adventures of the miebs family: August 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

bounce house blues

surprise! it's raining again! but, today went from drab to fab - dada came home early! we no sooner finished our late breakfast (ok, lunch!) when i got the call that someone special was just a few miles from home. forever wanting to surprise the kid with, well, a surprise, i let mr. dada walk through the door and get the surprise face for himself. jb's eyes light up if you mention the s-word. he usually ends up wiggling, barely able to contain his excitement. i really need a better picture of his silliness. but...

isn't this fantastic?

so with dada home because of our nasty rainstorm, we decided to load up our brood and head over to bouncin' bears. it's not a place we've been in close to 6 months, mostly because of the span of the kid's ages; dylan not quite old enough to really grasp the whole jumping thing (let alone, her ability to then get up) and jb wanting a playmate by his side to jump along with him. we were fully expecting dylan to at least run amuck with her big brother, but were met with crocodile tears and terrified howls. i'm still scratching my noggin, trying to figure out what was so frightening about taking our daughter to a bounce house. regardless, jb had a blast, playing with his dada, but we had to take turns consoling the red-headed rascal from the sidelines.

take note.

air by benji

she didn't get the memo that this was supposed to be FUN...

but jack did!

i wish i could have captured that big, open-mouth grin!

wrapped.

you're making me play!

"it's a bootiful day up in mountains"

yes ok, i haul my kids up mountains. a lot. jb went on his first hike when he was 7 months old, strapped to my back with great thanks to a kelty purchase. then before i knew it, he was ready to clamber up himself, but needing much supervision on our descents. that was last year. this summer? he's a big boy, rarely needing help up or down. (unless of course, if it's one of those dreaded whiney days...) now, he points to pioneer peak and proclaims: i hike dat with dada, you stay back home with duey. where motherhood used to consist of my babes going where i wanted to go and doing what i wanted to do, i'm now referring to jb to call some shots. and most days, he wants to go hike up in mountains, mama. i love it.

since jack was a tiny tot, he noticed the scenery surrounding us from all sides. probably because i never stop praising them, he now carries on most mornings during our ride to school about the mountains so pretty or it's bootiful day up in the mountains. once, he told me he wanted to hug them. what a precious boy.

this day, after countless days of midwest-style rainstorms, the clouds rolled on and left us with stunning blue skies and warmth from the sun - my version of perfect hiking weather, but it does make for instantly-sticky-sweaty situations. so on this trip, the kids were extra whiney, but reaching the top, they were suddenly filled with energy, jumping from rock cluster to rock cluster, scarfing sandwiches, picking wildflowers and playing in the long grass. and the other great thing about the sunshine and a hike? guarantees a solid afternoon snooze. us mama's live for those nap times, huh?