Happy Father's Day!

Andy and Jack had a fun day with their daddy on Father's Day yesterday. They had made a few pictures for Chris at school, and Chris also got a pair of jeans and some hiking gear. Chris had breakfast with Andy on Thursday for an early Father's Day celebration at school. Then we made M&M cookies on Friday. To celebrate the day on Sunday, we went for a hike at Highcliff - about 3 miles! Andy hiked the whole way on his own and did great. Jack also was a trooper in the backpack. We went to the park there afterwards, but didn't play much on it. Andy saw some kids at the little beach there swimming in the lake. He wanted to swim too. So, even though they didn't have swimsuits, he and Chris enjoyed lots of time in the water :) Andy was brave and went pretty deep - almost putting his face in as he would bend over to find rocks in the water. I think he's going to have lots of fun in Door County this year. We also went out to dinner for Father's Day and then went for a walk to go get ice cream cones in the evening. All in all it was a great day! We hope that all the dads out there had a fantastic father's day - including Grandpa Graham, Great Grandpa Graham, and Great Grandpa Dickson!

Jack and Daddy - hiking through the woods

Andy in the homestretch of the hike - staying hydrated with his water bottle

Checking out Chief Redbird

Wading in the water

Swinging around in circles - so fun!

Jack - excited to go out to dinner :)Happy boy

Chris thought his plaid shirt made him look like a 90 year old! I was going for more cute, beach preppy.

The boys all ready to go to dinner

Waiting for our meals - trying to stay entertained :)

Happy Father's Day 2009!

Andy updates - Soccer, Landscaping, Pool, and More!

Andy has had a busy end of May and beginning of June. He wrapped up his tumbling class and took a great set of soccer classes. He is enjoying being outside and loves going on adventures (hiking, to grandparents' houses, to the playground, etc.)

Here is Andy getting his certificate of completion for his tumbling class. He actually really enjoyed this class, and now at home we often play "tumbling class" where I am the teacher and have him go through the warm ups and special activities that they did there.


We took quite a few pictures of Andy at soccer practice. Chris went with him to all of the sessions and I went to the last one to see him in action! Here he is after scoring a goal!

Running around to warm up

Working on dribbling the ball

Here's Andy at his last class, dribbling the ball with Chris

Andy doing warm-ups with the other kids. He's lucky number 13 (his birthday!)

Running some laps Getting ready for a big kick!

Action shot!

We got a BIG pile of mulch/tree bark delivered in order to spruce up our landscaping areas. Andy did so well at really helping with the project. He used his little snow shovel to scoop up the mulch and put it in his own wheel barrow. Then he pushed the wheel barrow all by himself to whereever I was in the yard. Then he would dump it out where I pointed to and help me spread it around. He also enjoyed pulling out some of the weeds. He was an awesome helper, we couldn't believe it!!!

Andy enjoyed his new friend Lena's company on Friday evening last week. They got dressed up like superheroes for some of the evening. Batman and Superman played very well together! And we parents had fun playing some board games and eating pizza. Jack and their younger daughter Claire had a little bit more low-key evening and didn't stay up as late as the older kids.

Believe it or not, this living room was spotless at 4:30... by 9:00 it was a completely different story!

Andy has been loving running through his Diego sprinkler And he still loves swimming in the baby pool... poor kid, I think he needs more room to spread out!

Chilling out at the picnic table Getting ready for a big jump

Like I said, this big boy needs some more space. He stayed in here for almost an hour playing though!

What an imagination - Here's Knight Andy - with face mask, shield, and sword :)

Daddy time!

Chris had the boys for a night and a day when I went to do the Trek 100 bike ride with my dad. I think that was his first time alone overnight with both of them. He had a great time with them and I think they were pretty well behaved. I was also impressed that he took some pictures while I was gone (usually I'm the one always taking the pics). They stayed in their jammies all day, but that was totally fine with me :)

A little rough-housing time...

Jack doesn't look too much smaller than Andy - he can totally hold his own!

Andy was helping Jack walk across the room Get up Jack!

Jack updates

Jack has gone from baby to little boy in a matter of a couple of months! You'll see from these pictures, going from older to newer!

Jack dunking his basketball on the new hoop from Grandma Reinsel for his birthday
Checking out the new present, pre-assembly

Going inside his little house

Getting into mischief in our cabinets

Absolutely loving his first icy-pop

Looking so cool and casual on Andy's chair :)

Making a mess of his diapers...

Walking like such a big boy :)

Helping us clean up the floors

Really NOT loving getting sprinkled by the sprinkler (don't worry I saved him after I clicked this picture) I don't know why he didn't just walk away, but we were pretty close to nap time. He wasn't thinking the most rationally.

Andy having a blast through the sprinkler, while Jack has a little meltdown.

More cool chair pictures... I have a feeling Jack is going to be needing his own little chair soon. he's been occupying it a little more than Andy likes!

Also, this is Andy's juice box... we've started to find that anything Andy has is so awesome that Jack just can't stay away from it... and often tries to pry it out of Andy's hands

Our cute little guy!

Feeling a little wild and free... Showing off the walking skills some more
Crazy boy!!!
He also loves riding his rocking doggy lately
Walking in the grass - not quite as sturdy as inside because of the uneven terrain...