Settler's Park

We took the kids to Settler's Park in Meridian a couple weeks ago after work.  They have a little splash pad area and a huge playground area.  It took a while for Leah and Jake to decide the fountains were okay, so they spent the first part of our time there splashing in the puddles and around the drains.

Jake got braver and decided to stick his chest in the water.  Notice how Leah is watching carefully...

So she thought Jake was drinking the water, and figured that was a great idea!

She was quite proud of herself.

More drain-sitting and splashing.

This was Jake's favorite fountain.  He made himself the official "button-pusher" when the fountain would shut off so that all the kids could play in it. 

Kennedy leaned over to kiss her Dad when he got there and in doing so pushed her very loose tooth out!  You can see the hole on her bottom front.

The park also has these fun outdoor musical instruments you can play.

This was a really neat cloud that we saw on our flight down to Utah a week ago.

And this is how Leah spent her first flight.  She was wired in the airport for an hour before the flight, got all excited and a little nervous when we sat down in our seats on the plane, and then as soon as the engines fired up for takeoff, she nodded off to dreamland.

Preece Family Reunion and Utah Trip

Jake and Leah are both napping, so I figured this is my best time to keep blogging! (who wants to do houswork, anyway?)

July 17th weekend we headed down to Utah to visit our families and go to the Preece family reunion held at Brian's parents house.  The big attraction?  The giant water slide on Grandpa's hill.  From top to bottom are Brooklyn, Kennedy, Emily, Rachel and Allie, all waiting to go through the shoot of Uncle Michael's legs, where they get an extra push to the bottom.

Here they are coming out the other side!

Kennedy had a ball this year on the water slide.  They probably spent a couple hours (or more?) going up and down, up and down.

The grown-ups got in on the action too, although I don't think any of them actually changed into their swimsuits.  Hmm.

Jake wasn't ready to try it out this year, but he had fun anyway being co-captain at the head of the slide with Grandpa.

Kennedy, Brooklyn and Emily going at it again!

Best cousins.  Kennedy is always telling me how much she wishes she lived closer to Emily.

This is fun!

Jake's favorite thing this summer is the hose, so any time he gets to man one, he's happy.  It's even better if he's with his Grandpa and only boy cousin, Hyrum!

Grandma Preece sneaks a snuggle with Jake.  He's lovin' it!

We also took a visit to the Layton park to feed the ducks with cousins.  It's a good thing Aunt Amy brought a whole bag of rolls, because Jake threw them pretty quickly and usually in only two pieces.

Emily, Jessica, Allie, Kennedy, Rachel and Jake.

I feel bad I didn't take too many pictures while we were there, but I was trying to just enjoy the break!  We had a great time at Grandma Peterson's house too (a.k.a. Grandma in the Rock House), with the kids sleeping out back in Grandma's tent with the Page cousins.  Brenna came over for breakfast and a day with Kennedy too, and they always have fun.  Jake walked Grandpa Peterson into the ground and gave him a hero's welcome everytime he walked into the room.  Leah held out on everyone and refused to let people hold or snuggle her.  Aunt Michelle was the only one who got her to sit on her lap!  But Leah had a blast playing with her cousins and flirting with everyone who talked to her.

We also went with the Page cousins to see Toy Story 3, the final Toy Story movie.  Jake is obsessed with all things Toy Story right now, so it was fun to take him to the movies.  He liked it, except the scary part where they are falling into the burn pile at the dump; that's when he got out of his seat to head for Grandpa's lap, where he stayed until it was over.

Kennedy had fun taking Grandpa Preece's tractor for a ride and even scooping some dirt with it.  Jake liked watching (maybe next summer he'll get on it!)  We enjoyed a nice lunch at Taggarts with Grandma and Grandpa Preece before we headed home to Idaho.

TVDSA Picnic

The Treasure Valley Down Syndrome Association puts on a summer picnic each year at a member's ranch near our house.  It's always a lot of fun to see how much the kids have grown that we met four years ago.  They have face painting, ponies, games, and big bounce house toys for the kids.  Jake and Leah really enjoyed picking the grass to feed to the horses.

