Van jumps the dirt pile

Van asked me to video him jumping over the new dirt pile Andy had delivered.

I messed up the first movie though, because I was supposed to wait and interview him afterwards. So here's the retake. He doesn't say much, but he's so cute.

Biking with Van

I went biking with Van and a couple friends from work. He is so fast this year! He was awesome and he can't contain himself on the trail. 'Doing tricks' he calls it. He bikes over roots, rocks, edges, etc. I think it's great, except when he tries to get me to do it.
"No way!" I say.
"Come on mom, just try this small one."
So I do it.
"Wasn't that fun?"
Not really.
But so cute to have Van teaching me things that I am scared to do. I can imagine this happens more in the future...

Clean up day

We went to clean up day at Van's school. We got orange bags and then walked around the roads and trails near his school to pick up trash. When we were done we got pizza and played on the playground.

Esther biking

Sometimes halfway through a bike ride I need to distract Esther from, going the wrong way, stopping to play with rocks, stopping to play with sticks, etc. So I tell her I will make a movie of her biking. Here is one such movie.

04/25/2016

Van came into bed with me around 3:30 this morning. When he woke up at 6:30 he said,
Van: "Mom can I go downstairs and play my Jurassic World game?"
Me: "No."
But then he said,
Van: "Hold on, there's someone I need to check on."
Me: "Van, don't wake up your sister."
Van: "Don't worry, that person is really close"
and he leans over and puts his ear on my tummy.
awwww.

***

Then he had a plan.
Van: "Mom! where's dad?"
Me: "He's in the other room, still sleeping."
Van: "Can I make him a surprise?"
Me: "Sure."

Van wrote 'Dad' in Hershey's chocolate sauce and then lined the chocolate sauce with chocolate chips. He brought it upstairs to a sleeping Andy at 6:45 AM, very pleased. I followed him in.

Van: "And look, I made a treat for everyone"
He presented everyone with a stemless wineglass filled to the brim with chocolate chips. Well Andy's cup was filled to the brim and everyone else's cup was prorated based on their size. Except for Van, who also got a full cup.
Me: "Van, you can't eat that much chocolate, that is about as much chocolate as is in a batch of chocolate chip cookies, for each person."
Van: smile.
Esther was also smiling, she came out of her room in her pajamas holding her chocolate chips, Van must have woken her up too.

A happy morning for everyone, I predict a sugar crash later in the day though...

Bear Valley Hike - the top

Svea must have them all doing their favorite yoga pose.

Here are the kids at the top of the ridge.

New shoes for Van

We got Van some hiking shoes for this season.

What a handsome man.

Hike up Bear Valley

Today we did a hike up Bear Valley towards McHugh.
My pilot.

 And occasional Esther Sherpa.

Pretty soon everyone was so far ahead Esther and I were on our own.

Which was a great opportunity for pictures.

We caught Van's backpack for him

We picked up a lot of rocks.

  Took a few breaks

Then dad rejoined us for the hike down. Which was colder than the hike up.

It's hard to see in the picture but all the kids are coming down the front of the Mountain.

Here's all I saw of Van during the hike, back in the car with all the warm clothes he could find on. When he came down the mountain, he was soaked from sliding in the snow. His shoes were worthless too and kept falling off.

Cousins

The biker gang. Something had just made Esther really mad.

Everyone eating at Svea's house

Bike ride

This weekend we tried a bike ride with a big group of kids and Esther on her own bike. Unfortunately she was the only one not yet on a peddle bike, so we were separated from the group pretty quickly. But we still had fun.
Despite frequent stops. She stops every 3-5 seconds, just to make sure you are coming. And sometimes to play in a tree.

 quick water break