First day back from work after our family’s Easter Campout.  We had a great time out at Cedar Hill State Park. 

     Three of us, my two brother in laws and myself, set out early on Thursday to get things set up.  However, we didn’t make it to camp until mid afternoon.  We got the tents set up, and then sprayed them down with some water sealer since the forecast called for rain on Friday.  (Only some minor leaks, two on our tent.)  

     The normal camping loops we choose were closed so we had to drive around the park looking for sites.  This worked to our advantage as we found much better spots.  The sites we ended up with were huge.  We ended up setting up 3 tents (two of them were 8 person cabin tents,) a 4 person tent, a 10×10 canopy, and two 12×12 canopies all in one site.  With all but one of the 12×12 canopies we made a base camp type setup:

Easter Family Camp - Base Camp

      This gave us a nice place to sit and play while it rained on Friday.  It was nice to be able to step out of your tent without being rained on.

     The DORBA mountain bike trails at Cedar Hill were closed (have been since October we found out.)  So we ended up just riding the bikes around the camp loop.  Joshua finally learned to ride his bike without someone holding on.  He could do, and had done it a couple of times at home, but he seemed to still be a little scared of doing it alone.  With his cousin arriving shortly he quickly got over it though.  He wanted so much to be able to show his cousin that he could ride alone.

    Sunday as we were packing up the kid’s got a visit from the Easter Bunny.  There were a ton of little plastic eggs scattered all over the campsite.  I think they had a blast - I was busy packing the trailer up.  Christa got some pictures from the easter egg hunt, when I get some time I will dig through the camera and upload a few of the pictures and update this post.

     Well, back home and back to work.  Looking forward to our next camp out.

For the last year and a half or so Joshua has been trying to learn how to ride a bike.

We got a starter bike for him from Walmart with training wheels and set off.  After several months of that not working we tried this balance bar thing.  It attaches like training wheels, but comes up and looks kind of like a huge sissy bar.  The parent’s are supposed to be able to hold on while the kid learns his balance.

Six months later still no go.  Back to the training wheels.

This last weekend we had a Family camp out planned.  It has somewhat turned into a family tradition and usually sets off our camping trips for the year.

This year Joshua’s cousin would be coming.  Joshua absolutely adores and looks up to his cousin.  His cousin is about a year older.  For the last few years we have had a family tradition of celebrating their Birthday’s together.

Well long story short, two weeks before the camping trip and Joshua found out his cousin would be there.  So now he just has to learn to ride because he wants to show his cousin he can ride a bike.  Joshua figured his cousin could ride and they could ride around together.

After scouring the internet for ideas on how to get Joshua riding in two weeks I came across the Glider Bikes.  Now determined to find one, I start looking locally. Only two stores in town sale them.  On has the size Joshua needs, and in his favorite color.  The other, didn’t answer their phone.

Joshua on Glider Bike

Two 30 minute sessions later, one on Monday, one on Tues and Joshua is riding.  Now, back to the bike without training wheels.

Throughout the week we kept trying.  Joshua could do it, and wanted to ride with his cousin, but he was scared to do it alone without someone holding on.

We practiced until the day we left for camp.  The first day Joshua was there (I went on Thur to set up, he came just in time for bed Thur night,) he finally did it on his own.

A couple of days prior, we found out that his cousin could not ride a bike, and Joshua offered to bring the glider so he could teach him.

The boys stayed busy at camp with all kinds of other things to do, and Joshua never got around to trying to teach his cousin.  Joshua is now riding his bike every where he can

Now, what do I do with a barely ridden $120 Glider Bike?

For the last week we have had the fun of staying at a Hotel in Irving.  My father-in-law and Christa have been hosting their 2010 event in Irving.  

I took the week off of work to help out.  We have the new baby, and most of the time I was running Joshua back and forth to school, and holding Aidan up in the hotel room.  

The week started off with me hauling Joshua back and forth to school.  He would get to the hotel and spend the evening with me sitting in the hotel room.  For the most part he was bored out of his mind, but he managed to behave most of the time.

Thursday night they had a Casino night, to go along with the whole Bond theme this year.  We got a really good family picture taken:

The photgrapher was Tim Randall a pro from the DFW area, his site is here. 

Friday morning I woke up and Christa and Aidan were gone.  I found them sleeping on the couch in the suite:

Wednesday night it started snowing, and it didn’t stop until Friday morning.  I can’t remember the last time I have seen so much snow here, so I will leave with a few pictures:

Well, the first non site update related post, but it is still an update post.

On 12/31/2009 at 10:10am CST we had a new addition the family. Little Aidan Wayne Trantham was born. 7.3lbs and 19.5″ long:

He is doing great and all ready gowing like a weed; on 1/4/2010 (just 4 days old) and the Dr’s office measured him at 21″ a gain of 1.5″. This kid is growing…

Long, tall, and skinny. His older brother is going to have cut him off at the knees…

As for the older brother:

Joshua is playing indoor Soccer this season and he is having a blast, but his team is taking a beating. He was placed on the house team, with all the other kids that were not all ready assigned to a team. It turns out every other team they are playing are pre-arranged teams that have been playing together for some time. Two of the teams are select (at 6 years old.) This means they have try-outs and kids compete to be on their team. He can’t wait to return to outdoor soccer, which picks back up on Feb 20. (His team was the best team in their league last outdoor season, and his entire team is returning this season…)

Joshua does have new camera, and just LOVES taking pictures. This is his third camera in about 6 months. The first one died after spending about a month in the garage after it was thrown in the wrong bin when returning from a Camping trip. The second one died after about a month when the batteries that came with it died. His new one seems to not only be indesctructable, but easy for him to use. The funny part is I bought it at Home Depot, and it is made by Ryobi. It is from Ryobi’s Tek4 line of power tools, we love it, and I will have to do a review or something on it later… If you know the URL to our photo album you should take a look at the “Joshua’s Pictures” category; these were all taken by him.

Mommy is doing good, not quite getting enough sleep, but she is trying:

I am doing ok… I took off two weeks to be at home and help Mommy with Aidan, and I am finding it hard to get back to work. The second week I was home I came down with the Flu, so I wasn’t much help the second week anyway. I am still slightly getting over the Flu as I still have a bit of a cough, but that is about all that is left.

I guess that is about it…