Disneyland

We were able to escape a crazy schedule to enjoy time with the Bigelow side of the family down in Disneyland in early December. Eli just loved everything, except the fact that he couldn't go on all of the rides. Noah however, really enjoyed Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain Railroad, Tower of Terror, and the Matterhorn. It was a real struggle to get him on Pirates though! It was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Biegelow there, all of the Phillips and Cervantes, and Brent and the kids.

Wheels Off and Moving Forward

Noah was riding around in the back yard and just stopped, looked at me, and asked "Dad, can we take my little wheels off?" I quickly responded "sure, let's go out to the front yard." We went out front, took off the training wheels, and he was off. Of course I had to help him now and then, especially to avoid those menacing and antagonizing parked cars and an occasional head-on collision with Eli riding a scooter, but besides that he was off doing his thing. I on the other hand felt obligated to follow him around to make sure that he didn't take a spill. Noah finally had to tell me to leave him alone. :) As a father and cyclists... :) Could I be more proud?

Happy Birthday Noah

Happy Birthday Noah.

Father n' Son

Dennis invited us to go with them on their ward's Father and Son Camp-out up at Rollins Lake. My little Noah was so excited to go camping, but waiting to go was a really hard thing for him.

This would be our first camp-out like this (the Spanish Branch really doesn't do this sort of stuff for some reason), so I was also excited to just spend some time with Noah.
We got the van all packed up and ready to go. We made sure to bring our bikes so that we could go riding around the lake for a bit.

Dennis, Ian, Noah and myself drove up together. We had plenty of time to throw the football around and go on adventures by the lake.
Just after it got dark and we had the Aaronic Priesthood Commemoration presentation by the fire pit. Shortly thereafter Noah wanted to go to sleep... and that kid was out cold!! :)
So that gave Dennis and I the opportunity to introduce the older boys that were there to "Chilean Jungle Uno." A fast paced "funner" version of the original slow and boring Uno... want the rules... just let me know. :) Anyway, I have to give props to those kids, because they picked it up quick. Jake Loyd (Pictured with the grape soda) took a commanding lead for last place, but by the end of the night took first by only 5 points (to me). We had a great night.

Just More Father n' Son

We rode all over the camp ground... Safety Bike Rider Dad forgot our helmets!!
Just Dennis getting Ian's air mattress ready... and Noah showing me his whistle, just in case he wonders off and gets lost (thanks for the whistle Beck! :) )
Noah and Ian... seriously, how good do these kids have it? DVD player in the back, they are good to go!
This is of Grant and Jake Loyd trying to shove a queen size inflatable mattress into a small 3 person tent... This was hilarious, I could have watched this all day. :)

Dusting off the family blog

Ok, so the Nartker family has been busy, and spending time on the blog hasn't been one of the priorities. However, summer is upon us, and so the four-leaf clover back-drop has got to go. So bust out the sunglasses folks! It is summer time.Here is a very quick update on the JE Nartker family:

Justin is busy with work and school... and trying to find time to log miles for the area's "May is Bike Month" challenge. (http://www.mayisbikemonth.com/) His boss is killing him by almost 300 miles!! HAHA!

Erin has already had two days out by the pool (no, not ours... wouldn't that be nice :) ) soaking up sun with Noah learning how to swim without floaties, and Eli is using them for the first time. They are both going to be little fish. For as fearless as Eli is, he is pretty cautious around the pool... which makes us all very happy.

Noah asked me to take off his training wheels on his bike... Yes... This was a great day for Justin... he took a break from the books, removed the "little wheels" for Noah, helped him manuver up and down the street a couple times before he asked to put them back on... Dang! So close! :) He actually did a really good job, I just don't think he likes dad hovering over him trying to keep him up.

Anyway, life is good... busy, and really good.

Cookies = Mess when Dad is "helping"

Ok, so Justin tells Noah that he will help him make some cookies... But Noah has to show him how to everything... not because Noah is the super cookie maker, just because Justin has not made cookies in forever. :) So Noah helps load everything into the mixer, shows Justin where to turn it on... and POOF! Everything went flying all over! But Noah isn't the one that made the mess, it was Justin! So this picture shows the nice little mess that Justin "helped" create... but Noah had a lot of fun baking with dad! :)

Camping... Kind of

Ok, so Noah really wanted to go camping, but at night, outside... way too cold. So we threw up the little pop-up play tent that we have and threw it up in the living room. Noah was so excited. He insisted that Justin sleep with him... even though there is no room at all! Before it was time to sleep I convinced Noah that Justin didn't need to sleep in there with him and we moved the tent to our room where Noah had so much fun sleeping the night away in his tent... all by himself. :)

Snow Trip

We went with the Phillips up to the snow. After trips like this, we know why we only VISIT the snow. After about an hour and a half we were ready to come home. :) Becky and Dennis brought hot chocolate for afterward, which really hit the spot.

Eli loved the snow, however the boys were ready to be done and ready to go home... we got our snow fix, and that was good enough.Becky and Dennis made this little snow man... It didn't last too long with Eli sitting there.My Boys!