THE RABENS HOME: June 2010

Swim Class Promotion

>> Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The kids started swim classes a little over a month ago. They have have been doing just a great job learning how to swim before our trip to Florida. They have learned submersion techniques,breath control and the fundamental swim skills. Final Goal: Spotted front float with bubbles, back floating, independent swim of 5 feet, and splashy kicks.

They were promoted this week (which was nice since this is their final week of lessons).

They will start their next level of swim lessons in September once we have settled down with school and everything else. In their next level class the focus is on independence and breath control in the water while extending the swim distance and developing the coordination to gain independent breaths while swimming. Final Goals: Independent front float and back float, face glide, swim 20 feet with an independent rollover breath, windmill arms, and back kicks.

Thank You! to Mr. Ricky for our Lesson on Thursday nights @ 5:00 PM He really pushed Mia when she needed it. She did not like him at first but changed her mind the next week.

Blayke liked Mr. Ricky too but not as much as.......

Ms. Victoria. He is sad he won't be seeing her for a while.

Thank you to Ms. Victoria (Blayke's teacher) and Ms. Shawney (Mia's teacher) for their swim lessons every Tuesday at 4:30 PM. We can't wait to see you in the fall!

Here are some videos of the kids swimming.

Mia's Final Swim Class - Swimming 15'

Blayke Floating and Swimming

Happy Birthday Pop

>> Monday, June 28, 2010

We celebrated Pop's Birthday at our house when they got back from their trip to the Outer banks. We made Fajitas with Mexican Rice. Guy got Pop some of his favorite ice cream instead of his cake.

Blayke let him borrow his Batman candle for the occasion.

It's Fun To Play At The YMCA

>> Thursday, June 24, 2010

We visited our local YMCA today since we have heard so much about the pools. I worked out for about an hour while the kids had fun in the kids program.

Then we hit the pools.

The kids really enjoyed both pools, This one for splashing and the other for swimming.

Too much fun, they had to rest a little.

Back to the big pool for some swimming. Take a big breath!

Ready, set, dive!

Then back to the splash pool for some more fun on the slide.

Weeeeee!

Time to go home for some lunch and rest before our evening swim class.

Harvesting Our Little Garden

Unfortunately our little garden has seen better days. We have had 12 consecutive days of over 90 degree temperatures so it has suffered.

Mia found a few Cherri tomatoes and Jalapenos ready to harvest. The string beans have not made it so far, neither has the lettuce and broccoli. The carrots are coming along nicely though.

Looking forward to harvesting our larger tomatoes to share.

The Landlords had also planted this blueberry bush when they lived here and they are coming in nicely also.

Friendship Trays Tour

>> Wednesday, June 16, 2010

We had our tour of the Friendship Trays Center. This is part of our "Summer of Serving". Just a little reminder - Friendship Trays (http://www.friendshiptrays.org/) is a local Meal on Wheels. They deliver more than 600 meals daily to elderly, handicapped, and convalescing people who are unable or greatly restricted in their ability to prepare or secure meals. We will be delivering meals every 2nd, 4th and 5th Friday of the Month starting August 13th.

They have several volunteers helping out in the kitchen on a daily basis, including mission groups and church groups.

There is a Culinary School next door. Some of the students volunteer at Friendship Trays so they don't have to pay tuition at the Culinary School. That is also a great program since most of them are learning a new skill to re-enter the work force due to incarceration, substance abuse issues etc.

All the meals are prepped cooked, and packaged on a daily basis at the center. Each person gets a hot tray and

A cold tray for a meal everyday. Fridays they get three meals to last the weekend since deliveries are not made on Saturday and Sunday.

All the meals are stored and sorted by routes for the volunteers to pick up at several locations through out the county. They need about 92 volunteers a day to make all the deliveries.

We have about 10 people on our route. One of them is an older single woman who loves kids. We are looking forward to meeting her.

There is a garden just next door to the center. Several gardens are being planted and harvested through out the county to help supply the center with herbs and veggies.

We were very impressed with this one. They make their own compost on site also. The kids thought this was alot better than ours. I have to agree ;)

We got some good ideas for our garden next year!

We are looking forward to starting our deliveries in August and will keep you posted!

Cinema Cafe and Virginia Living Museum

>> Sunday, June 13, 2010

It was going to be a scorching hot day Sunday so we decided to do some indoor activities with the kids. We started off watching Shrek 3D at the Cinema Cafe.

These would have made wonderful theater seats but alas they were in the lobby.

They are ready for the show. This is the first year Mia and Blayke have really gotten into the 3D movies and have kept their glasses on.

Then Aunt Brittney took us to the Living Museum. They are members so we were able to get in as their guests for free.

Usually Mia is on top of Blayke. Nice to see a change from the routine.

Blayke wasn't to sure about the idea of touching things but enjoyed watching.

I love this picture!

If she kisses the frog will he turn into a Prince?

We ended the tour with a nice view of this waterfall. Aunt Brittney also went in to get some drinks and cookies she just had to have before we left. They were yummy (thanks for sharing Aunt Brittney).

Slip-N-Slide At Aunt Brittney's

Aunt Brittney had a great idea when we got back from out camping trip. She took out the Slip-N-Slide and let the kids go at it.

Blayke was all smiles

Mia showed everyone how to slide on their bellies (that's how it's supposed to be done).

Our pretty little model!

Blayke on the other hand thought his cousins were pins and he the bowling ball. He missed Madi.

Unfortunately he kept getting Jojo.

I ended up bathing and washing their hair with the hose afterwards. No pics since Aunt Brittney took Madi into the tub. Now Mia and Blayke want to take showers in the yard. Oh no! What have I started?

Our First Camping Trip (EVER)

>> Saturday, June 12, 2010

We went to the Sandy Bottom Nature Center to see about camping out for the night.

We rented this cute Mongolian Yurt for the night.

We all enjoyed looking out the skylight.

It slept six people with two bunk beds and trundle beds that rolled out.

We loved the gorgeous view of the lake from our cabin.

We are not campers so it , so it shocked everyone that we were doing this (without our husbands). Pics had to be taken for proof.

Aunt Brittney took this pic for the Cover of Camping Magazine ;) Ha!

The Camp Out Cousins checking out the campsite.

We went for a little hike to find a geocache that was hidden in the park.

Butterfly Garden.

When there is not wind.....you make your own!

Since I made the fire (thanks to a little instruction from Bear Grylls shows) Aunt Brittney had to roll up her pants and get yucky walking into the lake to get a bucket of water to put out the campfire. ;)