The Fastest 5 Years of Our Lives

As further proof that time doesn’t still, Karsyn turns five tomorrow. In the blink of an eye, she’s evolved from new born, to baby, to toddler, to terrible two-ster, to pre-schooler, to kid. A kid who is able to use logic and reason to argue with her parents and actually explain why a kid “really can’t have too many toys.” My favorite past time as of late is to see if I can slip a fast one by her. It amazes me that she can figure out when I’m pulling her leg and when I mean business. Playing a practical joke on a five year-old just doesn’t have the same affect if they don’t get it. Karsyn not only gets it, she’s immediately thinking about her counter attack!

We decided to forgo the big birthday bash that we’ve thrown in the past, allowing her to pick what she wanted to do. She decided on a day at a local gymnastics club with nine of her little girl friends. No boys (yuck) or little brothers! Just a gaggle of her friends getting to spend time swinging on gymnastics apparatus (I think that’s what it’s called) for a couple hours, under the watchful eye of a gymnastics instructor.


Karsyn's Gymnastics Party
West Valley Gymnastics had everything you see in the Olympics. Think bars and balance beams, pommels and rings, all that good stuff. They had scaled downed versions for the little girls, so they were given a chance to swing, balance and pommel to their hearts content. The trampolines were a big hit, as was the obstacle course, but the big hit if the afternoon was the “landing pit”.

Imagine a 15-foot by 30-foot pit, filled with sponge cubes. The cubes cover a trampoline buried eight feet below. The gymnasts use it to practice high-risk maneuvers and high velocity landings (like off the vault or bars). The girls were allowed to jump off the top of the vault, into the pit, right into the sea of blue sponge.

A great time was had by all.

[Click here to see photos of the event]

Mr. Anonymous Alert –

The big guy had his six-month checkup last week, and he passed with flying colors. Ryno is now tipping the scales at 23 pounds. We’re happy to announce that his weight has caught up to his height. When we last visited the pediatrician, his weight was in the 95th percentile for babies his age, but only 50th percentile for his height. We were worried that we had created a bowling ball.

This last checkup put him proportionately in the 98th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height.

He also sprouted his first upper tooth last week, and made a return visit to the pediatrician’s with his first ear infection. Karsyn suffered from ear infections and horrendous snoring issues when she was a wee tike, so on the advisement of an ear, nose and throat specialist, we had her adenoids and tonsils removed, along with having tubes put into her ears. She was a new child after that procedure, so we’re thinking the same may be in store for the big guy.