Two wheelin'

I've been absent from the blogging scene for a little too long. This is a video Caitlin is anxious to share. We finally convinced her that she can indeed ride a bike without training wheels. As usual, the ability came before her belief. It only took about half an hour and ...

ROAD TRIP!

Our suitcases had at least six weeks to recover so it was time for another trip! We decided to visit Great Grandma Kiessig in Utah at her new home in Orem, and stay at the usual "Hotel de Biesinger" (aka, my Dad's sister's home). So, we loaded up our trusty mini van and headed off through the desert. Brad usually flies in to join us over the weekend, but airfare just wasn't reasonable this time so he elected to stay home.

Rather than repeat the exact trip we just had in July, I convinced my parents to come home the southern route and stop in Bryce and Zion National Parks. The detour was well worth the extra time in the car (although those last hours were tough). Caitlin was excited to have the time off school but reluctantly learned the meaning of "independent study". She assembled a beautiful scrap-book style journal of our adventures to share with her class. I wish I were handy enough with a computer to copy it in here somehow, but you'll just have to settle for my pictures.

Our first item of business was the purpose for our trip: visiting Great Grandma. Grandma Kiessig is 95 years young and was thrilled to have us visit each day, some days more than once. We are greatful for every visit with Grandma, she is an amazing lady with a refreshing cheerful outlook on life.

I love visiting the Biesinger home! The girls are always so content there. Cousin Andy is the star attraction for Caitlin and Amber and if he's not around there is always someone else to pester or something new to discover in the house. We stayed busy baking cookies, drawing 3D sidewalk chalk and playing games at the house. But it rained over the weekend while staying there. Fortunately I was prepared (I know, big surprise). It has become tradition in our family to slip on our rain boots and go splash in the puddles from the first rain storm of the season. Being out of state was no excuse, tradition is tradition. The girls had a blast! And the best part was going back to the house for "hot toetoe" by the fire. Well, I suppose their hot chocolate was more of a warm "toetoe", but there were marshmallows, so it counts. : )



While in Pleasant Grove we were also able to get out and see some fun things. Marlene and I had a great bike ride up the canyon. And after the rain cleared a bit my Dad and I were able to take the girls up to collect pretty leaves and, of course, snap some pics. This is Bridalveil falls in Provo Canyon (no idea if I spelled that right, oh well).

The turning of the leaves was beautiful! The girls enjoyed looking for different color leaves on the bike trail. Amber insisted that there would be a "purpo one". Purple is the favorite color of the month, for now. After an extensive search I finally convinced her that some of the deep reds were indeed purple.

After our stay at Aunt Marlene's we loaded up the van yet again for our tour of Southern Utah. We drove to Bryce Canyon Monday morning and spent a few hours hiking and driving around the points of interest. It was quite interesting to see what mother nature can do with a little time and some water. Wow!
We adults were impressed by the scenery, but I think the girls most memorable event will be "The Great Purse Hunt". After talking Caitlin out of buying the first souvenir she saw, we then had to spend more than an hour that evening trying to find that exact purse for her and her sister. We were successful, but it was quite the adventure. "So Caitlin, what do you remember from your trip?" "We found the purse!" She actually did include these details in her journal for school. And I had such high hopes for the educational value of our trip. : )

Tuesday we moved on to Zion National Park. I can only say I learned the true meaning of awesome. I could spend a whole week there. The views from the car were incredible. The girls were quite excited to drive through and immensely long tunnel that went straight through the mountain. And we were able to take another gorgeous hike to "the emerald pools". Amber saw the first half, and slept through the rest on my back. Thank you to our friends who let us borrow the backpack!! Caitlin LOVES to hike and found this trail to be super fun. We missed Daddy, this was right up his alley.

After our adventures in Zion we stayed the night in St. George. Wednesday morning we made a quick stop at the temple there before buckling in for the long haul home. I love to see the temple...
We love road trips, but it is always nice to go home. The boys missed their girls and the girls missed the boys. Its good to be home.

