Saturday, September 14, 2013

Summers End

Well the swimming pools are closed and the summer has officially come to an end.  We weren't too sad about it though because we did lots of fun things and Jaymi and Kaelyn were excited to get back to school. Here is what we were up to our last month of summer vacation.  Get ready for a picture overload.

Bryn sporting her super cute pigtails.
We attended the International Days they do here in our city.  We loved watching the Chinese dancers.
Love when we catch Bryn smiling for a picture.  Her smile is all teeth.
Family hike around Silver Lake.
If you were wondering like I was, "Are helmets really necessary for this?", yep they were.  Seconds later Bryn was bucked off.  Safety first.
Dance party at our good friends place.  They were so nice to let the girls use their master bedroom as a dance studio.


Jaymi finished off the last two weeks of summer taking special needs swim lessons.  They were awesome and we can't wait to do them again.  It was the same price and regular swim lessons and she had a teacher all to herself.  She made so much progress, she loves to swim.
Kaelyn and Bryn liked getting out of the house too and crawling and climbing all over the place.
Gotta love these three kid shopping carts.  They were thinking of our family when they designed them.
Swimming at the reservoir with our good friends.  Jaymi and Mia swam out quite a ways, I was afraid I was going to have to get in and go bring them back, but luckily they found their way back on their own. 

Kaelyn trying to stay cool under the umbrella.




Jaymi's back to school night.  She sits next to her buddy Mia and in front of her other buddy Justin.
Jaymi and I ran in the Color Run with our buddy Erin, Ellie's mom.  She was in town from Minnesota and we were privileged to get to hangout for the day.
Jaymi's first ride on the Trax train.  She loved it and keeps asking to ride on it again.
To say Jaymi loved the Color Run would be an understatement.  She had so much fun dancing and throwing the powder at the finish line.  We might have to make it a family tradition and take her sisters next time. 









We went to an awesome splash park with our friends the Mcknights.  The girls had so much fun playing in the water on such a hot day.
I swear Bryn is going to be our little gymnast.  She loves swinging on everything.  I want to sign her up for the gym in our neighborhood but its pretty pricey.  We'll have to see.
Kaelyn kept climbing up on this rock and begging the lady in the yellow shirt to hold her.




Bryn enjoying some shade in the tube.

Little miss bravery climbing the ropes.  Its amazing to see how far her gross motor skills have come since she came home.  Those first few weeks she couldn't even climb a small ladder, look at her now!
Bryn had to join in on the action.
When Jaymi gets home she is so excited to open her backpack and show us what she did that day.  This is her giving Kaelyn the scoop.
Jaymi getting her first post-adoption haircut by our friend Holly.  She wasn't so sure about the wash.
She sat so still for the whole thing.  I was so proud of her.
The girls hanging out at mom's volleyball match.
Our friends the Murray's invited us to attend a golf tournament luncheon where they were raising money for an orphan with Down syndrome.  Jaymi got to walk out and say hi to the crowd and show them an example of a little girl that got a second chance at life.  We had fun hanging out with Ridge and Nash riding around in the golf cart.

Go here to learn more about the orphan they are raising money for.  They are only about $1,000 short of reaching their goal.  Lets help them out.  Every little bit helps!
Jaymi showing off her muscles.
Bryn listening to Nash tell us about his halloween costume.
Playing at the new Natural History Museum with our friends the Nelson's.








Just learning a little cell biology.
Kaelyn's new favorite hangout spot.  She thinks its her personal life sized iPad.
Playing at the sand park in our neighborhood.
Enjoying a family bike ride.  

Buddy Walk 2013

Today was the Buddy Walk.  We weren't sure if we were going to make it this year, but last minute were able to pull it off.  Sadly Kaelyn has been sick all week with a nasty respiratory virus so she and dad had to stay home.  It was fun for us to celebrate Down syndrome and take Jaymi to her first ever buddy walk!  Grandma and Grandpa Bonner were able to join us.  We had a great time playing and visiting with all our awesome friends with Ds and their families.  The more involved we get with this community, the more excited we are about how blessed we are to be a part of it.  WE. ARE. SO. DANG. LUCKY!




Right when we got there she ran to the Chick-fila Cow to give him a high five and a hug.  I think she thought we were back at Disneyland.  She gave the cow like 15 hugs by the end of the day.
She asked the cute girl at the Reece's Rainbow tent to paint her rainbow on her chin.  Silly girl.
Bryn thought she was such a big girl getting her face painted too.

Jaymi loved the huge blow-up slide.  Talk about physical therapy just to get to the top.  She kept going though and would have done it all day if she could.

Dancing with her buddy Taylor and her family.


Best Friends - These three are so cute together!  
The weather was beautiful and then while everyone was cleaning up it started to down pour.  Jaymi grabbed the blanket and took off for the car.