Our annual pilgrimage to Steamboat Rock State Park with my family (31 years and counting) was, as always, a  huge success. Out of the 1340 pictures taken by my sister-in-law and I, I have narrowed it to 34 to post. These are not even necessarily my favorites, but they show some highlights of the week. Haley skiied and tubed and swam like crazy, and JT tubed and jumped off the rock and learned to swim (some) without flotation. He still has a ways to go before he’s swimming across the lake, but he did great and we’re excited for him to learn a new skill.

Ski the Rock!

Enjoying the boat

Swimming with Mom

Sleepover with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Gena!

Tubing Girl

Tubing Boy

Aunt Becky & Madi

Getting ready to snorkel

Breakfast in the boat

Lunch on the beach

Swimming!

Jumping!

I was sent to get snacks for a boat trip… and found an ice cream bar.

Banks Lake Turbo Tubing Company, July 2014

Hiked Steamboat all by himself this year!

Cousins

Siblings

Best friends

Ski the Devil’s Punchbowl

Jump!

Watching the skiier

Floating.

Tattoo Day (aka Jim Cole Day)

Observer Seat for Two

Snuggles with Dad

Swim lessons with Madi

Movie night in the boat

Beach buddies

Sad for Preston to leave… happy he’ll be back in September! Go Dawgs!

Jumping together

Getting thrown off (at her request)

Didn’t even hesitate this year!

Ready to go home, a little bit sad…

Good thing we’ll be back in August!

Over the lake on the way home – awesome!

You may have read that Haley could pedal her two-wheel bike (we don’t do training wheels) when I posted about that awhile ago. The problem was that she was exhausted from being so nervous about it, and she didn’t want to try because she said it made her want to cry.

That all changed a week ago, when she declared that she wanted to take her pedal bike to the local elementary school and practice. And viola!

We went to the library yesterday to get some news books and grabbed the materials for the summer reading program. Oh. My. I had no idea my kids would be so excited about this. The librarian did an awesome job talking to them about their new summer reading journals, and they came home ready to start using them.

First, they wrote their names on them in Sharpie. 

JT asked me to take a picture of this. He looks like a poster child for the library!

Next they got to work. We talked about how they could write a few words about the book and draw a picture on the page, one page per book, all summer long. We will see how long this lasts, but we’re off to a great start. Haley wrote “Tallulah Tutu” and drew a picture of Tallulah in her tutu. JT got going on a drawing of a police car from his new book.

Later on, I was reading my Bible study outside in the sunshine. The kids went running into the house to get blankets, books, and their journals. JT practiced reading on his own and wrote in his journal, and Haley wrote about Pinkalicious, and drew Pinkalicious with her six cupcakes. Love it.

Both of our sports commitments ended in the past week. We already miss kickball and t-ball! Jiminy Kick-Its lost in tournament play in the semi-finals. Down two male players (my husband included) because they both couldn’t get off work, the team of nine played well against other fully stocked teams and lost 3-4.

Final game photo

I will miss this little bunch-o-mine on Sundays (plus my buddy Brock, not pictured). The team manager posted on Facebook: “Season long MVP award goes to the hardest working member of our team, Becky Keene. Although never reaching first base she made this season possible for many of us as she successfully watched over our legion of young children.” 🙂 Very sweet.

We followed up the last game with a Father’s Day dinner at our house with friends.

Then we had our end-of-the-season party for t-ball and JT got a trophy from his coach. I hope I never forget his beaming face. He wasn’t expecting it, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him prouder.

Jake and JT

JT and his coach

Last Awesome Hawks huddle!

The end of baseball 2014

This weekend was hot and wonderful! We started with a trip to my parents’ house to celebrate an early Father’s Day. Grandpa had a surprise for the kids… he moved my old play house (that he built for me thirty years ago) to their house so they kids can play in it. It needs some TLC on the outside but the structure is solid, of course, and it just needs some new hinges and paint. The kids were so excited!

Then, after a kickball double header, we went to frozen yogurt to celebrate June birthdays. Somehow we could not get all four to smile at once, so we settled for serious faces. I love how Gracie is trying so hard not to smile. 🙂

We celebrated Carson’s birthday (left, above) by hanging out at a nearby lake on a beautifully hot day. The kids and Jim all swam, and we enjoyed carrot cupcakes and pizza while getting wonderfully warm. Katie took this awesome photo of my muscle man helping Haley swim.

Yesterday I took the kids shopping so JT could get some summer clothes. He is really quite done with 5T shirts, especially if they’ve been washed a bunch and shrunk, and his flip flips are too small. We got some great deals at my favorite stores and he is all set for summer! Check out this goofy pose in Old Navy.

Yesterday my friend Katie and I took our kids to the Bike Safety school offered at a local school. We were among the first to arrive and there were hardly any other families for the first half hour or so, so we got to get the bikes checked by a professional and a tour of the fire truck all to ourselves.

My buddy Brock, stuck in his stroller. Someday!

Then we listened to Officer Hamren teach the kids about bicycle safety when out on the street, and the kids got to practice their skills in an obstacle course that included a working traffic light, stop signs, road obstacles like big fake rocks, and a crosswalk.

Getting ready for the obstacle course

Following Officer Hamren

Walking the bikes on the crosswalk

Finishing the obstacle course

More crosswalk – Katie and I thought this was so cute.

The kids had a great time (mostly the older boys, although Haley completed it once… but Carson was not his usual self and stayed very close to his momma the whole morning). They got certificates and goodie bags too!

