Playing with Auntie Holly

For the 4th of July, I went to Seattle to visit Derek, Alexis, and the twins. I had a great time playing with Evan and Greta. This picture would be perfect but I have hat hair from running. It is so fun to hear them talk. Greta was riding her bike, and I told her to say, "Evan, let's ride" in a tough girl voice. I am looking forward to spending more time with them at Snowbird in less than a month.

On my last day in Seattle, Mt. Rainer decided to come out. It looks like it is floating in the air.

Trespassing with Owen

Owen and I decided we would try to enter Soapstone from the Wyoming side. In order to do this you have to do more than ride your bike. First, we had to open a large gate that looks locked but isn't. Once you drive through there you travel on a dirt road up to another gate that is locked. After lifting our bikes over the gate, we rode for a few miles where we had to lift our bikes over another gate and then over railroad tracks. At this point, I believe we were trespassing for a few miles. Perhaps trespassing is one way to get released from a calling. Eventually, we did make it to Soapstone were we road through a pasture of cows and then along the Cheyenne Rim Trail. We have had a lot of rain so it was quite beautiful.

Nothing makes you smile like Trespassing!

"Oh, my we have to cross train tracks". Owen was a bit scared but I talked him through it.

"Who are you and what are you doing in my pasture?"

I love the green with the red rock. It is so beautiful. But true to the prairie, it is very windy on the ridge.

Owen pumping hard to make it up the monster hill. This is a tough hill because in addition to the incline, there are also little berms that you have to get up and over. So, you get in a rhythm and then hit a berm which messes up your rhythm.

Sometimes on the ridge it feels like you are going to slide off, but it is fun.

Burpees

Once when I was visiting Seattle, Alexis told me that her friend was doing the 100 Burpees Challenge. No, it is not burping 100 times. Burpees are an exercise that are actually used by Navy Seals to do conditioning. The following picture demonstrates a Burpee:

When I go down into the push up position I actually do a a push up and mine don't look as good as this marine's but I try. Anyway, when Alexis told me about her friend I thought that it would be impossible. Burpees are quite tiring and I couldn't imagine doing 100. Well, one of the Crossfit workouts I have is called the "Prison Workout". You start with doing 20 Burpees, walk 25m, do 19 Burpees, walk 25m and so on down to 1 Burpee. This is a total of 210 Burpees. So, I decided to try it today. It took me about an hour. Well, when I got to 13 I wasn't sure if I had done my set up 14 so when I was finished I did another set up 14. So, I think all total I did 224 Burpees. It wasn't as hard as I had anticipated. I think walking 25m really helps give your muscles a brief break. I am not sore yet, but I have a feeling I will be in the morning.

Spending Time with Grandpa Leonard

I can't think of a better way to bond with your Grandsons then to floss their teeth. Since my dad is a pediatric dentist, it is not unusual for him to check his grand-kids' teeth when visiting. I remember as a child he also used to check my cousins' teeth.

Adam was a good patient for Grandpa

Open wide Matt

"Now when you get to a little bit older Gavin, I'll check your teeth too."

Gavin enjoying time on Grandpa's Shoulder

Gavin's Blessing

Gavin Michael Kennington was blessed on June 20, 2010. He is such a cute little guy.

Kennington Family (L to R: Adam, Heidi (MOM), Gavin (BABY), Matt, and Robert (DAD).

Gavin in his blessing outfit.

Grandma Leonard with Gavin.

Boy, what a day. I am exhausted. Everyone wanted to keep holding me. I had to go to the front of the Chapel and was surrounded by a bunch a men. And then to top it all of I had to make sure I didn't cry during that time.

Matt's Birthday

The weekend of June 18, I went to Garden City, KS to celebrate Matt's 5th birthday. It was a fun and busy weekend. Gavin was also blessed that week. Here is the happy family on Matt's birthday. After opening presents we went to the Golden Corral.

Matt with his Birthday loot

Matt received a pool from Grandma and Grandpa Leonard. It was a lot of fun, although the slide would not hold my weight. I still had fun playing with the boys.

Grandma Leonard playing with the boys.

The boys had fun going down the slide in multiple different ways.

I got Matt a Spider-man fishing pole. I hid it in his bed and when he was getting ready for bed he noticed that something was under the covers. It was fun to see his shock and excitement. The boys had fun taking turns casting and reeling in a fake fish in the front yard.

How to entertain a 5 year old

While I was at my sister's house in early May, I made some movies with Matthew to keep him busy. It was a lot of fun and making the movies only took a few minutes. They are really short movies.

The first movie, I took 10 silly pictures of him. Then Matt chose the transitions and special effects.




This movie, I created a bunch of obstacle courses for Matt to complete. He really enjoy this activity.