Let's compare school photos...

When Brielle was 2 1/2 years old, she saw this early school photo of Tim.  When we asked her who it was, she said "A boy... that's me a boy."

And now with Brielle's 1st school photo, let's have another look at the similarities between Tim & Brielle!

People ask often where Brielle gets her red hair... well, it runs in the family.  Some are surprised to hear that Tim's hair was that color.  Her school photo scanned in a little dark, but their hair color is very similar!  

By the way, I have to say we were pretty proud of her 1st school photo.  I was a little nervous to see how they turned out, because who knows what a preschooler is going to do for the photographer.  Well, I think she did a pretty awesome job and looks very cute!   

(And thanks to her Aunt Becky for doing an awesome job with her hair that day before afternoon preschool.)

Family Date Day

    A couple weeks ago, after we watched the sidewalk art contest, we went out for a pizza lunch and then walked across this bridge.  John & Brielle would run ahead and then run back towards us :)

                      

Across the bridge, we took Brielle & John bowling for their first time :)

        Sometimes they bowled all on their own.  The excitement on their faces was priceless :)

          

 And sometimes they wanted help with their bowling :)

We have really enjoyed how active Brielle & John have become this summer, and all the fun activities we have been able to share together as a family :)

Harvest Days

Today Brielle, John, and I went to Ace Hardware for Harvest Days where the kids can decorate pumpkins and get their face painted. The kids did a nice job with the pumpkins. After the decorating Brielle asked, "Can I get my face painted?" I said, "Yes." So Brielle goes to Kelly, the lady painting faced and says, "I would like to have a butterfly painted on my face." Kelly says, "Great, I will paint an butterfly on your cheek." Brielle says, "No, my face."

John decided to just have a Jack-o-lantern drawn on his cheek.

Staying within the lines

Brielle and John have really worked on their skills of coloring. Brielle does a great job of staying within the line while John does a nice job of staying on the paper:)



After all that coloring the kids get pretty tired.

Sidewalk Art Contest

Three of John & Brielle's cousins participated in a "sidewalk chalk art contest".  The contest was open to all ages, giving them up to several hours to design a 4 foot by 6 foot space.  

Here is Elly's.  She won 2nd place for the 12 & under age group!

Here is Max's.  He is very talented at drawing horses.  

Here is Emma's.  Probably one of the youngest (age 8) contestants :).  

 There was also a professional artist from California who travels the world doing art.  She worked most of the day creating this 3-dimensional picture inspired by local scenery & landmarks. This drawing was much larger than the others, probably 12 feet top to bottom. 

 Behind Brielle & John, you can see how the street was full of artists!   Brielle & John are looking up the hill, waiting for their ride on the 4th Street Elevator.  

 All aboard!

    

On our way up...

We enjoyed the view from the top, but were soon on our way back down because the kids were excited for their next ride.  

Brielle overlooking the artists still at work. 

Fall swimming lessons

 I had a chance to see the kids at one of their afternoon swim lessons.  

This is Brielle's 1st time in the "minnow" group.   She's learning how to swim in the deeper water, without any help.  She's in the same group as her cousin, Josie, which is fun for them.

Her teacher is Ben... Coach Doug's oldest son!  Doug was my swim coach from age 8-18... and still coaches club & college teams at this pool.  

Unfortunately, I didn't see Brielle do a lot of swimming at this lesson.  She cut her knee and needed a band-aid.  Here she is coming back with her band-aid. 

 I think she was overly concerned about her band-aid coming off for the rest of the lesson, as you can see below how she was raising her leg up. Jolene has told me that the lessons since this one have been better, and Brielle has been in the water a lot more than this day.

It's John's first experience with swimming lessons... and he has been having a lot of fun.  He is in the "tadpole" group with his cousin Karley.  John is usually smiling most of the time!

 John really likes his teacher, Stephanie.

  They use flotation belts most of the time... as there is no shallow area in this pool. 

Thanks to Jolene, for driving them to & from most of their lessons!  

One of the last summer weekends of 2011

 Water gun fight with Alexia :)

 John's first time being buried in the sand :)

          

Then it was Tim's turn:  

 We will miss the warm, sunny days on the beach... 

but there are fun activities to look forward to in the fall!