4th of July, Soccer Camp, River Bandits Baseball and More Summer Fun

The 4th of July we headed down for the Bettendorf 4th of July parade which is always a hit with the the locals.  Loads of candy, great bands, lots of politicians:) and easy traffic/parking to get out and get home!  As we were walking along staking out our spot we stumbled on one of Maddox's preschool classmates.   Eliana had the prime spot and a HUGE blanket with lots of room to spare so she offered to share. She is an only child and was quite happy to see Maddox and Kennon to share in the celebration. We had a good time! 

 After some lunch and a nap we got ready for our normal Saturday night church routine. Although, this Saturday wasn't like all the other Saturdays ( church and then out for dinner usually)...our church hosted a big 4th of July celebration out on the lawn. It was a really nice time and we let the kids run from place to place without a lot of supervision. They had bouncy houses, yard games, popsicles and a HUGE potluck!!!   Then when it got dark our church lawn is perfectly placed to see the Bettendorf fireworks!  The kids had SOOOO much fun.  Eric and I enjoyed being able to sort of let them roam freely without being too worried about needing supervision and getting to know some more church members.   

 Kennon taking a break from all the fun! 

 The week after the 4th of July Maddox had Challenger Soccer camp while Kennon attended Barnyard Tot Lot. Challenger is a British based soccer camp that travels the United States, Brazil and Canada and does week long soccer training camps.  All the coaches are from overseas.  It is quite highly rated and I think Maddox learned some great 'games' to improve her skills but most importantly got a lot of concentrated ball time to get her even more excited about playing.  

 Day 1- all ready to go! 

 You can see her at the far left of the screen. She had two girl coaches, both from Wales.  One named Kelly and one named Tonya.  They were actually loud and quite hilarious and kept the kids attention really well!!  I'd like to say one was on damage control ( 'I need to potty', shoe strings, 'c'mon  mate whatcha crying for?..you are ok...let's get back in the game' ) while the other coach sort of kept the drills and games going. They split the kids up into 4 teams...each of the teams being on the World Cup Championship Circle. Maddox happened to get picked for Team Wales and within their week long competition they ended up winning the World Cup!!  Way to go Maddox and Team Wales. So basically they'd do like 60 minutes of drills ie 'games'... to work on technique /soccer skills/dribbling/passing etc and then the last 30 minutes they'd actually have 2 separate scrimmages each day of the week. So it was a great combination of technique and game time. In addition Coach Kelly and Coach Tonya gave the kids homework…the Values of Challenger are  'Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Leadership, Sportsmanship'...so it's not solely just soccer playing...which I highly appreciated.  So for instance just giving the kids the responsibility to remember their ball and water bottle each day and actually telling them it wasn't up to their PARENTS ( thank you!!)  to remember. But, then they also gave them little quizzes...like one day Maddox had to bring 3 facts about the country of Wales and she had to get up and say them in front of all the kids ( this was super for Maddox who can be a bit shy!...she did great. Anyone know what the highest mountain in Wales is??   Snowden..and ironically both Coach Kelly and Coach Tonya had climbed it just before they came to the states for camp!)  So I was impressed with the camp and I think it was good for Maddox.  Kennon is signed up for the same camp the first week in August!! 

 Each day after camp Maddox would come home all geared up to play..so we'd get out the nets            ( thank you to Grandpa and Grandma Knowles...the perfect Christmas gift !!) and they kids would play a bit before coming in for lunch and naps. 

 Maddox getting her certificate at the end of the camp on Friday from Coach Tonya. Despite the fact that I bought all these adorable workout/soccer outfits for the camp once she was placed on Team Wales it was her responsibility to wear as many of the team colors as possible to camp. Wales is green, red, black and white.  Luckily we happened to have a red ponytail bow..so she still looked adorable and was fulfilling her Team Wales responsibility. :) 

 As I mentioned in the last post we decided to host one of the Coaches from the camp. We got to share some Midwest traditions, like tractors and sweetcorn, with Tom from Barnoldswick England. His town is about 1/2 way between London and Edinburgh Scotland. He was a very nice guy and we enjoyed having him be part of our family for the week and learning about his family and culture.  The kids ate up any extra time Tom had to play soccer with them.  

 Team Wales getting their World Cup Award the last day of camp. 

 Maddox and all of her camp mates.

 Silly Faces…apparently Maddox wasn't really into that!!

 Tom brought the kids a special Challenger Water bottle. 

Saying goodbye to Tom. 

