Weekend

We had a pretty fun weekend. We've been trying to take the boys to the Killen's Pond Water Park all summer long, but the weather just never cooperated. Barrett got off work a little early Friday so we could give it one last try. It wasn't the warmest experience, but there was barely anyone there and the boys had a great time! Damon loved the lily pad rope walk...he showed up a couple older kids:) Tommy loved pretend swimming and going on the little slides. We picked up pizza on the way home and eventually got the boys to sleep. Nathan showed up later that night. We had fun chatting until bedtime.

Saturday we went to the beach. The forecast was calling for showers in the morning and thunderstorms in the afternoon. The beach was pretty empty...well, not empty, but definitely not crowded at all! At times it was a little chilly, but the water was pretty warm. Unfortunately, the waves were pretty treacherous this time. Tommy loves to dance, literally dance, in the waves and taunt them until they crash and chase him. After an hour or so, the waves go even more intense. They started breaking really hard which created a 1-2 foot cliff instead of a slope. The boys would hop down run and try to jump over before the waves got them. Well, one wave was so powerful, it pushed Tommy right onto the top of the mini cliff. Another time, Damon did a somersault down the cliff then a wave hit, drenched everyone (I was soaked head to foot and my feet weren't even in the water!), and ended up picking up Damon and dropping him at Barrett's feet. We were pretty glad we all made it home safely:)

We dug giant holes, buried the boys in the sand, snacked, and had fun as always. We attempted to get donuts at the Fractured Prune, but they had closed 10 minutes before we got there. When we got home, the boys made mango salsa, tostadas, and chocolate chip cookies. I didn't lift a finger:) The boys were really sad Nathan couldn't stay a few more days.

First Day of Kindergarten!

The day has finally come! Damon could finally wear his new clothes and shoes! He's only been gone for 30 minutes and I've gone through too many tissues! 

This and That

Last Monday night for Family Home Evening, we had a mini Olympics. Damon painted some paper plates for our symbol and helped me brainstorm different events to have. We scrounged our candy box and found some chocolate gold coins, so we taped a little ribbon on them for medals at the end. We had the high jump (jumping over a blanket onto the boys' bed), archery (throwing a bean bag at a box to knock it over), torch relay, balance beam (walking on the edge of the toddler bed), and then repeated a few of them. It was actually really fun. Tommy was in charge of activity tonight and guess what he chose...Olympics. I was able to convince him to pick 2 events. Today Tommy was running and jumping onto the Lazyboy. We asked him what he was doing and he said, "practicing my high jump." This kid has been making us laugh like crazy lately.

One day this last week, we were able to have a spontaneous lunch date with Barrett at the park. We had been at the library and post office and still needed to go to Sam's Club, but mom was getting pretty hungry. We had some free Subway kids meal coupons from Summer Reading, so I called up Barrett and he joined us at the park. It was a pleasant day and we had fun. Then, we finished up our errands. It is always fun to have little surprises!

This last weekend, my old roommate and her family came to visit. They moved to Pennsylvania a few months ago and wanted to hit the beach. We loved having them! Not only is it fun to reminisce and see each other as  parents, but they spoiled us big time (kind of reversed, I guess). My roommate always made the best food and was so generous and service minded. Nothings changed. She brought 2 huge loaves of zucchini bread, a bunch of delicious bakery-looking cupcakes that she had made, and even made us the best tostadas I've ever had in my life. Plus, she brought her own towels and things so pregnant me wouldn't have to do much clean up. I finally met her husband and her cute kids. Tommy could not get enough of her 7 month old baby girl and had to give her toys, put a Superman cape on her, and rub her head, and get in her face. We enjoyed the beach and hanging outside one night. We were able to take them to the Air Force Museum and Fifers. It is always fun to have visitors:)

Damon was  pretending to be a wounded/dead soldier on one of the planes at the museum.

Tommy is so funny lately. The other day he told me that Grandma and Grandpa live in the sky. I couldn't change his mind. It came out that he thinks they live in the sky because we fly on an air plane up in the sky to go see them. I guess he forgets that we fly down to the ground, then drive in a car to their house. So funny! Yesterday he put on his Batman cape and shoes to go outside to help Barrett BBQ. He ran outside and said, "Uh...no wind!" He wanted his cape to fly in the wind:) He decided to just fly down the stairs instead.

