A Day at Lynx Lake

June 22, 2013

In our neck of the woods we are lucky to have several lakes and forest areas nearby to enhance our Arizona desert scenery.  Several of the Kleinman brothers and their families gathered at Lynx Lake for same family summer fun.  All the kidlets were beyond excited to take the paddle boats out for a spin or two.  We loaded as many kids as we could into the two paddle boats and let the big strong dads take them for a ride around the lake.  The down side to having only one adult in the boat is they get the full force of the work load paddling those boats around.  The dads definitely got their exercise for the day in. 

Curtis and I were able to take a boat out just the two of us.  We found a secluded little nook in the lake and took time for a few little smooches and then felt bad for abandoning our sister-in-law with all our kidlets so we headed back to the dock.  It was a memorable 15 minute date.

When our boat rental was up we found a picnic table in the shade and tired to get the kids to eat their lunches.  They were climbing all over trees, rocks and each other as well as swapping out their lunch items because someone else's lunch always looks better then their own.

After lunch we headed down to the rocky beach for some greatly anticipated fishing.  The chances of any of our kids actually catching a fish were none existent with all the splashing and rock throwing going on.  Luckily they were content to cast and reel.  It made them feel like pros.

A Slipin' and A Slidin'

June 2013

The summer is heating up and we are cooling down any way we can.  Our kiddie pool met an unfortunate end last summer, so for now we have the slip'n'slide and our crazy sprinkler to help us pass the summer in comfort.

Idaho Visit

June 5th - 15th

The boys and I really enjoyed our time in Idaho.  Our days were filled with family, playing with cousins, swimming, outdoor adventures, and lots of love from Grandma and Grandpa.

   

One afternoon we packed up our swimming gear and took a little drive to Downey, ID for some fun in the sun at Downata Hot Springs.  Nathan was brave and went down the giant tube slide.  We mostly spent our time swimming in the big pool with all the little kids.  Grandma packed lots of delicious snacks so we could swim, eat and swim some more. 

All five Corey and Lucy King grandchildren.

(Nathan 6, Bracken 3, Marco 1, James 3, Same 1)

Almost daily Nathan and Bracken beg to go and ride at the skate park across the street from my parent's home.  Tia Aubrey was super nice to take them over so they could "haul rub!" and feel like cool dudes.

Tia Marci and her friend Christina were superstars in the eyes of my little cowboys.  They took them out driving in the truck, went shooting, drank soda pop and lived it up hill billy style.

Nathan had a special fishing trip with Grandpa King and he caught his first fish ever!  When they came home Grandpa cleaned it up and cooked it right away.  Nathan ate his first fresh water Idaho trout and he liked it!

Temple Square

Before we headed home to Arizona, we spent a day in Salt Lake City with Great Grandma King.  Tia Marci and Christina took us all out fishing and the little trout were plentiful in this creek.

Bracken waded out into the creek with his boots on!

As always it was bitter sweet to leave.  We love our Grandma and Grandpa King, Tia Aubrey and Tia Marci and we love visiting Idaho, but we missed our Papi.  I decided to take it a bit easy on our drive home.  The boys were great sports and did wonderfully on our drive home.  We made a pit stop in St. George, UT.  I knew the boys were enjoy stretching their legs and releasing some wiggles so we found and park and the boys were thrilled with the playground.  We had been there about 15 minutes when we realized this little park had a stream running through it.  It was a HOT summer day and the water felt heavenly.  Marco especially loved wading in the cool water.

After our spontaneous pit stop and some lunch the boys were primed and ready for a nap.  My little traveling pros, oh how I love you!

Idaho Trip - King Reunion

Paul and Marillyn King Reunion
June 7, 2013
Salt Lake City, Utah

On June 5 I headed out of Prescott Valley at 7 a.m. with my 3 little boys all buckled in their seats without Curtis.  We tagged behind Tia Marci all the way to Salt Lake City.  The boys traveled like champs.  I had their little backpacks loaded with toys and activities, snacks and munchies galore, and the DVD player all set up for Nathan to operate.  We rocked out to our favorite tunes, ate Swedish fish, and luckily the boys were able to take several little naps between their meals and movies to help the time pass easily.  It wasn't a complete cake walk, Marco had one fit in the afternoon just before he conked out for a long nap.  Tia Marci was a BIG help when we stopped to stretch our legs, go potty, and top off the gas tanks.  She helped herd the boys and fill up water bottles.  We made a little pit stop in Salt lake City to visit Great-Grandma King while letting out some wiggles and then we hit the road again for Idaho.  Thirteen and a half hours later we arrived.

A few days later we headed back to Salt Lake City for our King Reunion.  I really enjoyed seeing my extended family again.  Most of my cousins are married and have growing families too.  There were lots of little kids and several brand new babies to keep us all busy.  We had a special family history presentation about our King ancestors from England, some inspirational devotionals from our Uncles, cowboy themed activities to keep the kids occupied and a really yummy lunch.

