First Family Camping Trip

Well, we decided that this year, we were finally ready to go camping with the boys (ages 2 1/2 and 4 1/2).  Colin and I haven't been camping for 7 years (the last time we camped was the summer before we moved to Australia).  So, after setting up the tent in the backyard to play in and telling Max and Finn all about camping, they were SO excited for their first camping adventure.  

We went to a beautiful ranch in Steamboat Springs with 2 of our neighbor families.  We had a blast during all of the waking hours (the "sleeping" hours were another story, but we'll get to that later).  We played on the beach at the pond...

 Finn still never tires of throwing rocks in water

  

After throwing rocks in the pond, the boys headed to the river (to throw more rocks)...

 

Max got brave and crossed the river with the help of our friend Gen...

This was, by far, Finn's favorite part of camping - he played in here for many hours...

We had tacos in a bag for dinner, followed by s'mores and glow sticks - what kids wouldn't love it?!?  We had a 2 year old, three 3 year olds, a 4 year old and a 5 year old.

The next morning, we were back to the river...

And then off on a hike before packing up and heading back home...

Yes, we camped for only one night.  And THANK GOODNESS!!!  Finn decided he did not want to sleep, and so for an hour after everyone went to bed (from about 10:30-11:30pm), he hopped around in the tent like a bunny while we all tried to ignore him (using the theory that he'd get bored and go to sleep).  When that didn't work, he wrestled with Colin and eventually screamed himself to sleep.  He woke up shortly after that and refused to sleep anywhere besides directly on top of me.  So, I spent the rest of the night flat on my back with Finn flat on his tummy, sleeping on my chest.  In a tent.  With no air mattress to sleep on.  Did I mention he's 32 pounds?  And snored like a chainsaw the entire night?  If I'm being generous, I'd say I got about a total of 2 hours of sleep.

Needless to say, for the rest of this summer, we'll be enjoying the outdoors on DAY trips.  Wish us better luck next year!

My amazing 4 year old

I feel like it has been only moments from then...

until now...  

How four years have gone by continues to astound me.  I am continually amazed at how much Max has grown and learned and changed in four years.  And I am equally amazed at how his personality has remained the same.   I am overwhelmed with emotion when I think about how much love I have for this little boy.  He brings joy to my life every day.

Max, at 4 years old...
loves his family more than anything, has more energy than anyone I have ever met, loves to sing and knows all of the words to almost every song he's ever heard, still loves to give and receive cuddles

Other loves: music and dancing, rolling down hills (the steeper, the better), spinning until he can't stand up anymore, making up/telling stories (every night we tell a story about "2 brothers named Max and Finn..."), playing mini golf, doing connect the dots (up to 30), practicing writing his letters, finding hidden pictures (I Spy, Where's Waldo, etc.), playing soccer, playing in the snow, being Australian

He loves hearing the different words Australians use for common things (eg. bin, dummy, nappy, trolley, etc.) - he thinks this is HILARIOUS :)

His favorite food is pesto pasta (he eats anywhere from 3-5 bowls of it every time we have it), his favorite special treats are Nerds and Laffy Taffy

Max's personality: he is very strong-willed and persistent, has mastered challenging me and Colin and outsmarts us both on a daily basis, loves teaching Finn new things, is very particular, is very genuine

Things Max doesn't like: sleeping, the dark, loud noises, any sort of change, frosting

Max's best quote of the year - "I do super cool things because I'm from Australia.  That's what people from Australia do."

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last year...

Happy 4th Birthday Max!!!

Auntie Kristin and Uncle Eric's

In July, we got to take a trip back to Wisconsin and spend a long weekend at Auntie Kristin and Uncle Eric's amazing lake house.  We went with Grandma, Uncle Brian and all of our cousins, and we had a BLAST!

 LOVE this picture of Finn and Abby...

 

All of the cousins together...

 

Not sure the neighbors who are building their house would have approved, but the kids loved the construction vehicles :)

 

Just like in the good old days at the lake when we were kids...

Thankfully, they all actually did love swimming in the lake, even more than playing the iPads...

 What a great weekend!  We can't wait to make it an annual tradition!
 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Summer is too much fun - I don't have time for blogging!  These pictures are actually from the end of May when we took Max to his first Rockies game.  We went with his class from school and he actually had a really good time!

 

Of course, he didn't watch one minute of the actual game.  His favorite parts were Dinger the Dinosaur (the Rockies mascot), the races between the toothbrush, toothpaste and tooth (one of the sponsors is a dentist :)) and of course his ice cream!

But even more than the baseball game, he loved running back to the car afterwards in the rain with his rainboots and raincoat on :)

More fun in Steamboat

We stayed in Steamboat for 3 nights and had so much fun!  Interestingly enough, Finn's favorite activity was feeding Nanny and Poppy their (dozens of) pills /vitamins (everyday!). 

The boys also had tons of fun playing tennis (which Max calls "cricket" for some reason, much to Colin's dismay :)) at our condo...

The boys also had fun playing catch with Poppy...

And going to the pool (which we did not get any picture of).

We also did one very small hike to another beautiful waterfall...