Viva LAS VEGAS!

We spent the last week of August eating too much in Las Vegas. Dave had an IRS Seminar, so the kids and I tagged along and kept him company. Here we are in front of the Bellagio Hotel, right after the water show. Samantha aspires to be some kind of dancing-water-light choreographer now, and Michael just wanted to go for a swim.

The first night we were there, Skiffington and his new fiance Colbie (CONGRATULATIONS!) were there for her brother's wedding. We ate at Hash House a Go Go (just looke at those portions) and then rolled around the strip for a couple of hours together.

Here are the kids in front of the Cactus Botanical Garden/Chocolate Factory. They got to see and sample some delicious Mars chocolate.

Sam and Mike in front of the Shark Reef at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. They saw a white crocodile (Mike's favorite), and Samantha got brave and touched some people-friendly sting rays. Mike was nervous about the rays. I was holding him and got close to touching one, and he started screaming. I nearly fell in the pool. And the announcer lady was like, "See over there, if you make a big splash like that, all the rays are going to swim away from you. You have to show some respect to the animals." Gee, thanks, lady.

Goofing off at Circus Circus. Check out Samantha's eyes. She tries so hard to cross them, but she can only get one to really focus inward. Do you think I should ask her pediatrician about it?

Scawy tigers

After our wild weekend, we spent a couple of days in Lehi, Utah on the way home. We took the kids to Temple Square, and oh, it was so refreshing after the choas and grime of Vegas. Here we are at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, lying on the floor and gazing up at the stained glass while the piano played. It was great to get away and be together. I love my little family!

We spent a little time at the Hoover Dam. Here is Samantha's Hoover tour. Enjoy the show!

Blue Angels Time Machine

Don't you ever wish you could go back in time? With all the knowledge you have now? Because let me tell you, I would not have carried those bulky (yet fabulously comfortable) Cabela's lawn chairs the mile from our car to the Blue Angel's show in Idaho Falls. I would instead have lugged in a cooler filled with ice water and delicious food. We were out there on that bare landing strip in the desert--yes, the desert--in July, and the only food and water available required waiting in a line for a couple of hours. All of that whining aside, we had a fabulous time at the air show. Here is a picture of the kids with Jonathan in a Pave Hawk Helicopter:


The Blue Angels were phenomenal--such amazing precision. Michael loved the pirate plane with the wing walker and the sword fighting. Samantha spent a lot of time with her hands covering her ears. By the end of the day we were sunburned and ready to cry, but we had a great time and are probably dumb enough to do it all over again.



Samantha started school a couple of weeks ago. She is in afternoon Kindergarten and is loving it. She is picking things up really fast in class, now that she has someone besides her parents teaching her--someone that she will actually listen to. Here she is with her brother on her very first day:

Grandma Holderness bought her back-to-school outfit, and Grammy Tilton sent us some new shoes, so Sam was decked out. Here are a couple more pictures of the kids that were just too cute not to post:

I am having so much fun spending time with Michael every day. We actually have conversations! He goes for at least three hours every day without getting into a fist fight with someone! He misses Sam, though, and races out to the car when it's time to pick up his sister. He's also graduated from the naked-all-the-time potty training stage to the one-accident-in-his-skivvies-a-day stage. We're getting somewhere!

Enthusiastic Drowning

This week Sam and Mike completed their intense, highly-competitive sessions of swimming lessons at the Gleason's pool. They have dramatically increased their skills since last Monday.


Here they are, waiting for their Otter Pops after the final lesson. Mike actaully has a tan now--you can see it whenever he's roaming the house in the buff--but Sam is still as white as ever. And roam the house in the buff he does. I find it an excellent potty training tool. One of his fetishes is answering the door when someone rings, and I'm trying to figure out the most politically correct way to say to a stranger, "I'm not a sicko, and my son does own underwear, but I've decided that it would be best for his social development for him to be naked this summer."

Here is Michael with his class. The idea is that one of them will be brave enough to jump off of the diving board. I think he wins the "Most Pansy-Chicken Swimmer" Award:



Here Michael is again, showing off his kicking, bubble-blowing, and disappearing skills:

Sam learned to jump off of the diving board without any help, and she's so proud of herself. See her jump:

Samantha is the intermediate beginner class. She has gotten very comfortable dunking her head under the water, and she holds her breath longer than anyone in her class. Unfortunately, she has no sense of direction in the water, is a bum-kicker, and often reflexively curls up into the fetal position when she is trying to swim. Here is an example of her unfortunate swimming:

Our Coming-Of-Age Weekend

We spent the 4th eating homemade Mac and Cheese and philosophizing with Grammy and Papa Tilton and the Athays. Samantha tried manipulating Nathan into marrying her most of the weekend. She and Brooke were feuding about it, and we were trying to explain to them that cousins and siblings really shouldn't get married. Sam soberly replied, "But I already had a baby." Here she is with the spawn (there's another one in the oven):

Here are the kids at DeMeyer Park on Saturday.

Mike turned 3 on Tuesday. We took him to the marvelous Overland Park Cinema ($1 tickets, or $3 for food--cheap, sticky, and loud) to watch How to Train Your Dragon. So good! We all had a great time. In the middle of the show, we found Mike eating popcorn off of the floor. Delicious! Here is the birthday boy on his big day:

Here's Mike, opening his present from Grammy & Papa:

And here is the Rick Rollin' 80's Disco Party that we found upstairs while the Athays were here:

Yes, Mother.

Hello out there in the blogosphere! I begin this blog under protest. Facebook, journal, scrapbooks, flip video, photo albums, baby books and now--what!?! Is it possible for me to spend more time documenting my children's every move? I ask you, did your mother publish a blog about your first whittle in the potty seat and your first trip to the post office? I don't think so. And yet, you still function as a human person--now how is that?

My mother in China requested this blog so that she could keep up with her grandchildren, so here I am. It'll probably be a good thing for our Washington Grammy, too. And I'm sure that after much grumbling, I'll get used to it and probably enjoy it.

The extended Kevin Holderness clan got together this weekend to reune. Kenny, Katie and the five Newbry kids stayed with us, and Samantha and Hannah had a great time together. Dave and I hosted a barbecue for 75, and we're either getting better at this catering thing or our standards are really sliding.

The kids and I went to the zoo where Sam almost climbed in with the groundhogs and Mike got into a fight with a couple of geese. Mike kept waddling closer and closer to the babies, and he thought it was hilarious when the gander would hiss. I grabbed him before he got nipped at. Do geese have rabies or salmonella? Maybe I should have let him face his natural consequences.

We also went to Roaring Springs Water Park and the kids had a blast. Michael loved the endless river--he sat with me on the tube and hummed us a song while we floated around. He was a real chicken when it came to the water slides--I finally had to push him down the kid slide. But he was really into trying to throw rocks into the pools. Samantha was so brave! She climbed up to the big slide with Daddy, positioned herself in front of the black gaping hole, and pushed off all by herself. I could hear her screaming the entire time from the bottom--she was so scared in the black tunnel! It took her a full five minutes to calm down, but by the time we left she was bragging about it to her cousins. It was a fabulously exhausting weekend and we were so glad to be with so many of you!