another day of climbing!!!

We started off the 4 day weekend with a day of climbing, and ended it on Monday with another day of climbing :) We had a BLAST with the DeWitt family at Garden of the Gods, and it was especially nice for all the kids to have a chance to climb.

Here you can see Cris belaying Tim, while Tim's little girls serve as the back-up belay/safety net :) They were so proud of their dad for finishing the ascent and making it to the very top of his first climb!!!

Daddy helping Nova get her gear ready.

Unfortunately, Nova is going through what we shall refer to as "the Chicken Phase", and made exactly 1/2 of a move on this particular climb. We'll keep working on it :)

Riley, on the other hand, was super brave for her first time, and did a fantastic job!!

Juneau took her turn as well, but was also just a little bit afraid....maybe next time.

My friend Gina looked great on her first attempt at rock climbing! whooohoo!!!!

Although I didn't climb (I think this growing belly might have thrown my balance off just a bit), i had a great time helping to get the kids geared up and on the rock!!

Timmy was very brave with his climbing, but i think he enjoyed swinging on the rope more than climbing :) You can definitely see little 22 week Jude Freeman is growing!

Anyway, we had a blast, and we are so thankful for firends to enjoy our last Mountain Summer with :)

In the mean time, we are preparing for our big move, and a new baby!!! whoohoo!! My pregnancy has been absolutely amazing so far. The very little bit of nausea I had early on has pretty much resolved, and I am feeling great. Jude is seriously going crazy right now (he is always super super active between 9-10 p.m.). Cris has been able to feel him moving around a lot....Juneau claims she has felt him moving, but I think she might have been imaging it, considering her patience to hold still with her hand on my belly lasts for approximately 1.2 seconds.

The girls have started t-ball, and it is actually going pretty good. I am amazed at Nova's enjoyment of sports! Being the little princess that she is, i didn't think she would really get into it, but she loves every second of it, and takes it VERY seriously. As for Juneau, let's just say she has been "consistent" in her feelings towards team sports so far. It is definitely helping to have her daddy around to help her out, but so far she is not loving the team sports.

Speaking of things Nova loves, i cannot WAIT to get her on video watching Sasuke (American Ninja Warrior). Cris has posted about this before, but I had not witnessed it first hand until last week, and it was soooo funny. she is LITERALLY sitting on the edge of her seat, cheering on each competitor through the obstacles. It goes something like this "Come on guy, come on!! you can do it!!! go across the balance bar. YES YES !!!!! You did it, guy, you did it!!!Now the Devil's Stairs. You can do it, you're almost there. OHHHHH MANNN!!!!!! right at the end he fell. OHHHH MANNN!!!!!". That is a brief glimpse into what can go on for an entire hour. stinking hilarious. I know this kid got her competitive spirit, her love of sports, and her verbal enthusiasm while watching sports honestly (it's happened more than once that Cris has woken the girls up from nap during an exciting moment of Ohio State athletics).

Anyway, things are good. the girls are doing amazing. Jude is a growing, jumping, kicking rambunctious little fella, and we are certainly enjoying our summer!!!! Oh, one last important bit of information we found out recently....I had requested (without much hope for a "yes") from the chief of the ob dept that I be allowed to travel back to Hawaii at 36 weeks, and plan to deliver in Hawaii. I have enough vacation time saved up to make this feasible, but it all depended on if the chief felt the department could function a doc short for the entire month, and he has approved my request!!!! whoohoooo!!!! I am so thankful that we won't have to plan and hope and pray that we could time it properly for cris to fly back to colorado for Jude's birth. I think there is a pretty good chance he would have missed the delivery, and I was really sad thinking about that. It is a real blessing that i will be able to travel back to Hawaii for several reasons. First of all, I will be headed back about Sep 1, and I don't start my new job until the beginning of January. That means I will have 4 whole months at home with the girls (and eventually Jude), which will be so amazing!!!! Secondly, I am so glad i will be home a lot during the fall to help the girls transition into full time school. As I mentioned before, I am very nervous about this transition, and so thankful I will get to be there for them. Anyway, in spite of the craziness we call life, things seem to be falling into place.