a towel quickly.

We pulled over,  cleaned her up, calmed her down & got back on the road.  I don't think she was car sick. I think she worked herself up by crying that she swallowed alot of saliva.

We finally made it & Harper LOVED Grandpa's boat!

She didn't whine about the lifejacket, sunblock or hat.

The water is so high right now, there were certain parts of the bridge that the boat couldn't go under.

Being the responsible parent's that we are, we let the big kids jump from the bridge.

Yes, that's their responsible Uncle G assisting them.

We also let them hang from the bridge.

Splash!

The girls would go up & down the ladder from the dock.  Harper had absolutely no fear being on the boat dock.  She joined the crowd & got in the water with no hesitation. 

You'd think she'd done this a million times before.

BTW, the water was freezing!

Chillin...

The boys were so excited to find this turtle.  They released him shortly afterwards.  

Bria & Jazz

Big girls tubing

Yep, that's right, the 2 year olds tubing also!  I can't believe Harper & Tori went tubing.  They loved it.

 Bria, Ava & Julian

Harper driving PaPa's boat

The littles weren't too concerned about taking a golf cart ride, they were happy just sitting on it "pretending" to drive.

Harper & Tori

Harper was wiped out on the way home from a wonderful weekend.

She did much better on the way home & didn't barf.

We were excited to share these moments & create memories with her.

It's amazing how easily she transitioned into our family & fits right in.

We knew she'd love it & look forward to our next trip!

We get to go back next week to PaPa's lake house for an entire week. She'll meet a few more cousins that she's never met & finally meet Aunt Susan & Uncle Glenn!