Sunday, August 21, 2011

Rock Climbing


Once upon a time I was a decent rock climber but not so much any more.  While in Utah for one of our many adventures, we went rock climbing up Rock Canyon in Provo.  It was a lot of fun, but I am way out of shape.  I would like to blame having had three kids as my downfall, but I am guessing it has more to do with the bag of Cheetos I am eating currently.




This is the climb my younger brother thought we could do.   I don't know if I could have really made it up. The rain came so I didn't have to find out if I was a big failure.  



This is my cousin Emily. She came with us another day.   I didn't do any editing to this picture.  Yes she really is that tan and yes her teeth are that white.  



Michael climbing (actions pose).



Paul climbing (more action). 



Joseph climbing (epic action - sorry Jesse, used the word epic as an adjective this time).




Stephen climbing.  Sorry Stephen. I don't have good pictures of you climbing. It was either raining too hard or I was belaying you.  This is the best I have.



Less epic picture of Joseph. This might help Stephen feel less cheated about his picture.





Here I am rapelling down the crack climb. It's almost as scary going down.


I like this picture because you can see Paul peek over the cliff face making sure that his sister isn't messing up his rope or something. You can also see how Paul felt this was a good "beginner" climb.






This tough picture of Paul's arm shows exactly why he was the best climber out of all of us and why the crack climb should have been easy for us mere mortals.



But Stephen wins for prettiest baby blue eyes.




We also let the kids play up on a kid version of rock climbing while in Park City.  You were really supposed to pay to let the kids play on the playground but we thought that was stupid so we just walked in and played.  No one kicked us out. 




Ryan climbing up the wrong side,  just to show how tough he is. Yeah dear, you climbed like 5 feet. Real tough.








Jack was quite satisfied with his accomplishment.




Contemplating important things I am sure.

Thanks for the adventures!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

First Day of School

It happened.  Somehow my baby girl grew up and left me for the big wide world of kindergarten!  While I haven't been looking forward for this day to come, Kaitlynn has been eagerly awaiting it for the past year.   


Classic first day of school picture, standing in front of our house.

The group of parents and kids waiting for the bus to come.


Kaitlynn with her best friend Makenzie.  These two ended up in the same kindergarten class.  


Ryan and Brandon (Makenzie's dad) teaching Alexis how to pound it.  Olivia is an expert of sorts and will pound it with anyone who can make a fist.


They just saw the bus!!!  I don't have any picture of Kaitlynn getting on the bus because I took video instead.  She was the first one on and didn't even look back to wave or say bye.  She was ready to go!


Jack watching the bus drive away.


Jack waiting for the bus to come back.


Eating her afternoon snack and telling me all about her very first day of school ever.



Tuesday, August 16, 2011

All the Grandchildren

While in Utah we had a chance to take pictures with all of the grandkids together.   


It is impossible to get seven kids and a play horse to look at the camera all at the same time.
 (Hylton Cousins)


We took pictures in three different spots.
 (Bartholomew Cousins)

I am not sure any of them worked out like we had hoped


But I still think they are pretty dang cute.




And I threw this one in there just because she is beautiful.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Fireflies

Hi Bekah. Hope you are having fun in Utah. Show your mom this video you forgot to bring. Love you.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Library, Strider, Fireworks and other happenings around the Bartholomew home

The summer schedule for the library is a bit more active than regular story time.  This day it was a move and dance theme.  At first the kids were really excited about it.


Do I see a future ballerina?






Then out of no where this little boy decides he is too shy to participate anymore.
  


While this pretty little thing was going crazy being strapped to the stroller.  She wanted to get down and dance with all the other kids.


I let her out reluctantly knowing I would just end up chasing her.  She didn't run, she danced just like the big kids!  I was so proud.  This is a dance move if you couldn't tell


My timid boy.  I really think he didn't like preforming infront of all those moms.  I even offered to get up and dance with him, but to no avail.


When she noticed that Jack wasn't dancing she got all shy too!  Not typical of her bubbly personality.  I supposed it was just an off day.


