Summer Happenings

As I was going through some summer photos, I realized there was quite a bit I hadn't included in my summer posts.

In late June, we visited Lincoln with my friend Ruth and her kids. We took the kids to the Lincoln Children's Museum, Mueller Planetarium and Morrill Hall. We had a really good time. We stopped at Noodles and Co for lunch and walked on UNL's campus throughout the day.
One of the things the kids liked the most was wading in the fountain outside the student union at UNL...even though there was clearly a sign that said "No wading, No swimming!" Oh well.

Another fun thing we did with Ruth and her kids was to go down to Linder Lakes in Louisville one day to go swimming. We had a great time using the paddleboats and swimming. Did I mention the boys love swimming in lakes?

July 2012

I'm not sure where the summer has gone or what we have even done! Last summer we did so much and this summer not as much. We took a little trip to Kansas City at the beginning of the month. We stayed at Crown Center and visited Sea Life, Lego Land, Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. This was a vacation for the boys, not for Doug and me. It is safe to say that I finished the vacation needing a vacation and yearning to go somewhere relaxing and more for me. Ask Doug. I spent the weeks following researching our next trip and it will be somewhere GOOD!

 Lego Land was a little bit of a disappointment. The boys were in a hurry to get through it, because we had promised them a Lego set at the end. They wanted to rush and get to the gift store to pick theirs out. And then they wanted to quickly return to the hotel to put them together.

One of the restaurants we visited at Crown Center was Fritz's. Friends had told me about this place, that the food wasn't the best, but go and see the trains. The boys LOVED it. They thought it was so awesome that little trains delivered the food that we had ordered by phone. And yes, the food wasn't the best, but we had fun!

The next day we went to Sea Life. We liked Sea Life a little better than Lego Land, but our zoo has a pretty great aquarium that is hard to beat. So it wasn't super exciting. The boys enjoyed answering the quiz questions throughout the aquarium.

The next couple of days we visited Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun. The weather was nearing 100 degrees the day we went to WOF, so we opted to visit during "twilight hours." That meant we were there from 5pm until close. And let me tell you, we stayed until the very end. It was perfect, though. No one was there. We didn't have to wait for anything. Jack, our non walker, still complained of being hot and not wanting to walk, but Charlie loved it. He has no fear when it comes to rides. He rode on anything and everything. He even went on the Mamba at 9:15 pm in the dark by himself, which, for the record, did not make me happy. I don't do roller coasters, though, and Doug, in his old age, gets sick from them. So....that leaves Charlie. Jack did go on the Boomerang at the start. He then was reminded that he isn't a big fan. Charlie would go on a scary ride and then when it was over he would say, "that's it?" No big deal. 

We drove home from Kansas City on the July 3rd, ran home, unpacked and then drove out to Glenwood to celebrate the 4th with family. The boys love the lake. They love swimming out there and hanging out with everyone. Most of all, they FREAKING LOVE fireworks. 

Some random photos:

Fritz's

Swimming at Jen's

View from my Sunday morning run at the Wabash. An awesome 7 miles! 

My BFF. I love her so much. 

Our new beach bag...It's huge! 

June 2012

Summer is flying by! How do I make it stop or at least slow down? The beginning of June seemed like an eternity ago. Now it's July and summer is half over. Sad.
I somehow didn't seem to take a lot of photos in June. Not sure why. We did a lot of things around town. We've been to the Lifetime pool a lot. The boys love it. We've also been to the lake a few times and the boys love that even more. They love swimming around the lake in their life jackets. They could do it for hours.

Father's Day was in mid June. This is the first time in four years we did not go to Great Wolf Lodge on Father's Day. We decided it was time for a break. Instead we spent Father's Day at the lake with family. It was a great day. We grilled out, had good food and lots of swimming. The boys were excited to have picked out a movie gift certificate for Doug and Hawkeye and Steelers mugs. We also made Doug an iMovie with photos and videos of him and the boys going back to when they were born. It was my first iMovie and I loved the end product. I think Doug enjoyed it too.We got to attend the Olympic Swim Trials this month. Doug's coworker does a lot of work at the event, so she got us some great seats. We were in the second row right at the starting line. I am not sure how much the boys enjoyed the trials, but I really did. It was exciting to see the big names and see them compete.

