Camping with the Family

We went on another camping trip while my family was here visiting. We left after church on Sunday and headed up to the mountains. Later that afternoon, Waylen's parents, grandparents, and sisters' families came up for dinner and to visit for awhile. Everyone had fun visiting, playing horseshoes or frisbee, and of course, we enjoyed eating all the desserts, including smores. It was a lot of fun, and thankfully it was a really nice afternoon and evening, without too much wind.

The next morning, we got up and cooked some pancakes, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. Then we went on a little hike. During our hike, we found a little stream where the kids had a lot of fun throwing rocks into the water. We did manage to get them to stop long enough for a picture. We finally decided to leave when we had a hard time keeping Kayla from trying to get into the water. By then, it was almost time for the train to come by, so we walked back up to the train station and waited for it to come. My niece, Nicolette, and my nephew, Porter, decided they wanted to climb up the side of the mountain. After a few tries, Waylen finally helped them to the top. Then Hayden and my youngest nephew, Corbin, wanted to go up, so Bradley helped them up to the top. Not long after their "climbing expedition", the train came in. It stopped for a little less than 5 minutes, while it topped off it's water supply. (Note for those who may not know: The train I keep referring to, and that was mentioned in our first camping post, is an old steam engine, and it carries passengers on a scenic tour through the mountains, it is know as the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. It's starting point is less than 10 miles from where we live.) Bradley's kids really enjoyed seeing it, and while we were waiting, Corbin kept asking if we were going to get on it. Whereas, Hayden was worried that we might have to ride it. As you can tell from the picture, Kayla was more interested in watching them fill up the train than having her picture taken. --After the train left, we hiked on back to camp, and then had lunch and just relaxed for the afternoon. Later in the afternoon, the guys started "entertaining" themselves by pushing down a bunch of old dead trees. So, then the kids joined in and helped push them down and then they would put them between two branches on another tree to break the limb into small pieces to burn on the fire. They had a lot of fun doing this, and it was our entertainment for at least an hour. We went on another little hike, had dinner, and then had some more smores, of course!! We spent the evening just enjoying each other's company and watching the kids play, including Kayla pulling her chair all over the place. It was yellow when we got there, but it was almost black by the time we left. --We went to bed around 9:30 or so, and it seemed like the kids were all asleep the minute their heads hit their pillows. We got up the next morning, and packed up to come home. We had a lot of fun on our little camping trip, and enjoyed the time we got to spend together with my family.

Trip to Sand Dunes

My family arrived on May 30th at around 12 in the morning. We were happy to see them and glad that they had arrived safely. We decided to go to the Sand Dunes the first day they were here. My brother (jokingly?) said he was going to hike all the way to the top of the Sand Dunes. So, Bradley, my dad, and the kids started on their little hike up the Dunes. Not long after they began, here came my niece, Nicolette, carrying Hayden back. He had had enough and didn't like getting all the sand in his shoes. He had "unpreparedly" worn his beloved Cars shoes instead of tennis shoes. So, Nicolette and him ended up playing in the water, but we told them not to get too wet since we "unpreparedly" didn't have towels. They still had fun standing in the water and digging their feet into the sand. Kayla on the other hand, wasn't as good at not getting too wet. She ended up getting soaked from head to toe, but had a lot of fun doing it. --The weather was actually pretty nice that day, and luckily the wind wasn't blowing too bad. It was a nice little trip to the Sand Dunes, and the kids had a lot of fun. But maybe next time we decide to go to the Sand Dunes, we'll be a little more prepared.

Camping Fun

Our plan for Memorial Day weekend was to kick the summer off with a weekend camping trip. We wanted to leave on Friday after Waylen got home from work, but that morning we woke up to it snowing outside, and it rained and snowed all day long, and was freezing cold. So, we decided to postpone our camping adventure. Saturday was still really chilly, so we decided to wait and see what Sunday would be like, and luckily it was nicer. It was still windy, but that's how it always is here from March to at least July. So after church, we packed up and headed up to the mountains. We weren't sure what it was going to be like when we got up there, but thankfully it turned out to be a really nice afternoon and evening.

Hayden was excited to finally be camping, he's been waiting patiently(which is hard for him sometimes). He had lots of fun going for several hikes, and of course, he loved roasting marshmallows

and eating watermelon too!!

Kayla had a lot of fun too, and enjoyed eating everything and anything!! By Monday afternoon, she was pretty dirty and tired!! On Monday, some of Waylen's family came up for the day. Everyone had fun playing horseshoes, frisbee, and just sitting around visiting. We walked down to the train station behind our camping grounds and watched the train come by and stop and fill with water. Hayden liked that, except he didn't think that it's a great idea to one day go for a ride on the train.

