August 2012

When August started I couldn't believe summer was almost coming to an end. But we packed in what we could in the last couple of weeks of summer vacation.

At the beginning of the month,  we stayed one night at Mahoney State Park. I wish that we could have stayed another night, but in order to get good reservations, you have to call a year ahead. Since obviously I had not planned that far in advance, we only got one night. But we had so much fun. We did a lot of hiking and walking around the park. We walked down to the Platte River and watched the trains go by. The boys thought that was awesome. The Platte was in bad shape while we were there and it still is. There's been a drought this summer, so the river was pretty much sand. We spent the evening grilling out, hiking and working on an electrical circuit building set that the boys had gotten previously. We had a really great time and intend to go again next year.

After we got home and that same week I went out to Denver BY MYSELF to visit my sister and my good friend, Jeanne. I was there for five blissful alone days. We shopped like it was our job and I even got in a 7-mile run with Jeanne on a beautiful trail. It was awesome. While I was there, my sister and her boyfriend were in the process of closing on their first house. This meant we got to do lots of house shopping. Since we are redoing our first floor, I got to do some shopping too. I bought two big rugs and some new light fixtures. We visited Ikea, the outlets and many other places. It was fantastic. We ate out a lot, too. I had so much fun I forgot to take pictures! I need to get better about this. I took one photo of Jeanne and me in the parking lot the last time we got to hang out.


When I got back from Denver, it was just a few more days until the dreaded start of school. The boys enjoy school, but I think they enjoy being home with me during the summer even more. They didn't really want to give up days of sleeping in, playing, swimming and fun to sitting in desks.

And then, because we couldn't stop it, school started. Jack started 1st grade and Charlie started 3rd. So far the school year is going well and they really like their teachers. This is the first year I wasn't able to take the boys to their first day of school. My school started the same day, so I had to be at work. Boo. This meant Doug was in charge of photos!

A Night Out

One night in June, Doug and I at the last minute decided we really wanted to go out to dinner. We couldn't find a sitter, so we took the boys with us. It ended up being a really fun night. We went to Cantina Laredo at Midtown for dinner. We sat outside on the patio and the weather was perfect.

                               Then we headed downtown to Gene Leahy Park to walk around.

 Finally, we hit Mutual of Omaha on the way home to see the swimmer's head and watch the swim trials night video on the side of the building. 

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.