Our Second Vacuum aka Trey

**No photos...yet. Our camera had a sleepover (actually 3 nights) on the basketball court. Guess it wanted to see what all the fuss was about over a new pad of cement. Luckily, I don't think it rained.

We have had lots going on lately--busy summers are the best because they go by so quickly!!
We took the kids on their first Lagoon trip--SO MUCH FUN!! We got there before the rides had opened, so the kids staked out what they wanted to do first (the boys were eyeing Kiddieland and Savannah wanted the Terroride). The boys warmed up after their first ride on Speedway Jr. and from then on were running from ride to ride and so excited. At the end of the Terroride, for those who haven't been, there is a flash of bright lights and a loud honk to scare you. Savannah got off and said, "I passed away!" I think she meant she almost passed out with the honk. Then we took the kids on the Tidal Wave (amazingly, they were all tall enough. Trey was at Grandma's house). We had to sit in the middle, so it wasn't like we were totally scaring them, but Collin hated that flip your stomach does when you get to the highest point. He told me it was "hurting his feelings." It was an overcast day, but that kept the crowds away for the morning and early afternoon and let us go twice on favorites like the Log Ride, Rattlesnake Rapids, and Colossus. It stopped raining just as it opened and didn't rain again until 7:30 or so. We saw the clouds roll in and Hunter began declaring, "Oh. My. Gosh. We're in trouble guys." He kept saying it over and over. And he was right. We packed up our stuff, threw away our dinner garbage, and headed to get the kids their promised treats. Just as we got them, we ducked under some eaves for protection and it began to POUR!! Then came the hail, lightning, and thunder. The temperature dropped as the rain continued. We were about done anyway, but that convinced the kids that they were, in fact, done for the day. They immediately began asking when we were going to Lagoon again.

On the homefront, Trey is growing in leaps and bounds. Not only is he getting bigger, but he has gained lots of skills. I knew it was time to move him to his crib (he'd been sleeping in the bassinet part of the playpen) when he wouldn't settle down for his nap and I went in to find he was standing up, holding onto the bars of his crib OVER the bassinet side. Hard to describe, but enough to scare me, knowing he could just climb over the side. At the beginning of June, he all at once started sitting up well (a little slow for that one), crawling (a little early on that one), and trying to pull himself up to standing on the couch, tables, etc. He's getting fast at crawling and is faster than we think most of the time. So fast, that he's had a fall off a bed already. :( He also sticks EVERYTHING in his mouth. Savannah was like that as well, but it was so much easier to control what was on the floor when there were no other kids around. Trey likes to hang out around the bar stools, where he knows Hunter will drop things like strawberries, chocolate toast, and half-eaten cherries with the pits and stems. I'm hoping he makes it out of this stage with no major choking catastrophes.

Hunter continues to be Mischief Man. I have cleaned (or tried to clean) pink nail polish (a whole bottle), smelly lotion, and ointment off the carpets. He flushes things down the toilet and learned that Barbie dolls are too big to flush, they just spin around naked in the toilet (which is apparently hilarious and worth pulling her out of the garbage can for a repeat performance). And he is the incessant tease--he takes away whatever anyone else is playing with at the moment, including Trey.

Collin started piano lessons right before he broke his arm, and has continued to play in his cast. He's actually getting pretty good, awkward as it is for him to hold up his cast to hit the keys. He is also beginning to read--which he's catching onto pretty quickly. I think it definitely helps to have older siblings with these things. He has gone to see two Ogden Raptors baseball games this past week and came home from the last one with a ball cap he loves. His best buddy has been on vacation for two days and I think will be gone for another week--I hope I survive.

Savannah is continuing with her tumbling this summer. She is getting awfully close to doing a back handspring unassisted. She can do about 10 in a row on the trampoline. She is reading--hoping to get the 1000 page superintendant's challenge award for the summer. She's also learning her times tables and division, which she is pretty good at. She likes having sales and runs quite the stands, selling everything from lettuce and strawberries to otter pops and sno cones.

We have lots coming up with the Fourth of July activities, camps (for mom and dad, ironically), family get-togethers, swimming lessons, and dentist appointments.