Last Week of Summer Vacation!

Ah, this is it. No more summer vacation after this week. Seems a little sad, but at the same time, I think we are all kind of ready to get back to the school year routine. We've tried to cram a lot in this week and last, getting in some more zoo visits, etc.

Last Friday we visited the Durham Western Heritage Museum and Kennefick park. The boys love looking at all the trains. The Durham had a neat exhibit called Moneyville to teach kids all about money. It was pretty interactive and you could even make money with your picture on it. They loved doing that.

Monday we met Charlie's preschool friend and his family at a park to play and then we went to The Amazing Pizza Machine, which is a place the boys love! We had a really fun time. The boys went on the bumper cars, rides and played the games. We ate a lot of pizza and dd not want to leave. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that day, so I don't have any photos.

Today we went to Fontenelle Forest to see the new DinoQuest exhibit. This was actually pretty cool. All along the boardwalk were dinosaurs with some information about each one. They looked very real and the boys and I talked a lot about what each one ate and what they were like. It was pretty hot today and quite crowded, so we didn't end up staying too terribly long. I had promised the boys we could hit McDonald's on the way home and they are always excited about that.

Tomorrow we are heading over to Council Bluffs to hit a family favorite-Christy Creme. We love their sherbert, malts and fries! Then we are going to the zoo for member day. Thursday or Friday we will be heading off to Mahoney State Park to go swimming with some friends for a last hurrah! Then it's back to reality! It's been a great summer!

Ah, Rats!

Charlie and Daisy

We have two new additions to our family. They arrived on Tuesday, July 21st! The boys had been promised a little pet if they did certain things and had certain behaviors. The day finally arrived (and actually, we got them two days early because we found these two that we liked and the pet store lady said they could always get sold as feeder rats. Eeek! So we bought them early!).

Initially, we were going to get hermit crabs, but after reading all that was involved with them, I kind of prompted the boys to get rats. My step-brother had one growing up and I liked it. I had also read that they make really good pets, are smart and social, and you can teach them tricks. This sounded more like something the boys would like. Charlie mainly wanted a hermit crab because of their pretty colored shells, anyway. Once I explained to him that he can't really play with a hermit crab but you can with a rat, he was pretty much sold.

We are really happy with the rats so far. They are even pretty cute! We got two females and named them Roxy and Daisy. Roxy is Jack's and Daisy is Chalrie's. Daisy has a little more gray on her face than Roxy does.

Last night while I was gone running, Doug texted to say that Charlie was really being nice to Daisy and Daisy was hanging out on Charlie's shoulder. Jack needs a little supervision. He tends to be a little rough, but then again, he's still only three!

When we bought them, the lady at the pet store told us that they shouldn't be handled much for the first week, so they can adjust. The boys have had some trouble following these directions, but we're trying. We have had fun feeding them brocolli, bananas, and grapes. They can pretty much eat most fruits and veggies. We even fed them popcorn, which is a staple in this house.

Roxy
Charlie and Daisy again!

PUMPKINS!

A few weeks ago, we planted some pumpkin plant seeds in our backyard along the house. The other plants are doing okay, but are pretty small. This one particular plant, however, has gotten huge. It's way bigger than the others. We can't wait to see how the pumpkins progress and hope to have some by fall!

We also planted some carrots in May. The didn't really grow. Charlie insisted that we plant them. I didn't really want to, so I dug a hole and just dumped the whole packet in. He was happy and has only asked about them a few times. I just told him it wasn't a good place for growing carrots. He seemed okay with that answer.

A few months ago Charlie ate an apple at preschool all the way down to the seeds. He asked his teachers to put the seeds in a baggy, so he could take them home and plant them. So we did. I tried to explain to him that apples wouldn't grow from those seeds. We even googled how to grow apples and I explained it all. He still waited and waited for those apples to spring from the ground. Finally, he lost interest, and still, there are no apples!

We talked about planting a real garden next year-tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. I think the boys would really enjoy that. They love flowers and planting things.

July

The month started off with the 4th of July. My cousin, Sarah, was back in town with her kids, so we attended a family get together, which was great. I didn't take pics there, but my mom and cousin did and hopefully I will get a hold of them soon to post. The boys had so much fun hanging out with their second cousins and watching fireworks. For the actual 4th, we stayed in our neighborhood. There was a block party. We ate a ton of food and hung outside most of the day.

We made another couple of trips to the zoo this month. It was really crowded, but we still had fun. The boys probably had the most fun playing on the old, unused train.
This weekend we made a trip to Schramm State Park to see a snake exhibit. They were showing species of snakes that are in Nebraska. While there, we also walked through the aquarium, which showcases Nebraska fish. No, they aren't red with big N's on them. After the aquarium, we went on a walk and fed the fish. Then we hiked on a trail for a couple of miles. On the walk, the boys found lots of snails and named them all Gary in honor of Spongebob's 10th birthday this weekend. We also walked over a suspension bridge. It is a really nice park and we plan to go back.

One of the snails named Gary.


Snail Races


This whole weekend we have been lucky enough to have really great weather. The boys have been outside non-stop and we put the tent up today, so that they could pretend camp. Right away they lined their snacks, markers and paper up against the side of the tent. These are their most important items! This is the tent that Doug and I got for our wedding almost 9 years ago. It has never been out of the box until today. I guess we aren't really big on camping! ha ha.

