July 2011

It's almost August! Ugh. That means only a couple weeks left of summer vacation. It's sad, but in a way, I'm ready to go back.

I didn't take many photos in July, but we were busy. The boys took a great cooking class at the nearby Hy-Vee. It was three days long and focused on cuisine from different regions of the US. The first day was New York. We made wraps with apples, hummus and tuna and a few other dishes. The second day was Tex Mex. This was the best day. We made a summer squash casserole, black-eyed pea dip and fruit salsa. The last day was California. We made a chicken pasta salad, shrimp kabobs with lots of veggies and frozen peach pops. I will definitely sign the boys up for this again. It got them to try a lot of new foods and they loved chopping and mixing. We even made a few of the dishes at home for dad to try. We made a salad, the squash casserole and bean dip. The boys love cooking!

We have spent a lot of our time in July at swim lessons. Jack refuses to take them, but Charlie started them and loves them! He is doing two mini-marathons and goes every day. We are going on our fourth week of every day swim lessons. He has progressed so much and is an amazing little swimmer. He likes it so much that he has decided his goal is to be on a swim team. He wants to continue to take lessons throughout the school year. It makes me really happy to see him enjoy something so much.

Charlie also just finished his Intro to Drawing class. He had his final art show this weekend. He drew five really great pictures with everything from watercolor paints to charcoal. He did a still life and a collage. Now I have a lot of great art that I need to frame and hang up!

Doug and I made a little weekend trip to Minneapolis in July to see U2. This was on my bucket list, so I had to go! It was amazing. I want to go see them in concert again. We dropped the boys off in Des Moines with Doug's mom and sister. The boys (as well as Barb and Jessie) really enjoyed the alone time they had. They did a lot of fun things and got to visit with Kiley.

Jack had his first sleep over in July. His friend Ethan lives in Council Bluffs and the two met in preschool at St. Albert. They just love hanging out, so we had Ethan over for the night. We went to McDonald's, out for ice cream, played in the slip n slide and played dress up.

My friend Pam took photos of the boys for me this month. She did a fantastic job. I love the photos and can't wait to put some on canvas and get them up on the walls!

So, we have about two weeks left of summer and so much left we want to do. We have plans to visit a water park, go to the lake, attend a Back-to-School BBQ, among other things. Why, oh why, does summer have to end?!

Interviews 2011

I got this idea from another Blogger and liked it. I hope to do it each summer with the boys.

Charlie

Summer 2011

7 ½ years old

Going into 2^nd Grade

I am really good at: hiking

I like to: play

My favorite thing to learn at school: science

1 person who makes me laugh: Jack

One word that describes me: nice

I am really happy when: playing games

I am really sad when: I get hurt

My favorite book: Ricky Ricotta’s Mighty Robot

My favorite TV show: Spongebob

My favorite vacation: Estes Park and Denver, Co

I like school when: I am on recess

I don't like school when: people aren’t nice

My favorite season: Summer

My favorite toy: iPad

What makes me happy: going to Red Mango

Things that make me mad: when I lose a game

Favorite sport: football

I like my Dad because: he is really nice

I like my Mom because: she takes me places

I like my family because: they are really nice

Jack

Summer 2011

5 ½ years old

Going into Kindergarten

I am really good at: being good

I like to: play games with Mommy, Daddy and Charlie

My favorite thing to learn at school: coloring

1 person who makes me laugh: Ethan

One word that describes me: nice

I am really happy when: when Ethan is not sick at school

I am really sad when: Ethan is not at school

My favorite book: Harry Potter

My favorite TV show (movie): Harry Potter

My favorite vacation: Great Wolf Lodge

I like school when: when Ethan is there

I don't like school when: Ethan is gone

My favorite season: Winter and Summer

My favorite toy: Harry Potter chess game

What makes me happy: Ethan

Things that make me mad: when mom gets mad

Favorite sport: football

I like my Dad because: he always wears shirts that are soft

I like my Mom because: I sleep with her at night

I like my family because: I want to hug Charlie

Can you tell Jack likes Ethan?

We like to line things up...

To be continued...

July 4th

We had a fantastic 4th of July weekend. It was really busy, though. Saturday we had a BBQ with neighbors and then we had tickets to the TD Ameritrade Home Run Derby and fireworks show. We loved seeing the new stadium, the weather was perfect and the fireworks show was amazing. The boys were in awe of the fireworks. They are huge fans.

Sunday we drove out to my aunt's lake for dinner and fireworks. A lot of my mom's family was there and the boys got to play and hang out around the bonfire--one of their favorite things.

