Jabba

 Kaiden started baseball (first time playing).  His team is the Giants.  He really likes it.  Connor is WAY taller than I am now.  I bought Piper a gentle lead harness and we've been walking from our house, around the lake in town and back home- 5.5 miles total.  Kaiden says he has a girlfriend at school (first time).  Her name is Azalia.  They play together at recess and she's in his class.  She was also in his kindergarten class last year too.  Kaiden's best friends at school are the same as they were last year: Zach, Gavin and Emma, but his very best friend is Landry, who lives a few houses from us.  Connor's best friend is still Raheem, down the street.  But at school he plays with Isaac and Josh.  He also really likes his teacher, Mr. Powers.  He teaches science and a 3D computer modeling class (which Connor took last quarter and made a few things that he 3D printed). Mr. Powers also likes reptiles and has owned several lizards, which Connor and him enjoy talking about Connor's toad, Jabba.  Connor recently also started growing his own worms for his toad. The mealworms turn into pupae, which turns into a beetle and lays eggs that turn into more mealworms.  Connor still visits with Rachael and Alli A. at recess sometimes, but he says he doesn't have a girlfriend this year.  I cleaned Jabba's tank out and washed all his rocks.  While I was cleaning the boys took Jabba in the backyard to explore.  This was the first time the boys have picked Jabba up.  Jabba wasn't really sure what to think of the yard and tried to dig a hole to hide in the grass.

Bowl and Pitcher hike

 Sunday we decided to go to Riverside State Park for the Bowl and Pitcher hike.  Connor has entered the teenage stage where he's not real fond of going places and doing things anymore. He would rather hang out with Raheem, build Lego's or read/write his book. But we made him go anyway. Half way into the hike his foot slips on a rock and hit the outside of his foot. So, once we made it to the swinging bridge by the basalt rocks (bowl & pitcher rocks by the river) we sat down for a break, snack and to rest his foot. Jason, Kaiden, Piper and I crossed the bridge and then came back.  The swinging bridge freaked Piper out. She walked across it, but you could tell she wasn't comfortable. Kaiden and I stopped in the middle for some pictures and it was kinda creepy feeling with the movements. Connor said his foot felt better after he rested it, so we walked back.  Then we went to REI in the hopes of getting Connor a new bicycle.  But it's impossible to find a medium size bicycle in any of the stores. We tried last year too. Jason found a used Giant bicycle, which happened to also be bright orange (Connor's favorite color). So, we set up a time to meet and check it out, grabbed some Subway lunch/dinner and went to Riverfront Park for a picnic lunch/dinner before we met the kid with the bike.  We ended the day with buying Connor a bike finally!

busy Saturday

 The boys spent the night at their best friends, Raheem and Landry's house Friday night. They came home Saturday at 7:30am, changed clothes and we ran to Landry's flag football game in Cheney.  Landry scored a touch down (almost 2). Kaiden, Isaiah and some other kids played in the dirt.  Afterwards we drove through the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge outside Cheney for a hour. We saw some birds, but that was about it.  Then we came home briefly... Jason and I viewed a house with our real estate agent through facetime. Kaiden and I left for Sofia's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.  Raheem came over to spent that time building Lego's with Connor (Jason stayed home with the older boys). Alex took Isaiah, Landry and Tristan to Sofia's party as well.  Kaiden had a blast playing with the kids (mainly neighborhood kids) at Sofia's party.  Then we stopped by the reptile store to get Connor some more worms for his toad, Jaba.  Kaiden loves to check out the critters and pet the store cat that roams around.  Then finally we came home to relax.  Raheem and Landry asked for the boys to spend the night again.  2 nights in a row!