Swimming on a Friday

While Brandon was off doing his camp thing, I took Megan and Nicholas swimming! We look forward to swimming at my uncle's house every year. It always makes our "Summer List"!

We had a really good time! It was stinking hot outside that day (100 degrees!!) so being in the water was the only way to be outside! Even I got in the water for a while! Funny thing is, when I got out to work on school stuff (and take pictures!) I still felt cool and comfortable. Perfect water!

 Nick wanted me to take pictures of him jumping into the water:

 That's his favorite thing to do! That and getting dunked by me ;)

Megan worked on putting her face in the water. At first she would just barely touch her nose to the surface but this is what she looked like by the end of the afternoon:

 She had some help from a wonderful, big brother:

 Freckle alert! Oh how I love freckles :)

 It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon!

Boy Scout Camp

The beginning of July, Brandon headed to boy scout camp! This is his second year and he absolutely loves it! Here he is all packed and ready to head for camp!

Overnight camps completely stress me out but since he wouldn't miss it for the world, we move Heaven and Earth to make it work for him. What you don't see packed here in this picture is the food we sent! Not kidding! Since we have serious food allergies, I sent along a cooler of food to be used along with some of the food that the camp provides.

It was another great week of fun for him! He earned his Archery and Fingerprinting merit badges and nearly completed Swimming and Weather. Even though the temperatures soared to over 100 degrees on his last day (and was in the 90's all week!) the boys handled it well and spent more time swimming ;) I don't know how you sleep in a tent made of CANVAS in that heat but it all worked out ok.

I'm very happy he had so much fun and very happy he's home!

10

June is a big birthday month for us as we celebrate TWO sweet blessings...Kristen's is close to the middle while Nick's comes at the end. And this year, they both happen to be BIG birthdays! Twenty-one for Kristen and the big 1-0 for Nick...that's right, double digits!

On June 29th he said good-bye to his last day of being nine and single digits and very early on the 30th (he woke us up before 6am!), he woke to being 10! It was so cute how excited he was for his birthday!

We told him he could open the gifts from us in the morning. I wasn't thinking that would be 6:00! But, never-the-less, there we were :)

 Unfortunately, these are a bit blurry. I don't care, I'm just happy to have caught these precious moments!

 The after-math:

Some things about Nick:
1. He can be shy.
2. He's a wonderful big brother to Megan.
3. He's a very good friend to his friends.
4. He's a very creative person; building or drawing things all the time!
5. He's very sweet, loving, and cuddly.
6. His favorite food is pizza :)
7. He's growing so fast I can hardly keep him in clothes!
8. He is just. like. his. dad ;)

The grandparents came to celebrate with him but because of the possible storms, they came at different times. No problem! He got to do this twice;)

He was NOT complaining ;) He was blessed to share his birthday celebration with his grandparents! Thank you all for coming!  Our sweet ten year old had a wonderful day!

21

Earlier this month, my baby, my first-born, turned 21. Unbelievable! Or should I say, inconceivable! (I love that movie!) Anyway, it was during cub scout day camp and even though we were so very busy and supper tired, we would never let a birthday go by uncelebrated! So we planned a little dinner and party that evening for my sweet girl who 21 years ago, made me a mom :)

In our house, dinner is chosen by the birthday girl or boy and Kristen chose grilled steak and asparagus! Yum!! Todd is the very best griller ever! She decided against cake since most all grains make her feel badly so as a sweet treat we did chocolate fondue with berries, bananas, and marshmallows! Perfect!

After desert came the gifts.

 Lots of smiles and sweet looks shared :)

 Then Jon's gift:

Yep, he got her an Apple computer! Let's just say she might be a bit spoiled ;)

It was so fun to celebrate our sweet girl's big day! Kristen, you are so loved! I'm so grateful for 21 years of being your mom :)

The Perfect Morning

This week, Megan had girl scout camp. She spent her week playing with other little girls (which is a real treat for her!) and learning some new things and just generally having a blast! The boys and I have had plenty to do to keep us busy but on the last day, Friday, we decided to do something special.

Megan's camp was only half a day that last day so the boys and I stayed at the park where she has camp. There's a very tempting looking pond there and I new the boys would enjoy a morning of fishing. And they did!Todd helped them get all their things ready the night before and I packed a blanket and a few snacks and we were off!

We weren't there 2 minutes until this happened:

 I hadn't even had time to get all our stuff on the bench but I quickly grabbed my camera to grab a shot of the first fish! It took Nick a little longer but he was so very patient.

 They both caught several fish some bigger than others, all thrown back in.

 I saw so much of this:

 Big brother helping little brother. It was the sweetest part of my week.

 There was some looking for frogs...

 But mostly fishing

 And enjoying the peace and quiet. It was a perfect morning :)

The Rest of Day Camp

Thursday, I didn't have any dens for the first hour so I caught up with Nick's den. They were at rowing! It's funny that the only stations I managed to see were ones involving water :)

They picked the "wet" boat which means they get water dumped on them ;) Here, they're waiting in line...

 These boys cracked each other up all week ;) I love that! Nothing is better than watching our kids having a good time.

 They even get sprayed standing in line!

 Finally in the boat. We waited so long I was afraid I'd miss it!

 Here comes the water...

 They ahd so much fun!

 Every day we ate lunch together. I loved that too :)

 Friday, three dens showed up at the same time at my station. It was so crazy I had to take a picture! Once every one was working of course ;)

 Nick's den was my very last den of the week and also my very last den for day camp forever since he'll be a boyscout next year. *sniff*

 The Weblos 2's made survival bracelets which means I got to learn something new this week too!

This is the closing ceremony. I didn't even get everyone in the pic! It's truly a huge event!

I love Camp Falling Rock. It's really just beautiful there. Hope to make it back someday :)

Cub Scout Day Camp

Last week was Cubscout Day Camp. This is our last year participating in this week-long day camp since Nick will bridge to boyscouts in the fall so the we made sure to enjoy the week! I volunteer as well as Brandon and Megan goes to the "Sbling Circle" for a camp of her own while we're there. And Nick, of course, gets to have all the fun!

I was a little worried about the weather since on our first day it RAINED all day long! My camera didn't get drug out too many times on that day but I have a few pictures to share:

 The first day is busy with making I.D. "passports" and a flag that their den carries to each activity for the week. There are over 500 boys at camp this week so it's important that they can easily spot their den (the flag really helps with this) and that there is security in place for signing in and out.

 Nick's den was the Rattlesnakes in keeping with the Wild West theme of the week.

 Even the siblings get to fish! Of course it rained on them.

 The next day was creeking! Those boys were catching all kinds of critters!

 Since I volunteer at a station, I can only sneak out to see what fun thing Nick is doing when I have breaks. I miss so much but I'm thankful for the ones I do get to see!

 That smile says it all :)

Camp Falling Rock is one of the prettiest camps I've ever seen. I'll certainly miss it there!