 The Planning Center hosted a family event at the River Bandits game the week that Tom was staying with us. We were so bummed that he wasn't able to join us for the game as he has NEVER been to a baseball game before!!  But, unfortunately the Bettendorf camps are set up in split shifts...some in the morning and some in the evening so he had to work. But we brought him a Quad City River Bandits ball cap and had a fun time anyhow.  Christopher ( Matt-one of Eric's partners- and Laura's son)  and Kennon posing for a picture. 

 Can't remember why Kennon was being so pouty here...It sure is a good one though isn't it??

 And now folks...we have the 'cool dude' smile. 

 A trip to the River Bandits game isn't complete unless you've ridden the giant ferris wheel and jumped in the jumpy houses in the Kid Zone. This field caters enormously to youth!! 

Happy girl...adorable dress from Grandma Jean!! Thank you. 

 Yes...yet another Kies Family landscaping project. We added one final landscaping bed the weekend of the 4th of July. This one on the south side of our garage.  The kids helped Eric finish it up by filling it in with shooting star rock.   It looks really nice. 

 Grandma Jean brought this tunnel a few weeks ago.  Kennon decided to use it the non-conventional way.  Silly Kid! 

 Maddox and I went to a grand birthday party this past weekend. It was an outdoor, camp out themed party.  It was for one of her dance classmates, Inika. This isn't Inika above but another one of Maddox's dance classmates, Kalyn.  Maddox had such a fun time, as did I. There were so many great details of the party I wont' be able to mention them all but the night finished with fireworks:) It was sort of a joint birthday party ( hence the grandness of it I believe...or maybe not...??) as it celebrated not only Inika's 5th birthday but her brother Rishik's 8th birthday.  The more the merrier.  Thanks for this dress Aunt Brooke...it has been the perfect summer dress...!

 All the kids watching A Bug's Life while they ate frozen yogurt topped with yummy goodies from Orange Leaf frozen yogurt shoppe. 

This is where we ate our camp out themed dinner catered by Hyvee.  Such a fun night!

Let's see...what else.  Most of you know I injured my left ankle ( this is a crucial fact as it still allows me to drive thank goodness!!) almost two weeks ago on July 9th...not that I"m counting the days.  I either sprained it badly or suffered an avulsion fracture of the fibula. There was too much swelling to determine a definitive diagnosis on the xray but the physician's assistant I saw at the acute ortho walk-in clinic said he'd treat them both the same way. He recommended a caste but then given my active lifestyle, kids, and physical therapy knowledge he said he'd be willing to do a boot instead. I'm to be in the boot until August 5th :(  This has certainly slowed me down quite a bit and I have Eric to thank endlessly for keeping the house and the kids moving in the right direction!! Just when I think it's feeling better I do a little too much and it reminds me that it is far from being healed.   (Physical therapists, nurses and doctors don't tend to make the best patients. ...hmmm maybe I should have opted for the caste) I spend as much time as I can in bed with it elevated.  Thank goodness for Maddox and Kennon still taking great naps.... although on that note Kennon is NOT sleeping at night..so we may have to ditch the nap sooner than later.  He told Eric one night last week at like 2am in a WIDE AWAKE state 'Dad I don't like to sleep'.  And we believe it Kennon!! That kid has been up so much in the middle of the night in the last month or so ( especially from 8pm-10pm). He's just UP and AWAKE!!  I think he is being thrown off by his nap time but I"m trying to make it with naps till Maddox goes to Kindergarten because Maddox still needs a nap AND still sleeps like a champ at night.  Once we get out of the afternoon nap routine I think he'll settle down at night. But, until then we have to wear the kid out  during the morning and evening in order for him to sleep through at night. He did sleep through Sunday night ( I feel like we are talking about a newborn..but he's 4!!!) but we had a great evening outing to Splash Landing, our local public pool with water slides and spouts and a sand box.  Our church rented out Splash Landing for the evening Sunday night and we got to go for free fun :) I sat on the side with my darn boot but the kids swam endlessly!! They have SOOOO improved their swimming skills with both of them putting their faces in and swimming towards the side with front crawl arms. I am so proud of them both. It was nice for Eric to take the helm as he doesn't normally get to see their skills because their swimming lessons are during the day. Big thanks to Eric as it was kind of a crazy busy place.  Eric is meeting this afternoon with the folks in Chicago to finish up the merger paperwork/process and then I think Alaska is next in the pipeline. So in addition to taking on a lot of responsibilities at home while I'm on the mend The Planning Center is keeping him super busy too. Go Super Eric!! He has been really enjoying the new Cervelo bike he bought last fall and makes it a point to get in several rides a week to keep his stress level in check :) 