Monday we spent the early afternoon with friends at the Ralston parade. The boys filled their water guns and squirted the clowns who walked by. We had some good food and conversation with our friends.

We went home for a quick nap after the parade and then went to another home for more food and fireworks. In the end, we enjoyed three straight days of food and fireworks. By Tuesday morning we were all worn out and tired of eating. Or at least I was.

Estes Park, Colorado

This June we visited Estes Park. We went last summer and the boys wanted to go back. We love the area and kind of have a feel for where everything is, so we figured it would make for a good second trip.

There is a winery we like in Estes called Snowy Peaks. They are very child friendly, which allows for us to taste wine uninterrupted. The boys also did a cider tasting, which they enjoyed!

The first full day we were in Estes we drove up to Bear Lake and then took a hike to Nymph Lake and then Dream Lake. I had no idea there would still be so much snow, but there was! The hike to Nymph Lake was pretty snow free, but up to Dream Lake we had to hike through snow and basically over all of the unmelted snow. It was fun and different from last year's experience. Jack took every opportunity to fall in the snow, stomp in the streams and puddles and get absolutely muddy and wet. Charlie would consider no such thing and was quite serious with his hiking stick he made in Cub Scouts. We wanted to continue our hike up to Emerald Lake, but it was a tough hike because of all the remaining snow, so we passed.

Two things we did that were new to us this year were fishing at Trout Haven and horseback riding at Sombrero Stables. I had no idea I would like fishing so much, but I did. I caught three fish and Doug caught one. The boys, unfortunately, didn't catch any. They still had fun trying.

The horseback ride we did was an hour through the hills of Estes. We saw some baby coyotes on the ride.

Julie came up for the last day we were there. We drove up Alpine Trail Road and spent some time at Fun City in town. We went fishing again and started a small hike on Deer Mountain Trail, which I would love to finish next time we are there.

We also did a little bit of hiking at Lily Lake and Lily Lake Ridge Trail. This was a beautiful area.

Charlie Turns 7 1/2 !

Charlie and His Best Friend

Charlie has a best friend Nolan. They've spent quite a bit of time together lately. Nolan spent the night last weekend. We went to dinner and then Charlie wanted to take Nolan to his favorite place-Red Mango!

When we returned home, they had fun wrestling, dressing up, playing with Nerf guns, watching E.T., watching some fireworks and laughing a lot!

Visiting with an Old Friend!

I met Jeanne in 1994 at the University of Iowa. We lived in the same dorm-Burge! We've been friends since. Last time I saw her was when we met up in Chicago in 2008 when I ran the Chicago Marathon.

She was recently in Iowa visiting family, so we drove up for the day. It was so good to see her!

Father's Day

This year for Father's Day we made our first trip of the season out to a family lake in Iowa. The boys look forward to this every summer. They love swimming in the lake, grilling out, having a bon fire, looking for bugs and frogs, going on the paddle boat and playing in the sand. It was a beautiful Sunday for the lake and a good start to lake season!

Camp Matisse!

In mid-June the boys attended a three-day art camp at Just Be Free. They LOVED this. The camp had them studying the artist Matisse. They learned his techniques and for each technique they learned they made a project. They journaled about all they learned as well. It was fantastic.

June Misc.

In June the flooding in Omaha and Council Bluffs started getting worse. I took the boys down to the pedestrian bridge to walk around and take some photos.

Also in June, Charlie attended VBX with his friend Grant. He went to a church that we wouldn't normally attend, but he had the best time ever. All he could do was talk about how much he loved it and didn't want it to end. He even went so far as to say that he wished it was as long as a school day. We will be sending him again next year and he already can't wait.

I have also been working with the boys on cooking. They made monkey bread all by themselves and loved it.

We also went bowling!

Great Wolf Lodge--Again!

Wow, we had a busy June! We started off the month with our third annual trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City. The boys love going here and we are veterans, now that we have been there three times.

We did the usual activities of swimming and water slides. Charlie and I love using the outdoor pool, while Jack and Doug don't mind doing the indoor activities a little more.

I think the boys' favorite part of the Lodge is the arcade. This tends to drive me crazy, but they love it. They play lots of games, win lots of tickets and pick out cheap prizes.

This trip we played MagiQuest again. I didn't get many photos of this. We also played miniature gold and visited the T Rex Cafe. The boys did the Build-a-dino.

At the end of the trip, we made a stop at the Deanna Rose Farmstead in Overland Park, KS. We did this last year, too, and the boys had fun. The boys fed the goats, went fishing, and rode a pony.