Ammon's Pictures & Funny Story

Ammon LOVES to take pictures. At softball he get restless so I let him take the camera. His favorite spot to take pictures was next to the bike path. There he could find flowers, butterflies, dandelions and birds to photograph. He also has gotten a lot of pictures of the bikers, runners, and skateboarders passing by on the path!

I was showing him how to get the main point of his picture focused. He stared figuring it out real quickly and got some great pictures of the seeded dandelions. I have been really impressed with his eye for taking pictures.

Funny Story about these next 2 pictures. There is a path leading down into a woody area between the softball park and the Iowa river. Ammon has asked every game if we could go down there. Today I felt super nice so I said we could. (Even though it looked icky down there to me). He quickly went down the hill to look around. Right away we saw some trash and there were some very worn paths down there. We walked on a path until it got into some really tall grass, so we went back and went on the path towards the river. When we got around a big tree we saw a campfire area with a cooking pot on it. I told him it was probably the "home" of a homeless person. Right away he asked to go back up the hill and away from the "bums house." He didn't want to spend another minute down there and quickly went back up the hill towards the softball park.

Since that he's never asked to go back down the hill in the forest are again!

I have such a fun time going along with him as he takes pictures and shows them to me. I wouldn't be surprised if he grows up to become a photographer!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

I was looking through pictures on my computer today and I came across these 2 pictures taken a few days apart from eachother last week.

Rebecca and Ammon have been "buddies" the last few weeks and I guess he's rubbing off on her!

Safety Village

The past 2 weeks Ammon has been going to Safety Village at Grantwood Elementary school and LOVING it!! He was in the Red Fire Extinguisher Group at 8:00am.

Everyday they had a different safety lesson. They learned about gun safety, fire safety, stranger danger, water safety, electrical safety and more. Each day they had 4 stations they rotated through and one was always driving the cars in the village. This was of course the favorite part for Ammon!!
They got a meet K9 dogs and go through Sheriff and Police cars, check out an ambulance and fire truck.
One day when we went to pick him up the Aircare helicopter was at the school and his group was about to go in it. Corrine snapped a quick picture of his group. Then after picking him up we went over to it and all the kids got to go through the helicopter.


   
They had a drop off and pick up procedure that you had to follow. When you dropped them off you drove up to the 1st open number spot (1-5) and a volunteer, or fire fighter and police officer would open the door and help them out. When the cars in front of you left you could go. When we picked him up we had to have our yellow sign with his name on it in the window. A lady had a blow horn and she would call out his name and a number, which was the number I was going to pull up to and he'd be there waiting for me. The lady couldn't for the life of her get his name right. The 2nd day he wasn't at the number they called out for him. I asked him why and he told me she didn't call my name. From then on if her heard "Emon" he would line up. (Fortunately his teachers said his name correctly.)
On the last day we got to go with him and see all the things they did. We could tell that he really enjoyed his time there.

On one of the first days of the camp we were driving home after picking him up and I switched lanes close to a light. Ammon told me that I shouldn't have done it, and if he had done it in the village he'd have to sit out and watch. He said it because at the village they can't go around another car even if they are going slow. He also told me that if you hit another "car" you had to sit out. One the last day I asked him if he ever had to sit out and he proudly said NO.

The village is so fun and has fully functioning lights and train tracks with crossing arm.

In one of the rotations they had a play time. They had seat belts, phones, firefighter clothes and some other safety type toys. The kids I guess had a great time trapping the teachers with the seat belts. Ammon showed his siblings how they did it!!

Another rotation they did art work, and singing. One of the songs was "Match" set to the tune of Bingo. Ammon really liked the songs and knew all the words. The started to sing a song for us but the teachers were singing the wrong words. Ammon noticed right away and told the teachers and got all the kids singing the correct words and tune!

We were so impressed with Safety Village. Ammon was the 1st of our kids to go, and we already know that Rebecca is going to get to go when she is old enough. This was the last summer of the current village. It's been the same since it was made in the 90's so it's getting a face lift this year.

Blank Park Zoo

 When the Niabi Zoo opened for the season we got Zoo passes, which got us into Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines for free. Sweet!!

