Blake @ 9

Wow, where has 9 years gone?!?!

This year was Blakes' year for a friend party......and friends are something Blake has never had a shortage of!!! Boys this age are so fun and full of energy. They all came over for pizza and gifts before heading off to swim and Roy's Aquatic Center. Brooke having fun on her favorite slide....the froggie slide.

Blake coming down the steep slide..... The ever boring "everybody out of the pool" break (how long is it anyway!?!?!) Smile Birthday Boy!

Trevor, Blake and Jayden having fun in the sun.

Brooke still hanging out with the froggie...

Seth enjoying the never ending shallow water.

"Hey mom, can I go off the high dive?"

What?!?!? Blake has NEVER been off the high dive. And I can't say it was peer pressure since of the 15 boys, only 2 followed him over to the high dive pool. I went to make sure he would be alright....even though I was not in my suit. The first time he walked up the ladder, paused, and I thought for sure he was going to climb back down like I did my first time up the high dive ladder. But NO. He walked to the end and bounced on the very tip of the board for what seemed liked FOREVER. When he finally did jump off he must have only cleared the board by an inch or two.....LUCKY!

Splash.....into the water he went. When he came to the side I asked him if it was fun and he said it was and that he wanted to do it again. I quickly told him that he needed to jump out as well as up....because if he hit his head on the board it WOULD NOT feel good at all and he could really be hurt.

That said, up the ladder he went for his second high dive adventure of his young life. This time he walks straight to the end, jumps a few times,

and does a FRONT FLIP into the water! WHO DOES THAT!?!?!?! CrAzY!!!! That's what that is, sheer craziness.

This picture does not capture it, but he ended up over rotating and doing a 1/2 belly flop. That, my friends, ended his high diving for the day. Back to the shallow waters we went. Whew.

After several hours of swimming and an emergency pizza run (since they were all hungry again) we headed home.

Blake got a lot of fun toys from the boys, but the one thing he DEARLY wanted was a remote control car.

NOT just any remote control car, but a GAS powered remote control car.

Blake had to wait a few days to get to play with his new car. Being this type of car, it had to be properly broken in. It took MANY, MANY man hours (thanks to his friend "big" Tanner) before it could be driven on the open road and off dirt jumps.

But after all was said and done, the sound and smell of gas reving through the engine is something all men LOVE.

It took him a little while to get used to the extreme power and quick responsiveness,

But he caught on quick, and had it flying through the air before too long.

Watch out!

Time to fuel up! (He knew that he would have to buy his own gas after the first gallon. To date, he has had no problem spending his allowance on gas. What 9 year old already spends his every dime on gas?)

All gassed up and ready to fly!

(As parents) Just glad we are still able to make dreams come true......