Gym Rats

My girls spend a lot of time at the volleyball gym.  They get very creative while they are there.  There is a large storage closet off the main gym, it is filled with PE equipment and my girls have decided this is their personal play space.  They have forts and are always creating all kinds of ways to pass the time.  I loved the hula-hoop forts they made at practice the other day.  They each had one and then sat and read their books and did their homework in them.  

Before school started, the girls were working on summer goals.  They all had some running goals, so they were frequently running around the gym keeping track of their laps.  Now that school is in session, they spend less time at the gym, but they love coming to the games and hanging out with the varsity girls and playing with the team managers.   

First Day of School

These girls are getting big.  Estelle is in first grade.  She was so excited to start school, she was practically bouncing off the walls the whole weekend before we started.  She has Mrs. Nelson this year and is so excited to learn and participate in school.  

Sienna is in third grade.  She is so excited for advanced math this year. Third Grade is the first time they start separating kids by skill level and she has really been looking forward to being challenged at school.  

Natalia is in fifth grade.  She has Mrs. Dimes and she is super into Harry Potter.  We visited the classroom before school started and saw that the whole classroom was decked out in Harry Potter themes.  Natalia was excited and I could tell it would be a good fit. 

End of Summer Fun

Summer has come and gone, but the good memories don't go away.  We had a great time at volleyball camp with Grandpa and Hailey here.  Both Sienna and Natalia got to participate this year in camp and Estelle had fun watching the big kids practice with Grandpa.  After Grandpa and Hailey left we had four weeks of summer left before school started.  We tried to fit in as much fun as possible in between spending lots of time at the gym for volleyball practice.  

We did a ninja warrior course, went bowling, spent lots of time at the pool and spent a couple days at local water parks, the girls helped our neighbors with service projects, we played with friends, and spent time with Auntie Krystale while she recovered from her surgery.  We watched movies and had fun being together and getting ready for school.  It was a fun few weeks.  

Art Class

The girls took an art class during the week of volleyball tryouts.  It was awesome and taught by one of the boys from church.  He is an amazing artist and was raising money for art school.  All three of the girls got to take the class, it was for a couple of hours each day that week and the girls absolutely loved it.  They were so excited to show Hector and me all their great new art skills.  The last day I got to come and see all that they created.  It was such a fun week.  

Alaska Cruise

Our Alaska Cruise was awesome.  I am convinced that cruising in best in groups.  It is such and easy way to travel with other people.  It was so great to have my sisters and their husbands for a whole week of fun.  We all missed our kids, but at the same time really enjoyed having a whole week of adult time.  Plus, we knew our kids were in good hands.  

The pictures are all in random order, but the fun never stopped from the time that we got on the boat until we got off, so the order does not really matter.  We ate so much food; I gained six pounds and every pound was totally worth it.  Haha, I'm not kidding, I love eating and the food was great.  

We played a ton of silly game show games and trivia's.   We were so well known by the end of the week for our involvement in all the contests that the entertainment staff left a bag of personal gifts for us and a thank you note for making all the games so fun.  

We saw lots of fun shows, ranging from musicals, to comedy and magic.  The most fun was watching Tyler compete in The Voice competition.  I have never seen the TV show, but apparently is was just like the show.  He practiced all week and it was so fun to cheer for him; he was awesome!

We enjoyed our ports.  Each one was a little different.  We walked around the little towns; there are a million jewelry shops, but Leah got us into a hunt for free gifts from all the shops.  We ended up with a bunch of fun souvenirs for our kids.  We also saw glaciers, waterfalls, lots of totem poles, historic buildings and cute shop lined streets.  We visited a coupe museums and did a majestic and physically brutal hike...but totally worth it.  

Super early one morning we sailed into a Tracey's Arm.  So we got up early and watched the views.  It was real cold that morning and apparently I was the only one who brought a warn jackets, but Rachel found creative ways to stay warm.  Surprisingly, the rest of the week was really quite warm. 

The Scagway hike was beautiful.  Leah used to live in this little town and she already knew about this great hike.  As we came into port she pointed out this mountain peak and said we were hiking there.  The tree line looked so far away, but a few hours later we were up at the top looking down at the boats in port.  It was the only the cruise ship looked tiny.  The hike felt like it was straight up, but the views were amazing and worth every drop of sweat it took to get up there.