Busy Summer

I apologize for the time it took me to update. It has been a very busy summer. Here is a photo update on our comings and goings.



Here is Sam on his birthday holding what is now his prized possession......"Cars, The Movie"!!! He's obsessed with Lightning McQueen and Tow Mader.

Our trees in the back yard have the prettiest pink flowers for about a week every year, so I always try to get some pictures.

Sam wouldn't look at the camera, so he was forced!! :)

Ainsley and cousin Lander at the Denver Zoo during our weeklong stay with Grandma and Granpa Schlup.

Ainsley striking a pose before her recital. Notice the ringlets, please notice them......they were a pain in the butt.

We've been doing a lot of landscaping this summer. This is the before........

And here's the after. We also installed a drainage system around the entire house and are getting new siding put on this month (more pictures of that later).

Here's Sam on a tractor at Old McDonald's Farm during a camping trip to the Black Hills.

Ainsley has been loving gymnastics this summer!! She's mastered her headstands, cartwheels, and somersaults. (The girl could literaly somersault befor she could walk)

A kind of scary, but pretty cool wall cloud that went over Gillette. It ended up producing a tornado about 15 or 20 miles later.

Brian and Sam on a hike down to Porcupine Falls in the Big Horns on our latest camping trip. I highly recommend it!! It was a steep hike, but totally worth the sweat. It was beautiful down there.

At the bottom of the trail to Porcupine Falls (that's not it in the background, that's just an offshoot that comes out in the middle of the rock, pretty cool).

We're off to Yellowstone today, so we'll be posting more pictures shortly, yes, shortly. :)

Sam's 2nd birthday

Sam turned two on Tuesday!! It makes me happy and sad at the same time, he's growing up way too fast and I can't keep up. The weekend before, we went to the "Spirit of the Hills" wildlife sanctuary in Spearfish with some grandparents and cousins to celebrate. It was a really fun place for kids and adults and I recommend checking it out sometime. All the animals had really interesting backstories. Anyway, after the "zoo", we went to the city park in Spearfish for some BBQ and cupcakes. Sam opened his presents and got loaded up with toys and clothes, and a birthday card that plays Alvin and the Chipmunks singing "Won't you take me to Funky Town" (that was a hit). All the kids played on the massive playground at the park, and exhausted themselves. It was a very quiet trip back to Gillette ;)

On his actual birthday, we just did pizza (his favorite meal) and opened presents from us. He's such a sweet little boy and he brings a ton of joy to our lives. He did start exhibiting some signs of the terrible twos however. On his birthday, he learned how to use the word "mine" and he uses it often and loudly now. The next year should be interesting!!

Big Day

We just got back from Ainsley's second soccer game, and we think she scored a goal!! We were at a bad vantage point at the other end of the field so we couldn't see what exactly happened, but when we asked her about it she said "The orange guy kinda kicked it in, but I kinda kicked it too". We're giving her credit for her first goal anyway. They still lost by a bunch, but who cares. It was a lot of fun to watch and cheer for those cutie pies.

Sam, meanwhile, has invented his own game. He's seen us play Duck Duck Goose with Ainsley, so he's now taken to walking around in a circle saying "duck, duck, duck" over and over again. It's really cute and funny to watch.

Soccer game

Ainsley had her first soccer game last week. Because of the weather she hadn't had a practice yet, so the team was a bit disorganized. (but who can expect four-year-olds to be organized) They didn't exactly win their game, but I don't think most of them knew there was a score being kept, so it was all good. Ainsley was a little frustrated that the game wasn't like the little practices with her daddy where she gets to kick the ball a lot and score a lot of goals. She got knocked down a lot but she got right back up and kept going. As long as she's having fun (and burning off energy) it's worth it.

Easter Eggs

Ainsley and I found a cute idea in Family Fun magazine and decided to try it out for our Easter egg hunt. It took a long time, but not as long as I thought it would.

What happened to spring?!?

So I brought this on myself. I wrote that stupid post a few weeks ago about how the weather was so nice, and spring was on it's way. And here is the result of that wishful thinking:


This happened last weekend and we were stuck in the house for three days!! Brian stayed home from the office and all of the kids activities were, of course, canceled. We were all ready to strangle each other after being cooped up for that long. Fortunately there were some fun moments in all that mess. The power was off for a while, so the kids got to eat breakfast by flashlight, which they found quite fun. Ainsley got to say "Holy Cow, that's a lotta snow!" over and over. Sam was just thrilled to have his Dada around all the time. Brian and I also got quite a workout moving all that snow; it was really heavy and wet.

