May Fun

I've gotten a little behind in posting lately. It seems time keeps getting away from me so I thought I'd make one post about some fun things we've done so far this month.

One of my friends from Missouri travels with the Supercross and builds the tracks. For the last two years he's come to Salt Lake and got us tickets to the race. This is the second year we've taken Colby. This year it was extremely cold, rainy and even snowed some. We were hoping for better weather so we didn't bring the proper rain gear and got soaked. Chris and I were ready to go within an hour but Colby was a trooper and didn't say anything about being cold or wet until almost the end of the race. We were waiting for him to get cold and say he wanted to leave until then we were going to tough it out for him. Finally, when there were only two races left he couldn't take it any more and asked to leave. We promptly headed to the Trax train and by the time we got on the train my feet were so cold I couldn't feel them anymore. So I would have to say since Colby loved it so much we will be going every year.
On our way to the race via Trax.

At the end of April Colby started soccer and so far he's doing great! We took a half year off and so far it has worked out for the best. This summer he's going to try T-ball.


Last week Colby had to do a report on a farm animal and he chose the dairy cow. He had to recite three facts about the cow and also create a farm scene. Here is what he came up with, with some help from dad on building the barn. When he got home he was so excited because he was the only one in his class that got an "ooohhh".


Yesterday at Grandpa and Grandma's house the boys made good use of the hot tub by making it into a swimming pool. They had a great time! We are so excited for summer to get here so we can go swimming all the time.


This is only the beginning of our fun summer so stay tuned.

The Wait Is Over

We finally received that very important piece of mail regarding the Chinese Immersion Program:

we will have a Mandarin Chinese speaking child in our home shortly!

Colby is very excited about this awesome opportunity. I don't think he really knows what it entails but he has not once said he didn't want to do it, even when told he would have none of his friends in the class with him. We are very proud of him for wanting to pursue something like this. Now the guessing game has been taken out of wondering what track he will be on and what teacher he has, we now know all of that. He will be on C track (which I don't really like because he starts school for three weeks and then goes off track in August) and his English teacher will be Ms. Timothy. Also, he will have to attend a week long summer camp from July 12th-July 16th so he can get to know his fellow Chinese Immersion classmates and teachers before school starts as well as some learning and fun.

Since my last post we have learned a little more about the curriculum and I thought I'd share a little of the information with you.

The daily instruction will be done half in English half in Chinese. He will have two teachers, one for English and one for Chinese. Chinese instruction will occur in math, science and related arts content areas. In class, the Chinese teacher speaks only in Mandarin and communicates using a range of engaging strategies including pictures, songs, games, body language, expressions, pantomime, drama, etc. Children at this age are adept at picking up language in the meaningful contexts. After a brief period at the beginning of the year, students too will speak only in Mandarin during Chinese class.

Math in Chinese-90 minutes
Integrated curriculum in Chinese-45 minutes
Chinese Literacy-45 minutes
English Language Arts-135 minutes (reading, writing, spelling)
Integrated curriculum in English-45 minutes

So for the remainder of his elementary years this his how Colby will be taught. Next time you see him, wish him well and congratulate him on making such a great decision. I'm sure most kids would not want to participate in something like this knowing they will not be with their friends any longer. I can't wait to see Colby excel in this and to see him with all his new Chinese speaking friends.

The Sad Gas Station

Last night we passed a Maverick gas station and Cameron said,

"It's the sad gas station"

as opposed to Holiday Oil.

I don't think I've laughed that hard in a LONG time.

For those of you back home that are not familiar with Holiday Oil, their logo is a giant smiling clown face.

Our Outdoor Adventure in Puerto Vallarta

For our excursion in Puerto Vallarta we enjoyed the Outdoor Adventure. It consisted of a speedboat ride from the ship, a Unimog ride from a quaint little Mexican town, and then a mule ride up the mountain from the base camp. Once at the top of the mountain the fun really began. We enjoyed ziplines, 10 to be exact, 2 waterfall repels, one of which was 70 feet, rope bridges, and jungle bridges. One of the ziplines was down into the river. I somehow was chosen to be first on this zipline and my hand slipped off the rope where you break yourself and I did not get it back on in time to stop myself so I went full force into the river and ended up fully submerged! The water was freezing and since I wasn't expecting it I couldn't catch my breath but man it was exhilarating!

Unfortunately they do not let you take your cameras with you so we do not have any pictures to show for it except for the few below. I strongly encourage anyone who goes to PV definitely check this out. It was one of the best experiences of my life!

We took a speedboat ride about 20 minutes up to a Mexican village.

Here's a better picture of the speedboat.

Mexican village where we boarded our Unimog.

The Unimog took us from the village to the base camp called Vallarta Adventures.

Here we are suited up and ready for action. I have to admit that the gear was probably the most uncomfortable thing I have ever worn. It pretty much gives you a constant wedgie!

Three of the seven of our awesome guides!

Mariner of the Seas

On April 11th Chris and I embarked on our very first vacation without our boys. I was somewhat hesitant to go without them but knew once I got there I would love it. We found a super deal on the Mariner of the Seas seven day cruise to the Mexican Riviera so we jumped on it. This particular trip included visits to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. We did this same itinerary last April with the boys so we knew what to expect. In Cabo and Mazatlan we relaxed on the beach. In Puerto Vallarta we did a very fun and exciting excursion called an Outdoor Adventure. (I'll detail it more in a different post)

We had a great time on the ship as well. We didn't get much sleep because we took full advantage of not having the boys and did EVERYTHING the ship had to offer including trivia and name that tune. Our waitstaff was the best we had ever had and we enjoyed seeing them every night at dinner. We spent a great deal of our time hanging out in the Viking Crown Lounge which is a quiet lookout point at the very top of the ship. You can watch all the fun happening in the pool or just gaze out at the ocean. I did NOT want to come back home. I know it's bad to admit but I really did not miss the boys too much. I guess it was a very needed vacation for us and for them.

The boys spent the weekends with Chris' parents and stayed the week with a very close friend of mine from Missouri and her grand daughter. They flew out and stayed at our house with them. I don't think they had time to miss us because they were always on the go whether it be to eat somewhere or play somewhere they were never home. I'm very thankful that I have people in my life who love us enough to take time out of their lives to keep our boys for us. Like I said, it was much needed!

Here are just a few of the many pictures we took. If you want to see the whole gallery email or comment with your email address and I'll send you a link to our pictures.


Our stateroom-this particular ship has a promenade down the middle with shops and things and our room had a view overlooking it. We loved our room location.

Looking into our room from the promenade.

The beautiful Mariner of the Seas.

A view up from one of the two atriums.

The beautiful three level dining room.

The pool area.

Not sure what Chris is looking at because I'm looking at the camera...

5 Going on 15 Part 2

Colby's new saying, "My bad". Chris and I nearly fell over when he started spouting that one in every other sentence.

And...

After picking Colby up from a friends house to go drop off Chris for an overnight work trip in Denver.

Colby: Why do I have to come with you?

Chris: Well, I guess you don't but I thought you would want to say goodbye to me.

Colby: Bye. Done.

I think we are going to be in for an interesting adolescent hood in several years, don't you think?

5 Going on 15

This is what I encountered on Colby's door Saturday morning. He's a little too young to have this kind of attitude, don't ya think?