Ammon LOVED feeding the Giraffe and the giraffe LOVED Ammon! This was a 1st for all of us. Rebecca wasn't so sure about feed it and really wanted to get away when it started licking at her skirt!

It was a hot day so we were kind of slow going and stopped and played on everything we could. The kids decided to hatch from an Emu egg, rest in a kangaroos pouch, take a ride on the train and take a break on the dino's vertebrae. I think for Rebecca feeding the Kio fish may been the highlight of the day. She feed them one piece of food at a time and watched them fight over and eat it. She had dad wrapped around her the entire time she fed them. There was a boy about 12 years old that was feeding the fish, then reaching down and picking them up. It was really nest to watch. We stuck to feeding and touching the backs of them.

Just as we were done seeing all the animals some very dark rain clouds rolled in. It started to rain so we decided that was our cue to be done. We took off for the van and within minutes of getting in the cloud burst open and down poured. Since we are so low on rain it was such a Heaven sent blessing to see. Some of the roads on the way to our friends the Aamodts house in Gilbert were flooded it was raining so hard!! We were so hoping that the rain would make the 2 hour trek to our house and water our yard!

We love going to Zoo's and checking out each one's fun attractions and animals. The Blank Park Zoo is about a 2 hour zoo with some fun playthings for the kids. It's a 2 hour drive away so it's not one we'd go to for a day trip, but it's fun to hit it once during the summer.

Keeping the Tooth Fairy Busy

These 2 sweet kiddos of ours have been trying to make the tooth fairy go broke this month! Between the 2 of them they have lost 6 teeth!!

 Corrine lost both the teeth next to her front top teeth. She is the lucky one of the kids with lots of extra space between her teeth so she isn't getting a crowded mouth.

Ammon on the other hand has got the tightest mouth ever! Ammon lost his top 4 teeth, but since his mouth is so tight he is probably only going to get his front 2 teeth back and the others will come in when his jaw gets bigger (or an orthodontist helps make more room in there.)

I LOVE toothless grins so I was encouraging Ammon to get all the these out before the adult teeth started in come in too much. He got them out just in time, so we could get a mostly toothless grin.

The tooth fairy is hoping to take some time off to restock the fairy bank!!

Strawberry Lemonade

Last week I needed a drink, but the lemonade I made just didn't hit the spot. We had some strawberries so I blended them up and added them to the lemonade. It was a match made in heaven!!!

I have made this sweet fruity drink a few times now and everytime it is delicious. My secret-there isn't one. Just classic Country Time Lemonade and a couple of handfuls of strawberries. I use the lemonade to help the strawberries blend smoothly, then add a little sugar and it's done.

It is such a refreshing drink, and looks so cute with a strawberry stuck on the cup!

Slipping and sliding

Today we pulled out the slip and slide for the 1st time this summer. The backyard grass was really needing some watering and it was a hot sunny day, which equaled the perfect day for some water fun. Instead of using the slip-n-slide water hose, we used the rainbow arching sprinkler so it could water the grass around while they played. 

Rebecca learned real quickly that she LOVED the slip and slide, which made it hard for her to take turns. She would go down, then crawl back up it. If we could get her off at the bottom, she'd run up to the top and go down again without waiting for her turn.

I love this picture of Ammon midair of his slide! He gets going so fast!

Laughter and smiles=Fun times!

Our backyard has a great slope that helps the kids to get going faster.

We love summer, being outside and water. This slip-n-slide is going to get alot of use this summer.

Happy 7th Birthday Ammon

Today was all about the little things that made the day such a great day! Yesterday Ammon told us what he wanted to do on his birthday and we tried as hard as we could to do it all.

This morning Johann got up and went to go get Ammon up to go get Daylight Donuts for breakfast, and he found Ammon sitting at the kitchen table staring at his presents! He said he'd only been up for a few minutes.

Ammon woke up to a dollar bill from the toothfairy from his lost tooth yesterday. Then Johann and Ammon went to Daylight Donuts to pick out birthday donuts. At the donut shop he got lot of Happy Birthday wishes.

We put the candle into his donut and Ammon asked to light the match, so we let him. He was super excited to light his own candle.

