Some People Wait a Lifetime for a Moment Like This: The Zoo

Denver has an awesome zoo. We love it. And in 2005/06 we bought a year pass. That was right before Jude was born. When he was a little baby, Jakob would take Kobe and Luke to the zoo so that I could have a break. But Jude was too little, so he just stayed home with me.

Fast forward three years. We’ve been busy with three kids, then four. School, vacations, surgeries, etc. We realized that we hadn’t been to the zoo in a awhile, but only when we were watching home movies did we realize how long it’s been. We were watching film of when Kobe and Luke were at the zoo and Jude said, “Can I go to the zoo someday?”

Heartbreaker! Poor little guy had NEVER been to the zoo. We swore we’d take him soon. But then we didn’t. And somehow we kept watching that home movie every Sunday and Jude kept asking us over and over again if he’d ever get to go to the zoo. It was like being stabbed in the heart every Sunday! I am the worst mom! Never taking my three-year-old to the zoo! The worst.

But we did it. WE FINALLY MADE A TRIP TO THE ZOO! The same zoo that many mothers/families frequent weekly with their children. I don’t know why it took us so long.

My boys favorite place to be is always with the snakes.

It was so much fun and for Jude it was as amazing as Disneyland (which is another Kobe/Luke home video that Jude is tortured by). He was so excited. And Tate went, too, so now he can never say he has never been to the zoo. Maybe he’ll say he has no memories of the zoo, but he can never say he’s never been.

Tate's view of the zoo.

Free at last at the Penguin exhibit. Definite mistake.

We bought another year pass so hopefully we can make the dreams of our boys come true more frequently in the next year! Especially since we didn't take the video camera. No home movie to watch on Sunday. Worst. Mom. Ever.

Kobe’s Cast

Poor little Kobes-El broke his first bone last month. He was at a friends birthday party which was a water/trampoline party. The combo got the best of our eldest, and he slipped on the tramp ladder and hit his arm against the frame which resulted in a buckle fracture of his wrist. Because it wasn’t a dramatic fall, I don’t think anyone thought he had broken it at the party. But we knew something was up when our tough guy wouldn’t stop crying. We took him to the ER and it was a break.

We took him to The Children’s Hospital to cast it a couple of days later. Once he had it cast, it didn’t hurt him anymore and the coolness of his injury was apparent. The cast tech upgraded his cast to his two favorite colors.

It was his left hand, so he could still write. It all turned out fine. And even though I’d pay any amount of money to treat my injured children, I must document that this was our first $200 ER copay. It hurt, but not as much as it hurt Kobe! We are lucky that this was only our first big copay.

He had all of his family and friends sign his cast.

Earlier this week, he got his cast off! Time sure flies when you’re behind on blogging. I was so glad to get it off because it was starting to smell. Boys sweat. And are stinky. There’s no doubt about it. We’ve aired out the cast and it will be a cool trophy for his injury.

While we’re posting about Kobe, here is a collage for a project at school. He made it on the computer and we printed it at Sam's Club. It turned out great, and I wanted to show everyone what Kobe is all about these days.

Camping

We took our first and last family camping trip of the summer. We were going to go to the ward campout in August, but our van was still out of commission and we I didn’t feel comfortable strapping the whole family plus camping gear in Jakob’s deathtrap Gallant. The Harris’s invited us to this cool camp called “Camp Firewalker” on Wellington Lake. James was ‘babysitting’ the camp while the owner was away, so we got to do all of the fun high-adventure activities they had there.

Genealogical Trivia: James and I are Second Cousins. We didn’t even know it until we wound up in the same ward.



















We did the zip line, tightrope walk, canoeing, obstacle course, rope swing, archery, and had a blast! The only downside was the biting flies. Jude, especially, couldn’t handle the biting flies. He wouldn’t swat them away, so he got bit the most. He’s so afraid of bugs and animals! Wonder where he gets that from?

There are only three reasons that I ever do anything athletic/adventurey. They are

1. Because I want to impress the people I am with.
2. Because I want to appear/feel tough. Or,
3. So that I can blog about it.

The tightrope walk met 2 out of 3 requirements. So I did it!

It rained a little bit that weekend. And we, unfortunately, borrowed a tent that leaked. We plan on buying our own tent before our next family camping trip. At least that’s the message I conveyed while throwing an hour-long tantrum that night.

There are bears around “Camp Firewalker”, and our campsite had a visit! I heard the bear, of course, because I sleep with one-eye open while camping. Freaked me out, but he wasn’t too close. In the morning we saw that he had walked through the kitchen tent and tried snacking on a roll of paper towels. The boys were in heaven.

Thanks, Harris Family, for an awesome Camping Trip 2009!

First Day of School

In July, Kobe started the 3rd Grade and Luke started 1st Grade. I can’t believe they’re both in full-day school! Time starts to go so fast when your kids are in school.

Kobe's backpack this year is Bakugan.

Luke's backpack this year is 'Super Mario Galaxy'.

And Jude was very sad to not be starting school with his brothers. We are in year round school, so my boys start in the summer. Jude's preschool is traditional, so he had to wait a bit before it was his turn.

The boys were so excited to start school. When I dropped them off in their classrooms, it was like pulling teeth to get them to look at me for a picture. It’s not that they were embarrassed of me (not yet, anyway), but they were just so anxious to start their work and get going with school. I’m so glad they love school and hope that lasts as long as it can.

I am really excited about their teachers. Kobe’s teacher, Ms. Myers, seems like she will be great and he has a good group of friends in his class. She does discipline using this very complicated points system, which makes me a little uncomfortable. Kobe is a perfectionist and feels pretty stressed about the 500 ways you can lose points. But hopefully it’ll turn out okay.

I am IN LOVE with Luke’s teacher, Mrs. Silvestri! She came highly recommended to me from Becky, and I had to fight hard to get him transferred to this class. But it was so worth it! I am telling you right now, she is the best teacher in the world. And I am not exaggerating. I guarantee you there is no better teacher that exists. She loves the kids and loves teaching and has so much experience. I could not be happier. I don’t know when she’s planning on retiring, but I’m going to save every penny I have to bribe her to stay for Jude and Tate.

Both of the boys are doing well in their classes so far. I just had Luke’s Parent/Teacher conference, and Mrs. Silvestri said so many great things about “our Luke”. He is thriving in that class. And Kobe reports back to me good things about his class. I hope to get in there and volunteer after we get back from vacation.

And because I'm so behind on blogging, I can insert here that Jude started preschool! He was so excited he could not even stand it on the first day. He is going to preschool at the home of a woman in our ward, and it is going to be great.

Jude's backpack this year is Transformers.

After school, Jude was super happy and showed me all the dances they did that day at school. It's going to be so good for him to be in preschool!