Enjoying the sunshine

Even though school has begun and we're back in our regular routine, the weather is still teasing us with its summer-like temperatures.  The pool ended its summer on Sunday so the boys and I took advantage of the hot day on Saturday and spent time at the pool.  It wasn't crowded at all and though the water was a bit chilly, it was a perfect "last day" at the pool.

Sunday was the annual church picnic and both boys were excited for the "ring the pop" game.  Amazingly, Josiah tossed his first ring right around a bottle of Dr. Pepper!  He was so excited.  :)  He carried it over to me (it was almost as big as he is) and said, "Mommy!  I won!  I drink it?"  It was too cute.  He has not yet had a taste of his winnings - the last thing my boys need is caffeine.  LOL  After MANY tries, the bigger kids all finally won as well.  When Noah won a bottle of Pepsi, he brought it straight to me and said, "This is for you Mom!"  He knows I function much better and am much happier when I've had my Pepsi for the day. ;)  It was very hot at the picnic, but we still managed to have fun, even introducing geo-caching to a few church friends.

Josiah and I went to Ft. Wayne to run a few errands on Tuesday and had lunch at the mall.  He was very excited that I let him eat his lunch sitting at one of the kiddie tables.  Of course, he also rode the carousel.  He also managed to stay dry all day long and told me when he had to go potty.  We're making progress.  :)

Today, Josiah & I had lunch with a friend and then made a stop at The Children's Garden.  It's such a beautiful area and Noah still loves spending time there.  Josiah was excited to see a cut-out of Dora the Explorer and kept walking back over and saying, "Take my picture with Dora, Mommy!"  He had fun playing leap frog and checking out the other parts of the garden as well.

Can't believe it's the end of August and we're on our way into September already.  I've said it before and I'll say it again:  Time flies when you're having fun!

This week's pictures

Bouncing out of summer

On Saturday, we finally made it to a "new" local attraction - The Kangaroo Cave.  It is an indoor inflatable playground that is only open on Saturdays.  I think it opened about 4-5 months ago and now that we've been, we'll be regulars there.  It was not very expensive, lots of fun and both boys were easily entertained for the 2 1/2 hours we were there.  Both said they wanted to go back, so I think we will!  There are several pictures in the link below.

Of course, the big news is that Noah started back to school on Tuesday!  This means I started back to volunteering as well.  Between Michael's schedule, Noah's schedule and my inability to say "NO," Michael might not have been too far off when, on Monday night as I headed to the school Open House an hour before it started, he said, "See you in May!" Let's hope we balance things a little better than that.  The Open House was a great success - our PTS had an ice cream social that I helped with - and lots of people came to meet the teachers, drop off school supplies and have a yummy ice cream sundae.  With Noah in 4th grade and my many days of volunteering for the last few years, I know most of the teachers on a first name basis.  Michael, however, knows the teachers Noah has had and that's about it, so it's always fun to walk around with him and meet the teachers all over again.  :)  He asks good questions and in 5 minutes, can learn more about a teacher than I learned in an entire school year.  There is also a new music teacher this year, so I was glad to be with Michael & the boys to meet him.  Our last stop of the evening was a visit to the library, as Michael had not yet met Mrs. Reed, the librarian.  (YES!  Our librarian's name is Mrs. REED - love it!)  Throughout the night, as Michael met the various teachers, he would shake their hand and introduce himself.  In the library we once again were reminded just how closely Josiah watches us as, after Michael introduced himself, Josiah put out his (left) hand and said loudly and very clearly, "I'm Josiah Phillips!"  He knows the librarian and had actually talked with her earlier in the day when we dropped something off at school but we all got a good laugh out of how cute he is!  Admittedly, it also brought a tear or two to my eye seeing him behave in such a grown-up way. 

And speaking of grown-up... despite some of the goofy faces he made as I took some of those traditional first day of school pictures, Noah is definitely looking more grown-up.  My sweet little Noah-boy is in FOURTH grade.  Time flies when you're having fun!  Josiah and I also did the traditional driveway sign to welcome Noah home and Josiah was so excited to see Noah get off the bus.  We sat on the driveway waiting patiently.  :)

So, now we're finding our way back into our school year routine and looking forward to a fabulous year in 4th grade!

Enjoy the fun pictures!

Getting ready for the new school year

Three weeks ago, I thought summer was flying by... how could school be just one month away?  Then our Indy trip hit and since we've been back, the days have seemed to crawl, the boys have seemed to increase their whining, the number of tasks on the to-do list have seemed to grow and I am SO ready for school to start again.  Ready for the routine and not worrying about how many hours Noah is spending on one screen or another; ready for the endless bickering between brothers to end (at least from 7:30-3, weekdays...) and ready to jump into my volunteer duties with both feet.  Here we go, ready or not!

