February 11, 2011

Riley Jo learned to ride a 2 wheeled bicycle! She was the youngest Rossi kid to master the two wheels at the age of 5! All 3 of her siblings waited until they were 7/8. We had gone to the park and she would see kids younger then her riding a 2 wheeled bike. She wanted to learn so bad. So I asked my friend how she trained her 3 year old to ride a bike. She told me that she took the pedals off the bike and her son would push himself around with his feet and he would learn his balance. He did this for about a month and then they put the pedals back on and he rode his bike. I thought, I have held onto the handle bars, the back of the seat, and the bottom of her shirt with no luck. Let's try it this way. So we went home that day and I took the pedals off Riley Jo's bike. I went inside to make dinner, we live in a court so I opened the blinds in the kitchen and I watched Riley Jo as I made dinner. She was out in the court everyday for 2 weeks pushing herself around! At the end of the 2 weeks she told me she had found her balance and wanted the pedals back on her bike. So I put the pedals back on, held her to get her steady, and she was off! Riley Jo had taught herself to ride a 2 wheeled bicycle! This is the essence of her personality. If she wants to do something, she figures out how to do it. That is the only reason she was potty trained before the age of 2, she learned to ride her bike, and why she DIDN'T walk until she was 14 1/2 months old. Our stubborn smart little girl!

January 22, 2011

Back to the snow we go! We went to Adventure Mountain Snow Park. This was our first time ever going here. Sheri had invited us to go, their ward was taking their youth up and she had to drive so we went and hung out with her and Tyler went along with their youth for the day. (Michayla was at her mom's) Abby hated the cold wet snow and so they spent a lot of time sitting at the cars. So Chris and I took Kyle and Riley Jo on the hills. I could not believe how big the hills were. Some of them were steep too. They had hills for all ages, some weren't as steep, and some had some bounce to them. By late afternoon the sun started melting some of the snow and making it kind of slushy. So you went a little faster. One guy was zooming down the hill, hit a big bump, fell off his disc and his his head. Yeah the ambulance was called! We pretty much finished up after that. Riley Jo even went down a couple times by herself. She got over confident on one hill and ended up falling off twice. But did go down again so that was good. Tyler and Kyle had fun too. Kyle would only go down in the sled. I think it went slower then the discs, and anytime he felt out of control, he would just tip over. And you can't go down backwards in the sled, the disc likes to spin and most of the time you would go backwards. So Kyle felt safe in the sled.

January 17, 2011

We went to the snow with some friends today. The Jacobs had never taken their kids to the snow so we picked a day and we all went. We went to a place called Echo Springs near Tahoe. We found a small hill to practice going down the discs on, then we made our own hill. The kids and adults all had fun going down the hill on the discs, sled, or slick mat. And, you can't go to the snow without having a snowball fight. Everyone had a blast!

January 8, 2011

I wanted to compete in a Duathlon event up in Folsom. It is a free event they do on the first Saturday of the new year. Chris got me a road bike for Christmas so I was really excited to do the event. The race is more fun for me if I know other people in the race. So I convinced Chris to do the race with me. So he agreed and convinced his good friend Tim Doll to do the race too. We had to run 2 miles, then bike 7 miles, then run another 2 miles. We start off and I take off from the boys right away. The bike was a loop, you rode out 3.5 miles, turn around, and ride back. On my way back I of course pass the boys. I cheer for Chris, still looking for Tim though. I almost make it back to the transition area and I see Tim. He is going up the hill, kind of straddling the bike, walking up the hill. I cheer for him and go on! I don't know why he thought that would be more affective then changing gears and riding the bike up the hill, or even getting off the bike completely and walking up the hill. The bike course was trying. It was a constant up and down hill with sharp turns thrown in there. I almost launched myself over my handlebars on one sharp turn. Like I said, new bike, I forgot which brake was which and I accidentally slammed my front brake. Luckily I caught myself so I didn't flip! I make it back into that transition area and start my second 2 mile run. Thinking at least Chris should be close behind me. To my surprise I finish the race, go back to my bike to get a drink and there is Chris! He was waiting for Tim but he said he had just got there. We wait a couple minutes and here comes Tim. He gets off the bike said the tire wouldn't turn and that he was fighting the bike the entire 7 miles. Turns out the brake was rubbing the back tire. Needed a little adjustment and then it worked fine. So, I finished the entire race as the boys finished 2/3 of it, AND neither of them wanted to run or walk the last 2 miles. Even though I told them I would walk or jog with them. I was glad they at least participated with me!

January 5, 2011

Kyle loves to make himself snacks. He does have a kids snack cookbook and he loves finding a snack, getting out all of the ingredients, and making the snack look just like the pictures. Today, Kyle decided to make his own sandwich. He put a bell pepper between 2 slices of bread and proceeded to eat lunch. Kyle has no problem with eating a bell pepper like an apple. I don't know why he decided to put it between bread today, instead of eating it like he usually does.

January 4, 2011

Today I took Tyler in for a physical. He is going to try out for High School Volleyball and the school requires all athletes to pass a physical. Tyler was excited to find out that he was in the 75% for his height. He has always been on the shorter side for his age. We also found out at the visit that Tyler would need some glasses. In one of his eyes he has astigmatism and he is near sided. So, in any of his classes where he sits in the back, he needs to wear his glasses. He was glad to hear he doesn't have to wear them all the time.

New Years 2010-2011

We went to our friends (The Crawford's) beach house down in Monterey for the weekend. Their were 6 families in total there. April Jacobs and the kids came down for Thursday to Friday, The Evans came Friday to Sunday, the Lees, the Crawfords, the Dolls, and us. Friday we went to Dennis the Menace park and the kids had the best time. Their is an actual train engine there for the kids to climb on and go inside, a maze, a bridge (which of course Chris loved to jump on and watch the kids all bounce), and it had a huge slide with rollers on it. The kids and adults loved making trains to go down! We rode our bikes to the park, and we rode all around downtown Monterey. The weather was perfect. Kyle even went one day with us on an 11 mile bike ride, he rode the whole time and without complaining! It was great! I pulled Riley Jo in the trailer behind my bike the whole weekend. We also went down to the tide pools, Kyle tried to bring home a souvenir. A starfish! Luckily I have learned to pat Kyle down before leaving places like that, so I patted him down thinking I was going to find a little crab, but I found a starfish instead. Funny boy he is. He said he just wanted one. He didn't know that it needed water to survive. We played a lot of games back at the house too. On New Year's Eve we even had a bonfire, and played with sparklers, writing our names and practicing how to write 2011. Thank you everyone for an awesome weekend!