Week Thirty-Nine

Another great week....family camp continued, we celebrated grandma's 90th birthday with her, spent some more time with Jeff, Jenn and family in Aldergrove, went to Laura and Chris's wedding, and finally returned home to Sandpoint!  Whew!

I'm proud to say that the Gamache Family team won the camp volleyball tournament!

However, we didn't do quite so well at Aquatic Day, as exemplified in the first activity below!

The birthday girl!  Ninety wonderful years old.

Great Grandma Gamache with her great grandkids.

Uncle O.J. (Oliver James)

Kai's new second cousin, Piper Viola Schock.

Most of the family.

Chris and Laura's Wedding

Andrew and Bryon were awesome babysitter dads while us girls were busy with our respective wedding duties.  And, Kai as usual can't keep his hands away from sunglasses and hair!

Week Thirty-Eight

Finally, after much packing by me and unpacking by Kai, packing by me and unpacking by Kai, packing by me....you get the picture...we got everything together for our trip to B.C.  On Friday morning we left and stopped in Spokane where Bryon wrote his second CPA test.  Then we continued on up to B.C. where we spent the next week at Homewood family camp for a Gamache family reunion.  It was definitely a great time with lots of fun activities, food, rest and relaxation.  What better way to vacation than somewhere that you don't have to cook, clean, entertain yourself, or drive anywhere? (Kai seconds that last one for sure...no car seat for 5 whole days!!)
And, on top of all of this excitement, Kai cut his first two teeth!  Thankfully it didn't interrupt his blissful nighttime sleep, but it did make for one very, very grumpy morning!

Uncle O.J., Kaden, Abby, Emma, Kai and Bryon on the ferry to Vancouver Island.

Kai's first horseback ride was a big hit!

Kai wasn't too impressed with his life jacket, so we had mercy on all the other boaters, gave in to his mini-tantrum and removed the life jacket for the rest of the canoe trip.

Congratulations!!

As many of you know, Bryon is in the midst of studying for and taking his CPA exams.  There are four in total, and at the end of May he took his first one.  After taking it, he came away feeling stressed and discouraged, but just a couple of weeks ago we found out that he got 93/99!! 

So, a big congratulations goes out to Bryon!  One down, three to go!

Week Thirty-Seven

So, I take back what I wrote last week.  Since his great crawling escapade last Tuesday, he hasn't crawled again!  For now army crawling is easier and faster I guess :)  However, he did learn how to climb all of the stairs up to his room (16 in total) this week, and he takes great pride in this latest accomplishment.  When he first started climbing the stairs, he would turn and look at me after each step and wait for me to clap for him before moving on to the next step.  As always, he's a complete glutton for attention and praise :)

We also had fun this week seeing the Chamberlain family.  They came all the way from Minnesota and stayed with us for a night before going to their family reunion at Farragut State Park which is just a few miles away from us here in Sandpoint.  We also crashed their family reunion a couple of times and even got to go out on the boat.  It was so good to see Jenn and family again, and to meet the bump that is due to arrive in August! 

Other than that, we've just been hanging out with friends, enjoying the sunshine that has returned once again and getting ready for our trip to Canada in a couple of days.

Taking a little break before the last couple of stairs.

"I did it!"

Our little ladies' man!

Helping me get ready for our trip.

Needless to say, Kai isn't loving his car seat these days.  Hopefully we survive our big road trip next week!

Week Thirty-Six

It looks like summer is finally here to stay and we are LOVING it!  We've been out to the park several times, up to Schweitzer to go hiking, to the beach and out in our kiddy pool.  We're also loving all of the time that we've gotten to spend with family and friends.  Gramma and Papa Budensiek and Aunty Lisa (Lala) were here until Friday and since then we've been having fun going on adventures with our little family of three as well as having some play dates with friends here in Sandpoint.

Amidst all of this fun and activity, our little guy is growing up way too fast!  It seems like he's growing bigger and cuter everyday, but with the cuteness comes some attitude as well (why did I assume that attitude didn't happen until a child turned two?!).  For example, Aunty Lala closed the bathroom door the other day to stop Kai from crawling in, and he responded by giving her a disgusted look, a growl, and a loud thump of his hand on the floor as if to say "how dare you!"  Yes, Kai is not shy to share his feelings - whether he really likes something or really dislikes something, he very clearly lets us know!   

In other big news, just yesterday Kai finally started to move from an army crawl to a real hands and knees/feet crawl.  He's been army crawling for almost two months now and we were wondering if he'd ever get tired of a rug-burned belly!  He also learned some new tricks from Gramma, Papa and Aunty Lisa when they were here...clapping his hands (which he now proudly does anytime he accomplishes anything or nothing at all!) and giving 5, both of which are often combined with his other favorite trick of shaking his head back and forth as fast as possible.  Last of all, Kai has come to love saying "all duh" (translation: "all done", I think!).  He says it after he eats, before he goes to bed, when he wakes up, when he's bored of playing with something, when he wants to get down etc. etc. 

At City Beach with Aunty Lala

Although we didn't go to the beach with plans to swim, Kai ended up taking a dip anyways!

Taking the chairlift up Schweitzer Mountain....slightly warmer than when we went for the Easter sunrise service!

Playing some ladder golf at the top of the mountain.

And then hiking back down.  Kai loved it when Bryon ran with him and made the ride extra bouncy.

His latest discovery is closing doors.

Crawling!!

Downward facing dog??

These days, it is much more entertaining to play under his exersaucer than in it.

Looks like Kai and daddy have the same taste in literature.