Patagonia Lake

We've been planning a camping trip for a while. The first weekend we were going to go Rachel woke up sick in the wee hours of the morning of the day we were going to be camping, so we postponed for a week. The next week it was going to be super windy and not warm enough to swim, and since we were going to Patagonia Lake we thought it would be nice to go when it's warm enough to swim. So we postponed again. A YW campout and the RRC picnic pushed it back a couple more weeks, and finally the first weekend of May we went. It was windy again and not going to be all that warm, but we had postponed long enough, so we went anyway. The kids were ready to go long before Dad got home. They were playing with the camera while they waited for him to get home. Here's one of the kids' "Yay! Dad's home!" pictures.

 And then we were off.

 We managed to get the tent set up despite the wind and roasted some hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire before the kids were serenaded to sleep by the mariachi music our neighbors were playing for all of the campers to enjoy. (They had a hard time falling asleep because of the music, but thankfully a ranger came by and told them quiet hours had started at 9:00 and they needed to turn it off so by the time the adults went to sleep it was quiet.)

All the kids except Megan slept well. Megan came and slept next to me for most of the night, which helped her sleep some, but negatively affected my quality of sleep. Luckily I go camping with very low expectations, so I slept about as good as I expected to. I woke up with the sun, started a fire and hot chocolate for the kids to enjoy as they woke up.

Megan was especially cute.

 Ryan woke up to use the facilities around 5am and I was afraid he wouldn't go back to sleep because it was fully light. But he turned out to be the longest sleeper of the group.

 We had scrambled eggs (omelets for the adults) in a bag and toast for breakfast. Then Rachel sat around reading the book I had brought for myself. Thief.

 After we had camp mostly packed up we went on a walk to the kids' favorite bridge.

 After our walk, the kids had some fun on the beach and wading in the water up to their knees. I didn't bring swimsuits because it wasn't very warm. And I was glad to not have suits because the kids would have swum anyway, and I would have had to go into that frigid water with them.

 They were perfectly content searching for treasures and playing with the sand toys we brought. We ate lunch on the ride home and got home in time for Megan to get a decent nap in. Overall, it was a camping success.

Pima Air and Space Museum

Jacob's work does a family picnic every year or two at some fun place around town. This year it was the Pima Air and Space Museum. We've been before, but I don't think any of the girls remembered it, though Ryan and Jacob went not too long ago. We had a fun time. And it was free. Can't beat that. :)

They had a new playground, which was the kids' highlight of the day.

They also liked the air control tower with all the buttons and lights.

We visited the moon while we were there.

The space exploration display was pretty cool. It was really the only place we explored much besides the main hangar.

After we were through there the kids were ready to go home, though we did walk the long way back to see some more planes.

Ryan really liked this plane that you could move the controls and see the flaps on the wings and the tail move as you worked the controls. It was hard to tear him away.

Ryan wanted a hat, and wasn't too particular when the only unclaimed hat in the stroller was a very girly hat. He and Megan matched. :)

Good food, good fun. We love Rincon Research Corporation--they treat their employees well.

Potty training

For several months Megan has been anti-diaper. Every time she'd wet her diaper she'd get mad and pull at it and take it off. She also really liked sitting on the potty. I figured she'd lose interest. All my kids around 18 months started to be interested in the potty, then they'd have a couple months of not, then a month of potty interest again, and all have finally been potty trained around their second birthday, though after Rachel I tried to put it off longer for each of them. They wouldn't let me.

Megan wouldn't even let me wait until her second birthday. I figured that since we're going on a road trip in July to Idaho, after that would be good for potty training. That way she could have diapers in the car and we would have one less bladder to worry about stopping for. But after a couple months of this taking off the diaper every time she peed, she began taking it off before she needed to. I think it's partially because she has a bladder of steel and can hold it so long that no matter what size diaper she has on it would overflow and leak on her pants almost every time. And she REALLY hates wet clothes. So it was either clean up the puddles or teach her to use the potty.

Once I had decided to just go for it I realized that my schedule was crazy in April and there wasn't any day for 2 weeks that we could just stay at home for the whole day and do a potty party with lots of liquid and get her a lot of practice using the potty. So we did a few hours here and there. Then some kid got sick and forced some plans to be cancelled, so we took advantage. She did mediocre. She got about 50% in the potty, less on #2. Luckily the only time she doesn't fight about getting a diaper on is when we're leaving the house. Apparently getting in the car is a good enough incentive that she'll give in to her arch nemesis.

