Summer

It's official! Schools out for the summer!


The boys' first few days off have gone really well. I spent the last few weeks planning our days. I feel more organized than ever. The  kids and I both do better when we have a routine. Otherwise we'd still be lounging around in our jammies at 2pm bored out of our minds. I ordered a whole box full of AWESOME science experiments from an online science site that we'll do throughout the summer. The boys are so anxious to start them... me too!

Yesterday we had a terrific summer-vacation day! Started with storytime at the library, a packed lunch outdoors, hiking trails at two different parks, dinner at Isaac's, a trip to Toys R Us and ended with catching lightening bugs in the yard.

Another awesome day of hiking!

In other news I found a FEATHER in my chicken nugget at McDonalds! Yes, a REAL feather! It was actually baked in - it wasn't put their as a joke from an employee. 

The official 'Feather In The Nugget'.

The last week or two it has been in the high 90's... AND our central a/c unit died! Thankfully dad had some scary looking window units we were able to use. They ain't pretty, but they get 'er done. We are beyond lucky that Uncle Paul does HVAC professionally and hooked us up with a top of the line central a/c system at a great price... and is installing it! Thank you Paul!!


Dylan's class hatched chicks and we ended up bringing two of them home. Once they get big enough they will go live with Savannah and Charlotte's chickens and will hopefully lay some eggs. Fingers crossed. They are super cute and they love curling up and going to sleep on the boys. 

Chick 1 and Chick 2. Not sure of their real names.... they keep changing.

The chicks falling asleep on the boys' laps

The boys mezmorized by the chicks.

The chicks are starting to perch. I love Gabriel's face.

 Chan and I recently got back from Florida. Chan had some conferences to go to and when his boss found out that it was our 10 yr anniversary this month he fit the bill to fly me down and for us to stay an extra night. It was the first time we've had a vacation without the kids since before we had kids! The last time we went away was our honeymoon 10 years ago. I spent my days lounging on the beach while Chan went to his meetings. The hotel had a free shuttle that went down to the beach and provided free beach chairs, towels and a cooler of cold bottled water. I was perfectly content on the white sand beach and wading in the warm, clear water. I thought I'd be wandering the town, shopping etc.... but I ended up on the beach all day long and was as happy as could be. I was also able to go to all the free food & drink events that were put on for the conferences Chan was attending. Lastly we went on an air boat ride through the Everglades and held some alligators. When our air boat arrived back at the docks we noticed that the police had arrived and that a bunch of people were standing around crying and panicked. Apparently in a time span of about 10 min someone came through and smashed in the windows of every car in the parking lot and stole everything inside.... every car but ours!!!!!! There was a young couple there from Germany who were left with no passports, no ID - nothing! That poor girl was devastate. It's not easy flying back home to another country with no passports and no ID to get new passports. I still wonder how they made out with that. To top it off they didn't speak a lot of English so I'm sure it was a difficult road for them. The other families were devastated also and were supposed to fly back home to wherever the next morning - I'm assuming that with no ID or plane tickets, they didn't head home as planned. We felt like we dodged a bullet by leaving there with everything we came with (including a car filled with laptops, ipad, luggage etc). 


Speaking of our 10 yr anniversary... Chan got me the most perfect gift!! A hot air balloon ride! I am so excited to go. I can't wait!

Us in Florida

Chan got himself a gator

Chan was really on a roll this year. He also got me the perfect Mother's Day present from the kids.... a new mailbox! I've hated our nasty, rusted mailbox since we moved in 8 years ago. It didn't even close properly. I got a new mailbox, new cedar post and even a pretty new flower bed beneath it. 

This is about the point where the boys lost interest and Chan and I finished the rest alone.

Chan's masterpiece.... a loft bed for Dylan. It came out AWESOME!

World best loft bed... now it just needs a paint job.