Swimming pool fun!

Kiddie pool area.

Wyatt filling his bucket!

Getting daddy wet!

Colton is soaked!

Drying off & keeping warm.

Camping with friends

We went to an awesome campground/resort with a great group of friends this past weekend. Our friends/neighbors “J” & “J” camped right next to us and our friends “J”, “M” & their daughter “P” (who is almost exactly a year younger than the boys) were a couple sites down. The kids played well together; “P” loved the boys & followed them everywhere…such a little copy-cat but ooh, so cute!!

For once, the weather was warm (it only rained on Saturday morning) so we were able to enjoy the pool every day we were there. The playground was HUGE with tons of sand for the kids to dig in…& you know Wyatt loved that.

They had such fun activities planned like a fish fry, decorating treasure bags, a treasure hunt, face painting, make-your-own-sundaes, wagon rides and train rides. Some activities were free & some charged a small fee. We took a train ride after the rain stopped on Saturday, which was fun & gave us a short tour of the campground. I also took the boys, with my friend “M” & her daughter “P”, to make treasure bags Saturday morning to use on their “treasure hunt” Saturday afternoon. It was a super cute treasure hunt, searching for gold doubloons in the sandbox which they could trade into the front office for a little bag full of “treasures” (super ball, rings, tiny spy glasses, etc.).

Wyatt decorating his "treasure bag".

Colton decorating his "treasure bag".

Wyatt's!

Colton's!

All three, so proud of their work.

Listening to a pirate story before the "hunt".

Colton digging.

Wyatt searching.

We've got our gold doubloons!

Our camping crew!

Playing with their "treasures".

Ready for dinner!

Too cute!

We are definitely making this an annual trip & going back next summer!

A perfect summer night at the drive-in root beer stand

This past Saturday we had planned a big night out at a local truck show event. We had heard rave reviews about years past – semi-trucks (& the ability to see/sit inside), construction equipment, local law & fire services and a Lightning/Mater appearance. We were pumped up but ended up some-what disappointed as most of the “fun” things we thought the boys would enjoy did not participate this year. It was a show of mostly semi-trucks (none that we were able to even see inside), a few old fire trucks and trucking vendors galore. The boys thought seeing the semis up-close were pretty cool but there was only so many to look at.

We called it quits early at the truck show, just before dinner time and decided to enjoy the beautiful weather we had that day & eat outside at a local root beer stand. The boys & I had grabbed ice cream cones at this drive-in earlier in the summer but we hadn’t made a trip out as a family yet this year.

Beautiful summer evening weather made for a fun dinner outside!

Mommy & my boys!

Swinging with Daddy.

Yummy food!

Unfortunately, Wyatt hadn’t been feeling the best all week & kind of went downhill as we were having our dinner…getting a little warm, losing his appetite and becoming quite tired.

We finished out our meal with ice cream cones (yes, he definitely felt better with the slight mention of ice cream cones) & were headed home for the night.

Ice cream smiles!

Garden check-in & visit from Great Papa

My grandpa is up visiting for a couple of weeks and was staying at my parents’ house for the first part of last week. The boys had been begging to go out to Papa & Grandma’s to check on the garden and pick some peas so we waited until Wednesday when Great Papa would be there too (as he lives down in Arkansas & we don’t get to see him much).

We hadn’t seen him since May, so I thought the boys did fairly well…warming up to him pretty quickly. We had dinner together and then headed down to check out the garden. The boys were totally prepared with their garden gloves, rake, shovel and wagon.

To the garden!

Picking peas was fun. They did very well asking me or Papa if a pea pod was ready to pick or having our help holding base so they didn’t pull off the entire vine branch. They also checked on the carrots, potatoes, lettuce, green beans, onions, peppers & squash. A small bunny kept hopping in & out of the corn field next to the garden, so that captured their interest & got us into a Peter Rabbit/Mr. McGreggor’s garden discussion (they love that book from daycare) which also lead them to scolding the little bunny not to come into Papa & Grandma’s garden.

