Nathan's 5th Birthday

Sometimes it feels like there is always a birthday! On Thursday, Nathan turned 5. Sam had taken the day off and I worked earlier in the week, so we had the rest of the week and weekend off. We started by going to morning swim lessons. Nathan and Ben are both doing great. Ben has the doggy paddle down and is now working on swimming under water. Nathan doesn't mind going under, but without a a life jacket he has a lot to learn - but he swims well now with a jacket on.

Nathan isn't so fond of swimming on his back. If you look at his left hand, he has a death grip on the instructor.

Learning to scoop and kick with instructor Miss. Shelby

Next we headed to Greenbrier Lake for a 4 day camping weekend. I think we did it all that weekend and the kids are very tired today (Monday).

While there, we took the boys on their first real Mt. Biking trip. I don' t have photos of it because I was to nervous watching them go flying down the trail over rocks and roots praying they wouldn't wipe out or flip or go over the side of the mountain! Nathan did so well and loved it. He desperately needs a new bike, and we are considering making it a decent one and taking him more often.

Getting ready to go. Nicholas did not ride his bike, but was having a hard time understanding he couldn't. We ended up letting him try, and he figured out really quickly that he couldn't get his training wheel bike to go. So, then he complied and got in the bike trailer.

After the Mt. biking experience, we rode the lake loop. Here a quick stop for water.

Nathan really enjoyed going over the bridges.

Another exciting weekend activity was learning to fish with Daddy. Nicholas stayed with me on the first day and Daddy took Nathan and Ben. Sam said the first catch when it came off the hook fell in the boat. The boys freaked out and he was sure they were going to tip the canoe and go swimming. Luckily everyone pulled it together before that happened.

Daddy providing casting instructions

Ben's 1st attempt

Ben's only catches that day were sunfish after sunfish. He finally got a trout, but it was too small and had to be thrown back in the lake. You can sorta see it on his line.

The next day was Nicholas' turn. Sadly, nobody caught anything that day.

Nicolas had his first kayak ride and had a blast.

Learning to paddle

Relaxing at the campsite.

Wishing he was in the water

And of course, Nathan's cake. Nathan wanted a camping cake. I was VERY excited on how it came out. Thanks to Kim for all the tips and help! I took pictures before we left JUST in case it didn't make the journey.

I then used colored candles and colored flames to simulate the campfire

A happy boy! He told me it was just what he wanted. The top items were the playmobil camping set that he had asked for as a gift. He had a blast playing with it for the rest of the weekend.