Vegas, baby!

So, since Parker's birthday, not a whole lot exciting has happened.  The kids go to school, Camden does soccer, Parker started his therapeutic horseback riding up again, and we're back to our regular routine.  Soooo, Paul thought it would be fun to shake things up a bit, and we headed to Las Vegas last weekend during Camden's trackout!  Yep, all four of us.  We are still trying to adjust from going to pacific time and then back to eastern time again, but other then that, we had a great trip!  Here are some highlights:

Inside view from our hotel room inside the Luxor.  Camden and Paul were so excited to stay inside a pyramid!  It was pretty cool

My view from the pool as a sat and read a book.  Now that is what vacation is all about!

A view of the New York, New York hotel,.  So cool from the outside!

M&M world

The strip

Red Rock Canyon.  This was one of the highlights of our trip! We all would have liked to have done some more bouldering and hiking, but Parker's wheelchair wasn't really compatible with that.  It was truly beautiful, though.

Camden is proud of his climbing-hence his "strong man" pose.

So nice to have a budding photographer so it can look like I actually go on vacation now!

View from hoover Dam-the new bridge is as impressive as the Dam is!  Camden was duly unimpressed, as I remember I was when I was younger

Hoover Dam 

Lake Mead-the water was so blue!

Camden in front of the Las Vegas LDS temple, where he tells us he would like to get married.

Just chillin'  I love this pic of my boyz!

Paul and I at the cactus garden.  We went to the Ethel M. chocolate factory-but there wasn't a whole lot exciting going on.  We did enjoy touring the cactus garden, though.

Aquarium at Silverton casino

And we were just in time for the sting ray and shark feeding!  Very cool to watch.

Jelly Fish

The knights from the "Tournament of Kings" show.  Camden enjoyed eating with his hands and watching all of the cool medieval fighting.

The evil knight

We also got to see "The Lion King" on stage, which was a really cool show.  Who knew? (OK, I guess everyone since it is a very popular musical.)  It was fun for the four of us to just hang out and see new things.  We enjoyed one day where we bought the all day, all you can eat buffet.  After breakfast, I was good for the rest of the day!  But we went back for lunch and dinner :)  We also caught the volcano in front of the Mirage and some of the water show in front of the Belaggio.  Lot's of cool things to do, but we are glad to be back home....oh wait, Camden already left for Florida to visit his grandparents for a week!  I'll have to download some of the pictures that he takes and let him blog about his trip to Florida next!

Parker's 7th birthday

We decided to make a whole day about Parker for his 7th birthday.  It ended up being more of an afternoon about Parker...but he enjoyed it none the less :)

First, we gave Parker a new game that I thought he would enjoy -and Camden, him and I had fun learning to play it.

Then, we had to go to Camden's first soccer game.  Camden's team crushed the other team 8-0, so it was pretty fun to watch (although we were secretly rooting for the other team to score a goal-we've been on the other side before...)  We then went to Lazy Days (an art festival in downtown Cary).  After walking around and getting really hot, we headed to one of Parker's favorite places-the bowling alley!  We bowled a game-which was really fun.  Paul won, with 4 strikes!  Who knew?  I came in last, losing the mojo I had a few weeks ago when bowling.

We then got some tokens for the arcade and let Parker play some racing games (even racing against Camden) and then the rafting game (you know, the one where you paddle like crazy and look silly "rafting" down the river.)  Parker enjoyed both of them A LOT.

Camden had won some tickets, so they both got some prizes, and then we headed home for some dinner.

After that, we drove to Chick-Fil-A for some birthday milkshakes since Parker does not like cake at all.

After we had all filled up on our cookies and cream milkshakes, Parker got a treat-a bubble bath up in my bath!  I have never let them do this, and the boys had a blast!  They were in the bath for like 45 minutes!

All in all, Parker had a great day.  I know he would like a repeat of the bubble bath...we shall see...but all in all, it was a fun way to celebrate 7 years with the little guy!

He lost his first tooth!

I noticed Parker's tooth was loose a week or so ago, and was worried that he might swallow it, but we worked on it and today it popped out!  He's right on track with Camden, who lost his tooth a couple weeks after his seventh birthday.  Anyways, here are pics of him right after it happened!

My precious Parker

Parker is just a sweetheart.  His smile is contagious, his laugh infectious.  For all of the extra work it is to take care of him, his positive attitude and demeanor make it much easier!  Here are some of my favorite recent pics of him:

One of Parker's Very favorite activities is bowling.    

He enjoys pushing the big heavy ball down, hearing the pins get knocked over, and all the cheering and high-fiving!

It's a bit of work to get everything ready for him to go, but it is definitely a treat for him!

Another or Parker's favorite activities is the pool.  He LOVES getting splashed in the splash yard and floating around the pool.  Unfortunately, he also LOVES drinking water, so that is our constant battle :)

  He also likes walking up and down the steps going in and out of the pool.  It has been a hot summer, so we've had a lot of opportunity to get wet!

Parker is always cracking himself up, which always makes me laugh as well!  He was laughing as we told him, emphatically, to NOT eat the sand!  So he would get the sand close to his mouth and just crack up!

He is a beautiful child, inside and out.  Look at those gorgeous eyelashes!  

In a little over a week, my little Parker will be 7!!!  Yes, SEVEN!!!  I can hardly believe it!  He is going into second grade in his K-2 class, so this will be his last year at his current school.  No matter how big he gets, though, he will always be my little Parker-man!

Facebook is eating my blog

So, it is so easy to post about what is going on and upload pictures to facebook, that my blogging has become quite pathetic.  But, for my faithful readers out there, here is some catch-up from the spring!

After a crazy April, we had a nice quiet May.  Then, in June, my sister Coutney came out and visited!  I love my sisters an wish we could all see eachother more!  Anyways, one day we headed down to Fuquay Varina for their big festival, and ended up having a great time!

We even got in a trip to Wrightsville beach for the day.  Camden was lucky enough to get to tag along :)

Camden played baseball all through the spring and into the summer.  He looked so adorably in his baseball uniform! 

I don't know if baseball will be his sport after seeing him run across the outfield (from left to right) and do a rolling dive to try and get the ball.  I think he may need a game where he is more involved in the action...hence, we are signed up for basketball for the winter!

After that, Camden finished up the 2nd grade and we headed into our 4 week summer break!  For the fourth of July, we drove down to Holly Springs to avoid all the crowds in Raleigh and Cary and the kids did a fun 4th of July parade and then we hung out, climbed on fire trucks, played in bounce houses, ate snow cones, listened to the Holly Springs band, and then watched fireworks!

The rest of July has been fun.  Camden and Paul have had fun learning to play FIFA soccer on the playstation...

We had lots of fun at the pool...

And even got in another day trip to the beach-where Parker decided to EAT the beach-seriously, this kid was downing sand!  Camden had fun boogie boarding and playing with his friends.  We left sunburned and hungry, but had the BEST day!

We also visited our favorite museums and had fun with friends!  Camden and I got to go on a date last week and watch "Annie" at a theater in Raleigh.  It was really fun since that was one of my favorite movies growing up, and he got to see one of his friends from school perform.  Here's us ready to go:

And then, July was over, and Camden is headed back to school!

Isn't he just the cutest?  I always miss having him around, but I know I wouldn't appreciate our track-out time as much if he wasn't in school the other 9 weeks ;)  So, there has been our summer so far in a nutshell!  We've been busy, but have had lots of fun!