Ethan's Birthday

Saturday was Ethan's birthday and since we were in Boise we couldn't share it with anyone, so Sunday we had some friends come over for some dessert and fun.

I know you won't know who is who in the pictures but here is everyone who came:
Robinsons: Dave, Allison, Kyler, Lexy, Porter and Brennan
Thomas': Bryan, Cathy, Abby, Max and Isaac

Ethan had a great time playing with everyone. After dessert Bryan set out to wear the kids out with a couple rounds of wrestling, pillow fights and rough housing.

Thank you to all who came over it was a blast!

The other photos on the slide show are from Sunday morning when Ethan opened all his presents.

Thank you to everyone!!

Ethans's Birthday Train Ride

For Ethan's 3rd birthday we drove over to Boise (a 5 hour drive, about the same mileage to get to Salt Lake), stayed the night in a hotel and then drove another 25 min north to a town called Horseshoe Bend. Horseshoe Bend is home of the Thunder Mountain Railway which runs small train rides every Saturday. The 20th they had a Frogwarts Express theme on part of the train. It was a lot of fun, Ethan had a blast looking at all the trains and going on the ride itself. The train left at 1:30 and got back into the station a little after 4. During part of the ride the staff, who were all dressed up in "Hogwarts attire", would have activities for the kids such as; wand making, spell work, potions and a little history. Part of the ride we went out to a car that was not covered to see the scenery. The train followed a river most of the way and it was fun waving to the people in the rafts and the kayaks.

Afterward we went into the gift shop and let Ethan pick out his birthday presents. He came home with a Thomas, Percy, James and Toby engines (from Thomas and Friends).

Ethan was so tired from the train ride and no nap he fell asleep in the car about 8 slept the rest of the way home which was a good 2.5 hours. We got him in the house and had him go lay on our bed while I finished putting the sheets on his bed. When we went to get him he hadn't made it to the bed, but fell asleep on the floor next to the bed.

It was definitely worth the drive over and we would do it again. They have an all you can eat pizza ride, doesn't that sounds good!

Taking Chance

On Monday night Bill and the Young Men were invited to go to a screening of Taking Chance at the Jackson Preforming Arts. Ethan and I were lucky enough to get to tag along. Not really knowing what it was except Bill had said it was to honor the Vets in Jackson and there would be a marine color guard and some movie thing after, I thought it would be great to go and honor any military we could and Ethan loves to see the flag so we thought he would enjoy it as well.

We got up there and met up with one of the families in the ward who's father is a Sheriff in Jackson and was the one that asked the Young Men to come. We waited outside the theater for a bit and I saw a table in the back so I walked over to see what they had displayed. What they had were copies of the movie we were going to see. I didn't even have to pick it up to know this was going to be a tough one to get through. I went back over to Bill and warned him to be prepared as I almost positively would not make it through the movie.

We all took our seats in the theater and the host got up and explained a little of what was going to take place that night. We had an awesome flag ceremony with Marines from SLC that drove up to participate. One of the officers from Jackson sang the National Anthem acapella. It was fabulous. The host got up and introduced the mother and step-father of PFC Chance Phelps and gave a little background as to how this movie "Taking Chance" came to be and what the Chase Phelps Foundation is doing to help those serving and those who have been wounded from serving.

The short version of the story is, their son was killed in Iraq in 2004. The movie was based off the journal entries and memories of LTCol Strobl who volunteered escort service of PFC Phelps' remains home. One thing the parents talked about was when HBO contacted them about making the movie they told them there were 3 things that were a must in order for the movie to follow through.
1. positive Chance
2. positive Marines
3. Positive United States of America

All of these 3 things were incorporated into the movie and I can't praise the movie enough. Kevin Bacon played the part of LTCol Strobl. My respect for Kevin Bacon for taking this roll and wanting to be a part of this cause grew so much that night.

All of you know how much I love to cry. Needless to say I was balling in the first 2 min of the movie, then held my self together, other than the constant tears that ran, through the rest of the movie. By the end I'm not sure if there was anyone who had a dry eye in the theater. Ethan did so well, for the most part he laid on Bill's or my lap. When he would feel the tears hitting his head he would sit up and wipe off my face. It was one of the cutest things ever.

Afterwords the parents had a short Q&A session with the audience. It was so nice to be in a group of people that were so respectful. Other than a few questions about other members of their family who serve most of the questions were wanting to know stories of Chance just to get to know him a little better.

I'm going to post the website for this foundation so you can go online and see how you can help. If you ever get a chance to watch the movie, they said HBO would be airing it again, please take the opportunity to watch and support this wonderful cause.

www.chancephelps.org

First Day of Swimming Lessons!

Ethan had his first day of swimming lessons today. I got it scheduled the same time as Abby and Max's lessons so we could carpool since it is in Ririe at the Heise Hot Springs, 45 min on a good non-construction day. It took us an hour with the construction and the downpour most of the way there. Amazingly it was sunny with a few clouds at the pool. The pool itself is nice because it is a natural hot pool so it feels like bath water when you get in. The lessons are 30 min long Monday - Thursday, so we eat lunch at the tables outside the pool when they are finished.

