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Katherine enjoying the pool. What a cutie!

During the long Labor Day weekend we went to visit relatives. We had a good time boating. Here are Bill and Michael and one of the cousins on the float tube.

Bill water skiing during our trip to visit relatives in Arizona.

This was James' first successful water skiing trip. He got a lot of confidence.

Katherine is doing great on her bike! She now rides like a pro. Katherine, James, and Bill went on a bike ride today.

One of our favorite places to go is the top of a mountain near our home. Here are Shellie, James, and Katherine at the top. We had a family picnic.

Here is a photo of James, Katherine, and Michael with several of their cousins at the family reunion.

We enjoyed a family reunion in Utah. Katherine did some fishing. She caught three fish! Here she is with Shellie.

Katherine has been learning to ride a bicycle. She tried using training wheels, but that doesn't seem to have worked. She has a hard time balancing. So we took the training wheels off. We also took off the pedals so that she can focus on balancing. She just coasts with the bike and uses her feet when needed to keep from falling. She has made a lot of progress the last couple days. She can now coast for quite a long distance and can maintain her balance. Next step is to put the pedals back on.

Bill and James went on a campout with the scout troop. The troop built a trebuchet (a type of catapult) to launch rocks. Here is a picture of James doing the launching.

We did some cave exploring during the family reunion. Even Michael enjoyed going in the cave!

James attended Boy Scout Camp near Santa Fe. He had a great time. Bill was there with him for part of the week. It rained a lot, but the boys all had a fun time.

We went to the science museum and had a great time. Here is Michael blowing some bubbles with Mom.

Here is KaleidoDad at the science museum.

Here is Katherine at an exhibit at the science museum.

We stopped at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio and spent a few hours. Here is Michael as an astronaut.

James in cockpit of an F16 at the Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio.

Katherine as co-pilot of an F16 at Air Force History Museum.

We went on a long trip to Missouri and Ohio to visit friends and relatives. We stopped at the St. Louis Gateway arch.

Here is Bill with his cast on his left arm with Katherine at the playground. He was out of commission for a few weeks.

James was on the track team at his school. Here is is competing in the shot put event.

Snow began to fall early in the morning and continued through most of the day. The backpacking trip turned out pretty cold.

James and Bill went on a 3 day backpacking trip with the Boy Scouts. We had a lot of fun--for a while. It ended up pretty windy, cold, and snowy. Later on in the hike, Bill slipped on a rock and broke his wrist requiring surgery. Fortunately they were almost down the mountain at that point.

James participated with his school in the New Mexico state Science Olympiad. One of his events was the Elevated Bridge competition. He and his partner built a bridge of balsa wood. They tested it by loading it with weight until it broke. The bridge they built got 2nd place in the state competition and they earned a silver medal.

James and his team did well at the state Science Olympiad. He and his partners ended up earning 3 medals--a gold and two silvers. Overall their school was in 4th place of 25 schools represented at the competition. We were really excited to see him do well.

James had an orchestra concert at the mall. A number of the youth orchestras participated in it.

We took a few minutes for Katherine and Michael to ride the Carousel. Michael is just getting big enough to ride on the horses but we still have someone ride with him so he won't fall off.

James and Dad borrowed Grandpa's snowmobiles and went on a ride through the hills in Idaho. Here is a picture from a hill on Grandpa's farm.

James, Katherine, and Michael enjoy a trip down the sledding hill together.

We were able to visit family in Utah and Idaho during the Christmas holidays. Bill and the kids enjoyed sledding down the snowy hills. Here Bill and Katherine catch some air going over a jump.

We had a busy week. Shellie and Bill drove to Missouri and Kansas for some meetings. While we were gone, Bill's parents and sister came to stay with James, Katherine, and Michael. It is nice to have the help of extended family.

James had a couple of orchestra concerts this past week. He plays the viola in the middle school orchestra and is also in the local community youth orchestra. This is James' first year in the community orchestra. Their performance was very good. We were very impressed with the quality of the performance and are glad James has done so well.

James and Katherine made these gingerbread houses with Mom's help. Michael is also in the picture--his hand is sneaking a piece of candy off of Katherine's house!

We went to a few local Christmas displays on Friday evening. Michael was NOT happy to sit on Santa's lap. I guess there is something scary about Santa Claus to a 1-year-old. Katherine was the same way at that age.

At age 6, Katherine is really into Santa Claus now. She has a big list of items--and told them to two different Santas.

James acts too old for Santa these days. But he did pose with his sister with the nutcracker display. We had a good time looking at the lights and enjoying the festivities.

We had an enjoyable trip skiing as a family on Thanksgiving weekend. Bill and James had skiied before; we are not great skiers but had a lot of fun.

This was Katherine's first time skiing. She is one who likes to know how to do things the first time and gets frustrated when she has difficulties. But she did have a fun time and we are sure she will get the hang of it.

We had a fun trip to the Bosque del Apache bird refuge on a Saturday in November. The snow geese and cranes were amazing! We were parked near a field with thousands of geese. All at once they flew up in a big flock, right over our heads. Katherine described it as a "Bird Stampede!"

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