Practice, practice

Now that it is getting warmer outside again, Calder is really getting into his bike.  He practices riding it all the time up and down the hall in our apartment.  It had been a while since we had taken him outside, so the last week or so, we have started going outside to ride his bike.  I am amazed at how fast he has picked up on it!

At first, he would just walk everywhere with his bike, so I wasn't too concerned about him wearing a helmet.  But after seeing him ride his bike today, I have decided that it is a necessity now.

(Please excuse the poor video quality and my constant encouragement!)

I love how he is starting to lift his feet and glide a little!  And how he practically runs, instead of walks with it now.  It amazes me how fast he learns, and how much he likes to practice, too!

Spontaneous Fun

The Thursday before Easter, I got a text from Craig that said he wanted to go somewhere for the weekend.  I responded "That would be fun!"  But we didn't plan anything else.  He got home from work Thursday night and announced "I took the day off tomorrow!  Where should we go?!"

We decided that Moab was close enough that we could take a trip there for a weekend.  So, Thursday night, we packed up and drove to Price, where we spent the night. (Moab isn't too far of a drive to do in one day - it is only 4 hours, but Craig was ready to go Thursday night, and by the time we left our apartment Thursday night, neither of us wanted to drive all four hours, so we settled on 2 to Price)  We stayed in a hotel that night, and Friday morning we enjoyed a delicious continental breakfast, headed to Walmart to finish buying the food we would need, and drove the 2 remaining hours to get to Moab.

Little did we know, there was a big Jeep event going on in Moab, so we were really lucky to find a place to camp! We set up our tent, ate lunch, and headed to Arches National Park.

It was my first time going to Arches, and I really enjoyed it!  The weather was perfect, and we just had a blast there!  It wasn't exactly what I expected, I actually don't know what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised when we got there by how much fun we had!

Arches is beautiful!  This is one of the views as you drive through the park.  I love the rock formations that jut out of the ground.

 We did the longest hike first to Delicate Arch. It was 3 miles round trip, so it still wasn't bad at all.  Craig carried Calder in the backpack for this one until we got there, because it was longer, and there were a few places I wouldn't want him walking by himself.

It is so majestic.  I love that there are people at the bottom of the arch in this picture so you can see how big it really is. And I also love being able to see snow-covered mountains in the distance.

 After Delicate Arch, we made our way over to Balanced Rock.  I think the trail was 0.5 miles round trip, and was wheelchair accessible most of the way, so we figured it would be a good one to let Calder loose on.  And he had the time of his life!

He ran,

 and ran,

 and had fun climbing the rocks along the side.

We headed back to our campsite, and once again, Calder was in heaven!  He was so entertained by the sand and rocks. It was so fun to see him enjoying himself so much!  He loved the fire that we built, LOVED roasting hot dogs for dinner, LOVED sleeping in the tent and counting stars, he really just loved everything about camping.  It was so cute!  And it makes it all worth the effort.  I can see us camping quite a bit this summer until baby comes (as long as I can handle it as I get further along this pregnancy).

 The weather was perfect while we slept, too.  None of us got too cold, which is super nice.

 Saturday, after packing up our campsite, we stopped by the visitors center at Arches.  Calder loved riding the goat.

 We decided just to do a few small hikes on Saturday, so that Calder could explore and wear himself out before our drive home.  We started off with the Double Arch.  Once again, Calder loved running, and this time stopped for about 10 minutes to play in the soft sand.

Apparently this shirt won't work for this summer...it is a bit small.

This is where he decided to stop and play, maybe 200 feet from the arches.  

Double Arch.  Very beautiful!

 At the base of the arches, there are rocks you can climb to get a little higher.  Calder is quite the climber. We stayed close to him, but he did all the work himself and climbed all the way up!

He was working so hard! And he was so determined.

 He climbed,

 and climbed,

and climbed!!  I was so impressed!  

 You can see how high he climbed, starting at the shrubbery at the bottom of the hill.

 The last ones we saw were the Window arches (just from a distance), and we hiked to Turret Arch.

The Window arches

Calder wore himself out climbing so much up to the Double Arches, that Craig had to carry him most of the way to Turret Arch.  But once we got close, he wanted to climb again.

I love how Calder's "thumbs up" is his pointer finger. :)

Turret Arch

Arches was so beautiful!  And I loved how family friendly it was.  We had a good hike Friday, but after that, it was really nice to drive to an arch, hop out of the car, and have a half mile/mile round trip hike to see it.  It was perfect for our little family.

We only saw a few of the many, many arches there, but we had a blast!

We drove home during Calder's nap time, and he was a champ in the car when he woke up.  He kept asking for "more Arches!" I guess we'll have to do a bunch of outdoorsy things this summer.  I am looking forward to it!

Birthday Party

I realized that I haven't posted anything about Calder's Birthday party.  So, even though it has been a month, here are a few pictures from his party.  (Mostly for my sake!)

This year, Calder is really into trains, cars, planes, balls, etc.  So I let him pick what he wanted his cake to be, and he chose a car.  So I kept it simple, but am pleased with how it turned out!  More than anything, Calder was so excited to eat the wheels of the car! They were oreos.

Calder's birthday cake and cupcakes

We had a little party with the family. Craig's parents and a few sisters were able to come, and my parents and Jared were able to come.  We had dinner, opened presents, had cake and ice cream, and enjoyed spending time together celebrating my big guy!

The Slagowskis gave him some cowboy boots, a cowboy hat, and a stick horse

The Maughans gave him his own phone and a new blanket

 Calder loved opening presents this year! He really is enjoying his new things.  He loves his new phone (it just has numbers that he can push, and little animations that go with each one) and he plays with his boots, hat, and stick horse - although he has yet to play with all of them at the same time. :)

We kept it small from us, and got him a bike helmet, a cube puzzle, and an abacus. (Yes, I am going to make sure my kids have excellent number sense!) He actually LOVES the abacus and puzzle.  He plays with them everyday.

Anxiously awaiting the cake

Here is a little video of the birthday song, blowing out candles, and him starting to eat his cupcake.

Although he was very delicate with his cupcake at first,  once all the frosting had been eaten off the top, he was more than happy to dive in a little more while he ate the oreos from his car cake.