Father/Son Campout

This weekend was our church’s annual Father/Son camp out.
All the men gather together their camping supplies and take the young boys up a mountain to learn how to be a man
(or something like that…I was never allowed to go on the boys only camp out so I can only imagine!)

Unfortunately, a busy day of meetings prevented TJ from getting off work in time to head up north.
Not wanting to deprive Riker of a camping experience, TJ set the tent up in the backyard and held a mini camp out instead!

Riker was beyond excited.
All he wanted to do was hang out in the tent.
Once the sun went down, Riker had the best time shining his little flashlight all over.

Of course, TJ made a rookie mistake of making some spooky ghost noises…
so Riker came inside to find his mom.
Since Olivia was snug in her bed, I joined the boys in the tent for some bedtime snuggles, just long enough for Riker to fall asleep.

And speaking of Olivia, she was not very pleased to be left out of the camping experience.
But the moment she woke up this morning, she was out the back door to explore every square inch of that tent.

PS…yes, that is a mattress inside that tent. Our air mattress is trash and the ground is hard, so TJ hauled Riker’s full size mattress outside to make the night a bit more comfortable.
PPS…yes, Riker was awake at 5:45 this morning (but that was TJ’s problem this morning…I was sound asleep!)

A Day At The Zoo

Way back in March, we were lucky enough to have some of TJ’s family come out to AZ to visit from Washington!
The first day they were here, we all met up at the Phoenix Zoo.
Other than Zoo Lights, I hadn’t taken the kids to the zoo yet (unlike the weekly trips we made to the Columbus Zoo!).
It was such a great day!

(riker was smitten with anna and loved being around her!)

(Emolie was Olivia’s favorite!)

(so excited to spend time with Grandma Dorothy!)

(riker, adam, and jake were inseparable!)

(clearly she’s saying “Duck!”…the ducks might have been her favorite)

(completely fearless, Olivia walked up to every single goat and stuck her face right in front of them!)

The car ride home was quiet…both kids passed out before we even left the parking lot!
(of course, they both woke up the minute we got home and refused to nap the rest of the day…)
It was definitely a fun adventure and one we hope to do again soon!

Easter Extravaganza!

For the last three years, our Easter has been spent in Ohio.
And while we loved spending Easter with all of our friends there, we missed being with family.
So I was so looking forward to spending Easter with all my family this year…
and I was not disappointed!

Our Easter weekend kicked off on Saturday with some egg coloring fun!
5 dozen eggs ended up bright and beautiful!

And then it was time for the egg hunt!
Riker was off running, trying to find as many eggs as he could before his cousins got all of them!

This was the first egg hunt that Olivia has ever participated in and she did great!
She needed help spotting the eggs, but she knew that she needed to pick them up and drop them in her basket!

The fun continued with a sack race.
We needed these kids to burn off some of the energy they had from consuming so much candy!

And of course, SWIMMING!
My parent’s pool has warmed up a bit so the kids could jump right in!

Easter Sunday we woke up bright and early for our 8am church.
We’ve talked a lot with Riker about the true meaning of Easter and he knew that church was extra special on Easter Sunday!

Olivia’s dress was the prettiest thing ever and she knew just how adorable she was!

And Riker was pretty much sick of all the pictures I was taking of him…
but look at that handsome face!
How can I NOT take a million pictures of him!

It was a busy weekend and we loved every minute of it.
Holidays are always so much more special when you are surrounded by the ones you love!