Family Gathering

My dad's side of the family realized that trying to have Christmas together with all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and etc. was a bit crazy and harder to do each year. So to fix the" problem" Christmas has been moved to July… or August (this year). It is always such a fun time hanging out with the family members that we don't get to see very often. I love seeing my kids interact with their cousins. I love reconnecting with everybody. The weather was perfect this year and the beaches were beautiful. The water was warm and the company was awesome!

The four siblings.


The little kids loved climbing this cliff. They even got adventurous and knee boarded down the hill.




This game was the hit of the weekend.

And this one was pretty fun, too.
  


These three were inseparable! Isaac, Colbyn, and Stella.


Jet skiing with Papa.


A day at the beach can wear a honey badger out.


The "Patterson" Clan.

Slip N Slide Action

It wouldn't be summer at the Wright house if we didn't get in some slip n sliding in. It did not come out as much as we would have liked, but when it did we made a splash!



Carson's favorite pose. Flying like Superman down the slip in slide makes you go faster.



Little man Ike.
  


Drink break.


Owen cruising down the slide.

Fourth of July in Nebraska

We made our annual trip to Nebraska for the Fourth of July. We started our journey by going to Lincoln for a night. While there we toured Memorial (north) Stadium.

It was 130 degrees on the turf so they weren't taking people on the field the day we toured. We were left to admire the field through the locked chain link gate. The head grounds keeper happened to drive by. Told us he could not resist the kids' faces so he unlocked the gate and let us in.

While eating dinner at one of our favorite places little Carson noticed the Husker quarterback walk in. Martinez and other football players were eating a few tables down from us. The kids thought this was pretty cool.

The kids and I headed to visit my sister and her family the following day while daddy attended a concert. We then visited Papa and Mimi.
     
Finally we made it to Boom's and Gee's for the Fourth of July celebration. There was volleyball, water slides, small fireworks, a barbecue, friends, boating, tubing, baseball, and lots, and lots of fun.
   
Unfortunately, due to extreme dry conditions in the area where the lake is located there was a ban on lighting large fireworks. We were unable to have our late night fireworks display so we instead went out on the boat "glowing" for a nice little boat ride.

Thank you family and friends for helping us make lots of wonderful memories this Fourth of July trip to Nebraska.

A Little of This

I'm not sure where June went. We kept relatively busy in June. Here's a glimpse of how we spent our days.

The month started off with swimming lessons. I was so amazed with this year's lessons. I took the kids to a different place this year. The results were amazing. In a nutshell, we started lessons with one child terrified of water, two that couldn't swim a lick and two kids that were good swimmers. We ended our session with two excellent swimmers and two additional kids who can now swim all on their own. No one is terrified of water.



The kids all attended Bible school. What a great experience for them! The "concert" the put on at the end of the week was so much fun!
 
This is just Carson's and Owen's group.


There was the morning where snails invaded our driveway, basketball camp for the three boys, PeeWee golf for Carson and Owen, and Father's day was somewhere in the mix, too.


We also spent a lot of evenings and an occasional Saturday morning at the Tball fields. Go Honey Badgers!



The kids and I also squeezed in a few days at the pool.

RiverRun 2012

Carson and I have become race buddies. This is our special thing we do together. I'm so incredibly proud of my little guy. I love that he loves to run. I love that he still thinks it's cool to run with me even more. My other three kids also enjoy running in short(er) races. There's a part of them that loves to run, too.

Our pre-race photo. Waiting at the start line.  Carson's a little nervous.

So many runners!
The RiverRun was June 03. We ran the two mile race together. No training required for my 6 and a half year old. We were both very excited for the race. We always have so much fun running together. Last year was the first two mile run we did together. Our time was 22 minutes and 22 seconds. I thought this was awesome for a five and a half year old kid. It was Carson's first ever two mile.

This year my little stinker ran the two mile race in 17 minutes and 50 seconds. He places 429 out of more than 2100 runners. He had the second best time of all the six year old kids. And to think I thought we were running slow. At this rate I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up with him next year. In all honesty this makes my heart swell. Not only that my six and a half year old ran so well, but he asks me to run it with him. He wants to run and has fun doing it. (Of course the free large sports drink and donuts he gets for finishing the race are great incentives.) I don't have to push Carson to run. He asks me when the next race is.
  
After our two mile race our biggest fans got the opportunity to run the Tot Trot. This is a short little run for the little kids (ages 2-7). The kids are divided up in age groups for the "race." This year the race was run on a bridge and the finish line was the same finish line used in all the other races in the day. This was pretty cool for the little kids.

I'm proud to report that all my kids did great in their races. Stella loves to brag that she didn't get last (like last year.) The three boys did extremely well, too. The kids ran so fast that I think I saw smoke trailing behind them. At least that's what I tell them. They were fast like Superman, Flash and Wonder Woman.

Post-races picture: Isaac (4), Owen (6 1/2), Carson (6 1/2), Mom and Stella (4)