The most frustrating part of the boot is the fact that I missed my first workday at Oh So Sweet.  I had picked a few Saturdays this summer to go in to work, start to learn the ropes, and to see if I thought it was going to be a good move for me. Of course with the boot, I had to call off. My next planned day is August 1st.  I'm training yet another PTA starting Tuesday. This will be my third trainee since June!! Between the training, and the large amount of audits I've been doing for VNA I"m not sure how I"m actually going to fit it all in.   The auditing the last two weeks has been a Godsend though as I"m able to do that from bed while I have my foot up and icing.

 Since the weather has been so nice lately we have been playing outdoors a lot!!  This particular day the kids played well together…all three of them…. I texted Elisha, Priya's mom, and asked if she thought they'd miss us if we went out for a quick dinner :)    It wasn't too long after that that someone needed attention.  We'll get that kiddo free dinner another time Elisha :)   ( just kidding folks!!)

 Maddox and Kennon are both attending Superhero Camp this week through the Bettendorf City Parks and Recreation.  Yesterday they made masks and today they did tie dye ( or rather Maddox said it was a marker???) capes. They both LOVE Tot Lot ( which is what the city calls it….for the longest time I didn't really understand it really is a lot where you drop your tots!!)  But they do the most fun activities, games, crafts, and have really interesting snacks and it is based at a playground so there is a lot of playtime too, I believe.  And it is dirt cheap….but most importantly the kids LOVE it and beg to go back each day.  It is chaperoned by a load of high school boys and girls and then there are a couple of adult camp directors.  My kids EAT UP the big kids and the big kids seem to enjoy both Maddox and Kennon…they always given them high fives when I pick them up.  So I generally sign the kids up for several of the camps throughout the summer.  Next week the theme is Under the Big Top.

 I"m not really using the crutches anymore so Maddox and Kennon decided to use them as Superhero Tools…it wasn't long before the tips left the ground and they were flying above each other's heads…!!  These Superheros still need a little training on safety. But I thought it made for an adorable picture.

Loads of Summer Fun

Yogurt on a hot day...well a warmish day as we really haven't had any hot days!!   Both kids always want sprinkles and gummy bears which in my opinion don't stand up to my hot fudge with cocoa covered almonds :)  Who wants a frozen solid gummy bear...not me...!! but anyone under the age of 10 seems to love them :)   It is a special treat to get to go to the 'ice cream' store. 

This is the bakery that I will soon be working at....!! Yes you read that right.  One of my running friends opened this adorable vintage bakery, Oh So Sweet, in Davenport about a year ago. I"ve had my eye on possibly working there since she opened but the timing hasn't been quite right. But, with Maddox going to kindergarten in the fall and Kennon to preschool 5 mornings a week I felt like it was time to make a go of it. I"ll start the week of Labor Day just working a couple of hours a couple of times a week.  Tiphanie is the owner and she is a fabulous creative sole. She and I agreed to be open with each other and I assured her ( and myself and Eric) if it becomes too stressful for our family then I'd wait a couple of years and call her when BOTH kids are in school and I have little more time.  We high fived each other after that agreement.  I will be her task master...filling tarts, making ganache, making salted caramel, frosting cupcakes, doing dishes etc.  It sounds absolutely FUN to me and I can't wait to start.  I'm not quite certain how I'm going to juggle the VNA gig. I'm planning to keep up with the audits for sure but as for the training of new physical therapists they hire we'll have to see. 

This was her free sample table at her one year anniversary. She does wedding cakes too and she advised that on Saturdays she might have me be involved with setting up the dessert table/cake table actually at a wedding here and there!!! How FUN! 

Maddox adores the place and Miss Tiphanie....our favorite treats so far are her ginormous cinnamon rolls as well as her red velvet cheesecake cupcakes...well I suppose those rank up there with her salted caramel brownies!! YUMMY!! ( I"m going to have to keep up my running if I'm going to work there!! ) 

After Oh So Sweet's one year anniversary celebration we headed to the museum as a family of 4!! I take the kids to the museum weekly by myself but it is always nice to have Eric along with us.  This day they had just opened their new traveling exhibit for the summer...A Visit to the Rain forest. 

You get to pull yourself up in a tree through a pulley system. 

