Kade - 7 years old

 Kade turns 7! 

Kade just keeps getting older and older! He is an absolute hoot to be around and keeps life fun and interesting. We love him so much and are thankful for 7 years with our Kippers.

Kade is about 42 inches tall and weighs about 40 pounds. Him and Reece continue to share a room with bunk beds and Kade sleeps on the bottom bunk. Kade usually goes to bed around 7:45- 8:00 after we sing "Silent Night" to him while scratching his back. Kade is up early with Reece around 6:00 am or he sleeps in till around 7:00 am on non school days.

Kade loves to be silly and make others laugh. He has an overall sweet and agreeable demeanor and loves to be around family and friends. He is very active and busy but can harness his energy and focus on tasks as well. He is good at taking care of what he needs to without complaining but tends to forget things like his water bottle and jacket places. He has very expressive faces with alot of eyebrow movement.

There are a lot of things that Kade loves! He is active and loves being outside - running, jumping, riding his bike or scooter, rollerblading, searching for bugs or lizards, playing kickball in the driveway, etc. He loves climbing trees and jumping from rock to rock. He enjoys playing at parks or exploring near water. He loves when we go camping or to Lake Powell. He also loves Mexico and searching for little creatures and shells there. He is getting braver and braver with water as he gets more confident in his swimming and he likes jumping the waves in the ocean and boogie boarding. He loves going places like Levitate, the Aquaplex, Flag Tag (laser tag), and Jay Lively to ice skate. He loves going to birthday parties or to a friend's house for a play date. Some of his current favorite foods are: cereal, waffles or pancakes, pretty much all fruit, pizza, mac and cheese, salami, yogurt, carrots with ranch, pickles, ribs, brisket, pulled pork, rolls, Ceasar salad and any treat. He still loves gum as well and often asks for a La Croix or Bubbly. He loved the fruit juice otter type pops in the summer. 

Kade has plenty of games, toys, and activities that he enjoys. He still loves the Picasso Tiles to build with. He gets in spurts of wanting to do alot of Legos and then doesn't do them for a while. One of his favorite activities is wrestling with Reece in their room. He likes driving remote control cars around. Kade really likes stuffed animals and carrying them around and playing with them. He enjoys building forts inside and outside. He likes doing Perler beads, Playdough sets, and Kinetic sand. Kade really likes being read to and also being able to read some by himself now. He likes going through BOB books and the Dick and Jane Storybook Collection. Some of his favorite books for us to read to him are still Elephant and Piggie, Dr. Seuss and Richard Scarry's Big Book of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. His favorite board and card games to play are War, Candy Land, Go Fish, and Blokus. He learned how to play Solitaire this year and enjoys that. His favorite game to play with Dad is Shawn where they are pretty much just silly and goofy.

Kade is an overall happy little boy but there are things that make him unhappy. He doesn't like it when his siblings are doing something that he isn't quite big enough to do. He isn't always excited to go and watch his siblings sports games. He doesn't like it when Reece turns the sound machine off and the light on when Kade is still just waking up. A few foods that he isn't a fan of are kiwi, salmon, tomatoes and pasta/potato salads.

It is so fun to watch Kade learn new things and grow in his knowledge and ability in things. Kade played basketball for the first time this year and was a good defender and got better and better at dribbling. This was the first summer that Kade didn't need a puddle jumper for the swimming pool. Kade learned how to solve the mini Rubix cube. He jumped off the top of the houseboat at Lake Powell for the first time. Kade also lost his first tooth this year. He is getting the hang of reading more and more and is enjoying reading signs as we drive around town. Math makes sense to him and he is doing very well in that subject. He loves to try and answer the questions we ask when reading the Bible/Bible based books at bedtime and he is growing in his comfortability with praying, Kade continues to put his own laundry away and help out with other simple chores around the house. 

It is hard to put into words just how much we love Kade. He is such a kind-hearted, silly kid who just wants to have fun and help others smile and have fun as well. Our family wouldn't have been complete without Kade and we are so thankful that God blessed us with him 7 years ago.

BIRTHDAY ACTIVITIES:

Kade wanted donuts for breakfast

He was super excited to open his gifts and get a new remote control car. He also got some Lincoln Logs, an ice cream playdough set from his siblings and Coco the tumbling panda. 