Well we dug out OK and things got back to fairly normal, but guess what.................another 6 to 12 inches are expected tomorrow night :) Here we go again.

Las Vegas

I know it's taken me forever to blog about Vegas, we've been back for two weeks now, but I lost my little camera and it took forever to find it. (It was in the glove box........very lost, I know) Vegas was a lot of fun. We stayed at the MGM Grand, and spent most of our time walking from our room to anywhere, and back again......that place is freaking huge. But seriously, we got to watch some basketball (the Pokes won one game), we went to the Price is Right stage show, and saw a Cirque Du Soliel show as well. The highlight of the trip was getting a stress fracture in my foot from doing way too much walking in brand-new, unsupportive flip-flops! I should have paid a few extra bucks for a few more cab rides. Oh well.....

Here are some pics from the trip. Enjoy!!

Thanks again for the limo ride Rob!!!


I won this one at a slot machine!!! (I wish)

Mama, look it's a ticka-ticka-da, see??

Sam has these pajamas with pictures of monsters and stuff on them. They're his favorites and he's been wearing them a lot lately. He calls the monsters "mons", which is completely understandable and needs little translation. But it also has little monster paw-prints all over them, and he points to them and says "Look, a ticka-ticka-da, see?" It's really his only made up word, and it just struck me as really funny. Just thought I'd share something cute. Sorry about the lack of pictures lately. I'll do better. :)

Here comes the sun....

Okay, I know I'm being a little optimistic, but it feels like spring is almost here. We finally had a few truly nice days. Yesterday was in the high 50s and today actually hit 65 degrees. I could stand a little more of this. The kids and I actually got to go outside and soak up a little vitamin D today on a walk. It was lots of fun for everyone, and is also a serious mood booster. We haven't had that much fun in while, and we didn't even do much. The highlight of our walk was putting pine needles into the gutter and watching the snow melt wash them into the storm drain. Oh, how easily entertained they are. Unfortunately, this weekend is supposed to be cold again, but thank goodness, Brian and I are jetting off to a hopefully sunny Las Vegas next week. More on that later!!

Sam's First Haircut

Well everyone, I did it. I cut the wee one's hair. As a friend says, I "sucked all the baby out of him". His curls were getting a bit unruly, so we chopped them off yesterday. We put his "duck tail" from the nape of his neck in his baby book (it was my favorite part). He no longer looks like a baby; he's turning into a big boy right before our eyes. Sorry I didn't get any pictures; I was too busy holding back tears. My little boy is growing up too fast.

San Diego, Day 5,6,7 - The Zoo & the trip home

Our last attraction to visit was, or course, the San Diego Zoo. It's a wonderful zoo, and full of stuff, but we sure picked the wrong day to go. As we were walking up to the entrance, we saw a banner that said "Welcome Girlscouts!". It was their "cookie kick-off" and there was about 2500 girl scouts roaming the park. It was soooo crowded. The kids had lots of fun seeing the animals, but they were both exhausted from the previous days activities, and lost interest by the end of the day. All in all, it was a good way to end the vacation. Here's some more pics.After returning from the zoo, we decided, since it was our last night, that we would have a picnic on the beach for our dinner. Well, it was a bit too cold and the kids were a bit too cranky, but we did get this one picture. Then we went back and ate our dinner in the nice warm hotel room and went to bed.

We made it all the way to Denver on our return flight only to find out that our flight to Gillette had been delayed.....and then delayed some more.......and then cancelled. Thank goodness for my sister and brother-in-law. (Thanks again guys!!) We were able to shack up at their place for the night an fly back home the next morning. It was a wonderful trip, and worth all the effort.

San Diego, Day 4 - Wild Animal Park

We continued our trip at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. It was really neat seeing the animals in the wide open spaces in which they were intended. They had different tours you could take to get up close and personal with the animals, even a tour on segways. But with kids along, that probably wouldn't have been the best idea. This park held my favorite moment of the trip, the lorikeet enclosure. You by a little cup of nectar outside the enclosure, then as soon as you walk in the birds swoop towards you and land on your head and arms waiting for the nectar. Ainsley loved the birds on her arms, and Sam liked watching, but as soon as one landed on his head, he batted at it until it took the hint.

