Summer Fun 2

 

We have had a great June, lots of fun and lots of camps for the boys.  July is usually a calmer month for us.

 

But first, here's the last couple of weeks for us.

 

I took the boys and their friends, a whole carload, to the indoor Trampoline Park in Indy one day.  We had a window between band camp for all of the kids and community theater play practice for two - they're doing The Sound of Music this summer!

 

But, off we went.  Thomas took this iPad photo of the craziness on the way up.

 

Brennan and his friends Claire and Grace, ready to jump!

 

Thomas with friends Steven, Nathan, and Niel

 

 

This place was soo much fun!  Here's Brennan in the dodgeball area - that's Claire and Grace up front with the balls.

 

Thomas jumping into one of the giant pits

 

 They were EXHAUSTED afterwards.  They had a really good time, and I did too. 

 

We celebrated Flag Day, and the first day of summer with some fun red, white, and blue stuff.

 

 

I joined the Service League one day for resume review - we lead the Youth Leadership scholarship program.  Lots of amazing students in this community.

 

 I took Trevor and Thomas out for a round of golf one day.

 

The geese enjoy golfing too.  They were all around a few of the holes.

 

 The Girlfriend Ride was earlier this month.  I did the 50K with friends.  Our team won a prestigious team prize.  It was a fun day, and we raised a lot of money for the domestic violence shelter in town.

 

 We enjoyed watching some Mississippi State baseball at the College World Series (on tv of course).

David and Brennan catching the game, and checking the stocks at the same time.

 

The three week band camp culminated with a big concert downtown. 

We stopped to get some gelato between haircuts and the concert.

 

 

During Brennan's city-wide 6th grade concert. 

 

 

Talking with the girl next to him, ready for the concert.  They played a bunch of songs.  I was so proud of them - after their introductions to the instruments - they were really good!

 

Here are Thomas and other junior high students who served as assistants to the 6th grade class.  While he enjoyed his own 8th grade band camp, I think he liked helping the new 6th grade trumpet players even more!

 

During the 8th grade concert 

 

 

That same week Brennan went to the Philharmonic's strings camp at Ceraland.

He chose violin, and had a great time learning about strings instruments, and swimming and playing putt-putt in the afternoons.  Here he is on Day 1 with his friend Katie.

 

The Friday night strings concert at the outdoor amphitheater was really good.

You won't see Brennan in this group photo - he had to run to the facilities before the concert got underway :)

 

 

Brennan's class playing 3 songs.

 

God love him. 

 

 While Brennan was in all-day camp, Thomas and I got to enjoy some one-on-one time.

We met up with Dad for lunch at Zaharako's.

 

 

I took Thomas to play golf with his friend Luke - they have the same birthday!

 

We also pet sit Oberon the very large kitty cat last week.  The boys and I had a good time walking over to his house to feed him, and play with him.  He especially loves the little laser pointer.  We enjoyed our time with Obie.

 

And this week the boys have been at church camp - hiking, swimming, and having a wonderful time I hope.  We get to pick them up in a few hours.  I can't wait!

 

But while they've been out, David and I have enjoyed a night out, having friends over several times, David hosted poker night, and I haven't done laundry once!

 

Hope you're having a great summer!

Thomas is 13!!

 

Our Thomas turned 13 yesterday!

 

I was very sentimental since he is at camp this week (along with Brennan).  I've never NOT spent his entire birthday with him - since he's not in school on his birthday, I'm usually with him all day long.  Not this year.  Bittersweet.

 

Here's a photo of us at Grandma Carolyn's house, celebrating Thomas's 1st birthday, me expecting Brennan.  Our first "family photo" :)

 

 Because Thomas has such a busy June, we decided to have his party earlier in the month.  Again this year he chose friends to play laser tag, then come home to swim and spend the night.  It was a laaaaate night for the boys, but they had a really fun time.

