Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center

Since Annabeth didn't have any requests for activities or dinner on her birthday, we decided for her! Jerry took off a bit early from work and we went to Mesquite Groves Aquatic Center. It's very similar to Resch Aquatic Center in Green Bay that we went to last year.

A funny little thing about the aquatic center here. It didn't close when the kids went back to school. In fact, it will be open in the afternoons and on weekends into October! We went right when it opened at 4pm and practically had the place to ourselves. It was great! We hear it can get so busy in the summer that you have to wait outside until someone leaves! Insanity!

The boys had a great time! In addition to the slides and play area, there was a lazy river and a small vortex pool.

Annabeth had a great time in the shallow end where she could sit and splash.

After swimming we went to Jack in the Box for dinner. The birthday girl brought along her own food, although she did take a few sips of my chocolate shake.

What do you think birthday girl? Did you have a good time?

 Looks like she did!

One!

to be added

Annabeth's First Birthday

Annabeth is one! How did that happen? What a crazy first year she's had! She's lived in two states and three houses in her first year. That's a Shown Family record! Here are some fun facts about our not-so-little-anymore baby:

Nicknames: Boo Boo, Annabethie, Bob-a-gobs (JD came up with that one)

Favorite People: Her family!

Words she can say: Mama, nigh nigh, bath, kick-kick-kick, woof

She knows: Holds up one finger when you ask how old she is, puts her arms up for "so big", waves hi and bye, and the ASL sign for "more"

Favorite game: Peekaboo (holds her arm over her eyes to "hide")

Favorite animal: dog (she says "woof" when she hears one bark)

Favorite food: ice cream, cheese, peas, Veggie Straws

Favorite book: any with "touch and feel", can turn pages

Favorite activity: swimming, taking baths

Favorite toy: little toy iPod that plays music

Favorite appliance: dishwasher, when it's open she takes out the silverware and when it's closed she grabs the towel that hangs on the handle and tries to "clean"

Skills: crawls (fast!), pulls to stand, cruises around furniture, dances to music, drinks from a cup, makes kissing noise

Church: only been in nursery once, raises hands during praise music, sits quietly during prayer at meals

Bad habits: sucks her thumb (only when tired), screeches when she wants something, gets into the pantry and rolls cans of soda around, tries to eat the dog's food

Daily routine: Up and nurses 7am, Breakfast 8am, Nap at 9:30-11:15am, Lunch 12pm, Nap 1:30-3:30pm, Nurses, Dinner at 5pm, Nurses and bed at 8pm. She's always been a great sleeper.

Very healthy: never been to a doctor sick visit, had Roseola and one cold, small for her age (only 5th percentile for weight)

Teeth: four top, three bottom

Adventures: moved (twice), been in 8 states, flown on an airplane

Most commented on features: Big blue eyes and perfect lips

Funny Faces:

Happy Birthday Annabeth! We are so glad you're part of our family!

Pool Progress: August 28 - Tile

The tile guys arrived this morning. It was a two man crew and it didn't take them very long at all. Before they put up the tile they made a smooth edge all the way around the pool.

Then they installed the tile and filled in the grout.

I really like the color of the tile. It has blues and browns in it. I think it will look nice between the blue water and the brick coping that will surround the pool.

 It looks good next to the grotto too!

Next up: Brick Coping

Pool Progress: August 27 - Grotto Finish

Monday morning a two man crew came to finish up the grotto. First, they cleaned it off with a leaf blower. Then they mixed several different paint colors into pumper spray bottles.

First coat was black in all the grooves.

Second coat was tan/brown colors.

Last, was a coat of cement lacquer on the slide. This is what makes it slick enough to slide down!

It sure didn't take long at all. It was really looking fabulous when they left. Can't wait to see water flowing over the grotto and down the slide!