I wish I was able to capture here all the fun we've had this summer. We have stayed up late so many nights having drinks with the neighbors while the kids run around catching fireflies. We've slept in late. I have been able to read a few books, do a lot of running and spinning and take a lot of naps. We've been to several area waterparks, parks, the zoo, Great Wolf Lodge and the Children's Museum, just to name a few. We've also spent quite a few days at Nana and Papa's house playing outside and hanging out with them. We've gone for walks, to the library, had swim lessons and baseball, grilled out and all around just hung out. I am so happy and lucky to have the summers to spend with my kids. It couldn't make me happier.

Finally! June!

So, let's see. What has happened during the past 7 months? How is it possible that I never blog? Oh well!

This summer has been really fun. I will probably cram all we've done in this one post and then not do this again until Christmas!

We have spent a ton of time outside this summer. The boys prefer it out there and so do we. Here are some photos of one of the many times they have run through the sprinkler with the neighbor girl, Grace.

On June 21, we headed down to KC to stay two nights at Great Wolf Lodge. We had not been there before and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The boys loved it and so did we! We will definitely go back again. We went down on Father's Day and came back that Tuesday. One of the things that made this trip so great was that the boys weren't afraid to try anything. We thought they might be, but they went down all of the water slides and Charlie even started swimming really well on his own. We spent a ton of time at the outdoor pool. The weather while we were there was over 100 degrees. We all got some sun! We did story time while we were there, ordered in pizza, ate ice cream and ordered a pay-per-view movie. We watched Coraline, only because Charlie insisted. They loved it though.

While down there, we visited the T Rex Cafe. The boys loved this as well. The place had really cool dinosaurs and we ate lunch in the Ice Cave. There was a meteor shower in the cave every 30 minutes and the walls and ceilings would light up and turn different colors and there would be a lot of noise.

We also made a trip or two or three to the zoo in June. Quite frankly, I am kind of zoo'ed out at this point. Didn't know that was possible. We visited the first time with Charlie's preschool friend Scotty and his mom and siblings.

Charlie also turned 5 1/2 in June. We celebrated by making him his cake of choice and eating it for dessert. They really enjoy signing "Happy half birthday to you..." They laugh and thinks it's pretty cool. Plus, the cake isn't all bad either.


Now on to July!

And so it goes....

That I never make time to blog. I would rather sit with my kids than blog on the computer! I am shooting for just once a month, at this point. Anyway, we had a good month of November, despite spending a good amount of it sick. We've all had our turns throwing up. Most recently myself and J. It isn't fun when the kid throwing up doesn't quite understand that he needs to get sick in a bowl. This just means a lot of laundry and carpet cleaning. Fortunately, it was time to clean some of the carpets anyway.

So, we are home sick today. I am getting over it and J just got sick last night. He seems a little better this morning.

We had a really nice Thanksgiving break. I love that being a teacher allows me so much time off. On Wed. of break, the boys had a dentist appt. C was awesome and J did better than last time. At least he sat in the chair, but he threw a toothbrush, so we're working on it. My cousin J babysat the boys that afternoon, so that I could do some Christmas shopping and errands. It was a really nice break and I got some things done.

The boys made some really fun Thanksgiving crafts at their schools and we made a little Thanksgiving tree on paper at home.

The day of Thanksgiving, we had a nice dinner at my mom's house. Some of her brothers and sisters were there with their kids and everyone had a good time. The kids had a little table of their own and they liked the turkey. This is the boys with my cousin's little girl.

The day after Thanksgiving, I attempted to get up early and go shopping for a toy that I wanted to get for the boys. Little did I realize Wal-Mart didn't close at all, so people got there early, took everything and just waited for hours in line. I left, went home, got back into bed and went back to Target later in the morning. This ordeal just reinforced the fact that I hate Wal-mart. Grrr....

After I shoppped, we got out all of the Christmas decorations. The boys really had fun helping sort the different branches of the tree. Once they did that, J helped Dad put up the whole tree while C relaxed on the couch. J is such a big helper and always is looking for ways to help out. They really enjoyed putting the decorations on the tree this year. I guess because they are getting bigger. Many of the decorations were clustered around the bottom of the huge 9 ft. tree that we have, but, hey, they can only reach so high. C especially enjoyed looking at the decorations he made last year in preschool and putting those up.

That Friday evening, we visited the Durham Western Heritage Museum for the tree lighting ceremony. They also had cookie decorating, some crafts, and of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus were there. C actually sat on Santa's lap and asked for a camera and the game Mousetrap for Christmas. After he was done, he ran over to me and said, "Darn it, I forgot to ask Santa if he can really fly." J kept his distance the whole time. After the Durham, we walked around Gene Leahy Mall to see the lights.

Saturday we finished with the decorations and Doug started to not feel well. The neighbors invited us over for wings and beer, so I took the boys next door to play with their favorite little girl, G. We had a really great time, and Adrienne next door makes the best wings and homemade bread. Doug was really sad to miss wings. They are probably one of his favorites. I ate a lot and the boys loved playing. We made plans with them for New Year's Eve--a nice dinner with some good snacks and the kids can play. I can't wait.

Sunday of that weekend was spent picking up the house and getting ready to go back to school. Doug also put up the outside lights. So now we are officially done with decorations. We also had an inside picnic because it's getting so cold outside. The boys had fun with this.

So now November is over. I don't know where the time went. It snowed this morning, and I can't believe it's almost Christmas. My shopping is done, so I am hoping to spend the remaining days making cookies with the boys and enjoying some holiday activities. Once Christmas is over, C's birthday is right around the corner-just four days after. We are in the process of planning his birthday and he is so excited for it this year. The big 5!! I can't believe it. How time flies.

So, probably until next month.....