Swim Lessons

Now that Cooper is an avid kayaker, we decided it was only fitting that we sign him up for swim lessons. Last night was our first parent-tot class and Coop loved it. The emphasis is mostly on water adjustment and having fun together so that Coop's introduction to swimming is a positive experience. Here's how the lesson broke down (in a nut shell):

• Sitting on the edge getting ourselves wet to the tune of This is the way we wash our toes, then belly, then arms, head etc.
• Jumping into the water singing Humpty Dumpty
• Some kicking
• Some paddling
• More kicking , more paddling
• Blowing Bubbles (Coop has totally mastered this thanks to much practice in the bathtub)
• The GRAND Finale: Ring around the Rosie ending with going underwater and blowing bubbles at the same time!!! Yes, our kid is going places.
• Playtime with toys

I also signed us up for the social aspect. Okay, I won't lie...my hope is to find some playmates for Coop. I decided to ease into the friend making process and to "test the waters" first. Mark warned me that I shouldn't pounce on the other parents right away fearing that I might come across as the crazy swim lady that won't leave the other parents and children alone. Perhaps the friend making will just come naturally. Wish us luck and enjoy some pics---emphasis on cute water baby...not so much emphasis on Mom in her swim suit :).

Humpty Dumpty jumping in Doing the backstroke "Hey, there's Dad"
Surrounded by potential friends

(Amy refraining from asking them to be our friend) It was quite comical to watch the paparazzi outside the water. The kids were definitely outnumbered by fans and photogs. We had quite the audience. And here I was wondering if we should bring the camera in fear that we'd be the only dorky parents that had to take pics. Let's just say we weren't the only ones with that marvelous idea. You would have thought the Octomom was swimming with us based on the Parent-Paparazzi that surrounded us.

Mexican Bluegrass and Kayaks

Another weekend of fun had by all (even the doggies). Mark returned home from his travels to Colorado and we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather. We also mixed it up a bit and had a family Saturday Night Dinner Date. Only in Tennessee can one experience Mexican Bluegrass. When we first moved here, we discovered a fun place that serves mexican food and live bluegrass. An obvious combination don't you think? The band was awesome and the food delish! Best of all, Coop was able to hoot and holler to the music and stay true to his roots. He's keepin' it real. After all, he was born in TN. Once a hillbilly, always a hillbilly. Cooper loved the fact that he could eat and groove and when he was on the verge of fussiness, we were able to stand up and dance. Even Dad cut a rug a little bit (which is quite rare). I took advantage of being able to bust a move in public with Coop before he's old enough to be utterly embarrassed of Mom making a spectacle of herself.

~~Side Note and shout out to my Mother~~ I have vivid memories of going to a "disco" in Puerto Vallarta with my Mother when I was 12yrs old. I spent the entire evening being horrified and hiding under the table while my mother whooped it up on the dance floor with a basketball team--but I digress.

Yesterday we decided to take the doggies with us on a little adventure. They've definitely gotten the shaft lately and haven't been able to explore like they used to PC (pre-Cooper). We spent the afternoon on the river in The Cherokee National Forest. Cooper loved having his doggies pal around with us and it was so much fun to let him see what having water dogs is all about. We found a beautiful secluded spot where the dogs could be dogs and Cooper could be cute.

Acclimating

Is that a Chocolate Lab or Yellow Lab?

Chasing Dad down the River (Michael Phelps and Dara Torres) Snuggling in the kayak Hey Targhee, give us a push

first paddle (notice the canine lifeguards)

Pointing (Coop's new favorite thing to do)

Carrots and Kayaks

Family Fun

We may have found our new family sport--Disc Golf. We're taking advantage of still being able to contain the Coopster. Yes, that's right...he's still isn't walking but is very close. It's only a matter of time before we'll be chasing him all over the course. In the meantime, we're enjoying this last phase of "babyhood" as he enters toddlerhood. Here's a few pics of our new pastime. I can't wait to see what other sports we'll try to conquer as a family. Fun times!

Daddy and his caddy Teeing off

Who you calling a poser?

Rough hole

Coop's new favorite toy is the frisbee he's holding in these pics. He wouldn't give it up so we were down a "club". It is now also used to comfort him in the car when he's screaming. All we have to do is hand him his frisbee and he perks right up. Oh, the simple joys in life.

Snake Mountain Ranch

Coop, can you say primitive? That pretty much sums up your Grandpa Toby and Oma Lis' place. And that's no joke. It's been more than 2 weeks since we visited Snake Mountain Ranch but I wanted to post a little description about the place. They live on about 80 acres near Bisbee, AZ. Their house is a straw bale/adobe-like casita nestled in a mountain they have appropriately named Snake Mountain. To say they live "off the grid" is an understatement. This is their sanctuary away from the chaos that surrounds us and this is their home. And that is exactly what it feels like.

Lately, the camera seems to be monopolized by photos of YOU, so I failed to take any pics of the inside which truly is a work of art. It's basically one room with a small kitchen and a loft large enough for a bed. I spent much of my visit looking at all of their treasures and beautiful art. I've got to hand it to them; I don't know many people that could live so simply. Your Dad and I can't wait to visit when you're a little bit older. You will love to hunt for scorpions, rattlesnakes and ancient arrowheads. Your Grandpa knows where all of the arrowheads are (wink, wink). It's one of his many talents.