Ethan did great, no screaming or any kind of meltdown at all. They put him and Max with the same instructor which was a misunderstanding on their end but Cathy and I were okay with it. Of course all he wanted to do was play so he wouldn't sit on the step when she was trying to teach Max. Hopefully he will get better with that the more we go.
Enjoy the pics!

Fritsch Family Visit

This weekend we had Bill's Brother and his family come up and visit us. It was fun having them up here. They got up Friday night just as the sun broke out and we were able to go for a walk to the park, play and walk back before the sun went down. Saturday we spent most of the day in Jackson. We went over for lunch at Bubba's then parked downtown and walked around the square and the stores down Broadway. We also went over to the Elk Refuge but didn't see anything except some birds and ducks. As we were heading out from there it started pouring and didn't let up until we were half way back to Wilson.
That afternoon we drove them around and showed them main street (what there is of it anyway) and the scenic route to Driggs.
Unfortunately they had to leave Sunday so we had breakfast and then saw them off. It was a great time and we hope they will come up again.

Getting out of the rain

On Wednesday, Cathy and I took the kids to Blast Off in Idaho Falls. It is a great big play place with a maze of tunnels, slides and ball pits. The kids all had a blast.

Our week

Last week was so much fun, busy but a lot of fun. Wednesday we made a day trip to Salt Lake so Bill could attend a GE training. We meet with Bub, Kim, Lisa and my mom at Training Table (Cheese Fries). Bill took off to the training, Bub went back to work and the girls and Ethan went shopping. Unfortunately it was not all fun shopping, unless you like Costco. It was fun being with everyone and letting Ethan play. the drive home was interesting. We stopped and got Chili's to go in Ogden (we will definitely do that again)and had good weather just up to Pocatello. Not sure what it is with Pocatello weather but I don't think we ever get through there with out some element. This was like driving into a wall of clouds that happen to be raining, hailing and windy. The hail was so deafening in the car I couldn't hear much of what Bill said. I tried to stop under an overpass and wait it out but it was full, which ended up fine because there was so much hail on the road that we slid every time I hit the brakes. So we pushed through and it finally let up a little past Fort Hall. After that we had a few sprinkles but nothing to bad.

We came back down late Friday night. It was a slow drive since we were in the truck and had it loaded with 3 bikes (we had Bryan's bike as well). Saturday Bill, Bryan and I headed out to the desert about 7am. The weather turned out perfect. Windy but not a cloud in the sky. It stayed a great temp with the wind blowing so it wasn't hot or cold. Had a great ride. Parked where we camp and headed north from there, went around to puddle and putted around in puddle for a little bit. Bill was the only one that saw anything running. Headed north from there to see if we could see any owls but were not able to find any. Then we headed west still and the boys went up and over the hills on the west side of puddle. I stayed behind to save a little of my energy for the ride back. Then Bill showed up and told me Bryans bike was having some issues so I followed him around to where Bryan was. Apparently Bill and Bryan were hill climbing and Bryans boot accidentally hit it into first so when he got it into second he didn't have enough momentum and had to let go of the bike. Luckily he didn't get hurt but his handlebars are no longer the shape they should be (see photo below). So he attached his clutch on where he could and we rode back to the truck. I finally felt comfortable enough to get into 5th gear and stay there for most of the ride back. It was a great ride.
While we were out Ethan stayed back with Bill's parents. He had so much fun helping out in the yard. He was telling us all about picking the lettuce in the garden and washing it in the bucket with water. He told us all about Grandpa mowing the lawn and playing with trucks. We headed back home Sunday.
The next time we will be going back down won't be until the end of July. But we have Scott, Mindi and family coming up this weekend, Ethan's Birthday next weekend. We are taking him on a train ride in Boise so that should be a blast. The next weekend after that we are going to Martin's Cove on a trek with the ward. Then the Ellett side (Mom, Dad, Lisa, Bubba, Kim and Dixon) are coming for the 4th. At some point it will settle down I'm sure of it. But we have to enjoy the summer before it starts to snow again.

Loves

Loving the rain, right??

Can someone please stop the rain? I swear it has been raining for over a week and we still have a week of it left to go.

2 Saturdays ago we went over to MD Nursery to get things for the garden. Knowing we would not be able to put the garden in the yard this year we decided to grow a select few in pots. They turned out great. None of the tomatoes or peppers did the "I'm wilting because you traumatized me by taking me out of my home". They have just flourished. Plus with all the rain the lettuce is starting to come up already too!

Memorial Weekend at Capital Reef

Over Memorial Weekend we went to Capital Reef with Laura, Gary, Dallin, Corbin and Jack. We left Friday morning, drove to Sandy, packed our stuff in their motorhome and took off to Capital Reef. Ethan loved being in the motorhome. For the most part it rained, but for a little bit each day it was nice, warm and beautiful. We got at least 1 hike in each day, sometimes more. The landscape was so beautiful and every kind of rock you could think of. We had such a great time and will be visiting again I'm sure. Thank you to everyone in Gary's family who welcomed us into their family for the weekend.

Welcome to The Fritsch Adventures

Welcome everyone to The Fritsch Adventures! I've decided to start blogging our adventures.
So here it goes! Wish us luck!