As far as pictures go, I've got about three.  It rained a lot this week and though we managed to find ways to spend the days, we didn't take a lot of pictures while whiling away the hours.  It just seems like I've already taken pictures of all of these little things...

But, here is Josiah, floating in the tub in a sea of bubbles.

And rainy day activities included play-doh, "fizzies" (baking soda & vinegar with food coloring) and a new game for Josiah: Hullabaloo!  Noah & I played this game endlessly when he was little and now, it begins again.  You stand on the little pads and a game "console" tells you what to do - move in a silly way to a certain shape, color, etc.  It's cute, fun and (shhh, don't tell the boys) educational.

One last hurrah

Though we returned from our Indy vacation on Tuesday, Michael still had a day or two "off" so we decided to give Monsoon Lagoon in Port Clinton, Ohio at try.  They have go-karts, putt putt golf, water slides, a lazy river, a huge water play structure, and a baby pool - AND it is very reasonably priced in comparison to other waterparks.  It was a nice, hot day and we had a good time playing in the water and racing the go-karts.  Noah was just tall enough to drive by himself and they even let Josiah ride with Michael.  In the pictures you can just see his little head in the go-kart.  :) 

Other than that, we're just getting ready for school to start in a couple weeks - buying school supplies and uniforms and thinking ahead to the routine.  Can't believe that summer is winding down already!

Until next week...

this week's pictures

Indy Vacation

On Thursday, we drove down to Indianapolis for a long weekend filled with eating, racing and enjoying the sights & sounds of downtown Indy.  Thanks to Dad, we were Preferred Guests at the downtown Sheraton and enjoyed lots of his perks.  :)  Being in the heart of downtown (we could see Monument Circle out our windows and we were less than a block away from it) gave us lots of delicious eating opportunities and the chance to do a lot of walking.  Mom met us there and we started our marathon eating adventure at Buca di Beppo's.  Friday, we went to the Circle Mall and explored the Rhythm Discover Center.  We definitely had a great time banging on a variety of percussion instruments and making lots of noise.  We wandered around the mall, walked over to Mass Ave. and got caught in a brief rain shower.  To avoid getting more wet, we checked out the City Market, which was pretty quiet as it was closing time.  I would've enjoyed checking that out more when it was actually open, but it was a nice place to get out of the rain.  :)  Friday night we ate at PF Chang's.  Saturday was race day for Michael & I.  We got to IMS mid-morning and enjoyed watching a Sprint Cup practice and qualifying for both Sprint Cup & Nationwide.  We had great seats and the Nationwide race was the first ever at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for that series.  The weather was perfect and it was a fun day.  Gummy & the boys went to the Indianapolis Zoo and saw lots of animals.  Josiah apparently LOVED the elephants, especially the baby.  :)  Fortunately, Gummy shared her pictures with me so you get to enjoy them too!  Sunday, we headed back to the track and went into the infield where we got to see a few of the cars going through tech inspection and also wandered around the merchandise trailers.  It was hot and sunny but again, a great day.  Our seats were "better" (though I liked the Nationwide seats better!) and we enjoyed watching Jimmie Johnson fly away from the rest of the field on every restart.  The race could've used either a little more side-by-side racing or a few more wrecks to make it a little more interesting, but it was still a lot of fun. Not something I'd want to do every weekend, but definitely a fun event.  There are a few more tracks we'd like to visit on race day and we decided that we could skip the Nationwide race and spend that money on race scanners or pit passes for Sprint Cup.  It'll be a few years before we go on another of these weekends though... Anyway, while we were at the Sprint Cup race, Gummy & the boys were enjoying the Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  They definitely enjoyed the Lego "room" and the Hotwheels exhibit.

Sunday was also our 12th anniversary.  Time flies when you're having fun! :)  Gummy & the boys ate at Noodles & Co. and Michael & I ate at The Old Spaghetti Factory.  (we were stuck in race traffic for about an hour, so didn't make it back in time to eat with them)

Monday, we went to a local pool that had a couple waterslides and splash fountains and enjoyed another hot day staying cool in the pool.  Monday night was California Pizza Kitchen for supper.  I almost forgot to mention The Chocolate Cafe, which we tried out twice, it was that good!  It's not a vacation without eating too much and having lots of desserts.  :)  Tuesday it was time to say good-bye to Gummy, as she headed to Traverse City, MI and we headed home.  Today is laundry day but with a few more vacation days to go, we've made a few "stay-cation" plans.

For now, I think you'll find plenty of pictures at Winkflash.  As usual, they're all out of order and mixed up.  :(  One of these days I'll find a better alternative....