Hitting the Mark

Neil and I have enjoyed reading books such as Tender Warrior and Wild at Heart.  In doing so, Neil has had a desire to bring own son into Manhood at the right times with the right markers and themes.  So with finishing Kindergarten and stepping over that hurdle, Neil took Justus out for his first Manhood experience.

They went out to a field and Neil spoke to Justus.  Here is what Neil had to say:

"We started around 6:30am to find a good spot up the hill from our neighborhood, a place where we could get by ourselves to talk about life and what God is doing in us as father and son.  We opened up the back to the Jeep and there Justus saw the target on a large box, the bow & arrows and of course a bible.  He sat next to me full of excitement, ready to grab that bow and start shooting.  Before we started, I grabbed the bible and reminded him how important God’s Word is in our lives, that it contains God’s instructions to us and helps us to know God more and more as we read and know it.  I started with Proverb 22:6 which talks about how we should train our children in the way they should go.  I mentioned to Justus how mom and I are always looking to train him properly.  This will help him as he grows and starts to “go” on his own such as big recess time in first grade or playing a sport or even leading his sister.  I then transitioned to the arrows and turned in the bible to Psalm 127:4 which talks about how children are like arrows in the hand of a warrior.  Justus seems to grasp that one!  I told him how the bible was comparing him to an arrow.  As my son he’s what I’m aiming to hit the right mark…that if I train him properly, aim him properly, he’ll hit the bullseye.  But if I aim him in the wrong direction, he’ll miss that mark.  In hitting the mark, he’s being a leader and he’s helping to defend.  We spoke about what he’s defending…1) his family  - specifically his mom and sister, 2) his heart and mind – as he’s aimed at Christ and God’s Word to better know God and come to a point of humble obedience and faith in Christ, 3) others in the world that he comes along side whether at school or in the neighborhood.  Lastly I turned to 1Corinthians 16:13 where I explained Paul the apostle was urging the people of Corinth to be on guard, to stand firm in the faith, to be strong and do everything in love.   With that I asked him if he was ready to act strong and take aim at the target…and after a couple tries Justus nailed the target.  This will be first of many I told him.  I want him to his many targets in his life, like recently completely kindergarten, or the Tae Kwon Do ceremony we were headed to that evening for his next “belt”.  On the way him I told him we’d take one of the arrows and put it up on the wall in his room to help remind him of how God wants him to hit the target and not stray.  With that we grabbed some oatmeal at McD’s and stopped by Starbucks to take home a treat for mom."

Im so glad for a husband like Neil who is such an amazing father!!  

Fathers Day 2012

For Fathers Day Neil wanted to go to Wild Water Adventures to beat the 108 degree heat we were having. So he and the kids headed out while I went to church to serve.  After church I headed out to meet them.  It was a fun time, playing in the water and going down the slides.  Both kids are big enough and can swim very well so we dont have to stay in the kiddie area the whole time which is nice.

After WWA we headed home for a little rest and then BBQ with Rog and Gail.

Other than me running Neils Jeep into the side of the garage on accident (scratching the Jeep and the side of the house....oops), Im pretty sure Neil had a great Fathers day!

3 generations of Pettit men

Neils cards

Life Group Lake Day

One of the couples in our Life Group happens to have a boat.  They were super nice and invited us all to go out on it.  We were missing two couples so that it always sad, but we did have a great time.

We rode around a little bit, swam a little bit, but mostly we all learned (excluding Jarod and Karen - they taught us) to Wake Surf.

Love our Group!

Had fun just riding on the boat next to my man

Wake surfing is a water sport in which a surfer trails behind a wakeboard boat, surfing the boat's wake without being directly attached to the boat.^[1] The wake from the boat mimics the look and feel of an actual ocean wave. After getting up on the wave by use of a tow rope, wakesurfers drop the rope and ride the steep face below the wave's peak in a fashion reminiscent of ocean surfing.

 So Neil and I actually did not ever let go of the rope, but we had fun being towed :)  

Go Neil!

Jazz hand!

