Summer at home

There is no shortage of fun things to do here during the summertime. Here's a look at some of the activities we did consistently all summer long . . . .

TENNIS

We attempted to get in to tennis this year and made it a family event. Luke began taking it very serious and wanted to play all day and night!

Drew had his first tennis lessons and loved it! Here he is practicing

some of the drills he learned from his coach.

POOLS

In the desert heat we have to get to a pool AT LEAST a few times a week! Luckily there are plenty of great options for taking a dip.

Drew's favorite thing is going on the water slide over and over and over. . . . good thing his buddy Ethan is there to go with him!

Luke is really becoming

a great swimmer.

He loves wearing his goggles,

even if they fill up with water!

Blake's first summer and he is already a water bug!!

PARKS

We have wonderful parks here. Many that are in walking distance from our house. All the parks in Henderson have water pads so the kids can cool off from the heat!
Every week we meet friends for dinner at the park!

THE DISTRICT

On weekends we go to The District,

an area with shops and restaurants. There is a

Panera bread there, of course! Here is

our friend, Tarin taking the boys and their

friends to the back to make Black Cherry

smoothies. Yum!

We love to listen to live music in the plaza. The kids dance and get frozen yogurt. It's the perfect place to take them to get their energy out before bedtime!

Ahhh misters!!! They are a MUST here!

The Carousel at the District is really beautiful. In the summer they show movies right by it in the evenings.

All the summer activities wear Daddy out!

Early this summer Drew, our little entrapeneur, wanted to earn some money by selling lemonade! He had his first lemonade stand and did pretty well. We had a few friends stop by and even met some new neighbors!

Albuquerque trip

In June we went to our hometown Albuquerque, New Mexico. It was great catching up with so many people. We went to Andrew Salazar's wedding, the McCarthy twins' first birthday party and even had a baptism for our sweet baby Blake. Everyday was filled with activities, family, friends and great food!

We went to a few Isotopes games. The boys loved it! Luke really got into it. He stayed right by Mikel the whole time watching the game, while the other kids played in the box. All week he a was saying "Go Topes!!"

While in Albuquerque we were like tourists. We went to the top of the Sandia mountains on the Tram, the Rio Grande Zoo, the Natural History Museum and many excellent New Mexican restaurants!!

New Mexico is a great place for the boys to spend a lot of time with their family! It was Blake's first time to meet his Nanny Margie, Papa Leo and Grandma Theresa.

We stayed the night with Grandma Dot. The boys love her home with wonderful gardens, open spaces, dogs, a tractor and a hot tub!

At the zoo with Granny and Emme! The boys love them so much! Granny Janet really helped so much while Mikel was away! They are crazy about Emery, she is 2 and had no problem keeping up with her boy cousins! We love that little nugget!

While in Albuquerque we had Blake baptized. This is was especially meaningful to us since it was in our old parish in Corrales. This is the church that I grew up going to, not to mention the place where Mikel and I were wed and Drew was baptized. Aunt Jackie and Uncle Brian are his Godparents. We had great-grandparents there and so many family and friends, it was such a special day!

Drew

Drew is Mr. Personality. From the time he was a baby he has been a people person, making friends everywhere he goes! Drew is passionate about his likes. He had an obsession with guitars, then it was superheroes, now it's money$. I think this is just a love for math and not a greed thing, at least I hope it is! He is generous putting his hard earned money in tip jars everywhere we go! Now he is learning to save and just bought his first big purchase, a new scooter! He is great at creating things, so he absolutely loves art and cooking! We are crazy about our unique and awesome boy!

Luke

Luke is all BOY! He has never met a sport he doesn't love. He even enjoys rooting for teams on TV. He usually cheers for the team that Mikel and I don't want, but that is our competitive boy! Even though he's rough, Luke is so loving. He adores his Daddy and somehow always gets Mommy to rub his back at night time! Our life would be pretty boring without our active and fun little Luke!

Blake

When I think of Blake the word "happy" comes to mind. He is so content and loving. As the third child in a chaotic family, we sometimes feel Blake gets neglected. He is always just watching his brothers and calmly waiting for his turn for attention. His personality is so easy going that he just fits in with our family perfectly. This may change as he gets older but right now we love our mellow and EASY baby!!

A New Beginning

Yes, we have decided to start a blog. I am realizing that these moments with the boys are so amazing and fleeting, I want to document and share them. This picture is one of the first with our newest boy Blake, born October 12, 2009 and his brothers Drew 5 and Luke 2. This represents a new beginning, one that entails the raising of THREE boys! We are so blessed and excited to have these wonderful experiences with our sons. Stay tuned for more to come. . . once I get the hang of this blogging thing!