 

Thomas climbing the Spider Man wall (wearing magnets)

 

Brennan had a ton of fun too, but then joined Dad for dinner and "Man of Steel" while Thomas and friends headed home to swim and hang out.

The kids don't really do presents at their parties any more, but sometimes friends bring a little something - like this Phineas and Ferb fedora for Thomas.

 

And while I normally get to take a photo of my birthday boys, we opted to take early ones when we dropped the boys off at camp on Sunday.  Bittersweet.

 

 

 

Thomas is attending the Junior High Challenge Camp this year which includes lots of hiking, high ropes courses, and ziplining.  They also stay in the rustic cabins - you can tell by my sweat glistening face that it wasn't air conditioned.  I hope he survived :)

 

Happy 13th Birthday, Thomas!!



Cincinnati Trip 2013

Fountain Square, Cincinnati

 

David has been interested in seeing downtown Cincinnati for awhile now.  We've visited Cincy before, but never the historic downtown area.

 

We had an overnight stay in a suburb from a Bourbon Trail package we bid on at a fundraiser, so we decided to use it and make a quick trip over to Cincinnati last weekend.

 

On our way to lunch at a Turkish restaurant (which was sooooo good!), we saw a lot of stores and some cool architecture.

 

 

Then we headed to the Museum Center at the old Union Station.  An art deco style building with the natural history, children's, and Cincinnati history museums inside.

 

old photo I took on a sunny day

 

 Inside the museum center

 

Outside the museum center looking over downtown Cincy

We had a terrible Mexican dinner near our hotel that night, but we still had fun.



We enjoyed our hotel stay, relaxing and sleeping in, then we headed to Jungle Jim's International Market on the way out of town.  Any trip to Cincinnati wouldn't be complete without a stop at Jungle Jim's.  The boys were excited to show David on his first trip there.

 

 

Brennan always talks about this creepy Campbell's Soup animatronic display when he talks about Jungle Jim's.  I had to get the photo.

The beer (and wine) selections are phenomenal.  I have friends who have been known to spend an hour in the wine section alone.  Unposed photo of David perusing.

 

I found this photo on my iPad of Brennan enjoying one of the many, many treats he got while we were there - a Lychee soda back at home.

 

 

Here are the boys the first time we took them to Cincinnati in October 2006 when they were 6 and 4.

So cute!

 

I love the blue (the "Purple People Bridge") and yellow (the "Big Mac Bridge") bridges in the background.

 

P.S.  Thomas is saluting because they're standing at a flagpole.

101 Places to See Before You're 12 - A Landfill

 

A Landfill

 

Brennan and I spent part of our first weekday of summer break running errands.  We had a bunch of stuff to go to the "dump" - including some stray pieces of gutter cover the gutter guys left, the keyboard drawers for the boys' desks (I think in the future desks won't be made with keyboard drawers!), and other odds and ends that we wanted to get rid of, but not in our regular garbage.

 

So, off to the dump.  Both boys have already had a FULL tour of the Landfill through field trips at school.  Our Recycling Center also does a great tour, including a nature path on their site with really cool sculptures.  Here's my favorite.

 

 

 

But, on to the Landfill.

There are several areas so we had to know what we had.

We decided to leave our old mailbox at the Freecycle area.  I had to pull Brennan away because there was some furniture and toys that he wanted to peruse - but we weren't shopping.

 

In the other parts of the landfill area, kids under 16 aren't supposed to be out of the vehicle the signs told us, but Brennan helped me put everything in the right places quickly.

 

From the Book:

#2 - A Landfill

What weighs as much as a rhinoceros and never disappears?  Give up?  It's the amount of garbage you personally generate every year:  4 pounds every day.  Combine that with garbage created by everyone else in the country, and you've got 210 million tons of trash - enough to cover the entire state of Rhode Island, 6 feet deep.  So where does it all go?  Most of it ends up in a landfill, and you should make a point to visit it.  It may not be the prettiest (or most fragrant place) you'll see in your travels, but when you see it, it will really hit you:  Hey!  I need to recycle!