I've kinda been a slacker lately.

But I will try to do better.

 We spent the 3-5 of July in Tacoma.  Aaron loves going to The Freedom Fair down at the water front.  We hadn't been in Tacoma for a few weeks, so we made a trip out of it and had fun.

There is a new playground at Kandle Park that we had to try with the kids.  The park has been there as long as I can remember, and when I was little there was a little playground and wadding pool, but they took that out a long time ago.  They made a HUGE improvement with this playground, a spray park, and a wave pool. 

 Hey Jared

Here is a little spray area, but this isn't the actual spray park.  The Spray Park and Wave pool are behind a fence to keep the little ones safe and separate.

Allyson

Uncle Steve and Aunt Lindsey came with us to the Park, which was great for numerous reasons.  The Playground is really big and I was trying to keep an eye on all 3, so having extra hands and eyes was great.  PLUS they get down and play with the kids for example:

The swing!

Jared

 Carys

 Allyson

The 4th of July

Aaron went down to the water for the morning/afternoon, so Mom, Dad and I hit some stores in the morning. 

After Aaron got home and we had a BBQ (Steve and Lindsey were in Auburn) we went out in the front yard and popped some poppers with the kids. 

Ally

Jared

We didn't get 1 normal shot of her all night.

Carys was funny.  Last year she was too little to enjoy anything, but this year after a few minutes she got into it and rather excited.

She started trying to say "One, Two, Three YAY!"

"YAY!"

Doing the Bob Groove!

"Ooh!"

When I was little we started going down to the Waterfront and watching the city shoot fireworks off a barge in Commencement Bay.  Jared has always been scared of the fireworks and never wanted to or even showed interest in going down to see them.  This year he wanted too, so Aaron and I took him down and he LOVED it.  He did great.  I was wondering if he would get tired, since they didn't start the fireworks til 10:10, but he did just fine. I think this is going to be a new tradition.

Switching gears!

I think most of Washington State got a bit of a storm early in the week, but here are some pictures of the storm that hit us here.  It was pretty awesome.  I love a good summer storm.  The kids caught the beginning of it and then went to bed without a peep. 



Switching gears one more time.

Jared has had a couple appointments lately with Dr. Robin.  She has been doing the re-evaluation, since it has been almost a year since his last assessment. 

I really wasn't sure what to think.  Sure he was in Preschool during this year, but honestly, academically I don't think he learned too much.  Not to say he didn't learn anything, or that the year was a waste at all, he was just ahead in several of the subjects, and his teacher said the same thing.

Anyway, he has had 2 tests with one more coming. 

The first one covered, Reading, Math, and other core subjects

The second one covered, more visual, like Tangram, Pictures, recognition, following directions and activities like that.

The results of the first day were great.  He scored about 18 months ahead and or around the age of 7.

The results of the second day were wonderful.  On a scale of 1-24 he scored 23 1/2. He is averaging close to skill level of an 8 year old. 

We still have 1 more test to do, which is on verbal skills.  If anyone has been around Jared, you know that there is nothing lacking in the verbal department. He was blessed with the gift of gab for sure.

Anyway, I'm not posting this to brag or anything like that.  I'm just keeping those who aren't here updated with the latest on the Man child.

We are still working on his anxiety issues, which obviously have gotten better with it being summer.  He still gets offended and hurt feelings really easy and blows things out of proportion sometimes, but it's a work in progress. 

All I know is that he is pretty dang smart, funny, sweet, and keeps us going ALL DAY LONG!