Thanks to our neighbor we have new toys at our house.  They have a little boy only a few months older than jack who cruises down the hill on his balance bike.  I mentioned to Ryan how cool these balance bikes were, and he went ahead and bought two!  He said it was his fathers day gift to himself.  If it teaches the kids to balance without him running behind hold the back of the seat then it is totally worth it.

Look! He almost looks as happy as the kid on the box.


These bikes are really actually super cool.  They don't have any pedals so the kids just use their feet to walk/run with the bike.  Jack loves his way more than his actual bike.  It is easier to for him to control and teaches him to balance at the same time.


This one loved watching all the action too.


He wanted to go down a hill (a very small hill).  I told him he needed to put on his helmet first.  I guess next time I might need to be a bit more specific.  Like, put on your helmet CORRECTLY.


This lovely picture almost made it to the top of our header.  It is pretty Bartholomawesome.  We were making a lovely tacky fathers day teeshirt for Ryan when this disaster happened.  Olivia made a bigger mess.  I didn't get a picture of her though.  I was too worried about paint getting on my camera/shirt/shoes/hair/sidewalk.


Who doesn't love a picture of a cute baby with big blue eyes and a ginormous snot!


This is how I found Kaitlynn early one morning.  She had already gotten dressed and was busy playing with daddy's ipad and it was barely even seven.  Funny girl.


With the steering wheel lowered and the seat all the way down even Olivia can get in on the strider action.


Okay maybe we need to just work on regular balance before we stick her on the bike.

I don't think she agrees.


Riverside is known for fireworks.  Fireworks are illegal in Kansas but not Missouri.  Since Riverside is the first town across the border it is the first place to get your fireworks!


The city has a firework celebration a couple of weeks before the fourth to try and educate and encourage proper firework use.  It's a lot of fun with a live band, food, blowup slides and a firework show at the end.  Kaitlynn and our neighbor Wesley watching the show together.  Ahhhh, young love.


After the firework show we danced in the street and through poppers on the ground.  



It takes some fine motor skill to pick out the poppers from the sawdust.


But totally worth it.


Examining what exactly happens to the popper after its been popped.  I didn't get the kids home until eleven! Their feet were so black and gross for running around that I still had to give them a bath before I could put them to bed.  I really did consider not doing it but  the next day was Sunday and being late is not an option since Ryan has had to play the organ for the last month.  Nine o'clock church can be a killer especially when it takes twenty minutes to get there!  We had fun though and survived.


Happy Fathers Day.  There is the shirt that caused all the mess!  We gave Ryan a bed fan.  Weird I know.  Our bedroom get ridiculously hot in the afternoon/evening so it is almost impossible to get comfortable at night.  Quite a few of our neighbors had already invested in them and swore by it them.  


We can't really say if we like it yet or not because the one we got was defected.  It just automatically turned itself up to high and then won't turn off unless you unplug it.  A new one is coming.  My favorite part about it though, is that it is advertised for menopausal women with night sweats!  Thats right I got my hubby a menopausal gift for Fathers Day!




Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!

Swim lessons have begun!


Our neighbor Toree, Kaitlynn and Jack.


  I signed the kids up about a month ago and my dear sweet Kaitlynn has been asking every day since then, if it was time for swim lessons.  The morning of she had her swim suit on by seven in the morning eagerly awaiting.  


Jack was excited too, until we actually got there.  He did great though.  He was nervous and didn't like the idea of being carried around in the arms of some stranger but no one else seemed to be drowning so he cautiously accepted.  I was so proud!


Look no hands!


Even Olivia had lessons; but she liked climbing on the lawn chairs, railings, tables and even the life guard tower more!  Swimming may not be her thing.  Do you think there are any mommy and me climbing classes out there?


The best part of swim lesson is that they are FREE!  Oh how I love free.  Riverside is a small town with a huge budget.  They get a lot of tax money from the Casino.  The town pays for it all.  So great!  





Next time I will remember the sun block.  I was sure to slather up the kids but neglected my own sensitive shoulders.  Ouch!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Long Shower

Kaitlynn has been growing up so much lately.  As evidence of her maturity she has decided she is too old to have baths with the little kids.  She prefers taking showers.  During one of these showers I went in to check on her and this is what I found.