Couples Ropes Course

 A few different times I have seen a random deal come across my groupon emails for a couples ropes course and dinner.  I thought about it several times and finally bought the groupon.  I am so glad I did.  We went to a big warehouse gym type place across town called bodies in motion.  It had a little cafe inside, the ropes course, a jumpy type area that was having a bday party with spiderman while we were there and a laser tag area.  We checked in with several other couples.  They harnessed us up and gave us our options.  Because the course was around 16 feet above the ground you had to get up in one of three ways.  You could climb a ladder, go up a rope with what looked like rock climbing holds, or climb a rope that had the unstable equivalent of knots to place your feet on.  The last was the hardest and if you got up they would let you write your name on the ceiling.  So that is what we did.  One girl struggled up the rope, and her husband, who tried it after her, couldn't make it up.  That stunk for him.  Someone that went up before us asked what is the fastest time anyone had made it up in.  They said they didn't really know because they don't time it. I went up before Russ.  Then he came up the rope so fast all of the workers got excited and said that was definitely the fastest anyone had ever gone up. They gave him a donut later for being so fast.

Once you were up they let you have free rein of the course.  There was a vertical rope ladder to climb across, steel beams that swung, platforms to swing to (pictured), and swinging bars that you had to swing together on to get from one to the next (among other things).  I loved it, but it would not be for anyone afraid of heights.  One girl in front of me was terrified and crying and had to go down halfway through.

When the time was up they had dinner for us at the little cafe.  I would highly recommend this for anyone (not afraid of heights) if you ever get the chance.

Sleeping on the Deck

This is the reason we built our upstairs deck.  We got the kids some cots and now they can have slumber parties on the deck any night of the week all summer.

Happy Fathers Day

I slacked off last year and didn't get the D-A-D photos taken so I made sure to take them this year.  We went to the botanical gardens with a free pass leftover from a field trip.  We had a good time and the pictures turned out cute.  We had cinnamon pancakes for breakfast and steak for dinner.  Me and the kids made Rusty a massage shirt for Fathers Day.  I saw this idea somewhere on the internet and loved it.  Perfect for Rusty.  To make it even better someone had created a printable template for the design.  We printed it out and traced it with fabric markers.  Now Rusty can get a massage and play with the kids at the same time.  Since then Ridge has asked Rusty to wear this shirt about once a week.  Rusty never refuses.

Ridge's primary teacher helped the kids write letters to their dads for Fathers Day.  Ridge's letter is a pretty good summary of how we feel about Rusty.  We love him and wish he could play with us all day!

One More Reason...

He is a really great Dad!  (painting nails on the lawn)

Paddle Boats

The paddle boats are always there, sitting on the water at Julia Davis Park, beckoning us to come ride them.  We finally made it a point on a cooler early summer day to do just that.  Ridge and Katelyn had never been on a paddle boat so they were especially excited.  We collected a large following of ducks and geese with the whole loaf of bread we brought along.  The kids had so much fun that they ask to do it again every time we drive past the park.

Lego Fingers

Sometimes things get a little slow when everybody is at school.

Easter 2014

 We had another special family Easter this year with a quick holiday visit from Nama and Papa.  In the few days that they were here we:

Spent a day in the mountains/Idaho City-  We had dutch oven lunch at a campground with delicious apple crisp and sweet and sour chicken.  Nama and Kyleigh made themselves some old mans beard beards.  When we were done with lunch we went in to Idaho City and visited the toy store and the visitors center.  Did you know that more gold was mined around Idaho City than in California during the gold rush.  At least that is what the sign said.  Naiya showed us her dance recital dance on a funny little stage outside the toy store.

Easter Egg Hunt-  Saturday morning we went to the honors society Easter Egg hung at Riverglen Jr. High.  I love this Easter Egg hunt.  There are very few people and lots of good candy.  As we were walking around the school a bunch of kids started grabbing the eggs designated for the 2-3 year old kids.  The signage was unclear and the students didn't say anything so Russ told Ridge to start grabbing them.  Then we were told who they were for so we dumped Ridge's back out.  He started screaming and it took 5 minutes to finish the tantrum.  In the meantime all of the eggs for his group were being hunted.  When we finally got him to start grabbing them he still got a whole basket full.  That is why it is my favorite EE hunt.

Dandelion Fritters-  Our lawn still has a long way to go.  In this case that was a good thing.  Nama and Mike collected about a billion dandelions.  They breaded them and fried them.  I thought they were disgusting, but a few of us really liked them.

Ann Morrison Park-  We went on a walk around Ann Morrison park on Sunday night and Nama took a whole bunch of pictures.

We also dyed Easter Eggs, had an egg hunt in our backyard, played with our bunny, listened to frozen concerts in the living room, got some super cute new Easter outfits from Nama and Papa, had a special Easter breakfast, and watched Ridge do tricks on his John Deere

Happy Easter!