Charlie also turned 8 1/2 this month. I can't believe he's so big. He asked to have the M&M and Kit Kat cake like Jack had for his birthday, so I obliged and we made a big cake.

May 2012

School got out this month! Woo hoo! That is obviously the most exciting part of the month. We all had a good end to the school year. Jack finished kindergarten and Charlie finished 2nd grade. Both of them had good years; they learned a lot, made many new friends and did new things!
I also had a good end to my fourth year teaching at AL. The past two years I have been teaching Reading and this year one section of English 10. I was a little burned out on teaching Reading. It just wasn't my thing. Although, it was probably the most rewarding teaching job I have had. I applied for the open Librarian Teacher position at AL and found out a few weeks ago that I got it! I couldn't be more excited. It worked out so perfectly. I have three more grad classes to go until I receive my media specialist endorsement. I am taking one this summer, one in the fall and one in the spring and then DONE! For now. Maybe I will go back again someday for some technology classes or an endorsement or something. I am thrilled to be starting this new position in August.
We decided this month that Charlie was way too big for his bike, so he got a new one--a big boy bike! He was so excited and just loves riding the new one. The new bike for Charlie prompted Jack to learn to ride his bike without training wheels. His got the hang of it in two outings. The first outing didn't include much trying. He was tired, he said. The second time we went out, which was Mother's Day, he learned within minutes. Now he claims to need a new bike, as well.

Mother's Day this year was May 13th. It was a beautifully perfect day. I slept in a little and then we went to the park with the dog and the boys rode bikes. We hurried home after Jack learned to ride his bike to pack up our stuff to head to Bruce and Susan's Lake. We grilled, swam, played games and had a few drinks. It was a lot of fun. The boys love going there.
Charlie had his last cub scout meeting/picnic for the year. He moved up to the next rank, which I can't think of what it is! Bear??

 Photos from the lake:

I chaperoned on Jack's school field trip to the zoo in May. I am glad I got to go. It was fun to hang out with him, his friends and some mom friends for the day in beautiful weather.

And I have to throw in a photo of the dog...because I love her...and she loves me. I call her my BFF.

April 2012

Julie came back for a visit in April and we spent a couple of days looking at wedding dresses. She hasn't nailed down the exact date of the wedding, but it will either be this fall or next summer. She found some really beautiful wedding dresses. So many of them were different from when I looked ten years ago.

Over spring break, the boys held their first lemonade stand on our street. They stayed outside for nearly 7 hours selling their lemonade and they made $30. I was surprised they made so much and were so determined to keep making money. Charlie loves his money. 

We had a pretty quiet Easter this year. My mom had gone to visit Julie in Denver, so Doug, the boys and I stayed home. We went to the park and then had dinner down the street at the neighbor's house. Doug was worn out from work, so he stayed home. 

We had the yard fenced in and some landscaping done this month, too. I had wanted a fence for a while, so I was excited to get one. 

Jack was sick on day in April and neither Doug nor I was able to stay home. So, I took Jack to work with me for a few hours until he could go to my mom's. He LOVED it. He loved meeting the kids, talking with them and seeing the school. Charlie was jealous and the next day happened to be Take You Child to Work Day, so Charlie spend the afternoon at school with me. He really enjoyed it to. I was surprised by how shy and quiet he was. 

Also this month, I was a chaperone on Charlie's class field trip to the zoo. I was happy to be able to go with him. It was a perfect day for it. 

 We also got a fire pit this month, and had our first backyard fire. We roasted marshmallows and hot dogs. The boys loved it!