Way back in January Ammon spotted a plane carrier at Target and asked if he could get it. We told him we weren't going to just get it right after Christmas, so he asked if we'd get it for his birthday-6 months away. Well today he opened the carrier and was just as excited as he was back in January. He also got a collapsable bug holder. He also got sparring gear in April which was part of his birthday presents.

Then he went downstairs and played Lego Batman he got from a friend for his birthday. When he was done with that he got to pick what show to watch.

For lunch we had stuffed shells, which was his dinner request, but since we wouldn't be home for dinner, we had it for lunch.

After lunch we went and got dad to go to the Coralville Aquatic Center. Ammon and I went up to the purple slid and he was tall enough to go on it! He went down the slide over 12 times.

After the pool we went to Taco Bell for a quick dinner. Ammon asked for a mexican pizza and since it was his birthday we said he could get one.

Then it was time for me to go to a Safety Village meeting and Corrine's softball game. Dad took all the kids to the game and I met them there afterwards.

I had a book on hold at the library so we headed there. Corrine, Ammon and Rebecca each signed up for the summer reading program. Corrine and Ammon did a scavenger hunt in the children's room. Ammon picked out books about Taekwondo and Korea.

As we walked to the van I asked Ammon what his favorite part of his birthday was and he said "getting to pick all these books out at the library!" (That made me so happy to hear!)

When we got home at 8:30 we got pj's on and watched "We Bought A Zoo" while eating Klondike bars which was his treat request!

It was such a fun day full of doing things that Ammon requested. I love hearing the fun things they want to do, or eat on their birthday.

Ammon has such a fun and diverse personality. One minute he's silly and wild, the next he's loving and gentle.  He loves to play with friends or siblings, but he also needs his alone time. He is super loving to Rebecca and will be her puppy or servant or bestfriend. He loves to read and can get caught up in a book for a long time.
It's really neat to watch him at Taekwondo. He can go in after having a bad or an unfocused energy day, and instantly he gets focused and calm and he walks out grounded. I love watching the transformation on the "been a hard days."

Last Saturday after his friend birthday party we had a family party with Grandma & Grandpa and Uncle Justin. He got lots of Legos and some neat spy gear.

 

We love you Ammon Eli! We are so greatful to have you in our family each and every day.

Adventureland 2012

We spent a fun filled day at Adventureland thanks to Dance Marathon. Each summer we take them up on the offer to take our family there and feed us lunch. We get to see some of our cancer family friends, but really with how spread out the park is, we end up on our own most of the time.
Some highlights from this years trip.
Corrine, Simeon & dad went on the Space shot for their 1st ride, so Ammon and Rebecca went on the Frogger.
Verdict: Corrine LOVED Space shot and went on it again with dad later on. Simeon decided once was enough. Ammon liked the Frogger, but he's getting too big for it, and Rebecca was scared to death on it!! She had a death grip on the ride and she wanted NOTHING to do with going on it again!!

Puff the Magic Dragon, the airplanes and The Semi's were more her kind of ride. The big kids were all so willing to be her big rider on these rides which meant we got to take pictures and mom & dad got to avoid some much undesired dizziness!

Dad was a awesome dad and said he'd go on a ride that flew you in circles for a few minutes and he paid for it the rest of the day! Poor guy, but great dad!

This year all the big kids were tall enough to go on the Himalaya. They got on and settled with smiles on their faces and then the ride began. Simeon got smooched, Corrine was laughing, Ammon had terror on his face a few times, but they all had fun. They just weren't expecting the ride to slow down like it was ending and then to start back up for another full ride. Simeon was alittle dizzy afterwards. Corrine doesn't know what dizziness is. She went on the Silly Silo 3 times today after all these other dizziness invoking rides and was perfectly fine. She didn't get that from either of her parents!!

Since we had a few of us feeling dizzy we thought some water time would be a good idea. We played in waterpark for a few hours. Rebecca had a great time on the pirate boat kids area, the big kids loved the wavepool and the lazy river was so nice a warm. They added the wavepool and pirate play area this year so the waterpark area is really big. It's a whole waterpark within Adventureland.
The only bummer about today was that the park closed at 8pm, not 10 pm like we're used to. Much to dad's sadness and mom's excitement we didn't get to ride the Ferris wheel. Oh bummer!!