What Happened?!?! the Highlights

Evidently I needed a break.  I have been postponing my return to blogging, trying to think of something brilliant or newsworthy. I still have nothing.  I will share some recent, well, somewhat recent events in our lives.
--Gideon learned to ride a two wheeler in a few days time with very little help from his parents. In fact on day 2 (after practicing with Stephan the night before) he told me that I didn't need to keep holding on?!?!  So he would coast and balance a ways and come back to try again.  After seeing his success I suggested he try pedaling and he pretty much rode around the driveway after that. There were several falls. Several.  He would tell everyone that he can ride a two wheeler with NO training wheels (insert cheesy grin) and that he fell and hurt his knee .  . . Now he does tricks.  Yesterday I recorded several tricks that we did not teach him.  he rides with his feet on the top of the tire or on the handle bars, he also rides with one foot on the handlebars and one behind him, and he stands with both feet on the same pedal.  His first 'trick' was swerving and currently he is working on pulling the front wheel up. I think he is crazy and Briella thinks he is VERY crazy (She hasn't learned the 2 wheel yet...we are slowly talking her into it, but our summer days are running out...)
--Briella and Gideon took swimming lessons from the local swim nazi.  It was a bit traumatic, each day we had to count how many times we went and how many more times we had to go (both on the trip to Rita's and on the trip home).  Gideon asked repeatedly why they had to go 5 times.  By Friday they were both smiling when jumping in the side or off the board and could swim across the pool.  They have practiced a little since then, but it is nice to know they know how to swim and know a little water safety, too.  On Friday, the final day, Miss Rita talks to the kids and parents about water safety and she asked the kids what would they do if they fell into the pool.  Right away, Briella answers "Sink."  Rita says, "No, you SWIM, you know how to swim so you SWIM."  Briella's fear is sinking in the water and would cling on to either parent for dear life any time we were in the water. (see below for update)
--Asher is using some words and doing a lot more jabbering in the last month.  He and Gideon enjoy some wrestling matches, although they are short-lived because one of them tends to get hurt.  Asher has worn out 3 pairs of shoes while coasting on the tricycle.  He loves being outside almost as much as Gideon.
--My youngest brother, Tyler, got married in Canada in July.  I flew out by myself and left Stephan with the kids.  It went well on the homefront, he even managed a parade with all three :)  I was having issues trying to keep track of my kids in the midst of the other children around, then realizing my kids were not there, only to repeat the drama 42 minutes later.  And I lost a night of sleep on the way home, that was rough on many levels.  BUT the wedding was beautiful (I didn;t take my camera because I knew my sister would take TONS of pictures) and the rehearsal was the most fun one I've been to!!  I had a great visit with a former roommate and got to meet her husband during my layover in Portland.  The kids still talk about when I was in Canada like it is some exotic faraway place.
--We spent a few days camping at a near by 'resort' lake.  We had a small cabin. It was about 12'x15' including 2 bunks, a double bed, a table with 2 chairs, and a small fridge.  It was cozy.  We were close to the bathrooms (which is VERY important when camping with kiddos) and the pool was fabulous.  Since we stayed from Monday-Thursday it was not very busy.  The kids loved it and can't wait to camp again.  Maybe next summer we can try tenting it again??!?!  We spend hours at the pool and the kids really did great swimming to us, jumping in, playing (not clinging).  The puddle jumper life 'jacket' was awesome for Asher, he stayed up right and was able to 'swim' from parent to parent and was brave enough to just float about (i.e. no clinging).
--Earlier this summer Stephan built  a BIG sandbox in the back yard and the kids are playing in it more and more as the summer goes on.  Grandpa B made them a digger that we haven't had a place for them to use it until now.  We also got new neighbors and their girls are over often and want to play back there.  
--I think these are the highlights . . . maybe I missed some but I guess I can always post again and have 3 for August!!!  I would like to share some pics of Tyler and Rebecca's wedding, so I will get on that before their anniversary soon!
If you haven't seen Gideon's bike tricks, there is a video below.
 

Art Prize 2012

The past few years we enjoyed an afternoon checking out ArtPrize in downtown GR.  Usually there are entries lining the streets, filling parking lots, in hotels and museums, even hanging in the air.  Some of the art is very cool to see, other pieces are interesting and some are plain dumb . . . here are a few that caught our eye:

 This was an entire arctic gathering of animals made of junk . . . bowling pins, spatulas, car parts spoons, etc.  Kind of interesting.

The kids thought it was fun to hide behind this one and take pictures . . . although I'm not sure how I feel about Briella the mermaid?!?

 This seal is made out of wood, the artist said he used wood burning to make it look and feel like fur, pretty cool.

 I thought this one was going to be Stephan's favorites, but the next one was his top pick.

The artist was working while everyone watched and they had buckets of sand for kids to play with. Her assistant was spraying the sculpture down with a mist of water to keep it from blowing away.  She also told Stephan they add glue to the water for the final spray.  Gideon just asked me, "When are they going to bonk it down?"  I think he wants to volunteer to help.

 This party of horses is made from sticks and quite impressive (it got votes from the jurors and the public).

Last year there was a family a bears catching fish in the fountain at the Ford Museum, this year the penguins took over.  There were even a few swimming at the top. It is fun to see and I found myself waiting for one of them to jump in!

We aren't really artsy people, but this is a mostly free, mostly family friendly event and we don't get downtown GR too often.  It is fun to see/hear which entries make the top 10 and then the winner . . . We even voted this year for the first time! (Mostly because Stephan did not want the guy with a teepee set up that had a black curtain inside of it to win--yes seriously! People were in line to see inside this thing and I was watching reactions and one kid says "What is that in there?" after he had been in there . . . the artist says "art" then two ladies walked out and whispered to me "It's nothing. Nothing!"  The kids wanted to see so Stephan went in with them and found out it was nothing!)

I think that it is quite interesting that many of the top entries are animals . . . humans are creative, but God is ultimately The Creator and we just can't do much better than the animals He has created!