Super busy guy

Here's a quick rundown of Cam's weekend:
HSM3
Parade
Lunch party
Tailgating
Football
Morning hike and picnic
Halloween neighborhood party

When Cam went to bed tonight, he told me this was the best day ever. Not the first time he's ever said that, but he's certainly had a great weekend. That's for sure. The movie was awesome for anyone who loves the High School Musical series. Cam and I (and Jordan) jammed to the show. Cam barely moved the entire time except to grove to the songs. He's tried to sing one song that he hasn't downloaded yet - "The Boys are Back." He was just as excited when he got to wear his costume tonight. The moment he puts that thing one he gets into character. It's awesome. I have a thousand pictures that are on our Flickr page - I don't have enough time to post all of them on this website!

Preview of the school year

So... I hate to be whiny. But Cam didn't get my dream teacher for the school year. I'll get over it. To add to the stress, his assigned teacher will not start the school year with her students because her husband is very sick. So I met the temporary teacher who was asked to come out of retirement. She spent 14 years teaching first grade at our school before she retired. I spoke to her about our terrible summer school experience and she looked me straight in the eye and said in the 23 years she taught, she never sent a student to the principal. I hope that's true. To me, that was a good start for the school year.

Cam and I had a good time together the last few days and I think we're headed into the school year with a good state of mind. We went to the local indoor play place yesterday -- he ran around and climbed and had fun. Then we played in the arcade area - I've never spent money on arcade prizes before so he was really excited. He also had a great time playing with another neighbor kid who was out of town all summer. I think I convinced his mom to let him join us in our daily neighborhood-wide walk to school. The more kids, the more fun the walks!

By the way -- that's a picture from our big hike over the weekend. I just think it's sweet and worth posting.

Morning hike

Cam and I had a really nice morning. First, he let us sleep in by keeping busy and continuing to destroy his messy room. Second, he and I let Daddy and Jordan sleep while we drove out to a nearby trail for a hike. I'm not sure what the distance is, but it's pretty substantial. We talked, we listened to natural music (animal noises (crickets and frogs) and the wind blowing and the birds chirping) and ran around enjoying the slow arrival of Spring. We had a really nice time. When we got home we were refreshed, happy and ready for more fun.

The whole family went to see Horton Hears a Who! It was wonderful. We all giggled a lot and as usual, Cam was VERY focused on the movie. Now he and Jordan are napping before we run off for a book buying session thanks to Grandma and Grandpa's Easter gift cards! A fun day for all.

Warm and happy

It was so warm out that we got to go on a hike today! Cameron was a trooper and walked to a cool playground and back to the car with minimal complaint. It was clear that he had an amazing amount of energy cooped up inside him. I swear he ran more than walked for most of the walk.

He also got to bring out the baseballs and bat... And he has a lot more force than last year. He also seemed to have more focus. It could be a very interesting t-ball season when it starts in April. Cam also worked on his basketball skills. If things get warm enough, we're going to start working on riding bikes again. One of our neighbors mentioned how they were thinking about selling their bike attachment that lets your kid pedal, but it's attached to your bike. I should have bought one of those a long time ago... But I think this is the right opportunity. Cam can use it as the step towards really riding a bike and then Jordan can follow.

A warm day really helped improve the mood here. The air has been so cold and uncomfortable, it's been tough to stay sane. I know Cam's had a hard time lately. Getting sick and having a lot of days off from school -- it's great to get out and run.

Fall, glorious Fall.

Today was gorgeous. So I grabbed the kids and headed out for a hike. Cam is a fantastic hiker... Except when he forgets to watch his feet. Not long into today's hike, he starts running, trips on a rock and falls flat on his face. No injuries, but a great reminder that you have to watch your feet. He was great the rest of the time and actually quickly recovered from his fall. We admired the trees that are past the peak color so we admired the leaf covered hills, we admired a piece of bark that became his sword for the rest of the trip, we had fun taking pictures (yes, that's my official Fall pic of the kids for this year), Cam bravely climbed across a huge tree trunk a couple of times, we checked out a cave and Cam was BEGGING to go deeper into it (but I couldn't since the baby was on my back in the backpack and I didn't want to bang her head on the cave ceiling)... It was just a great time.

As we drove home, I asked the kids if they had fun and they both yelled: "YEAH!" Then Cam said: "Thanks for taking me out on the hike!" He said the same thing as I closed the door after putting him to bed. So dang sweet.

When we got home, the kids and I had a leaf fight. We chased each other with leaves and giggled a lot. Jordan kind of chased around with us. It was great.

These are the kind of days I live for as a Mommy.

Hiking pro

Cameron continued to show his hiking prowess. We hiked close to 2.5 miles AND then we hiked another mile to visit a really cool cave. Cam barely complained and he actually was interested in exploring inside the cave! I didn't bring a flashlight and I didn't feel very balanced to really go in with Jordan on my back. But it was really great to spend so much time outside with the kids.

After the big hike, we got some ice cream and enjoyed it at a really great park where I saw a bunch of people who have kids at Cam's old school. Cam climbed to the very top of the tallest piece of playground equipment and went down the tunnel slide again and again and again. It was amazing. Of course he screamed REALLY loud every time. Funny stuff.

After dinner, Cam even got a chance to meet up with a pre-school friend at the local indoor kid playground place. We were there for an hour and it was great to see the kids play again. But man, we packed a TON of stuff into the day. Hopefully Cam will sleep really well.