All in all, we had fun on our first camping trip of the summer, and thankfully the weather cooperated with us on Sunday evening and on Monday. Because around here, you never know what you are going to get from one day to the next. Now we are just anxiously waiting on Papa Mike, Nana, and Uncle Bradley's family to get here in 3 days!! Then, we are going to go on another camping trip with them, and hopefully the weather cooperates then too.

A (Not Very Exciting) Update

It’s been well over a week, since the last post, so I figured it was time for an update, but there really hasn’t been anything too exciting happen with the Hoover’s in the last week. But,we have been enjoying the nicer days of spring, when we are blessed to have them. We had a few days like that last week, but not as nice as this weekend and today were. However, on one of those nicer days last week, Hayden noticed his little swimming pool under the deck, and had to drag it out, and was ready to fill it up and go swimming. I tried to explain to him that it was still too cold to go swimming, but anyone who knows Hayden very well knows he can be a bit hard-headed. In the end, we cleaned it up, filled it up, and he went swimming, (well, it was more like he would dance in the water)!! But, he stayed busy like that for at least an hour or so. Then on Sat. him and his cousin, Hailee, ended up in the pool doing the same thing (dancing, running in and out, and quickly sitting down and getting out), because of course, it is still a little too cold to actually sit in the pool and play. But with the cold days we had this winter and have had this spring, anything above 65 is warm to us!! --Hayden is always coming up with something or saying something to keep us laughing and shaking our heads wondering where it comes from. The other day, he tells me, that he just has to improvise. I was like "Improvise, what do you know about improvise." And he answered with, “It’s when you don’t have something you need, so you have to use something else.” Of course, come to find out, he learned it from watching Handy Manny. He’s our little T.V. bug!! Then, there’s Kayla who never stops for a minute during the day. She’s on the go from the minute she wakes up, and is looking for something to get into. In one day, I can clean up at least 20 messes which have included the notorious flour incident, potting soil emptied out of the plant onto the piano, make-up spilled on the bathroom floor, wipes emptied out, clothes thrown out of drawer, toilet paper thrown in the toilet, and the list goes on and on!!! Sometimes, I wish she’d sit still and watch T.V. with Hayden instead of turning it off and making him mad. She’s a mess that’s for sure!! And she has gotten bad about thinking that when it’s time to go to bed, it means it’s time to get in our bed. A couple of nights ago, I said “O.k. it’s time for bed.” And she goes running right into our room and starts pulling down the covers and climbing in. And when we’re in bed trying to go to sleep, she will get all restless, and I’ll usually say, “Kayla do you want to go get in your bed?” And she’ll quickly say, “No!” --So, as you can see nothing too exciting has happened with the Hoover’s lately, just Kayla being Kayla and Hayden being Hayden.

School's Out for the Summer

Hayden's summer has officially began, his last day of preschool was today. He's been ready for it to be over for the last couple of weeks. Every morning, I've practically had to drag him out of bed to get ready for school, but he has had a lot of fun the last few weeks with a field trip, Earth day celebration, a mini carnival, and the closing social they had today. I've been asking him for the last few days what songs they were singing for their program, and I got several different answers each time. But he had been singing a lot of "Do Your Ears Hang Low" and "5 Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree" for the last few days, and I guess he was just getting ready for today. They sang both of those, and a couple of other songs too, they were all really cute!! Here's a picture of him (top row, far left) and his classmates trying to keep their "ears" from blowing away while singing "Do Your Ears Hang Low." Of course, the last few days had been really nice with lots of sunshine and not much wind. But then today rolled around, and the tornado rolled in!!
Here's a picture of him being the last of the 5 monkeys swinging in a tree "teasing Mr. Crocodile."
Then all the kids that attended the preschool sang a song about attending Little Treasures (the name of the school) this year, and now school is over and they are ready for summer. So here's Hayden in his shades.
That pretty much wraps up Hayden's first year of preschool adventures. He had a lot of fun, and learned many new things (and songs to sing), and made some new friends too. He will be going to Pre-K next year at the same school, and I'm sure it will be full of many more adventures for him to learn and have fun. And before we know it, it will be time for him to start Kindergarten. --Now we're ready for summer, if only the weather would cooperate and give us what we want (warm days with no wind). And we are waiting patiently for Papa Mike, Nana, and Uncle Bradley's family to arrive in just a matter of weeks. Yeah!!