A Birthday

I am 3 years old now.  My birthday was July 13th.  I had vanilla cakes for my birthday.   I had a family birthday party and a big birthday party in the park near my house.  The birthday party in the park was fun.   My friends came and sang the birthday song to me and I got to bounce in a bounce castle.  I got race cars for presents and a big race car balloon for my birthday.   The race car balloon flew away in the middle of my party because I let go of it.  I cried and cried.  I wanted it back.   Later, I got a new race car balloon.  It was different from my first race car balloon because it had Lightning McQueen on it.  It was still cool.  It was a good day.  Especially since I got vanilla cake for my birthday.  Yummy!

- Rhys

BFV - Summer 2010: My Two Front (Bottom) Teeth

I lost two teeth while visiting Papa and Grammy -- one day after the other. I got a cool truck the first morning after I lost my first tooth and a bag of M&Ms the second morning after i lost my second tooth. My two new teeth are growing in fast but for now I have a huge hole in my mouth.

- N.

BFV - Summer 2010: At Papa & Grammy's

We stayed with Papa & Grammy for a few days, we did. We got to have a t.v. in our bedroom where we could watch all the shows we wanted while we laid in bed. We loved it so much that one night we stayed up until 9 o'clock watching t.v. Then Daddy came in and turned it off. And we cried and whined until Daddy told us that if we didn't stop fussing, we wouldn't watch t.v. the next day. We got really quiet then because we didn't want that to happen.

We got to play and wrestle in the house, then go outside in the backyard and play and wrestle and run around. There was a swing that could fit the whole family. Noah loved the swing. He kept running up to it and jumping on it and swinging. There was even a fountain made out of stone that had water in it.

And coolest of all were the steps which Noah kept walking up and down on.   They led to the upper deck where the swing was.  No rails, just wide brown wooden steps. Double cool.

- N & R

BFV- Summer 2010: On the Road Again...in Hotels

We took a trip in Junior to go to Oregon and California. I got to sit in my seat in the back, next to all of our luggage and things. On the way to Oregon, we said hello and goodbye to four states and stayed in two hotels. I like hotels alot. We stayed at the Days Inn hotel in Rawlins, Wyoming and the Super 8 hotel in Ontario, Oregon. We got to eat breakfast in the mornings at both of the hotels. We had cereal and muffins and bagels. I even shared a waffle with Mommy.

We left Colorado on a Wednesday and got to Papa and Grammy's  in Oregon on a Friday afternoon.

- Noah

Bates Family Vacation (BFV) - Summer 2010 - Intro

Summer vacation!

On the last day of June at approximately 7:00p, the boys hit the road (with their parents) in Junior (our black Kia Sorento) and headed West for a 12 day vacation which would include driving three thousands miles, seeing grandparents, Owen meeting his aunt and uncle for the first time and the family staying in a house on the coast for a few days plus a few little extras that were unexpected.