Another Summer Adventure

Big daddy took the B boy and totally abandoned me hit the road to good ole Great Bend. They spent 3 fun filled days and nights in GB. I suffered quietly at home all alone....are you kidding it was totally awesome! Quiet. No messes. 100% me time. My own schedule. Oh, it was like Calgon took me away...Sorry, enough about me and more about their trip.

Steve planned quite a bit for the B boys while in his stomping grounds from his youth. They went to Vet's Park and Lucas nearly killed himself on the tank. Huge not on his head from trying to jump to grab onto the barrel of the tank. Not a good idea. They visited Grandpa Ben's farm. There they collect rocks, learned to skip rocks, hiked, toured the the old farm buildings (one of them was covered in decomposed cow poop which per Lucas was the highlight), and Logan shot his first gun...it was a BB gun...which is a total miracle that I said yes to that! They loved the visit to the farm!! They went fishing and totally suckered Grandma into buying them more fishing tackle. They visited the GB zoo. They built bird house's with Grandpa. They ate like kings and played hard.

They loved their visit to GB!

1,2,3, 4 get your woman on the floor...

This song is on Steve's play list and of course the boys sing it all the time. You know, 'cuz it's super appropriate. So after this bath (which is allegedly supposed to clean the boys)
we got to witness this amazing dance session kicked of by K-Diddy. The little nudey was signing as he got his jambos on and then started busting out some sweet dance moves. So Steve backed them up with the song and I pulled out the camera to video. Ahhhh, a normal day in our house...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Washable

It's amazing how quickly the B boys can cause me problems. This morning after Steve got the boys spit shine for church, my sweet little Lucas walks up to me with a marker and says, "Mom, is this washable? I can't tell 'cuz I can't read yet." I tell him, "Yup, whatcha planning on doing?", I ask. "Nothin'. Just coloring." So I say, "K. Don't make any big messes as we are going to leave in a little bit." "K, Mom", says my innocent little man. About 10 minutes later I holler at them to come down stairs to brush their teeth and walk out the door. The response I get, "K. We're coming but, Kale has red marker on his face (failing to mention that he had blue marker on his face)...but it's washable!" Are you kidding me???? Clean-up was quick but give me a break. These kids are 5 & 3 and are totally aware of the "Don't write on skin" rule I have. Come on!

Fishermen

So fishing is still a current obsession. Saturday we spent the after on our friends docks grillin', eatin', and of course...fishin'. Kale has some fine tuning yet to do with his technique. Logan caught a fish and had lots of bites. Lucas was off searching for a snapping turtle or snake or something equally as dangerous. Of course, we did some tubing and swimming and watching our friend Chris barefoot and slalom ski like a pro.

Naturals Game

Inspired by my friend Amy, we ventured out to Wranglers Naturals game. The weather was beautiful and the boys were very good. Kind of a sweet spot! Doesn't hurt that we got a BOGO on the tickets and a free kids meal for each of the boys. I will tell you, that Arvest ball park dogs are nothing compared to a foot long at the Rockies stadium. The evening was full of

Great ball playing

Steve avoiding the breast feeding mother in front of him

A dancing & singing Lucas

A game watching Logan

A snacking, Strike Fearing Kale

Autographs on new mini bats

A win for the Naturals

Sassy

Sassy is the word I would use to describe this little man.

Geez, a momma can't do anything right for him but yet I can't leave his side. In church this little angel not so quietly whispers to me that he is going to take one of his shoes off 'cuz it hurts

his big toe. I agree to his terms and view the injured toe. Now if I squinted my eyes just right and dangled the toe in direct sunlight, there many have been the tiniest of red marks on that toe. The loving mother that I am, I lean over and gently kiss that big toe and pat his foot. The drama king loudly scream, "Why did you have to do that? You're a meanie!" Then tries to hit me. Really I just can't when with him. The behavior absolutely had nothing to do with needing a nap, because he doesn't need one. Just ask him. This is what we had at 5:30 later that night.

Saint Lucas

Last night we ate dinner at Las Palmos Mexican Restaurant. We were seated in the back of the restaurant right next to a water fountain. While this very water feature was not plugged in and running, it was a point of focus for the B boys. While testing the bottomless chips and salsa offer, the boys asked tons of questions re the water fountain. Most of the questions were the exact same question just worded differently. Why is it here and why does it have water in it? After just nibbling on their dinner (due to a belly full of chips), Lucas quietly gets down from the table, walks right up to the fountain and dips his fingers in the water. He then does the sign of the cross and shouts AMEN! Well, it wasn't holy water and we weren't at mass but at least he did demonstrate that he has picked up on something from going to church!

Quote of the day

"HEY MOM, I'M LISTENING TO AMERICAN BAD ASS"

Logan, on the way to church

Logan lands a big one!

Yesterday we spent the evening on the lake tied up with 3 other boats (our biggest tie up ever!). Logan was especially in heaven as two of the boats were his buddies from school that he hadn't seen in a while. Everyone hit the jackpot as they all had friends there. Logan had Logan & Connor, Lucas had Preston & Greer, Greer had Madeline and Andrea (Connor's step sisters) and Kale had his momma. Dang that boy was needy yesterday (it's probably just because I'm so fabulous and had nothing to do with all my traveling. Yeah, yeah that's the story.) Well since the Rabens were there and they live on the lake (Literally. Their dock is just around the corner from our favorite cove.) they had us uncomfortably close to the shore. No sightings of snakes or brown trout! But what it did allow was the boys to do some fishing. Logan Raben played Grandad and got every one's hooks baited and the fish taken off the hooks. Glad he was there to do it. Not that I couldn't have, 'cuz I could if I wanted to. This girl can fish. Logan caught 2 perch and was pretty freakin' proud of himself. Kale and Lucas just man handled the fish that were caught. Logan Raben took home a perch to put in his fish tank and tried to convince my Logan he needed to do the same. Being the totally mean parent that I am, I squashed that idea out quickly. Are you kidding me?!

Evening time on the Beaver is the best time to be on the lake. All other boaters were heading in for dinner as we headed out with our pizzas. When all the boats are off it's so quiet and calm and you feel like you own the lake. Love it! The kids all got to tube. Logan took a major wipe out on Connor's rolling tube. Chris (Logan R's dad) bare footed (so awesome!) and Murray (Connor's step mom) wake surfed (awesome as well). When the lake is super crowded it's tough to do all those things. I did not try anything new and different as I am still recovering from my wake boarding attempts from last week.

Perfect weather, perfect company, perfect night on the lake.

So hot & humid

What else is there to do but dig the baby pool out from underneath the deck and soak in freezing cold water straight from the well.