We always knew that Braedyn loved riding his bike and racing BMX, he talks about it all the time. But one recent day at school I got to see that BMX racing is on his mind constantly. Braedyn used the magna-tiles at school to build a BMX track complete with a start gate and then proceeded to run gates with some little cars. Here's a short video of it.

Kindermusik Graduation

Braedyn has been doing Kindermusik since he was one. He got to be part of the recent graduation ceremony at our current Kindermusik class in Santa Barbara.

Christmas Time

We've been baking lots of cookies and decorating them and taking them around to the neighbors. Braedyn has been getting some more sugar than normal... He's been enjoying Christmas this year and is eagerly anticipating Christmas morning. He's been learning lots of new Christmas songs as well. Here is a rendition of Jingle Bells on the Drums.

 
 
 

Ventura Beach

The boardwalk along Ventura harbor is a great place to ride bikes. There is also a really fun, new playground out on the sane near the pier that we spent some time at on our trip down there. On our ride back to catch the train we stopped off to watch some people playing drums and Braedyn got invited in to play with them for awhile.

Water Bottle Rockets

We found some plans online for water bottle rockets, just some hose and a pump hooked up to a water bottle with a little air and water in makes for some excitement. This is Braedyn's new favorite toy. Why spend all kinds of money when you can have hours of entertainment for $3 at the hardware store! Braedyn wants to shoot rockets pretty much every day and wants to show them off to all his friends and anyone walking by the house as well.

Happy 40th Birthday Barry

Braedyn made a song for Barry's 40th birthday.

Corn Maze

On out trip to Bloomsbury Farm we got to go in a huge corn maze. It was quite impressive. Nicholas and Elizabeth were with us to help show us the way out.

 
 
 
 

At the farm

We took Connor and Braedyn out to MeMa and Papa's farm in Vinton, IA. Some day they will actually get to live on this peaceful setting but for now it's fun to go ride 4 wheelers, roast marshmallows, dig in the garden, and play in the stream.

Look mom, I can ride all by myself

We took the training wheels off of his bike a couple weeks ago and if Mom and Dad hadn't been so scared it wouldn't have taken so long to learn to ride. Now Braedyn doesn't even need anyone to help him start off or stop and can go all throughout our neighborhood without falling. The videos at the bottom are also available in HD if you click that option and they should look pretty good at full screen.

Swimming

Here's a short video collage of Braedyn's latest swimming.

Animoto

Alpine Slide

Winter Park claims to have the largest Alpine Slide, so we just had to try it out. Braedyn got a free full day pass and everyone else got a one ride pass so we all got to go ride down with him once. He even got to ride his own little cart when he went with Grandpa. He had a ton of fun riding this as well as riding the lift back up to the top.


 
 
 
 

Skate Park

Winter Park has a great little downtown park with a skate park and a climbing wall and lots of stuff to play on. We hung out there a couple of times, even catching a concert one night. Braedyn really enjoyed riding his bike in the skate park and is now lobbying for a skate park in Carpinteria.

 
 
 

More dancing

Santa Barbara Tea Fire Benefit Concert

On Sunday there was a small local music festival that was a benefit concert for some people who got hurt in the recent Tea Fire in Montecito. We headed out after church and caught a majority of the show. Braedyn loved all the music & dancing, and there was even a display of fire engines and a rescue helicoptor! We ran into a lot of people we knew from town and church and also ran into a friend from work, Ben and his girlfriend. Ben plays with Braedyn so much every time he sees him that Braedyn just loves him and talks about him forever afterwards.

 
 
 

Birthday?

Ok, last birthday post until next year, I promise! We had one more present we got for Braedyn that we had been holding onto since Christmas. We wanted to wait until we got home so we had it hiding in a closet. Of course Braedyn found it on quite a few occassions and typically referred to it as Daddy's. He doesn't quite understand that presents might be for him quite yet. So when we told him we had one more present for him he was excited, but when he came around the corner and saw this, he just couldn't believe it was for him.




We sometime wonder if this was a good gift to give him as he REALLY likes it and plays it all the time!

More Garden

THe last of our botanical garden excursion pictures... This place was really a blast, we ended the day with a picnic lunch in the gardens by the visitor center after a long stop at the little stream to rock hop, throw rocks in and just explore.

6 person bike?

One of the touristy things to do in Santa Barbara, 10 minutes up the coast from Carp, is to rent one of these overly large, family bikes and take it for a spin down the beach bike path near downtown. We hadn't had the opportunity present itself to make it worth doing this until Mema and Papa's visit with Elisabeth. We were just hanging out downtown near the beach and couldn't pass it up. Although there are pedals for 4 people to work together on the propulsion of this beast, Michael was doomed to do all of the work on this day as everyone else relaxed in their seats and enjoyed the sunshine.... (just kidding...., it was a little overcast) :-)

 
 
 

Carpinteria

this is where we live...

Isaac Surfing

Isaac wanted to give surfing a try while he was out for a visit so we grabbed some boards and a wetsuit on Saturday and headed down to Sandyland beach in Carpinteria for some lessons.