Today is my 700th blog post. Wow. How did that happen? I have almost 36,000 page views. I don’t advertise anything on here, and it’s really just for family and friends who live around the country to keep up with us. I felt like I should save something abundantly special for the 700th post. All week long I thought about what would be “blogworthy,” which is the term I use to tag photos in PhotoShop that might make the cut. And then I realized that every day is worthy. I wake up by God’s grace in a comfortable house with plenty of food and clothes, to an amazing husband and two wonderful children. And almost 36,000 times someone has thought “I wonder how the Keenes are doing?” and clicked on our blog. That’s something special right there. So there is nothing out of the ordinary about this post. (I did, however, find a new gadget to post my top five most visited blog posts of all time, at left. Fascinating.)

This past few weeks have been full of transitions for us: no more school for JT, Haley can pedal a bike, and Jim’s work schedule changed completely. There are no pictures of JT out of school, but suffice to say he has been busy doing learning time each morning with me and keeping active the rest of the day as much as possible. Plus, we have another three weeks of baseball. On to Haley.

She is soooo nervous pedaling her bike. Well, it’s JT’s old bike. It fits her and she can do it but she says “I am so nervous I have to try not to cry.” We told her she can keep her balance bike (well, Gracie’s old bike) until the end of summer. We think she’ll be pedaling-by-choice before long.

Jim has been trying to finish a project: putting back the gate on the side of our house where we park the boat. Here he is looking super-manly drilling holes for the posts. Speaking of Jim, his schedule changed (twice, unexpectedly both times) and now he works weekends and day shift: 6:30 am – 4:30 pm. This means we are up eating breakfast at 4:30 am… and yawning by eight at night. It has been a little adjustment but I have to say that I am enjoying the shift more than when he works nights. I just start my day with him and am done with a lot by the time Haley wakes up around seven. His new schedule also allows me to run more often, so I’m enjoying three-day-a-week preparation for the two half-marathons I have lined up in September. Meanwhile, we can’t attend church as a family at Antioch, so we went to an evening service at a church nearby and plan to do that the rest of the summer.

I went to a ladies’ night out cooking event this week hosted by a friend’s church. Tom Small, executive chef at Palisade’s, gave an hour presentation on food, cooking, and technique. It was really fun. My friend Jennifer is married to Tom and has a blog about food and life.
 

We met Jennifer and her girls for a playdate this weekend and the kids had the great idea to drive their truck instead of driving our car. I can’t believe it made it up the big hill across the street from us, but it did!

We are officially done with preschool for JT. His end of the year celebration was at a little farm nearby and it was so much fun!

Haley got to hold a bunny named Rainbow. Wrapped in a baby blanket.

Feeding the goats

Awwww…

Class Photo

Watch out, Mrs. Robin!

So sweet. We will miss her!

Love love love.

And then tonight we had graduation. Travis came with Grandpa and Grandma Keene, and Grandpa and Grandma Cole came too.

Travis and Haley ready to watch.

JT ready to sing. (If you’re not laughing right now, you should be.)

Haley watched closely. We think she is prepping for her turn next year.

 JT is not big on performing. He was so funny to watch.

 

He came alive for the final song.

Afterward, he was excited to see friends, hug his cousin, and go back to our house for ice cream with the grandparents! I also snuck in a picture with Mrs. Robin. Check out his first day of preschool orientation picture with Mrs. Tina, almost two years ago!

JT and Mrs. Robin

We are excited for what comes next… kindergarten for JT in the fall, and four-year-old preschool for Haley.

We had three baseball games this week (and a practice). Things are really getting exciting. The weather on Wednesday was gorgeous so Haley wore her Mariner’s outfit. She is so stinkin’ adorable in it!

We had team pictures so we had to be there early… which meant JT’s dinner got delayed so he finished eating in between innings. Is this baseball or what? 🙂

View from the field

All four grandparents came to Wednesday’s game. Haley was very excited to have people to entertain her for the three innings.

 

Cheering section!

Otherwise she gets a little stir crazy. Like this. 

Friday’s game was cloudy but I got this great picture of Haley… and watched some great baseball.

 

Saturday was the big jamboree. Look at this crowd!

The team waiting for the national anthem.

We went home and grabbed lunch in between the parade and our game time. We thought it might get rained out, but the weather was beautiful! Then we heard the other team wasn’t going to show up. The coach said that the league had something special planned and to come back anyway.

“How about a picture of me like this? I’m a sunshine!” #yesyouare

Sure enough, older players from other teams got together, dressed up super goofy, and played our team. It was so sweet. They hit with pool noodles, lacrosse sticks, and foam fingers. They did the worm from base to base in the dirt. They all sat in the field when our team was up, and crawled to every ball.

JT had a great game! He played pitcher, first base, and catcher. He got a lot of action!

Getting ready to throw to first

 

Tagged him out!

Saturday’s cheering section. Small but mighty.

Watching her brother play

After the game, JT wanted to watch the older kids play while he ate his snack. He asked lots of questions about the rules and why which plays were made. When we got home, he wanted to hit balls in the backyard, with me pitching, because “next year I’ll play coach-pitch and I want to practice.”

Loving it!

We have a new friend named Piper. Well, really, I’m friends with her mom. But we finally coordinated a playdate this week, and the weather was great for photos. We had a nice time and discovered a new play area as well. What a bunch of cuties!

Posing for the camera

 

JT was very protective of Piper going within fifty feet of the road.

Serious face!