Colton checking.

Helping Papa look for the "big" ones.

Wyatt putting his pea pods in the bowl.

Colton too!

Watching the little bunny.
(He's the tiny dark spot in the dirt between
the grass & the field.)

We took our big bowl of harvested pea pods up to my parents’ deck to enjoy. The boys got the hang of breaking open the pea pods “mostly” on their own with the help of Great Papa’s instructions. Bonus: it is the only vegetable they both ate…sure, we probably only got a small serving each but I’ll take any amount of veggies in their bodies these days.

Enjoying the harvest!

I’m so glad we had the night free to spend that time with my parents & grandpa.

THE POOL!

FINALLY!! The forecast for last Monday was to be 79 degrees & mid-70s by the middle of the week, a little cool for my liking but I’ve got to take what I can get this summer. So Monday by lunch I made the decision that it was going to be a pool day. (I didn’t want to take my chances & wait for the 80s they were predicting at the end of the week, because they been great at over-predicting the high temps this summer.)

I surprised the boys by picking them up early at daycare, with swim trunks in tow. They loved the surprise: first, that mom was the one to pick them up followed by the fun trip planned to the pool.

It just happened that my mom was watching my two nephews that same day so they met us down there too.

Wyatt’s always been my little fish. Colton likes the water but takes a bit to warm up to the whole idea. This time any hesitation Colton used to have when first getting to the water was totally thrown out – he ran in without even batting an eye. It may have helped that I brought some “water” footballs along and he’s been football crazy since we went camping last weekend. Either way, both of my boys were in & splashing around as soon as we were covered in sunblock.

Looking into this week they are predicting mid-upper 80s, which we haven’t seen since early July, so there may be more water time & soaking up the last of the summer heat in our future this week!

Me & Wyatt

Me & Colton

My little fish!

I found 2 leaches!

Colton splashing in the fountain.
(Wyatt & cousin "I" in the background.)

Buried Treasure!

We had beautiful weather yesterday & spent the entire evening outdoors.

While the boys were digging in the sandbox, they dug deep enough that they uncovered an old truck toy buried by the previous owners children (who are well into their 20s now, so who knows how long it has been buried there). They thought it was so cool that they found “buried treasure” in their sandbox and loved it when I told them they were just like Jake & the Neverland Pirates – currently their favorite cartoon!

Catching big whoppers!

We took another camping trip last weekend with my parents and aunt/uncle, back to a place we visited in early June. I was really hoping the weather would be warmer this time around but unfortunately we still didn’t get any beach time in.

We did have a nice weekend though. The weather was great, a bit warmer than June, so it was perfect for fishing.

Fresh sweet corn for dinner two nights and fresh fish for dinner Saturday night made for some pretty yummy meals. And of course, you can’t forget the s’mores. My boys love s’mores…un-cooked & unassembled!

The boys had fun fishing. They love helping reel in a fish, no matter whose pole it’s on. We were catching quite a few fish – mostly small ones, not big enough to keep. I think the “fast” action helps keep the boys attention a little longer though.

We even got a little “date” time with Wyatt on Saturday night when Cory, he, Bailey & I went out in the pontoon for a little fishing before dinner while Colton stayed back with Grandpa & Grandma to help start the fire & fish.

Wyatt is serious about his fishing & will tell you that we only caught little ones with a couple big whoppers. Colton told a good “fish story” last night when my Grandpa asked him about the size of the fish we caught – they were big whoppers, he said, as big as his two hands stretched apart!!

It’s sad to think that we only have one more camping trip planned for the summer – it’s gone by too fast!

Showing mommy his minnow.

Break time for Colton.

Snack time!
(Their favorite time!!)

Daddy getting the net for his "big whopper".

Wyatt helping Papa put the "keeper" in the fish basket.

Scooping minnows.

Cute!

Fixing Papa's chair.
(It was "broke".)

Watching.

Shwoing mommy his minnow.