Viva Niagara!

Well, I find myself doing a catching up post once again but this will seem like so much new news for all of you that it should be fun. So over Memorial Day weekend we decided to take a driving trip to Ontario, Canada and see the Niagara Falls. It was definitely an amazing site but let me just say that for all the city could be it was that times way too much! It is basically Vegas with a really big waterfall. We did enjoy taking a boat ride down at the base of the Falls and we explored the botanical gardens and a butterfly conservatory which was pretty incredible. I think the kids liked the hotel swimming pool the best which always seems to be the case. All in all it was so nice to get away and have a few days of just enjoying our family away from the hectic pace of our lives of late.

Landry has finished up with preschool and has a big announcement: "NO MORE TRAINING WHEELS!" Mike helped him for a few hours and he took off! Now he is way too independent for my taste and he is travelling all around the cul de sac. Three of his neighborhood buddies have learned to ride sans training wheels as well and they are like the JR Hell's Angels. There is even a biker babe in the bunch. He is so proud of his new skill and daily suggests that he is ready to ride around the corner now. We still have limits!

McCall has 4 days left of school and he couldn't be more ready. Yesterday our Goldwood Games (school field day) got rained out halfway through and we had flash flooding in areas close to our town. Disappointing but at least the morning was beautiful.

McCall cracks me up with his sense of humor and all day I hear, "Mom, do you get it?" after his many jokes. Can any of you relate to this famous line? He has surprised me lately with how sensitive he is becoming as long as nobody notices. He prays for his brother's swimmer's ear to go away and he prays for Jackson, our Golden Retriever to calm down when he is upset by our many summer thunderstorms. He has stood outside the bathroom door lately asking, "Mom are you okay? " when all of my meals of the day seem to be reacting to my pregnant body. He can cause so much angst and strife in our family and then just as easily he brings tears to my eyes when I tuck him into bed. I know you all know what I mean.

Speaking of pregnant bodies-we got to hear Baby Vu's heartbeat at our last appointment. our doc says it sounds like a girl heartbeat. Of course we still don't know for sure but we keep thinking girl this time. It is hard for me to picture anything else in my mind and for Mike it is impossible so hopefully our ultrasound in July will be revealing. I already know what to do with boys so I would be totally fine either way but I also think Heavenly Father knows that this body probably won't be giving birth to any more children so maybe we'll get to have a little pink in our house-oh Kristi, the envy!

Landry's long awaited summer birthday party is happening on Saturday. He turned 5 in December but since Cleveland is the Ice Planet Hoth in December we decided to wait for some warm weather this year to celebrate. It is a hawaiian beach party theme and we are having a blast getting ready for it. We are set for games and decor and music but if any of you have any great ideas for hawaiian themed kids food for lunch I would love it. So far we are doing fruit kabobs and punch in plastic coconut cups and we are making the sandcastle cake tomorrow night. I think we are just going to do a sub sandwich cut up in kids size slices for the lunch but if you have any great suggestions feel free to send them our way. I'll post photos after the big event!

That should catch you all up to date on our latest. I hope to be more current once school is out. The boys will be spending some time with Cookie and Poppie in California and then with their dad in Salt Lake City so they will be gone for almost 4 weeks! I miss them so much when they do this each summer but it is also nice to have some time away so I really appreciate having them home. Mike and I will work on the nursery and take an East Coast driving trip which should be wonderful.

By the way-I received my first issue of the new Martha Stewart publication, Blueprint. Love it-tons of cool ideas and product reviews. Definitely check it out. Also-we had our first haircut at a new kids hair salon that opened in our area called Snip-Its. It is a really fun franchise type hair salon that caters just to kids and has comupter games and cartoons to keep the kids busy while they get their hair cut. At the end of the cut they get to stick their "Adventure Pass" and a snip of their hair into a prize machine and out pops a little prize. Landry loved it and since he got his summer buzz cut it was only $9.95 which is a great deal in our area. We give it a thumbs up!