Zoo, Swimming

Last Friday we had the chance to go to the Zoo with Allicia and kids, plus one of Evelyn's cousins. 

Nico patiently let me run errands all morning one day this week, so I gave him a bit of Discovery Center time in the afternoon. I promise he had WAY more fun than what he looks like.

Saturday we went to a few garage sales and then had some time to kill in a parking lot waiting for someone to show up so we could sell them something. Nico got out of the car and practiced climbing into the car through the two front windows. He successfully made it!

Saturday night I got to choose which movie we watched. I chose 2 and let Nico pick between them. The Man Who Invented Christmas, and Mune: Guardian of the Moon. He chose Mune. It was a cute movie!

Nico has decided that he doesn't want to a "black-out" on his bingo card, but just turn in what he has so far to be entered into a few drawings because he has a bingo. He got 15 done out of 24. That's pretty good!

This week in swimming lessons Nico has really progressed. He is not afraid of the water anymore!! He can do a back float without help, and a little bit of a front float, and he can propel himself forward slowly doing his "ice cream scoops". I have a short video of that down below. He still has a ways to go, but I can't believe how far he's come in 2 weeks!! He was able to go down the hydrotube slide today as a treat.

I am heading out of town tomorrow back up to Moscow for my cousin's wedding. The boys are home alone this weekend! See you all next week!

Grandpa Russell, Library, Water Park

On Friday we welcomed Grandpa Russell into town! He came over in the afternoon and we all went over to Red Robin for dinner. Nico asked the server for soda water with coconut after Daddy asked for soda water with lime.

Then it was home to play The Game of Life. Nico is really into this game right now, we play it every day. Grandpa won!

On Saturday morning Grandpa brought Nico some coconut soda. I went to my post at the Saturday market to do some henna, and the boys had a fun morning hanging out and going places. They went to the Dollar Store so Nico could buy his marbles, and they also came downtown to go to the market and to see me. They also took a trip to the library before they dropped Grandpa off at the airport. It was a fun visit. We are all really looking forward to seeing the Grandparents Russell NEXT WEEK when we fly in to Seattle and stay with them for a few days! Next Thursday's update will happen from Arlington!

On Sunday Nico and I went over to the Grandparents Salisbury's house, Nico played Minecraft with Papa and I hung out with Grandma and my Aunt Ellen. 

On Saturday, a big moving truck went down the alley and severed our cable internet line. We were without internet until Monday night. So on Monday I loaded up my computer and we went to the library so I could get a bit of work done. We discovered his school friend Linus hanging out there with his sister, and they were on iPads playing Minecraft, and it turns out the library lends out iPads while you're there so you can play on them. We got one for Nico and he sat right next to Linus and all 3 of them played Minecraft. I sat next to Nico and got some work done. It was so cool we decided to come back on Wednesday. We were hoping to run into Linus again but they didn't make it to the library that day. But, his step-mom and I exchanged numbers and Linus and his sister will be going to Nico's birthday party! Mark your calendars! July 29th, Saturday, 1PM at Pojo's.

Playing Minecraft

On Tuesday we got to see GG in Nampa! Nico wanted to bring Life over to play with her, so we did that. GG won!! :)

This morning we went to the Roaring Springs water park and met some church friends there. Nico's friend Leona took him around to the smaller slides and rides and he had so much fun, and lasted about an hour. He was shivering so much. It started out around 70 degrees and windy, so I can understand that! I was cold at a few points and I didn't get in the water! He curled up under his blanket in the sun and warmed up, then we headed home. He took a shower, we ate lunch, then we went downtown to get a smoothie from Jamba Juice.

A few random pictures from this week

When was the last time Nico fell asleep in the car??

Park play date with Allicia and crew

 Silly picture time

Graduation, Field Day, Last Day, Oh my!

Last Friday was Nico's graduation. They sang songs and received certificates and talked into a microphone about what they learned in Kindergarten. I don't even remember what Nico said, though I have it on video. I will post a video next week since I didn't have time this week! What I do remember is that he said something that I didn't understand. I'll have to watch it again to see if I can discern it.

Nico and his teacher Miss Lung

I brought a little potted flower for Nico to give to Miss Lung. And then for HIM I brought a bag of his favorite mint chocolates from Trader Joe's

Brodie, Nico, Olivia

On Sunday we went to church and after church there was a potluck with a water slide. We brought tuna pasta salad. Guy tried out the blow-darts and then told me I should try it out, so I did. It takes a LOT of lung power to propel those things! I couldn't even get my dart to the first target. Guy got his to the furthest target, I was impressed!

Our neighbors, Tiffanie, Sam and Adam

Tiffanie and Sam

Adam

Sunday afternoon was fun. Nico and I got some snuggle time in while Guy took a nap and then Guy mowed Jonny & Alanna's lawn. 

