Not a baby anymore!!!

From this.............


To this......

in just four short years. I can't believe how big he has gotten!!! Happy Birthday little man. We love you.

(thank you Laurie for the great picture)

Great Wolf Lodge

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Great Wolf (part 2)

Before Rob left for Iraq we had decided that when he returned we would take the kids for a mini family reconnection vacation to Great Wolf Lodge. Great Wolf Lodge is an indoor waterpark resort hotel. Perfect for winter when you need something to do with the kids. We did head there in December but most of you know what happened then. So a few weeks ago we finally made it down there for our family get away. The kids had no idea that we were going. We picked MacKenzie up from school Friday early and headed down. Once you get off the exit before you get to Great Wolf there is a Sonic. I love Sonic Cherry-Limeades but the closest one is 40 miles from our house. So before we checked in to the hotel we stopped for a few drinks. Kenzie was pissed when we told her that we just took a ride for Sonic. She said "I know we didn't just drive 2 hours for Sonic!" We said sorry and headed out down the road. About 2 minutes later Rob put the blinker on and we turned in and she started yelling in the back seat "I knew it I knew it!!!!" No she didn't. She had no clue. Everyone was excited. We were able to check in and go straight to our room. We surprised the kids this time by upgrading our room to the Wolf Den Suite. This room has a special kids room that looks like a cave on the outside and bunk-beds on the inside. They even have their own TV After we unpacked we suited up to start the weekend. We spent the next three days wearing our bathing suits and getting wet. Only time we stopped was to eat and take naps. While Cam was napping Kenzie went out and enjoyed the MagiQuest game where she can be a wizard with her magic wand. The kids (all three of them) had a blast. I really enjoyed it too. We swam, went down the water-slides, checked out the arcade and just enjoyed being together. I was also lucky enough to be able to sneak away Sunday morning for a wonderful hot stone massage. I was glorious!!!! Overall it was a wonderful vacation. The kids talk about the next time we go to Great Wolf all the time.

Mermaid

For the past year MacKenzie had been taking ice skating lessons. This turned out to be the best thing for her. She thrived out on the ice. And more over she loved it!!! But unfortunately on Feb 6th due to the massive amounts of snow the ice rink collapsed and the building was destroyed. The owners of the rink are working diligently to rebuilt and get it opened up as soon as possible but that could be anywhere up to a year. So we thought it would be good to find a new outlet for MacKenzie's energy. Seeing as she is only a few months away from being 11 and she does not know how to swim we thought that swim lessons would be the best choice. In the beginning she was not feeling it. Since MacKenzie knows everything she was certain that she would sink and drown. After her first two lessons I spoke with the teacher to let her know that we would be missing the next weeks class since we were going on a mini vacation (pictures and blog to follow). She let me know that Kenzie would do well and would be swimming if only she could get over herself and the fact that she was convinced she would sink. I let her know that I would talk to her. The kids did not know that we were going on vacation. After we got there and Kenzie was in the pool Rob and I both worked with her. First we had to get her to go underwater. It took us a few times but she finally tried it and realized that she would be OK. Then Rob told her to hold her breath and go under and try to sit on the bottom of the pool. That is when the light bulb moment happened and we had a break through. As she tried to sit on the bottom since she is so light she couldn't get to the bottom instead she just hovered a few inches off of the bottom and Kenzie realized that she was floating. After that she was trying to swim as much as she could. I think that after the next few lessons she will be swimming. She is even looking forward to jumping off of the diving board this week without a noodle. I will post some pictures from her past lessons and hopefully Monday I will be able to post pictures of her swimming after her lesson on Sunday.

Mini Rainman

So I found out a few weeks ago that Cameron is a whiz at jigsaw puzzles. I had bought a few 24 piece puzzles from target for him to try. So one afternoon we sat down and I showed him the basics to doing them. Then I stepped back and left him to see if he could figure them out. To my surprise he flew through the first one. So on to the next, and next , and next. He completed four puzzles without any help. The next day we went back to the store to get some more and this time harder. The next one was a 63 piece I Spy puzzle. Not a problem. He is amazing. He loves to do them and will take them apart and do them over and over again. Each time he gets faster and faster with them. I also bought him a 100 piece Toy Story puzzle. I think it is time to try that one. I am so proud of him.

Still Here

Yes everyone (mom and Genea) I am still alive. As many of you know life has been very crazy around here. There have been a lot of things good and bad happening in the Swanson household. We are still trying to deal with the loss of Rob's dad. We are also working on school for both kids for next year. Kenzie will be in middle school and Cameron is going to start preschool. So I have been filling out applications for both. Add into that gymnastics, swim lessons, girl scouts, girl scout cookies, Rob going away, me going to the gym and a mini vacation and there is no time or energy for the blog. I have tons of pictures to add so I will get them up as soon as I can. Hang in there I am trying to get everything updated as soon as possible.