Despite the terribly cold, rainy spring we've had I've managed to get some of my flowers a bloomin'.  The beautiful pink rose is from Grandma Doris' garden. It's specific name is 'Tournament of Roses'. I have taken a liking to roses since this beauty started blooming and we'll be adding a couple more bushes to the two that Eric and his brother Bryan were able to save from her house last Fall.  They are gorgeous with ruffled light pink petals, a light yellow center and they have the most yummy aroma! 

The Saturday of Father's Day was the Quad City Triathlon. Eric continues to graciously devote his entire Saturday ( and the Thursday and Friday before) to setting up, tearing down, etc.  This is the first year I felt like Maddox and Kennon could come out to be a spectator. We set up shop along the run course ( near a potty and a park) with our Casey's donuts and water bottles,  so as to be able to cheer on a lot of my triathlon buddies and the rest of the participants. Eric is specifically in charge of the run course so the kids got to ride along with him in this gator! We all had a great time...and I got the TRI bug back again.  Resurrected the old light blue Cannondale, bike shoes, and helmet :)  

A couple of Fridays ago the kids didn't have any camps and we had just picked up Kennon's new big boy bike so I thought we should go for a ride!!  We asked Priya to join us. We ended up biking on what was a VERY hilly ride with the end result being a park and lunch. ...well the park and lunch was half way...we had to trek home after the break for calories!! There was a fair amount of whining, tired legs and one mild crash by the time we made it to the park so luckily Priya's mom was able to cut the trek a little short for Kennon and gave him a ride home.  Priya, Maddox and I made back it in one piece. Note to self...5 miles with rolling hills feels like a 100 mile mountain climb to a 4 and 5 year old!!  Although I will credit Priya ( who really just learned how to ride her big girl bike well this Spring)..was lightness and joy and did not complain one iota!!

ooops. out of order..Kennon getting his turn to climb the rain forest tree. 

Kennon took a bit of a spill last Sunday while on a bike ride with Eric and Maddox. Seems we have a little learning to do about keeping our distance from the rider in front of us...  But in reality both kids are doing really well on their bikes!!  They are getting better at bike safety and just keeping a little space between the two of them. It certainly helps that in the evening and weekends we can go bike over on the road in the new subdivision which has NO traffic and nice rock free pavement. 

Maddox and Priya attended Princess Dance Camp at the Museum this past week. They both enjoyed the activities which consisted of dancing to music from a specific princess Disney movie each day, making a cool craft and eating a really nice thoughtful sugar filled snack :)  This was the first day and it was Snow White day. Tuesday was Cinderella, Wednesday Tiana, Thursday Elsa and Anna and today ( Friday) Ariel came for a special visit.  Both girls seemed to really enjoy themselves. 

Kennon got in on this picture but he too had camp this week...but at Our Savior. He learned about the jungle and Peace.  He came home on Monday with this absolutely heart melting definition of Peace. 'Mom its like when you are just all calm inside and God is in your heart'.  Man buddy...so eloquently spoken. Thank you to the teachers at Our Savior for being in this young man's life. 

We don't have swim lessons this week but I am so pleased with how both kids have been perfecting their swimming skills in the last couple of weeks. Both have developed so much confidence it is really amazing.  Maddox is working on basic front crawl and Kennon is FINALLY comfortable with putting his face in the water and even working towards paddling towards the side.  This teacher that Kim found is just amazing with both of the kids.  We have a couple more lessons left but then there is talk of extending her time out with us through the end of the summer which I am all in favor of. 

Maddox and Kennon with Kennon's new bike.  This bike didn't come with a kickstand because it came with training wheels to hold it upright instead.  Kennon had the training wheels on for about 12 hours and then ditched them.  Eric took him last Saturday to have the bike shop put on a kickstand.  He was SO PROUD of the kickstand ( and really the bike still too) . Priya's grandpa was in town last week and Kennon yelled over to Grandpa John when they got back from the bike shop  'Hey....I got a new part for my bike!!' He did it with this adorable pride filled smile.  It was so cute. He is REALLY proud of his new bike. I am quite certain the neighbors are probably getting tired of him telling them that he got a new bike!!  He is just so excited about it. So cute!!  'Hey Miss Kim...I got a new bike'....I think I've heard that phrase at least 10 times!! But Miss Kim ( my good neighbor friend and the pool we go to for lessons) of course reacts just as excited each time!! A kind sole she is. 

With the often rainy weather we have been doing some indoor activities and what better way to get your energy out than with a dance party. Both kids enjoy it and it keeps them busy and me laughing for a fair amount of time.