End of a great day!

Last Week of School

This last week has been CRAZY busy!  We wrapped up Preschool for Haven and are looking forward to Transitional Kindergarten (TK) at Bud Rank in the fall.  We also wrapped up Kindergarten for Justus and what a great milestone!  He will stay at BR and start grade 1 - whooo hooo!!

We ended the year with a small swim party.  It was the Friday before the last week of school.  J was the only boy but as you can see he has no problem with that. Haven was there also, but she was not ready to participate in picture time.

Swim party friends

 Then on Monday was their unbirthday party celebration for all the kids who have birthdays in the summer.

Tuesday was the Water day.  Unfortunately it happened to be an unseasonal cool day so the poor kids were pretty chilly.  I think they had fun anyway tho.

Weds was the Kindergarten celebration.

Haven made some friends along the way too - this is at Js celebration

 Thursday was Havens Preschool Celebration and Js BBQ which I chaperoned.

BBQ at the park

 Friday was the talent show.  We watched kids K-3 show off their talent.  Super fun!

Bringing flowers to his teacher

Thanks for a great year!

At the Talent show

Digging in the dirt with his buddy

 After school on Friday we met up with a couple of friends for lunch with promises of more playdates throughout the summer!

Friends at lunch

Friday night we had our friends from Indonesia that are in town over for dinner.  And since it was the last day of school, the kids stayed up with us until about 10:30.

Let Summer Begin!!

Havens Big Day

Yesterday was Havens time to shine.  Her preschool held a Celebration and she got to go up on stage and sing.  Haven is such a performer.  Unfortunately I had to miss because J had a BBQ that I chaperoned.  But Neil, Gigi and Papa got to go support our Beautiful Girl.  And trust me, Neil did a great job videoing so I could see it all!

Performing

 Haven sang and then they went back to the classroom to pass out the rest of the work the teachers had.  The teachers also gave the kids a gift.

Classroom

 Then it was onto the lawn for some cake and punch.

With her teachers Mrs. Bren and Mrs. Karen

 Justus picked out some flowers to give to Haven.  So sweet!

 Our family celebrated by getting some pizza.

Proud of our Girl!!

Js Big Day

Today was Justus Kindergarten Graduation.  But it wasnt really a graduation, so they call it a Celebration.  But hey, we all know the importance of what it means.  He did it!!  He hit a major milestone and is moving onto the next level.

Gigi, Papa, Neil, Haven and I went and supported J.  The Kindergarten classes sung us some super cute songs and then we went back to their room to get his super cute/fun/cool memory book that the teacher made for him.  Love it!

Kinda blurry because I only used my phone.

With his memory book

 Then we went and celebrated at Red Robin.  YUM!!!

 Great day!!!

Gilroy Gardens

I have been wanting to take the kids to Gilroy Gardens for awhile now.  My goal was to make it in either April or May and we just squeezed it in :)

We started out a little late since it was that morning that I woke up and sought out Neil to see if he would be up for my scheme.  Luckily he was!

So off we went.  We got there about noon.  The park opened at 10.  We grabbed a giant pretzel as our super nutritious lunch and headed off to ride rides and check out the sights.

In line for the boats....yummy pretzel!

First ride of the day...boats!

H and N on the boats

Can you spot J and me on the swings?  H was to short to ride.

J wanted to ride this ride all by himself.  Oh the independence :)

 By 4:30 Neil was starving and *somewhat* annoyed at me for not stopping for a meal sooner.  The kids were voicing there complaints also, so we did end up stopping for some pizza.  We did get caught up in what is now the infamous Balloon ride.  The line seemed so short but ended up taking us almost an hour to get through.  Meanwhile my whole family was starving....oh, but what fun it was - said in a somewhat sarcastic voice ;)

The notorious Balloon ride

The notorious Balloon ride

This was one ride H could do but J was to big

Fun family time

The park closed at 6 so we ended our time with an ice cream.

On the way home we stopped at a couple of the Farmers Market to pick up some fresh produce.  Perfect ending to a great day :)