Summer update

Well, we survived our 10 days in Arkansas, blinked, and realized it is Labor Day and summer is over.  We had another whirlwind summer that included a trip to Gooding, Troy's first triathlon, a day on Silver Mountain, and of course a camping trip.  The camping trip included a train ride up near Metaline Falls, WA.  For people living around north Idaho/Spokane, this train ride is a must.  It starts in Metaline Falls, and travels about 10 miles through the mountains and along the Pend O Reille river to Ione, and then back to Metaline Falls.  The best part is that you are riding in open cars so the views are amazing.

Here are a few pics from the summer adventures.  Now onto Fall which will include Rylan's first go at soccer, Kamryn doing dance class, and hopefully a 40" steelhead or two for Troy (and Katie trying to stay sane through all of it).

TRAIN RIDE 

CAMPING

SILVER MOUNTAIN

  

CHORES

GOODING

  

  

TRIATHLON (Troy's out there somewhere)



Vacation in Arkansas . . . Yes, Arkansas

We just returned from a 10 day vacation to Arkansas to see Troy's family (his mom's family lives down there). To say it was HOT would be an understatement (107 our first day there), but we spent most of our time in the water - pools, lakes, and some rain - so it was a blast. It was the first time our kids and Troy's brother's kids had been down there, so everyone had lots of new people to meet.

Ry Ry getting his 'vaca' on

4th of July on the Arkansas River

Granny helping the kids feed the fish in her pond

Lovin' time with cousin Sophia

Rylan (and Nemo water wings) adding some water to the lake

Our best attempts to make the Olympic team

Kamryn loved her some southern hospitality from Pop

 Right after this picture at the zoo, chaos ensued as a bird bit Rylan, then one landed on Kamryn, and then landed on Troy's head. The kids were not fans of the birds after that little adventure.

Rylan was also not a fan of the very loud thunder storm that rolled through while we were visiting the zoo.

The kids got addicted to fishing just like their daddy!

Love this picture

If you look real close, you can see a little fish hanging on the end of the line.  Like any good fisherman, they both said the fish was 'THIS BIG'.  Quick learners!

Easter, swim and puppy!!

So I realize I am a little delayed on updates! So here it is!

Easter 2012- Easter was great, we didn't make it to any egg hunts this year, according to Troy it was more dissapointing for me then the kids, I'm sure he is right. They didn't know what they missed out on, but me as a mom wants to do every kind of holiday celebration. We dyed Easter eggs, which was much easier than last year, and went to church to celebrate the ressurection of our Savior! What a beautiful time of year and such a great reminder of how loved we are!

Swim- The twins are doing their first swimming lessons. They were so excited to start, the first thing the teacher did with them is took them under water, both kids came up screaming, pretty sure they didn't like that part. But they did wonderful after that , and have gone under a few more times since then!

Charlie- So we now have a new addition to the family, Charlie!! Kamryn actually came up with the name when we asked them what we should name the new puppy, I have no clue where she came up wtih Charlie but we love it! He has been a fun for us so far. He is a little rowdy for the kids at times, he loves to go for Kamryn;'s hair and try to pull her down, so when he gets too close to her she just screams, Im sure once he calms down a bit she will. really have fun with him. He has been sleeping great at night, thank God, but has peeing on my carpet so he has already earned a ticket to outside.


We are finally getting beautiful, warm spring weather and will be doing a lot of activities outside!

not so terrible 3's

So, we are glad to say we are out of the terrible two's!! The 3's are bringing a little more ease, not smooth sailing yet, but closer! There is a light at the end of the tunnel! The twins are becoming a little more independent in doing tasks by themselves. They CAN pretty much dress themselves, they just choose not to most times, and can definatley undress themselves(Kamryn practices this regularly, my nudist). We are working on getting Ry potty trained, we have a few accidents a day, but are making slow progress(mom's of boys understand this). He just is too busy to bother with potty training!

We had a great birthday party for the kids. It took place at the waterpark at silver mt. (our old stompin grounds). Nana and Papa Braga were here to celebrate with us, and our cousins and aunts and uncles from seattle joined us too! Most of the kiddos wonderful friends were there as well. We had a spiderman/princess theme party(tried to incorporate that together, it worked out ok). They had a blast swimming and playing with their friends, they were exhausted by the end of the day. They still ,to this day, think everyday is their birthday! We are definatley looking forward to spring weather and getting outside to play!