Soren’s Big Day

Last weekend we celebrated Soren’s 7th birthday.  To help make the day even more special Papa (Erik’s Dad) came to attend the party.  It was also a party for Papa of sorts.  Friday, April 6th was the last day that my Dad is planning on working.  Papa is retired!  He states he feels like he did after graduation from high school “happy yet uncertain.”  I understand that.  I tell him I am envious, no more stress, kids to raise, waking up early, plenty of money to spend.  He tells me that he envies me “Skiing, fishing, and kids to torment.”  So I guess you are never happy with the stage of life you are in, but I do agree somewhat – Skiing every weekend has been awesome and then next week skiing ends, but fly fishing begins.  I am really looking forward to next winter. I guess compared to South Phoenix things are going pretty good.

 

Congratulations Papa!

So Soren’s birthday bash started Saturday morning.  Thanks to General Conference I got a week off from cleaning the church which I do every Saturday.  We went to Taco Bell to try their new breakfast menu.  It was pretty awesome “Waffle Tacos” which is eggs and sausage wrapped in a Waffle.  Worth the price of admission.  When I am retired and rich I will probably have one every morning.  We decided to go on a hike to Skunk Harbor (you can see down the blog posts for the first time we went there).

Ashley and I have decided that we cannot see Soren ever getting serious about sports.  Its not his thing.  We can see him getting very serious about video games and computers.  That’s ok, but we want him to like other things.  Soren is also very drawn towards Scouts and the outdoors.  Ashley and I tried to get him some things that would give him incentive to want to go out doors and hike.  Soren’s Shoes were getting old, so we got him some hiking shoes, wool hiking socks, and a pair of hiking pants.  The kind that you can unzip at the knee and make into shorts (we also got him a back pack that holds a camelbak for water and can store his gear).  Soren wanted to open one present in the morning, we let him open the shoe, pants, socks combo to use on the hike.  He was mad that his present was clothes and I don’t blame him, but he did use them on his hike (He looks like such an outdoorsman):

We made it to the bottom of the trail which also happens to be Lake Tahoe.  Skunk Creek enters the lake at this point and the kids had fun playing “hydrologist” and controlling the floodwaters into the delta.

We explored the old house “nobody der” Liv was really worried about it again:

As is with every hike, Liv didn’t quite make it back before falling asleep:

 

Grandma Linda was sold on getting Soren a one man kayak for his birthday.  I think with the amount of time we spend at Tahoe it will get plenty of use this summer.  Soren is telling everyone he meets he got a kayak and a water purifying pump.

It has not been in the water yet, but has already been on several successful voyages.  The kids figured out if you combine kayaking with beanbagging you have a pretty comfortable trip.  Too bad Liv could not stay on board and abandoned ship:

Sored decided to have his birthday dinner at Chilli’s.  I was greatful for that!  He originally wanted Sushi which is about a $125 dinner compared to the $60 for Chilli’s. Soren got the pepperoni pizza with cinnamon apples:

As always Ashley did a wonderful job on the cake. Soren chose German Chocolate after trying it for my birthday the month earlier:

 

The next day after lunch we went to Cascade Falls (you can look down two blog posts below to see the first time we hiked there).  Cascade Falls is a great hike.  Papa gave Soren a water purifying pump for his birthday.  After spending last night pumping water out of our tap to drink Soren was really excited to pump real stream water and drink it.  He pumped a ton, drank a ton, and had to pee the whole way home.  If Soren could pump drinking water for a living he would do it.  We got tired 1/2 way up the trail, but Luckily Papa brought “Peeps” (those disgusting marshmallow eater chickens), for a “Peeps Break.”

Soren pumping drink water:

Dad and I with Cascade Lake behind and Tahoe behind it.  There is a forest fire burning in the background, but hard to see in this picture.  It is at the top of the mountain just over the right side of my head.  And yes my pants are soaking.  I fell into about 3-feet of cold creek water trying to see if there were any trout in the stream.  The worse part is – I don’t think there are any trout in this stream.  I think the waterfall is too steep, even though there are lakes above as well.

The kids had a very important mission – collect a bunch of Juniper Berries and put them into a puddle and mix them around (you can see in the background above they are doing it).

 

Liv fell asleep again

Got home and went to bed.  Dad flew home Monday morning for his first week of doing nothing.  I am not sure if his job called on Monday and begged him to come back.  Special day for Soren, he also picked up some Nano Blocks (Japanese Legos) and Tomy Car Trains from Grandma and Grandpa Sorensen.  Thanks to all for making Soren’s day special.  Its nice to see them happy as they realize they do get one special day a year to themselves.  They understand and appreciate it.  I am now 39% done with raising Soren.  That getting there!  Although something tells me the easy 39% is done.

One last item on one of Soren’s school assignments this week.  I thought it was funny

It says “What do you want to be when you grow up? When I grow up I want to be a physical scientist.  The first reason is they watch chemical reactions.  The second reason is they get to study astronomy.  That is why I want to be a physical scientist. My mom was one!

His picture has a beaker bubbling b-bb-b-b-b-b-b and a “PooF” and my favorite is it says “universal indicator.”

Soren is ready for a career as a physical scientist although after Papa’s last few years at Watson Pharmaceutical he may want to reconsider.  I wonder what other 1st graders know what a “physical scientist” is? I didn’t realize the difference between physical science and life science until 8th grade.

Also, Soren had his 7 year check up.  He is 4-feet 3.25 inches (but Ashley said he was not standing up straight) which puts him in the 94th percentile for height and he is 64 pounds which is 92nd percentile for weight.  He is huge for his age.  You should see him at T-Ball, no kids within a head of him.  The other think is that his Body Mass Index is in the 82nd percentile so even though he weights a ton compared to the kids his age he is almost too skinny for his height.  At 85th percentile they would put him on a diet to fatten him up.  As stated earlier, I do not think he will be into sports at all, but his height may force him into basketball.  I think Liv is going to be tall as well, but Svea might be average height.  I hope he is not any taller then me.  6’4’' is about the limit where you can have normal life fit you.