Brothers

I just wanted to put this in here to remember when my boys are older and quite possibly don't get along, or are... you know basically teenagers. I want to look back and remember how much they love each other and how sweet they can be. I wrote on facebook last week that Nathan lost his balloon. We made a trip to the grocery store last Tuesday and there was a nice lady there handing out mylar balloons and offered them each one. I knew that one of them was going to lose one...it always happens with kids. Nathan decided to take his out in the backyard to play with the next morning while I was walking Abby and Rebekah to school. Dwayne was just waking up and listening to the kids in the backyard while they were playing when Nathan started screaming at the top of his lungs and pounding on the back door. Of course Dwayne thought he had been injured so he came running out in the back yard to see what had happened only to hear Nathan saying, "My balloon Daddy! Go get it!" So Dwayne ran back in the house and threw on some clothes (remember he had just woken up) to run back outside only to see a small blue speck in the sky where the boys were pointing and telling him to get a helicopter and go get it (you know daddy's a pilot he should be able to do that right?). It was just soooo sad. Nathan could hardly be consoled. When I came home from dropping off the girls he was still crying in his room while Dwayne told me the story. We would both have been laughing hysterically if he hadn't been just so sad. I let him play Wii and that seemed to cheer him up enough to stop crying, but all day we would randomly hear, "My balloon!" in a sad wimpery little voice.

Now the part that I want to remember. I went to tuck in the boys that night and Isaac being the sweet boy that he is, had let Nathan hold his balloon while he fell asleep. The next night it was Isaac's turn. They took turns each night falling asleep with it until the poor thing was almost completely limp. Now that's brotherly love.

Isaac can swing!

I wanted to put in this video of Isaac swinging. I am realizing how true the saying is that each kid is different as my kids get older. All of them had basic similarities as babies although even then they still managed to start showing the differences and they are continuing to grow stronger in these little personalities they have. Rebekah is probably too much like me for her own good, but she’s a sweet girl that thinks of others and she loves to be my little companion. Isaac is definitely our thinker. He won’t even try to do things until he’s completely thought it through and then he just gets it. No tries…just gets it. Nathan on the other hand is probably the polar opposite in personality. He tries and tries and tries and eventually he gets it. I’m hoping this means he’ll have a good work ethic as he gets older. And Cassandra right now is just starting to show her personality well. She’s the little princess with daddy wrapped around her little finger. If she has a choice between me or Dwayne she almost always chooses Dwayne. For example after we got back from our trip to Oakland and her first night away from home I decided to see who she’d go to first. Well, she walked right by me and went straight to Dwayne much to my surprise. Every morning before he leaves for work and every afternoon when he comes home she needs to be picked up and loved by him. She gives her own little love pats too.

We got this “new to us” swing set last weekend and Dwayne put it up. It’s hard to believe the thing has already been through two families worth of kids and has to be around 40 years old. It’s very sturdy though and the kids love it. The funny thing is that it looks like Isaac has learned how to swing before Rebekah! Like I said he’s a thinker! It won’t be the first thing he’s done before Rebekah though and we’ll just leave it at that. ;-)

And here's a little of Cassandra's cuteness. She has started to do this after she sees me cleaning things up. She'll grab whatever rag she can and just start wiping things. Oh here she is walking too for those that haven't seen it yet. I'm so disappointed that I wasn't able to get a video of her right when she first started walking. Every time I'd get the camera she'd stop or I wouldn't have the camera when there was a good moment.


And just in case that wasn't enough cuteness here's another story. While Josh was here last weekend we were sitting down to eat Sunday dinner before he left for the airport. I had to do something so I just set my plate on the table next to Cassandra figuring Josh would protect it from her in case she tried to grab it. Well I guess I didn't need to worry about that as she had decided she didn't want to eat her peas and that my plate was a good place to put them. I caught her just as she stopped and decided that peas are okay to eat and started to take them back off my plate. Wish I had been able to get more of this as it was hilarious.

Dwayne went to Vegas

I took clients to Las Vegas from Thursday to Friday just so they could watch a football game. My new job is so cool.

Hotels.com got me into the Stratosphere for $30. The view from the room was decent.

After I checked in I walked through their mall to the elevator that takes you to the top. Before the elevator is a security check point (no weapons at all). Level 108 is the stopping point (indoor observation deck).

The first thing I found was called the sky jump. They connect you to a cable and you jump off a ledge with a controlled, very brisk, decent to the Skyjump gift shop at the mall level.

At the end of the cable spool is a 3 bladed fan that looks as if to cool the cable assembly.

The indoor observation deck had three angles of glass to look up, out, and of course Down. You could see the base of the tower and the streets below. As you walk around there were places to observe the rides one floor up.

On the outdoor observation deck you could only view to the south. That is if your not riding any rides 109 floors up.

Las Vegas McCarrin International is one of the two pictures I took from the outdoor observation deck. I could see the building that I brought my clients through.

Looking south down the stripe. The best place to watch the X-Scream was the Outdoor observation deck.

The first video is a SkyJumper from the indoor observation deck.

Second is riders waiting, only one in the box at a time.

Third is a jumper from the side walk, my neck was sore waiting to get a video.

4th is the insanity ride, with a view looking down to see the shadow of the tower.