Swinging with Oma and with Dad

A belated bday celebration

Coop wasn't so sure about Gpa's bus

planting Coop's cactus

Ocotillo in bloom (view from the front yard)

I can't wait for the next visit to Snake Mountain Ranch. I have to admit it probably won't be during the hot summer months. Here's hoping for a very cool, wet summer for Grandpa and Oma.

Bug

Check out the Beast that tried to eat our little helpless baby! I'm still freaking out a bit. Last night after we put Coop to bed we heard a strange noise coming from the baby monitor. It was loud. So loud that we heard it over the tv. It sounded like Cooper was snoring. Not a sweet baby snore, but a passed out drunken sailor snore. It was loud enough that we thought we better go check on him. We tip-toed into the bedroom and a goo-gooed over our little guy like any sappy parents would do. Aw, look how preshush our widdle babeee is! Then, as we leaned in closer to his crib, THERE IT WAS..the Beast that you see below. It was crawling right next to Coop as he lay peacefully sound asleep. Mark tried to slide it out of the crib by covering it with a book. That didn't work and the Beast suddenly flew right towards the door and the light. Unfortunately, its path was intercepted by ME and my hair. I SCREAMED and did the OH MY GOD THERE'S A BUG STUCK IN MY HAIR dance which of course woke Coop up. He then started screaming frantically. Can you blame the poor kid? Who wouldn't scream if they were suddenly awakened by their mother doing some freaky dancing next to their crib? Mind you, I didn't do any of my signature dance moves that he has become accustomed to. This was definitely a new routine. The poor kid is probably going to have nightmares about this for years to come. Mark then shut the door and told us to stay put while he tried and finish off the Beast. As I rocked Coop back to sleep I could hear Mark in the other room. It sounded like he was wrestling a gorilla. There's was a lot of pounding and slamming going on. Finally, Coop was again sound asleep and Mark had slayed the Beast (insert dramatic movie score here). He even saved the remains. So what did I do with them you ask? What any first time Mother would do.... take a picture of it and blog about it. Notice I even took the time to pose it next to a Netlix envelope so that you'd be able to scale it to size. Am I a dork or what?
NOTE: No children were harmed in the making of this blog entry.

Tucson

Oh, how I LOVE the desert. We had a fabulous time in Tucson and enjoyed a little change of pace from our daily routine. Coop and I were able to play the whole time while Mark slaved away in class. We did get to play around a little bit with Dad in the evenings and luckily Mark got out of class early on Friday so we were able to drive south of Tucson to spend some time at Grandpa Toby on Oma Lis' place. I'll post pics from their place later--it's so cool it warrants it's own post. We picked a perfect time to visit the desert. Everything was in bloom and sunshine, sunshine, sunshine (did I mention the sunshine?). It's rained probably every day the past month in TN, so the sunshine was a great boost. Coop and I enjoyed playing around the resort and spending time with Grandpa, Oma and their cute dog Ishi. They spent a couple of days with us and showed us some of their favorite places; Tohono Chul Park, Degrazia and many yummy restaurants. Tohono Chul Park truly is a desert oasis and Degrazia is a must see! I decided that I could live in either place. The gardens are breathtaking. Who knew you could have such lushness in the middle of the desert? I truly felt at home while visiting both places. I guess that means I'm a desert rat. The only downside to the trip was discovering how hard it is to keep a little pale skinned boy from getting sun burned. Cooper now hates, hates, HATES sunblock due to the constant lubrication. I couldn't help but think I sounded just like my mother: "someday you'll thank me when you have beautiful skin without wrinkles and sun damage......do you want to look like George Hamilton when your 20?" Oh, how I wish I would have listened to my mother. The other obstacle was keeping Cooper happy in his car seat with so much driving around. The kid isn't a fan of car seats these days. Mark and I are used to suffering through it, but I didn't want to put Grandpa and Oma through that so we used the old shove a cracker in that kids mouth before he blows trick. Needless to say, our rental car looked like a cracker convention went amuck in the backseat. If only those poor mice from our car would have settled in our rental car instead. They'd still be alive today..............

Morning coffee on the veranda~that's fancy resort talk for patio :)

Awesome door at Degrazia

Grandpa Toby, Oma Lis and little Ishi (in Lis' bag) at Degrazia

Cuteness on a stump

Kids' garden at Tohono Chul Park

Cuteness in a Cabana

Coop LOVED the fountains

"swimming"

Enjoying breakfast on the deck overlooking the pool.

3 DEAD mice

I just had to share. Upon return from our trip to AZ, what do we find in the car nestled right next to Cooper's car seat? 3 poor little dead baby mice. While Mark was loading our baby arsenal into the car, I went to load Coop into his car seat and found their little bodies all curled together. I'm not a huge rodent fan (especially when you can't help but fear that they smeared the hantavirus all over our car and Cooper's car seat) but I couldn't help but feel bad for the poor little guys. It made me think...where did the come from? Did their momma bring them to our car from our yard as a safe haven? I imagined that was the case and just as she was running out to get them a nice meal, we showed up and hauled her babies 70 miles to Knoxville. At first they might have been excited about their first road trip to the big city but as the days went on without their Mommy or any sign of food (because I keep an immaculate car--yeah right) the trip became less and less fun. They finally curled up together and died in the seat belt buckle casing. Needless to say, a major disinfecting of the car is in order. In the meantime, wipes will have to do. I just have to make myself not think about what kind of mouse party was going on in the car before their demise. Our car now smells like ass!