Disturbingly Hilarious!

So, we had a pretty gross, hilarious experience today. It involved Barrett and Tommy and here it goes (in Barrett's words).

Tommy had to go to the bathroom and had been there quite awhile. He called for my assistance and I went in and he was pulling his gum out of his mouth in a long string. My immediate thought was, "How gross. I know those hands have been all over the toilet seat." As I continued to help him out, he began to make a confession. "Dad, I dropped my gum." My first thought was, "How disgusting! It landed on the toilet seat and he put it back in his mouth." I asked, "Tom, where did your gum land?" His response, "In the toilet." Not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I asked for more details. He said he had pulled it out of the toilet, squished the water off, and wiped it on his shirt, as though he had appropriately cleaned the gum to put back in his mouth. I said,"It fell in the toilet after you peed?" Tommy said,"Yes, after I peed and pooped!" I started to laugh so hard I was crying. We later asked, "Tommy how did your gum taste after it fell in the toilet?" His response, "Still good!" We're still laughing about it!!

Little Family Vacation

We went on a little family vacation the last few days. This was our first one. It seems like all our vacations are visiting family, going to a free beach house, little day trips, or plans with other people. We've never really planned our own. We realized too that Tommy's never stayed in a hotel that he can remember. He thought we moved there:) We didn't really want to spend a lot of money or go super far either. We decided to just venture up to Hershey, Pennsylvania and stay in a hotel for 2 nights. We packed up and went to the Herrs Potato Chip Factory in Nottingham, PA, stayed at a hotel a few miles from Hershey, went to Hershey World and went on the free ride a few times, had delicious Hershey cupcakes, played at a park, swam in the hotel pool, watched Olympics on tv, ate out for dinner, went to Gettysburg, and had a lot of fun! We were pretty proud of ourselves for out first real family vacation. It was fun, but we sure missed going out west to see family this summer...we're saving our pennies and hoping we can make it next summer.

 Damon positioned Tommy in this exact spot, then climbed on the cannon and pretended to shoot Tommy. Luckily, Tommy hopped out of the way:)

Crafts, Toys, and Peaches

We have been struggling coming up with things to do this summer. We walked around the craft store one day and found these cool wood building kits. Tommy picked out the race car, but glued everything on how he wanted (not like the picture). Damon picked out a "pirate boat." The next day they painted them. Damon was very careful and particular, Tommy not so much:)  A week or so after, we had to stop into the fabric store and the boys asked if they could get another craft. They were having a great sale so we picked up this pack of wood cars that you could color with markers and glitter. Damon spent more than a day on his, Tommy finished his up pretty quick.

Damon's boat and car. (I had to use the glue gun for the sales)

 Tommy's cars

Last week we took the wiffle bat and ball out to a real baseball diamond at the park. We had a pretty fun time. A few nights earlier, the boys had been playing in the back yard. Damon was cracking 'em left and right, but then he got hit by the ball (the wiffle ball!) which scared him for future "up to bats." He liked using Barrett's glove even though it was the wrong hand and huge for him. Barrett talked him into spending some of his money on his own glove. So, we headed to Target one night and Damon picked out his first baseball mitt. He loves it and they had to get outside right when we got home to break it in.

 Tommy had to spend some of his money too. Luckily we found this pretty awesome clearanced parachute guy. He spent most of the evening throwing it off the balcony. He even helped throw Damon some grounders...and was pretty good at it. They were both pretty proud:)

Saturday was the Peach Festival in one of the nearby towns. Barrett represents them and knows the mayor pretty well. We headed off to the parade, but were a little later than we had planned and had a hard time finding parking. Barrett dropped us off and we found a great spot while he went to look for parking. I felt bad because the mayor drove by and said to us, "Here's the 2 best looking boys at the parade!" then threw them tons of candy. I wish Barrett was there so she knew who they belonged to. Oh well. The boys got so much candy and like always, Tommy got plastered with candidate stickers:) After the parade, we walked around some of the booths and saw some church friends and our neighbors. It was incredibly warm, so we decided to head over to good ol' Fifers Orchards for free peach ice cream day!! Boy was it delicious! We hung out a bit, then headed home to cool off.