Road Trips

It’s been a really really long time since we’ve left the house and gone on a long road trip but we did today! We’re excited to be spending time with family! The kids are all still pretty good at car traveling except for Luke. Hopefully in a few years he’ll rock at it like his older siblings. 

Walks in the Rain

It rained all night last night and all day today. It didn’t bother us too much because we still had a lot of cooking and packing to do for the reunion. Tenley was sweet though and still got Keena out for a walk. She took her umbrella so all the other kids wanted to join her with their umbrellas also. It was pretty cute.

Kade has been making smoothies for lunch every day lately and Ryder has been begging for some too. Today Kade let Ryder help make the smoothie and he made plenty to share.

Prep Work

Today was a busy day of prep work for the reunion this week. The kids are beyond excited about seeing their cousins soon. Ryder asks each morning how many days are left. I can’t wait to see family either! It’s been a long time since we’ve left Montana and I’ll be honest, I’m a little nervous to venture out of where it feels safe to a place where there are many more cases of corona virus, but it’s time and we can’t wait.

Motivation

Brad joined us on our weekly mile run this morning and he gave us all added motivation. Each one of us improved our times by about a whole minute! We need him to come with us every time.

Kade went with Brad to the office to do some work this afternoon while Tenley and Ryder begged to do an art project at home. Tenley wanted to make a bird house for her toy bird and Ryder wanted to make a car garage for a few of his hot wheel cars. We got creative with cardboard and paint! It was a fun afternoon.

Tonight we found that our garden is actually producing fruit and vegetables! That was exciting because of how many times Keena has dug it up.  It luckily it is still growing! We also enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Holter Lake

We took the kids to see a beautiful house in Cascade this morning that they fell in live with and then later Brad and I decided it wasn’t right for us. Poor kids are learning to deal with disappointment like nothing else this year. Then we drove down to Holter Lake to swim, kayak, and cliff jump. It was a great afternoon and I think we were able to cheer them up. All of the oldest kids were brave enough to cliff jump and Kade even swung off the rope swing! 

Baseball and Ice Cream

Ryder had another baseball game this afternoon and luckily it wasn’t as hot today as it was on Tuesday. The team played so well! They keep getting better and it’s so much fun to watch. 

After the game we all went out for ice cream. It was a great summer evening! 

Storms

I made some mini chocolate muffins with dinner tonight which reminded Kade about his favorite pumpkin chocolate chip muffins that he likes to have for breakfast. He decided he really wanted to have them for breakfast tomorrow so I helped him find the recipe and he made them tonight. He did it all by himself and I was impressed!

While Kade was baking a storm rolled in. I love summer rain storms. Tenley, Ryder and Luke were having fun dancing in the wind and rain. Luke got a little nervous when the big lightning strikes and thunder got real close though so we watched most of it from inside. 

Kade also started a ninja class today. He loved it so much! He said he hadsnt sweat that much in a long time! They climbed up a lot of walls and did a lot of jumping!

RC Cars

We had a full, fun day! Each one of the kids had a play date with a friend (beside Luke) which helped the day go by quickly. Tenley started gymnastics for the first time today as well. Her class is right when Ryder’s is so it makes it pretty convenient for me. She did a great job and had so much fun! I’m excited for her to be involved in something new. 

Right after gymnastics we rushed home, Ryder changed his clothes, and we headed to his baseball game! It was really hot tonight and the kids had a hard time playing in the heat, but they still did well and it was still Ryder’s favorite part of the day.

We finally ate dinner at 8 and then watched Kade race his RC car in the street. It has been broken for months and the parts to fix it finally arrived last week so Brad has been working on it the past few days. It works pretty well now! He even has a mega battery in it that gets it going real fast! A neighbor boy raced it on his bike and the RC car won!

Smoothie Bowls

Smoothie bowls have been a staple for lunch for our family for a few years now. Brad and I love them, but our little guys Ryder and Luke are loving them as well! Little do they know how good they are for them!

Fathers

We loved celebrating Brad today. We made him a big breakfast with cinnamon rolls, sausage and eggs, and a yummy dinner of steak, potatoes, and salad. The kids helped make chocolate shakes for dessert as well. Beside the food, they also spoiled him with adorable cards. Kade even wrote him a poem! 

We enjoyed speaking to our Dads as well on the phone. Brad’s brother had an old truck of their Dad’s restored. It was really neat for him to actually drive it again. 

Memories

We had some work to catch up on today, mowing the lawn, taking care of thing at Brad’s office, etc, so we didn’t do anything too fun and extravagant with the kids, but they still had fun playing together. We did practice baseball in the backyard again. Ryder begs to practice all day every day. Then we spent some time looking back at the past 18 months to put together a slideshow for our upcoming Hobson Family reunion. The kids loved looking at old photos and videos. I can’t believe how much they’ve changed in 18 months! Especially Luke. They’re pretty cute kids!

Brazilian Food

 Since the kids were busy with tennis every morning all week, we finally made it to the track today to run a mile. Kade and Tenley both improved! And Ryder ran his little heart out but only finished three laps. Which is still amazing! I think I should make his goals a half mile. At one point I saw him fall and stay laying down for a while but after a few seconds he got back up and started running again. I love seeing my kids try hard! It made me so happy. Luke sat in the stroller most of the time but he wanted to get out at the end and he ended up running a whole lap by himself! He was smiling and giggling the whole way. 

When we started running, Kade had an asthma attack so we rushed home to get his medicine. That was the first time I’ve seen it induced from exercise. I know his allergies are bad right now so it may have been  bad combination of things. I hate seeing my kids struggle in that sort of way. Luckily he seemed to recover fully after an hour.

Kade got to go to a birthday party all night long so Brad ended up taking the rest of us out to eat at a new Brazilian restaurant in town. It was so delicious! It may be my new favorite type of food. I’m glad we got a new yummy restaurant.

Yoga with Kade

Kade woke up early this morning while I was practicing yoga with my favorite instructor Kristin McGee. Kade was impressed by how strong Kristin was and then I surprised him by telling him that I’ve been learning yoga from her since before he was born. It always makes me laugh when my kids think I’m so old. After several more comments about how hard the moves looked I finally got him to join me. I think he enjoyed it. Neither of us could remotely do the crazy crow pose she did but we tried! It was fun to have a friend to practice yoga with this morning. I’m glad he was willing to try something new.

And I’m glad he was willing to take a picture with his old mom after yoga practice as well.

Family Baseball Practice

Today was a good day. I’ve been trying to be more present with my kids and it has been amazing when I’m consistent with it. 

After dinner we all went outside to practice baseball. Brad was on the phone with his Dad at first, but when he came out the kids were so excited! He knows so much about sports and baseball and gave them all such great tips. 

Sporty Days

Today may have been Ryder’s most favorite day of his life. He has been begging me to play sports since he was three and the only thing I could find for someone as young as him was a gymnastics class. But today he was finally able to play tennis and baseball! He actually had his ninja class today as well so it was a jam packed sports day! He loved it so much. He’s a very athletic little man and even though he may be the smallest and youngest kid out there he tries his hardest to keep up with the big kids.  

I kept asking him which sport was his favorite and he couldn’t choose just one. He loves all three. And he can’t wait to be able to play soccer as well. 

At baseball he hit the ball each time he was up to bat and he made him once. It had rained all day but it stopped just before the game and the sun came out. It was a great night for baseball!