Next up: Tile

Bee Attack

Late this afternoon we saw a helicopter flying over. It was so low we went out to see if was going to land in the field next to our house. We didn't find out until later it was a news helicopter. The house across the street from us was the site of a terrible bee attack. A man was stung over a hundred times while mowing the lawn. We never watch the news, but Jerry turned on the TV to see if there was a baseball game on and we saw a live report. I thought the neighborhood looked familiar! When we looked out the window there were the news trucks shooting live! We must have a well insulated house (or really noisy children) to not know there were news trucks filming right outside until we saw them on TV! I'm not sure how long this link will work but you can see a video of the news story here.

Pool Progress: August 24 - Grotto Part 3

Sorry, I got a little behind on the pool progress. Roz was here visiting and we kept extra busy this past week... more on that in another post!

So, we left off with the roughly formed grotto. The crew was back the very next day to do some detail work. Before they left on Thursday, they had unloaded some bags of cement. When they got here Friday morning they mixed this special cement themselves with little portable cement mixers. Then they dumped each mixed load into a wheelbarrow. One guy would wheel a load over and toss (literally) shovel fulls of cement to a guy on the grotto. The guy on the grotto spread it all over the grotto and then covered the fresh cement with... are you ready for this... aluminum foil. Reynold's brand. I guess the wrinkles in the aluminum foil actually help make the texture in the fake rocks. Think of that the next time you see wrinkled foil!

Once the process was complete they took a breakfast break and let it sit a bit. There sat my grotto covered in foil. I was glad it was raining a bit and cloudy. I can't imagine the glare coming off that on a sunny day!

After the breakfast break, it was back to work. They pulled off the foil piece by piece and carved deeper grooves in the rocks. These guys really are artists!

They sprayed it down a few times with the hose and were done before lunch. The transformation was pretty amazing. It really went from looking like cement to looking like real rocks.

Of course, we had to go check it out after they left...

Don't worry, we're not letting the boys climb up there unless they are well supervised. It's a 10+ foot drop from the top of the grotto to the floor of the deep end and we don't need any broken bones. That slide is calling out to everyone, but we'll just have to be patient and wait. Although right now it's rough cement so you couldn't slide down it anyway.

Today was also the last day of hosing the pool down. Wesley was a good helper and took a turn doing it for me.

Next up: Grotto Painting

Pool Progress: August 23 - Grotto Part 2

The grotto crew was back at it today! They got here a bit earlier than yesterday and caught me in the middle of my pool watering duties. Good thing I got dressed and didn't start watering the pool down in my jammies. :)

They finished wrapping the steel frame in the mesh and added some supports to hold the weight of the cement over the bench inside the grotto (grotto is Italian for cave in case you've been wondering). Then they took a good long break in the shade of one of our big trees while they waited for the cement truck to arrive.

Once the cement truck was here they got right back to work. Similar to the shotcrete, they pumped the concrete through a hose and into the steel structure. They didn't fill the whole thing but made nice thick walls. Once the walls were thick enough they spread a thick layer, like frosting, over the whole structure.

They used their gloved hands to smooth the first layer. Then anywhere that will look like rock got another pass with a grooved trowel.

These guys are part construction workers and part artists. They really made a sculpture right before our eyes!

Two of the workers had very important jobs... one who worked above the grotto on what will be the waterfall area and the other who worked on the slide.

The slide guy was the most fun to watch. He would spray the rough, wet cement and his trowel with some special stuff in a squirt bottle and then smooth everything out as he worked his way slowly down the slide. At the end he was balancing on a ledge of wet cement over an eight foot hole!

We thought the slide part was an insert into the fake rock but it is all, amazingly, handmade. I guess this means that each grotto/slide is one of a kind.

 When they left for the day this is what we had...

The thing is huge! We joked it kind of looks like a habitat of some kind from the zoo. We had lots of cars driving by slowly today checking it out. The crew will be back tomorrow to coat the whole thing with another layer of cement that will make it look more like rock, then it will be painted. We are all curious to see what they do to the slide. It's smooth, but not so smooth that you could slide down it just yet.

Once the grotto is done, next up on the checklist: the deck.