March Vegas Trip

Chris, as a photographer for the Daily Universe Newspaper, had to shoot the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament down in Vegas, so we made it a family trip.  We are very lucky to be able to see Chris's family so often.  Even though it was a bit chilly for Vegas's standard, the girls loved being able to play outside.  As we drove down to Nevada, Kylie got all excited about her great idea....going on a hike there.  So even though it was quite windy, we went "hiking" in the desert near Grandma and Pa Bunker's house.

It was a treat to be able to picnic at the park with Pa.

Grandma and Kylie

Kylie hiked up anything and everything.

Ellie was eager to climb up everything too.

Our Little Fishies

If you ask Kylie and Ellie what they would like to do today, most likely their answer is, "Go SWIMMING!"  We have been blessed with two little girls who have taken to the water like a fish to, well, uh water!  It is fun to see how much they love being in the water (I do too!)  Both of them have become real brave and adventurous as the summer has progressed.

Ellie loves splashing, going down slides and can even go under the water (when she closes her mouth!).  She will walk right into the deep end of the pool without hesitation (yes, we have to watch her closely!).  And at the kiddie pool, she just walks around looking for adventure.  Even in the "deeper" parts, she will sit down in the water so it comes up over her head for a second and get back up by herself......smiling the whole time.  For a while, if made me so nervous!  Now, it is cute and I just stay real close in case she needs some help getting back up.  When we are at Seven Peaks, Ellie gets excited and points to the big water slides, wanting to go down them.  Oh, not for a few more years El Belle!

Kylie would really stay in the pool all day if we let her.  She loves the freedom her floaty gives her (thank you Gma A) and swims everywhere by herself.  We have worked a little on her "scooping" so that she can learn how to swim, but she just likes to do her own thing most of the time.  She has always loved going down the slides at the pool and this year does them by herself.  Because she is so excited though, she sometimes forgets to close her mouth. :)  And most recently, she has learned to jump off the diving board!  After doing so, we were watching some diving on the Olympics and Kylie got real excited and asked, "When will I learn that?"  Though, she did try to jump off backwards already, I think she needs to learn how to swim without her floaty before we teach her about reverses, flips and twisters!

Well, I put together a little video with some of the footage I have taken of the girls swimming this summer.  We haven't taken the video camera to Seven Peaks yet, where they are the most active in the kiddie pools and slides, but this still shows their undying love for the water.  And, I suppose, there will be lots more swimming this summer.....

A week in Vegas

Well, the little girls and I just got back from our 3 week long vacation.  Yes, it was a lot of traveling.... by both plane and car (driving through 12 states).  Yes, it was a long time to be away from home and a very long time to be away from Chris/Daddy.  But we got to visit lots of grandparents and spend time with lots of family.

We all left on our journey (including Chris) in the beginning of June to head down to Vegas for Benson's High School graduation.  (Yea!  Congrats Ben!  You are awesome!)  It was a blast having the whole family together.  Chris left Sunday night while we stayed until Thursday when we flew to Wisconsin.  Kylie loved going swimming and to the splash park.  Ellie got her first hair cut at Brooke's salon.  And we all enjoyed the shark reef at Mandalay Bay.

 

Kylie watching Mr. Crocodile 

 

The fish is bigger than Ellie!

 

Grandpa Bunker helping Kylie pet the stingray.

 

They were cool and slimy.
 

 

Ellie's first official haircut.  (Juice boxes help distract!)

 

Thanks Aunt Brookie! 

(We forgot to take a picture after her haircut, but you will see plenty of her in upcoming posts.)

 

Snuggling with Uncle Ben while watching Snow White.  I took this at the wrong time though....right after Snow White had bitten the apple.  You can tell that Kylie was worried, even though she was trying to smile for the camera. :)

 

Ellie chillin' on Ben's lap while riding around.

 Next blog post:  Wisconsin, our next travel stop.

A Sandy Adventure

Usually Chelsa is the one who is good about posting things about our family, but we are pretty much finished with another project and it feels good to be done so I thought I'd do the post...

And the girls seem to love it:  Their new sandbox.

Kylie's lipstick

So Kylie found some of GG's lipstick in her bathroom.....I don't need to say anything else. 

 

I guess she wanted her face and hands to match her dress!  This was the first time she has ever done anything like this...and it was kind-of funny.  She even gave Momma Bear some hot pink lips.  And by some miracle, she didn't get any lipstick anywhere else.

Chris's mom was in town for a day and the girls were very excited to play with her.  We decided to check out Jump Around Town, this new place that has a couple of bounce houses, blowup slides and a bounce pillow (which was pretty fun for all of us). Kylie loved chasing Daddy and Grandma (and being chased) and Ellie loved the bounce pillow.  I was surprised at how well she walked and bounced on it.  What good balance she has!

 

Grandma and Ellie

 

All tuckered out...and wanting a snack.

 

Kylie pretending to be asleep so she doesn't have to go.