Kian reading

Yep, he's 3.

Lily pictures

Chris took senior pictures for a girl from our old neighborhood, so he took Lily along, and took some pictures of her, too.  Ain't she cute?  And so grown up.

Thanks for the clothes, Brynn.

Shakespeare Festival

Chris and I went to the Utah Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City to celebrate our 10th anniversary this month.  I've wanted to go ever since I went to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival when I was in college.  A big thanks to my parents for watching our kids while we were gone.

We stayed in this cute bed a breakfast.

 We had a yummy dinner.  We were nearly the only ones there.  I guess that's one of the things that happens when you go off-season.

 We went to the Frontier Homestead Museum.

We learned about the plays that we saw.

The theater where we saw The Marvelous Wonderettes, which was entertaining;  Richard II, which was enlightening, and got Chris interested in English history for a few days; and Peter and the Starcatcher, which was fun, and funny, and inventive, and engaging.  You should see it if you get a chance.  Chris says next time we go we are going in the summer so we can enjoy the outdoor theater.

Update on Kian

Kian got another round of botox in his calves.

Then had two weeks in casts for stretching.  The results were pretty good.  He got to wear splints to bed to stretch him even more.  He'll get his new braces soon.

I've been working with him at home on some fine motor finger skills. Playdoh...

And toothpicks in a cheese shaker, among other things.

 He gets exhausted from all that hard work.

Finished basement

Our basement was partially finished when we moved in.  We have since had it completed.  The family room was finished, the bedrooms and bathroom were not.  I don't know why we don't have any pictures of the bathroom.

 Kate's room.  She would like to add that:  It's really pink, and she loves princesses and she has three beds in her room.  She has a clock that lights up when its OK to get up.

 Lily's room.  Kate says:  That is the guest room.  It's really blue.

 Toy area.  Kate says:  We like to play lots of stuff.  And sometimes we play on our own.

 Books and games.  Kate says:  We read a lot and we play games a lot.

Family room.  Kate wants everyone to know that there are plans to put a TV in this room.

Snowbird

In September we got to go to Snowbird with Wasatch Adaptive Sports and get an idea of what they do.

 We went for a hike.  Kian carried a compass nearly the whole time.

 We played on a "boundless" playground, which is a playground adapted for kids of all abilities.

The kids made a craft while the parents listened to a speaker.

 We rode the tram to the top of the mountain.

 It was beautiful.

The girls got their faces painted at Oktoberfest, which was there the same day.  Kate's is a butterfly, and Lily's is a unicorn.

Baby Brains Can Heal

Just saw this video from TED talks.  It talks about neuroplasticity, and brings me refreshed hope for Kian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WKVbRDJ-nxs

First days of school

Lily started 2nd grade this year.

One week later, Kate started morning Kindergarten.  That bag made it to school the first day, and then she refused to use it anymore.  Good thing we still have Lily's kindergarten backpack.

And one week after that, Kian started morning pre-school, 2 days a week.

Campout

The annual Parkinson family campout was held this year near Palisades reservoir.  As always, we had a lot of fun and lots of good food.

Bobbie brought his Kubb game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubb), which nobody but his family had ever played, but it was fun, and there were some naturals in our group.

Uncle Brett brought his bow and target deer for some practice.  Yeah, that didn't last long before the hosts came and told us to take it down.

Cousin Kylie planned some games for the smaller kids.

The creek was a big hit with the kids, too.  Nice and refreshing.

These are Chris's grand-nephew and grand-niece, Braxton and Olivia.

Kylie and Mikayla taught the little kids some cute camp-fire songs to perform for everybody.

And we got a square ice-cream cone in Swan Valley on our way home.  Yum.