Then all of a sudden last weekend when we were at the Air and Space Museum she told me two separate times, "Pah-ee teat!" and held it until we got to the bathroom, used the toilet, and happily got her potty treat. Since then she's had maybe 3-4 accidents in the whole week. Usually when she's playing outside and apparently doesn't want to stop the fun. And she's gotten #2 in the toilet every time except today when she had removed her diaper when she woke up from her nap, but was stuck in her crib and couldn't get to the potty on her own. I heard her calling "potty" and ran and got her a little too late, but she finished on the toilet.

The girl really doesn't like the potty and definitely prefers the toilet. I guess she wants to be like the rest of us. Unless Ryan tries to use her potty then she gets mad and makes him get off so she can sit on it. Every time I ask "Do you have to go potty?" she replies "No!" I guess she's almost 2 and must answer every question with no. If she does have to go for real, a few seconds later she'll declare, "Potty treat!" and run in to use the potty.

I'll call it a success. And though it is my most hated parenting job, I have to admit it wasn't so bad this time. Though usually the part I hate is what comes over the next few months where they have weeks where they don't care about the toilet at all and have 3 accidents a day for a week, then it magically relsolves itself for another few weeks or months. We'll see how that goes.

The Fair

We went to the Pima County Fair this year. Grandma and Grandpa Knight were able to come join in the fun for a while, too.

Knight Ryan:

 Princess Rachel:

 Ryan was so happy to get to drive this green motorcycle all by himself.

 The girls and Ryan and I got to ride a small roller coaster. We had fun.

 We found the carousel. Megan does NOT want to ride on any of the animals. The bench is excitement enough for her.

 We also got to go to the petting zoo at the fair.

Megan loved looking at the animals but did NOT want to touch any of them. She would not let us put her down in there. Animals are terrifying and fascinating all at the same time.

April activities

We may have started a new General Conference tradition this year. On Saturday between conference sessions we went on a bike ride on the Julian Wash trail and had a picnic.

 The kids are getting more and more endurance so it's fun to be able to go on slightly longer bike rides. We're glad to have this paved, vehicle-free trail so close to our house. It worked great to get a little exercise in, then head back to sit around for another 2 hours watching more great talks at General Conference.

 Annie and I spent a good bit of Sunday's conference putting together puzzles while we listened. We finished this 100 piece puzzle, then started on a 500 piece puzzle, which Annie claimed she would help me with. But mostly I did it myself. :)

Rachel did The BFG for her reading fair project this year. She did a great job and hers was selected as one of the top projects from her class that went on to be judged in the school-wide reading fair.

 We have been planning on going camping as a family, but when the day came Rachel had caught a stomach bug Annie and Ryan had had earlier in the week, so we postponed it for a week. When the next week rolled around it was super windy and the weather was going to be pretty cool. Since we were planning on camping at Patagonia Lake we thought it would be worth it to wait until we could actually get in the lake without the kids getting hypothermia, so we postponed it again. Hopefully this weekend it works out.

Instead of camping we were able to go to our ward BBQ. Ryan and Megan were pretty cold and we hadn't brought jackets because it's April and it didn't even cross our minds that it might be cold enough for jackets (yes, we knew it was too cold for camping, but that was supposed to be in the middle of the night that it was too cold). Ryan kept asking if there was a jacket in the car, so I went to check and we did have one. It was size 9 months. Megan at least had long pants and socks and shoes on, where Ryan had shorts and sandals, and he had been the one so insistent on us looking for the jacket, so we let him have it.

 He insisted that we zip it up for him, too. I was surprised that it even went on him at all.

 Ever since our trip to Idaho where Ryan got to ride on the super fast green motorcycle, green has become Ryan's favorite color. One morning when he was wearing green pajamas, Ryan happened upon a few other green things he began collecting.

 Annie has been participating in a co-op preschool/book club this semester. It was our turn to have the kids at our house for a few weeks in April. We had a lot of fun with everyone coming to play. We did one week reading books about pets and making pet rocks, and another week reading popcorn books and making popcorn bird feeders and eating popcorn for snack. The kids spent a lot of the time swinging and swinging and swinging.

 Sunday all ready for church:

 They wanted to get on our bed next to the picture of Jesus for a picture, too.

 The kids got a kick out of trying on Daddy's glasses.

We pulled out the slip and slide one of the warmer days. The kids had a good time.

 This is their new "thing" they do all the time.

 Apparently getting in the bin where we keep all the yard toys/balls is a great place to hide or relax.