Here's a good shot of the cul-de-sac across the street from Jonny & Alanna's house. On Monday Nico was able to introduce himself to the kids and play with them for a few hours until lunch time. They even let him ride on some of their fun  toys. Here is Nico riding on Lexie's EzyRoller while Guy mowed the front lawn.

Playing with the Panorama option on my phone. This is the view from their backyard!

Dot-to-dots on the couch

 Being silly eating "hockey pucks"

No school on Monday, and Tuesday was Olympic Field Day. Guy was able to take that morning off to take Nico!! He took lots of pictures.

Tuesday was also our last day at Jonny & Alanna's house! It was such a fun experience being there. I will miss their dishwasher!! 

Tuesday night Nico came in from playing with his friends with a 102.2 fever and a really bad headache. We thought it might have ben heat exhaustion, but weren't sure. It went up to 103.2 in the night, and the next day it was hovering around 101 all day, going to bed with it right at 100, and then this morning he was all better. With the fever, at least. He woke up this morning whining that his stomach hurt :( He got sick once so we couch-bound him and them had him take a nap, he woke up feeling fine and so off to school he went for his LAST DAY!!!! I'm so glad he was able to make it to his last day. 

He did make an observation this morning after he got sick. He was pretty matter of fact. "I had throw up in my tummy, and then it just came up. That's what was wrong, it came up, like this *re-enactment* and then I was fine!" I thought it was great, it seems like he doesn't have any fear of it. His tummy ache reappeared shortly and he asked me "Mommy, why didn't my tummy ache go away?" I told him that last time (a few weeks ago, remember that?) he felt better after sleeping, so that's where the nap came in. 

This is all stuff I'm writing down to tell to his doctor next Tuesday when we have a follow up appointment. This doesn't bode well for our gut-healing attempts, but I'm confident we'll get to the bottom of it.

That's it for this week! Expect a video next time :)

Church Picnic and Holding Ivy

Forgot again! I finally added Thursday night blog updating to my calendar, so I will remember next week :)

Last Friday was the last Friday of my henna booth.  Nico got to spend the night at the cabin again! And I went to pick him up on Saturday. Lily was there along with Jeremy. We had good food and a good time, again!! Thanks Pa & Ma!

On Sunday was the church picnic! I told Nico about it just the morning of, and that there was going to be a Bounce House Water Slide! He said "Oh my goodness, I love one of those!" he was very excited (side note about water slides. On his first day of school, we were halfway out the door when he turned around and said "MOMMY! Don't forget my swimsuit, where's my swimsuit?" He thought that he got to go to the waterslide behind his school as a matter of course during the school day. Oh woe is Nico! I should have seen this coming, remember his Preschool graduation? "What is the thing you're most excited about school next year?" His answer was "The water slide behind my school!")

We brought potato salad. It was a very pleasant afternoon. Nico got soaked from head to toe in his clothes. Then we changed him into his swim trunks because they were the only dry thing we had. That was only after he was done on the water slide. They had free Ben and Jerries Ice Cream there, so I told Nico we could stop by the Co-op on the way home and get him some ice cream and some cones.

Check out video below of water slide plus "Big Bubble" fun!

Sunday night we watched Ivy for a few hours. Nico loves to do "This little piggy" on her, either her toes or her fingers. I didn't catch it quick enough to include in the video at the end.

On Tuesday we went to Big-O Tires to get our car checked out, looks like we needed new tires. So we got them. Also an oil change. I am going out of town next week to Salt Lake City for the doTERRA convention so we wanted to make sure the car was good. My mom will be staying in the suite upstairs to watch Nico while I am gone.

Thursday was picture day at school. Nico picked out his shirt, it was a new football shirt that he had picked out from Kohl's a few weeks ago. Thursday night was parents orientation. We got to hear the principal speak and then we all separated and went to our child's classrooms to hear their teachers speak. I love the principal and I am so happy that Nico is at Adam's!!! His teacher is great too! She told us what they do every day, what they work on through the school year, and she also told us her pet peeve - constantly changing how your child is picked up from school. That is, whether he'll be on the bus or picked up in person. Thankfully Nico will never take the bus so we don't have to worry about it :)

Read-a-thon is going on at Nico's school soon! It's a fundraiser. You can pledge an amount of money you'll donate per minute Nico reads a book (this would be me or Guy reading to him), up to a certain amount, or you can just do a lump sum donation. If you'd like to participate and pledge an amount per minute (the Read-a-thon lasts for 2 weeks so this will be the total minutes read over a two week period), then let me know and I'll write it on the form! Payments aren't collected until the end of September, after it's over and we know how many minutes he's read. His goal is 210 minutes which is 15 minutes per day.

Video time!