VICTORY!

After three weeks of defeat the 'Kit Kats' Soccer team has finally figured out how to play soccer!! Saturday the 27th, Caitlin's team won their first game (and scored their first goals) of the season. The progress has been impressive. We finally have all our players dribbling the right direction on the field and continuing past their own half line. : ) We parents were screaming and cheering so loud, I wouldn't be surprised if some of you heard us. The final score was 3-0, a solid victory for the Kit Kats! All the girls earned patches for their uniforms and some pride to go along. . . TOO cute!

Caitlin and her friend, Natalie, celebrated at McDonalds after the game.

First grade!

I can't believe my little girl has started first grade!! Ahhh! Caitlin is two weeks into the school year already and LOVING it! We are very proud of our versatile little princess. The past couple weeks have brought several new changes.

First off, we decided it was time for Amber to move to a big bed. That little crib was looking smaller every night. After our trip to Camarillo, where she was allowed to sleep in a sleeping bag instead of her playpen (mostly because she really doesn't fit in a playpen anymore... my baby!), Amber decided cribs are for babies.

So the plan all along has been for the girls to share a room. Just a week before school started we made the switch. Amber now sleeps on the daybed Caitlin had for the past 4 years and Caity moved to the pull out trundle beneath. So far everything has been super smooth. They even make their beds in the morning so the extra bed can 'disappear'. This could have been disastrous right before the school 'adjustment' so I'm grateful for the blessing of peaceful sleep.



Next change for Caity was the start of soccer practice. Its been a crazy ride so far but we love the coach she has ended up with and we finally have a consistent practice and game schedule so its getting easier. I look forward to being the 'soccer mom'. : ) Caity has been a trooper through the high 90-100 degree practices, even right after a long school day.



And, of course, the biggest change has been the all day, every day, school schedule. The first day of school Amber and I went to my Mom's house and stared blankly for a while wondering what we should do. Amber kept asking, "where's sissy, Mama?" So Nana rescued us and swept us off to a fun lunch "out" and some theraputic shopping. Now, after 2 weeks of freedom, Amber and I are thinkin' this ain't such a bad wrap.


Boy how the time flies!! Amber is already talking about her birthday "when Santa comes". I know it will be here so fast, I can't believe it! Oh, these girls!!

And they called him "Yodin"

Well, the revolving door at the Krinke Zoo continues to turn. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts our kitty, Mr. Kenai, passed away on Brad's birthday. Just a few weeks later my brother needed a quick home for his kitty, Logan. It also just happened to be my birthday. So guess who showed up at my birthday party? I'll give you a hint... he has whiskers.

Logan is a sweet kitty and can hold his own around our Great Dane puppy, Beau. So I think he'll fit in just fine around here. Amber is thrilled to have another kitty which makes us glad this opportunity fell in our laps. She immediately began calling him "Yodin". So our sweet Yodin is adjusting nicely and fits right in here at the crazy Krinke zoo.



As a fun side note, Caitlin came home from school the other day and explained to us her reading assignment for homework that night. Her teacher, in an effort to get the kids to read their story several times, asked the children to read to each family member and pet 1 time. Well, poor Caity has 2 dogs, a cat, 2 rabbits, 4 fish, a sister and Mom and Dad. We explained reading the story a few times was plenty although it was nice to consider reading to the fish. : )

Amber "Montana"

I have no idea how to do this so it may not be oriented correctly, but its too cute not to share. Nana (Kim's mom) bought some Hannah Montana singing pens for the girls. Amber decided hers was a microphone... just watch.

The last Hurrah!

We decided to spend this past weekend in Camarillo (southern California) for a last minute getaway before school starts. This also counts as my (Kim's) birthday present to myself. : ) We had the best time! This was one of the first trips we've taken by ourselves without extended family. Although, that wasn't the reason we had such a great time. But it was exciting to get away just the four of us. I'll let the pictures do the talking while I try to get my foot out of my mouth.

First outing: a bike ride to the park for a picnic. Or as Amber says it "a pickynick".



