Kade wanted In N' Out for lunch

With the turf finally done, the kids got to play in the water slide bounce house

We had ice cream sundaes for dessert

Here is Kade's 7 year interview! 

Favorite color? Green

Favorite toy? Coco the Tumbling Panda

Favorite food? Quiche and hashbrowns

A food you don't really like? Tortellini and ravioli  

Favorite thing to watch? Sonic 3

Favorite place to go? Costa Rica

Favorite book? "I'm No Scared, You're Scared!" - Seth Meyers

Favorite song? "Burn the Ships"

Favorite restaurant? In N' Out

Favorite thing to do each day? Eat

What do you and Mommy do together? Give good hugs

What do you and Daddy do together? Tickle fights

What makes you happy? Dad tickling me

What is something scary? Zombies

What are you really good at? Soccer, math and reading

Who is your best friend? Declan, Jasper, Cameron, Max, Jaxon

What do you want to be when you grow up? Smoothie maker

What do you think about before you fall asleep? School 

Here are a few more pictures from the past year:

Costa Rica Trip!

 We headed to Jaco, Costa Rica with our dear friends the Draytons for a fun vacation! 

We flew into San Jose late on Tuesday night and stayed one night at a hotel there. We got up the next morning and headed towards Jaco. We stopped along the way to see the alligators that hung out under a bridge. 

We arrived at our VRBO and explored the place and the beach just a short walk from our place. So lush and beautiful! 

We went to a local restaurant called Cocoa's for dinner with fresh sea food. 

On Thursday, we headed out on a boat to Tortuga Island for a day trip! There was drinks, lunch and snacks served. We also got to snorkel, ride a banana boat and do a little hike while at the island. It was beautiful! 

That evening, we went to a local sushi restaurant for dinner. 

We had a sweet local lady named Olga come make us breakfast and dinner for 3 of the days at the house we stayed at! She did the shopping, cooking, and cleaning for us and it was all local food. It was marvelous! Example of a prepared breakfast:

On Friday, Dustin, Kelsey and Reece went on a fishing charter for most of the day. They didn't catch any really big fish but they saw a HUGE Sailfish jump right near the boat and had a fun time. The girls and Kade enjoyed playing at the pool. 

We first had to clear the pool of these interesting looking crabs! 

There are iguanas and fresh pipas (green coconuts) EVERYWHERE around where we were. Dustin hacked open some pipas for the kids to drink the coconut water and the kids loved watching the iguanas. 

On Saturday, We headed to Manuel Antonio National Park. Manuel Antonio was the city that both Dustin and I and Kelsey and Jamie went to on our honeymoons. It was fun to visit it again. We saw plenty of monkeys and sloths in the national park. So cool! 

After the national park, we went to El Avion for a drink and a snack. The restaurant is built around an old airplane and Dustin and I went here on our honeymoon. Bonus - a huge group of monkeys came out of the trees near the restaurant and jumped from tree to tree right in front of us while waiting for our food.

On Sunday, we went to a really neat local church. They sang part of the songs in English and part of them in Spanish. 

After church, we walked around town shopping and trying a local bakery (research for Brandy's)

The days were wonderfully sunny! But almost every night that we were in Costa Rica, a thunderstorm moved in at night and gave us an exciting lighting show.

Monday was our last full day in Costa Rica. The whole trip, we had heard and seen the scarlet macaws fly by. This morning, however, they landed to eat in the trees right on our beach. We spent over an hour watching them and getting pictures and videos of these really cool birds.

The beach right by our house was so beautiful and secluded. We spent alot of time exploring and enjoying the area.

In the afternoon, we went to a place to zipline and do an aerial tram through the jungle. The employees did most of the work for us and it was so fun to feel like we were flying through the jungle. We all started together and took the aerial tram up the mountain.

Those of us that were not ziplining got to get off the tram and watch us do the first few zips before getting back on the tram to head down. 

There was a butterfly museum and gift shop you could explore after your adventure. 

This trip was amazing! It was beautiful beyond description. We got to see so many mammals, reptiles, and birds that we don't get to see usually. And go on some really fun adventures while exploring God's creation. We are so thankful for this time with each other and our friends in an amazing place!