San Diego, Day 3 - LegoLand

Our next destination was LegoLand. We headed up there a little bit early and went to Carlsbad Beach to kill time. We made the mistake of warning Ainsley not to run into the water because it could sweep her away. After that she wouldn't go near the waves. I, in my infinite wisdom, decided she needed to get her feet wet. So when she wasn't paying attention I stood behind her so she couldn't run away from the wave. This completely backfired as the biggest wave since we'd been there came up and soaked us past our knees. Ainsley was not happy with her mama to say the least. Here's the picture of me trapping her and you can see the wave in the background.

After we went to the local outlet mall to get some new pants for Ains, we then headed to LegoLand. It was raining when we first got there, so I was a little nervous about how the day was going to go, but it turned out to be a blessing because it kept the crowds away and we never had to wait in a single line all day. The rain stopped pretty early, so we had a great time running around seeing all the lego creations and riding all the rides. It was another exhausting but memorable day. Here are some pictures, my favorite is the Lego inaguration scene complete with Michele Obama's yellow dress, and Aretha Franklins big bow hat.

San Diego, Day 2 - Sea World

We woke up bright and early on our first full day of vacation and prepared for a day at Sea World. We started out the day at the dolphin area. We bought some little fish and got to feed and pet the dolphins. I didn't realize that we were going to be able to do that, so it was very exciting for me as well. They feel like rubber, if anyone wants to know.

We watched a sea lion show, a dolphin show, and of course the Shamu show. Pretty darn amazing what those animals can do.
We saw lots of other aquatic animals as well. Ainsley got to pet a star fish (Sam was more into observing rather than petting), and we got to see such things as beluga whales, flamingos, a massive walrus, and a bunch of rescued manatees complete with scars from boat propellers (very sad).

After the animal viewing, we went to the children's play area. They had tons of jungle gyms, bouncers, and rides. It was fun to watch the kids run wild.
It was a really fun day, and lots of great memories were made.

San Diego, Day 1 - Flying

We're back from San Diego and we had a blast. I'm going to post a bunch about this trip; it was only five days long, but we packed a lot into those five days.

The first day was our big test, flying with children. It started out well. We had to get the kids up really early to get to the airport in Gillette and get checked in but they were in good spirits. When we actually got up in the air everything was still great. Ainsley is a perfect flyer. Sam, however, was a different story. He was doing fine, a little ancy, but not bad, until the descent at which point the shrill screaming commenced. After the first flight, both Sam and I were in tears. The second flight was more of the same, but by the third flight, we had things figured out and got Sam hooked up with some earplugs and had him drink through a straw during the descent to help with his ears. Things went much more smoothly after that.


We got checked into our hotel at San Diego and headed straight to the beach. We were in a bay so the water was nice and calm, and Ainsley found lots of sea shells. Sam loved the ducks that swam in the bay and the seagulls that stalked you in the hopes for a bit of a snack. After the beach, we headed to the pool. However, we all ended up in the hot tub because it wasn't super weather while we were there and the pool was a bit chilly. I prefer the hot tub anyway. :) We then got a quick bite to eat and went to bed. It was an exhausting day and both kids were asleep by 6:30. It was a good start to the vacation.

The Swing of Things

I wish I were better at posting, but this is me take it or leave it. I'm a procrastinator that wishes she wasn't, but doesn't have the motivation to change yet (I'm keep looking and looking, but I can't find it).

Happy New Year to everyone. It was a busy holiday season, and I'm kinda glad it's over with, but sad at the same time. Christmas was really fun, and there was lots of laughter and a little too much wine. :) My favorite times are always the ones surrounded by family and laughter.

We're getting back in the swing of things here in the house of Hokanson. Ainsley's started back to preschool, dance, and gymnastics. Poor Sam doesn't have anything structured at all unfortunately, but I think I'm going to have to start taking him to baby gym or something, Ainsley had a good time with it at his age and I think he'll have just as much fun. Unfortunately it's only a few times a month, so we'll have to figure out some other fun stuff for the little monkey boy to do.

We're all pretty excited around here for our upcoming trip to San Diego. We've got about five days there and four of them are dedicated to Sea World, the zoo, the wild animal park, and LegoLand (at least that's the plan, we'll see how it goes). At least a few times a day at our house, we're logged onto Shamu.com watching the whales swim around the tank on a webcam. Every few seconds Ainsley will yell "Shamu!! Shamu!!" and Sam will yell "Moo!! Moo!!" at the top of his little lungs.

We're hoping for good weather, but I think Brian and I are mostly worried about the plane trip. This is our first time flying with kids; if nothing else, it should be interesting. Wish us luck!!