Later, while Amber and Daddy had a nap, Caitlin and I did some marathon shopping for school clothes at the Camarillo outlets.























After dinner we drove out to Ventura pier for another bike ride and found a park on the beach to play on.









For our next adventure we took the day Saturday to drive down the coast and stopped at a beach in Malibu for another "pickynick" and some fun. There were ducks to feed and plenty of sand and waves to play in. And yes, we are fair skinned folk who need lots of shade, hence the beach fort.











We went back to the house in Camarillo to de-sand and then headed out for my birthday dinner. Then we all decided to go back out to the pier, this time on scooters, for our last hurrah.










Such a great trip!!! A wonderful way to end our summer vacation. The girls' favorite part was:
"everything!"

Where have I been?

I have recently been informed by friends that 'blogging' is the new thing and I am out of the loop. So, after spending WAY more time than I should have looking through all of your wonderful blog spots, I have decided to follow you all off the side of the bridge. So, here goes, welcome to the Krinke family blog. Since I don't know where to begin, I'll just let my kid's cute faces break the ice.

Oh, that means I have to figure out how to post pictures, HA! And you all said it was easy.


This is six year old Caitlin demonstrating what will happen with your camera if she is given the chance to 'hold' it for a while.



"But I didn't mean to point it at my face and push the button." Or did she....

Caitlin will be entering the 1st grade in just a few short weeks. She is not the only one excited about her going to school all day... bwoohahaha! Actually, Caitlin is our ray of sunshine and has had a blast being home with Mommy all summer long. This is the first year we've really been able to enjoy our pool since she can swim independently now. I'm sure after the first few weeks I'll be lonely and missing my little "Moe" all day.

Our second little ray of sunshine, Amber, is 2 1/2 this summer. Her days seem to be clouded with thunderstorms lately as she seems to be living up to the two-year-old reputation. She'll melt your heart in an instant and then make you pay for it the next! Sweet "Little Bee" is often the one to break the tense moments with laughter and really does bring her own little element of love into our family. Is it too soon to be looking forward to her first day of first grade?

Amber also enjoys her fair share of pool time. But most of her time is spent snuggling with one of the many pets in our home. I am quite pleased to see she has my same love and interest in animals. Above is one of the last photos of Amber with our kitty, Kenai. He passed away just two weeks ago on Brad's birthday. Below is Amber with our newest family member, Beau, a Great Dane puppy. He was 4 months old in this photo. He is now 7 months old and towers over Amber. She has recently decided if he is in her way it makes much more sense to crawl under him rather than trying to push him out of her way.
While on the subject of pets I will clarify the current numbers of the Krinke zoo. Both kitties have passed so we are down a bit. We still maintain our 45 gallon tank of fish. The record holder for size is still our 11 inch black tip shark. Ricky and Benjamin are our two rabbits. And we have two dogs, Beau and Terra. The dogs remain our fur children (I don't think the cats or rabbits will ever attain such status) so they too deserve a picture on the blog.
And now on to the adults in charge of this crazy zoo. Brad and I are both enjoying new callings. At the beginning of the year I was called to be the Primary President and just last month Brad was called as the Ward Mission Leader. We are both enjoying our new, busy, callings.

Work is much of the same for Brad. He still works for Weatherite and is currently the "Operations Manager". The only recent change has been the implementation of a dress code for all the office staff which includes Brad. Of course, Brad was the one to put it in place. But I finally have a husband who has to dress up for work! Hello, iron, I don't believe we have met before.

And as for me, life continues to pass by at an incredible rate. Where do the days go? And why is it they seem so slow in one moment and then rush by me the next? These children just keep on growing and the precious moments are slipping away already. I am so greatful to my husband and my Heavenly Father for providing a way for me to be here, in the home, soaking in each day with these sweet spirits that can drive me nuts some days. What a blessing to be pulling my hair out! I love every moment, even the ones where I have stepped outside for some deep breathing.


Well, this is the Krinke family in a nutshell today.