Gymnastics

I ended up having a Groupon come to my email for one month worth of gymnastics at Wing's here in Boise.  I talked it over with Scott and we thought it would be a good idea to see how Rachel would do in an organized setting.  Let's just say we will be going back but when she gets older.  She doesn't like to listen and doesn't like to have to wait to get on any of the equipment. She found the things she liked and that's where she wanted to stay.  We had a really hard time getting her to even try some of the equipment.   We have thought about it and we truly believe that most of the problem was Rachel never had the same leader each time and so it was someone who she was unfamiliar with and that didn't make her very happy.

So the pictures are going to coming from different days of gymnastics but it will show you pretty much how they do it.

So first they do stretching on the mats.  This sometimes is hard for Rachel because look at all the stuff behind her that she could be climbing on instead. There were several times we were chasing her down to bring her back to the circle and trust me she has some wheels on her.

 Come on dad your supposed to have the spiders move to your toes.

We then Choo-Choo to the first set of obstacle courses.  This is Ms. Chelsey (the one Rachel liked) and she will model how to do each of the three obstacle course 1 at a time.  They had 10 minutes on each course.

This was the first thing she tried.  Needless to say she loved it.  At first I helped her and held on to the bar but as you can see in the next picture she totally could do it herself.

Swinging without mom even helping.  Weee (That's what she said every time she went back and forth).

No guesses to the other thing she liked and that was the trampolines.  She loves them and never wanted to share with other people.

 Jumping, Jumping, Jumping.

Mom trying to get me off so someone else could have a turn.  

First time doing chin ups.  She tried so hard but would rather just hang from the bar.

She was completely terrified of this slide.  I don't know why but the only thing I can think of was she thought it was to steep.  So I had to hold her each time she went down and sometimes it was a fight to get her down it.

Totally and completely hated the climbing wall.  You can see she doesn't even have her feet on it.  We tried every week but she didn't want to do it.

Got the hang of hopscotch because it was jumping.  We could easily call her Jumping Bean.

She was terrified of the balance beam also but if I held on to her she could totally do them all.

 Attempting to climb the rope with help from Mom and Ms. Chelsey.

Cheese look at me.  Was pretty good about walking sideways across this bar.  We just had to help her step off of it.

We decided that because the leaders were so inconsistent with being there week after week we needed to give her a little bit more time to mature and to do more listening techniques with her and her therapists.  One day I hope to be able to put her back in activities that she will enjoy.  It was fun but it was very trying on the nerves when she screamed through two of the four sessions and we couldn't do anything to make her happy.

Schaffer Family Reunion 2011

So the week right after the wedding festivities we had Scott's family reunion.  This is always held at Scott's Grani's house and it's just always so much fun.  They do family pictures, eat, play games, a silent auction and just catch up with everyone.  Rachel of course the first thing she did was go straight to the fish pond in the back yard.

 Checking out the fish pond.

Getting a little bit closer.

How close can I get before I get in trouble?

I've gotten even closer I can almost feel it. 
(I love this picture it's got to be one of my favorite of the day.)

 

 Sweet I'm touching it but at least dad's not pulling me away.

 I get to be like the big kids and put my feet in the water. 
If you can't tell Rachel's pants are wet.  Yep Bop had to go over and take her out of the pond because she slid right on in while she was sitting there with the kids.  She then started splashing the other kids which they weren't to happy about and I don't blame them.  We actually pulled her out of the pond three times.  I had to get the mean mommy look to get her to stay out of it finally.

 I look pretty cool.  

We all grabbed for our camera's on this shot because it was just so cute.  Just Chillaxin.

So after everyone was done eating the kids got to do the fish pond.  This was Rachel's first time and let me just say she doesn't know how to share.  She was the first one up because she was the youngest but when it came time to hand over the fishing pole she wouldn't do it and threw a royal fit.  Needless to say she had to go into the house until Scott could get her calmed down.

 Rachel's First time Fishing!!!!

What did I get Daddy????

 I got bubbles yeah.  She also got some googly eyes, poppers, necklaces, sunglasses, a monkey, and a cowgirl hat.

The Cowgirl. :-)

After everyone got to play with their toys for awhile Grani then had a pinata for all the kids to hit at.  Rachel being the youngest was first again.  Here is her trying to hit the pinata.  Actually hit it a couple of times not to shabby for the 1st time ever.

 Trying to hit it.

Hitting it right in the middle.  Good job Rachel.

It's tradition to get family pictures.  Since we have learned that Rachel doesn't like to have pictures staged we tried really hard to just get pictures when she was ready for them.  So our family picture is different then everyone else's because yep you guessed it she didn't want to get away from the pond when it was picture time.  So here's our family reunion picture.

We also got a picture of Scott's immediate family.  Tyson and Tia are missing because Tyson had to work.

Back row: Wayne(aka Rambo), Amber, Jamie, Carlee, Keith, Scott

Middle Row: Bryson, Aubree, Tracy, Brad, Susan, Rachel

Front Row: Kylee, Alexis, Colby, Hallee

We usually get a picture of everyone who shows up but the group is getting so big there just isn't a spot big enough to get us all.  Lots of people there this year that I hadn't seen for awhile.  It was really fun to let everyone really get to spend time with Rachel also.  She loves it.

Just Random cute pictures we got of Rachel:

 Kisses.  This is rare but grandma got one.

 Cheese.  Can you actually catch me smiling?  Yep Aunt Jamie can with her cool camera.

 Talking with her great-Grani.

 Kisses for Daddy.  He had worked all night so she hadn't gotten to spend much time with him.  She is totally a daddy's little girl.

 What mischief can I get into now????

 Hanging by one of the flower beds.

Flowers.  Yeah I love flowers.  Rachel is always smelling the flowers whenever she sees some.  It's cute.  Thanks Kammi for giving her a green thumb.

One of these things is not like the other

Okay so I hope Tyson doesn't get upset about this but it's just to funny.  You'll understand when you see what I'm talking about.

SAME (3 Generations)

(Daniel Sylvester, Bradley Daniel, Scott Bradley)

Are these the same person??????

Like I said, One of these things is not like the other.  :-)  ha ha ha

I seriously just laugh about this because its so crazy how different each kid looks but when you look at Scott you can definitely tell he looks like his dad and grandpa.  Its amazing how much they look alike.  The joke is that Scott will know what he looks like when he gets older because he just has to look at his grandpa.  I do believe you are correct.

Tyson & Tia's Open House

So on Saturday July 30th we drove down to Montpelier to the open house.  We got there around 2:00.  Nothing really for us to do so we hung out at Jamie's house.  The kids played outside.  It was too cold to let them play in the pool though so they just played on the trampoline and had fun with all the cousins.  Around 5:30 we headed to the church house.  We had some more pictures and of course because we didn't want Rachel in certain pictures those were the pictures she wanted in.  She is a very funny child.  Someday we will get the picture taking right.

 All the kids aftewards just dancing and having a good time.

 Hallee and Rachel dancing.

One of Rachel's favorite things to do.  She loves swinging and doesn't care how just as long as she's flying through the air.  So this is Jamie getting her work out in. 

We ended up spending the night in Montpelier and then it was the long 5 hour drive home.  It actually ended up being a 10 hour drive home because we stopped in Twin Falls at Paul's house to see my uncle Larry from Virginia.  It was so good to see him and talk to him since it was almost a year ago we lost him in a horrible accident on his ranch.  So grateful for the power of prayer that saved him from that accident.

  The next day when we were home though Rachel said to Scott, "Ah it's good to be home.  I love my bed."  Cracks me up every time I think of her saying this.  She sure does have a funny personality and is definitely a schedule kid.