It was two years on June 27th!! I can't believe it. Time really does fly.  Kennon and I visited the grave site last week and freshened up Mom's flowers and flag for the summer.  Kennon was practicing his American Ninja Warrior moves, climbing all over Grammy's box!! I'm sure she enjoyed watching him from above. He is super into ANW and there is talk of building a small course in the basement of The Planning Center.... if the thought came to your mind of 'what DON'T you all do in the basement of The Planning Center??'  you are right!! We'll see if that comes to fruition.

These pictures were taken by our great neighbor friends Lee and Lori, to the North of us.  Lee and Lori treat Maddox and Kennon just like their very own grand kids. They are empty-nester's but their children haven't married...YET....and so they LOVE to have Maddox and Kennon come visit and hang out a bit. Lee and Lori have a tomato garden and a little black dog named Jack and they let the kids have free reign over both!!  This particular day Lori had invited Maddox over to make cupcakes with her.  Of course Maddox had a ball and brought home  a huge plate to share with us.  She even got to bake with Lori's future daughter in law, Anna, who seems to like hanging out with Maddox as well.  Lee and Lori offered to watch the kids last Thursday so Eric and I could have a date night. We chose to run the Bix at 6 together instead of an actual dinner date night. It was great fun getting to run together as well as with some of our running buddies.  The kids cried gang busters when we arrived to take them back to our house...they didn't want to leave. I'm quite certain they get fairly spoiled when they go to Lori and Lee's...but that's ok!!

Maddox and Anna

A few more pictures from Princess camp. On the last day, Friday, they did a little performance for us and showed us all the things that they learned in their camp.  Maddox was beaming from ear to ear during the entire performance.  She really does a beautiful job.

This is a new friend Maddox made at princess camp...although sort of an old friend. Katlyn was in Maddox and Kennon's swim lessons at the Y in April. She is closer in age to Kennon and will actually join him this fall in a special literacy class that I managed to get him into at the museum ( no waiting in a line out in the cold but I've been on the wait list since mid January!!...always a debacle getting into programs for pre-school aged children around here) . She is a doll and I have come to be friends with her mama and grandma.

Maddox and 'Aeriel'

Maddox's Princess camp program 

Last night the Millage family invited us over to their pad for a pool and pizza party.  The kids quickly got in the water and started practicing some of their moves from swimming lessons!!  Perfect!!  Kim and Tim's pool is salt water and really beautiful with a diving board.  They also have a trampoline...just in case you get tired of swimming!! Quite the fun activities in the Millage backyard.  Hudson is their youngest and Maddox adores him...although he is 1 and on the move so he doesn't like to be snuggled much, to Maddox's dismay.   He is always a smiley guy but of course Maddox was holding him hostage to snap this shot so no grins for this one. There is something really special about the 4th child...he just toddles along right behind the big kids and gets right in the mix.  He chowed down a piece of pizza like he had eaten it 100 times before.  Observation of his older brothers and sister is how this little, big, guy keeps up. Before the night ended we had a raging game of kickball going.....Between the 6 Millages' and the 4 Kies' we had almost all the positions covered.  Great summer time fun!! Thank you to the Millage family!

We are gearing up for a big week in the Kies house. Maddox will attend Challenger Soccer Camp and Kennon will go to Barnyard Tot Lot  Camp ( in reading that....it sounds like poor Kennon got the short end of the stick...but have no fear Tot Lot is amazing fun and he LOVES it!!) The Challenger camp is a traveling British soccer skills camp that is run by coaches from England.  It is just a 90 minute skills class each day this week and happens to be down the road at one of our many parks.  The cool thing is that Eric and I, after much deliberating!!!, have decided to host one of the coaches. So tomorrow at 6pm I'll pick up Tom from Birmingham, England and he'll be staying with us until next Sunday!  Quite out of the box for the Kies family, or rather myself specifically, but I thought it would be a good lesson of generosity for Maddox and Kennon as well as for the kids to be exposed to someone other than a Bettendorfian!!  He doesn't like carrots, sprouts or baked beans and he is allergic to cats and has mild asthma...so I thought he'd fit right in to our family...HAH!!  He is 23 and has a large amount of experience coaching children in the UK on his Coach Profile.  ( We got to pick which one we wanted from a couple of profiles...I have to admit that I stalked them all on Facebook before deciding).  We have some activities planned to do with him in the evenings as he only is slated to work about 6 hours per day.  I'm hoping the kids will pick up a thing or two about England and more specifics about soccer.  Hoping it goes well! Stay tuned for pictures with Tom:)