In the afternoon we all went swimming, enjoyed a volleyball tournament and some square dancing.  I did not get a chance to enjoy the dancing because, after locking my keys in the car first thing after arriving at the reunion and having a nice AAA man get them back out for me, I ended up locking my keys in the car a 2nd time after swimming.  Unfortunately Marco was also in the car and buckled in his car seat.  In fact he was the culprit who locked himself in the car.  Marco grabbed the keys from me to play with while I loaded up all the towels and bags of swimming gear.  The minute I closed his door and before I opened the front door he pushed the lock button.  I was stupefied.  I was able to flag down my Mom before she headed back to the chapel and she called AAA again.  Knowing there was a baby inside made them rush the order but I was still a nervous wreck.  Within a few minutes Marco started to sweat.  At first he was happy and I tried to play a game with him to encourage him in pushing more buttons like the Unlock button, but he never did.  He managed the alarm button several times and the lock button again, but never the unlock button.  We covered my van with towels to try and keep the car as cool as possible but it had been sitting in full summer sun for a few hours while we went swimming and was already hot.  When Marco started crying, I started crying.  It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced to date.  My Mom had ice water prepped and ready, Tia Marci was standing at the end of the road ready to flag down the AAA truck and I stood by Marco's window trying to calm him down and keep myself sane.  I'm not sure how much time passed in total, I lost all concept of time, to me it felt like forever.  But the AAA guy, the same guy who opened up my van earlier that morning, had  my van unlocked in seconds once he arrived.  I scooped out Marco, we poured water down his throat and wiped him off with a cold, wet towel.  And I bawled some more.  I would have much preferred the squared dancing.

After Marco and I were sufficiently recovered from our dramatic experience we went back to the chapel and arrived just in time for dinner.  Pizza and root bear floats.  Unfortunately I didn't have much of an appetite.  After dinner and a slide show of old family pictures we held our traditional King Reunion Talent Show.  My family had prepared several numbers for the program some of which were just me and my sisters.  We had WAY too much fun practicing and tweaking them to perfection.  At one point we were all sitting around our parent's kitchen table and laughing so hard we were crying.  I love being with my sisters, and I especially love singing with them!

And our other songs are here and here.

Hello Summertime!

I think we've started a new tradition.

For the last day of school we decided it would be fun to ambush Nathan with a water fight.  We had water balloons filled and ready, water guns and blasters loaded and ready for action, and buckets of water strategically placed for reloading purposes. 

Papi, Bracken and myself hid by the front door as Nathan got off the bus.  Nathan had no idea he was about to get soaked!

Bracken was a ninja warrior that afternoon and  I'm pretty sure the costume gave him some killer moves.

Spirit Week

During the last week of school Nathan had fun participating in spirit week.  In typical spirit week fashion each day had a different theme for the kids to have fun with.  They had hat day, skittle day, tie day, super hero day, and my favorite career day.

At first I wasn't sure how to interpret career day because usually career day is when parents come in and share with the class what they do for a living, or at least that's what it is in the movies.  We decided that Nathan would dress like his future dream career which at the moment was College Spanish Professor, Papi was extremely proud.  Nathan wore glasses, a polo, loafers and a name tag made from one of Papi's business cards.  He was super adorable. 

When he came home that afternoon I asked him how the day went and he said that some kids made fun of his career costume, but he didn't care because he thought it was awesome!  Nathan's peers may not have appreciated his career costume but I met several adults of the next several days that mentioned his Spanish Professor apparel and the fact that is was super original and adorable.  I guess we have a mold breaker on our hands!

Toothbrush Fetish

Marco is obsessed with toothbrushes.  For a while I haven't had to worry about the bathroom doors being closed because Marco wasn't attacking the toilet paper or toilet anymore.  But then our toothbrushes started to go missing and Marco was the culprit.  I have found toothbrushes all over the house.  In the laundry hamper, garbage cans, toy bins, under beds, behind couch pillows, outside and in kitchen cupboards.

A few weeks ago during our Saturday house cleaning, the vacuum turned off all on its own.  Nathan was very worried that he was going to be in trouble and he kept assuring me that he didn't do anything bad while he was vacuuming the sun room.  I put his little mind to rest that I  wasn't upset at him, I was just  frustrated that the vacuum was not functioning and I didn't know why.  It's only 3 years old and I have taken really good care of it.  I started to take the vacuum apart.  And what did I find?  Two brushes jammed in the curved crook off the hose that empties into the canister.  Marco was the culprit.  Those tooth brushes had been missing for at least 2 months and all the while we were using our vacuum never knowing that it was a ticking time bomb ready to blow the motor at any moment.  After some research I learned that the vacuum we have shuts off automatically like it did for Nathan, to prevent motor damage when it starts to over heat.  I started to feel that maybe there was a glimmer of hope and my vacuum was not all the way dead just resting.  I cleaned it out really good and let it sit for 2 hours per the manufacturers instructions and said a little prayer.  Boy were we glad when the vacuum roared back to life after cooling off and it was just as good as new.

Needless to say, we try to keep the bathroom doors closed and our toothbrushes safe and sound.