Jake smiling when he saw his dad appear.  I love that face.

Independence Day 2010

We started our day out with the Annual Ward Breakfast and kids parade.  Here's Kennedy with her good friend Kamille. 

Getting ready to start the parade.  Kennedy was so excited because she brought some candy in her bike basket to throw to the crowd :)  Leah and Jake rode in the wagon that Brian pulled.

Here comes the parade!

Leah and Jake were content to watch the parade as long as they had suckers.

The Bishop gave all of the kids either sparklers or pops to do later that night, which was really fun.

Later that morning we took Kennedy's good friend Camden with us to the Melba parade.  This is a tiny farm town south of Nampa that puts on a huge Independence Day celebration.  I think these two came home with about five pounds of candy.  (I guess the pops didn't last until night time).

This was the other way to pass the time waiting for the parade to start: attack Brian!

I don't know how many pictures we have of this boy in this exact position...if he has a dirt pile to sit in, he's happy.

Finally, the parade begins!  Brian and I were cracking up because we cold hear Kennedy and Camden formulating plans as to how to get the most candy.  I guess it's good they're still little and cute, because it worked!

Leah was a little unsure of the really noisy floats, but overall she did great.

Jake showed Leah what to do, and they were so cute waving to everyone, especially the horses.

Lakeview Park Swim

We took an evening visit to Lakeview Park here in Nampa on July 1st for a swim.  It was kind of nice to go in the evening because Brian could come with us and the pool wasn't as crowded.  Leah and Jake spent most of their time in the shallows, trading off sitting on the wall and splashing their feet with shouting at Kennedy in the deeper end with dad.

I just can't get enough of this girl's little chubby body.  She moves at a million miles-per-hour and I love it.  She really loved the pool and stayed in until her lips were purple and feet were raisins.

Kennedy was just happy to finally go swimming at a real pool instead of the backyard.  She pulled dad all around the deeper parts, having fun getting splashed by the toys that collect water and dump it on your head. 

Gearing up for some feet-splashing.  No obstacle can get in Leah's way.

Just had to get one more shot in of those kissable cheeks and chunky legs.

Leah Alert!

Whenever Leah gets into a situation she's not supposed to be in, say, for example, into Kennedy's polly pocket dolls, Kennedy will shout "Leah Alert!  Leah Alert!" to let me know I need to come and get her.  It cracks me up.  I guess it's a statement that has suck in this family because the other evening at dinner Leah was grabbing Jake's food (again) and he was getting really frustrated and finally shouted "Leah Alert!  Leah Alert!"  It cracked me up.  Leah is the first child in this family to need her own "alert".  It says something to her character of loving to investigate, explore, and run her own world.  Just today Brian called in from the garage, "help!"  I ran to find Leah covered in corn syrup (Brian had a bottle out there from old scout supplies).  She had knocked down the bottle, which broke, and then had it smeared all over her shoes, hands, hair, face.  She sure had fun! 

Although Leah leaves me purely exhausted by the end of the day, she also fills me with such joy.  I love how she just goes about her day with such drive, purpose, and abandon.  Honestly, I look at her and can already see the day when she'll realize she no longer needs me.  She is so independent, yearning to explore and learn, that the day will come that she'll realize she can do pretty much everything on her own and will just check in with me once in a while to say hello.  I hope I'm wrong, but right now it seems all she needs in life is her blankie, thumb (at bedtime), and occasionally a mom to kiss a boo boo.

DOUBLE TROUBLE

Some days (ok, let's be honest, most days) it feels like I have twins.  Obviously I can 't say for sure because I've never had them, but I think it comes close a lot of days.  Cohorts in crime.  Double trouble.  Two messes for the price of one.  You get the picture.  On a lot of levels, Jake and Leah are approaching equality.  (Those toys used to all be in the basket).