Company Picnic

This afternoon we got to go to the annual picnic that's put on by Pete's work. The kids look forward to this every year! Last year they didn't have it due to budget constraints, but it was back this year and it was soooo fun!! Oh, and SOOOO hot!



They had a big spread of food, from hamburgers and hot dogs to sausage and chicken. We dug in and ate it all up! Played a little BINGO while we ate too, but didn't win anything. That was ok though, because they wanted to hit the fun stuff!

Of course, before they started the "fun stuff", they had to stop by for the first of their 4 snowcones (which I ended up eating most of). ;-)

They decided to try out the dinosaur jumping yard thing first. There were lots of cool things inside of this, including a big slide.

And, this car that they pretended to ride in. Can you see them in there?

Superman was pretty cool too. Part slide, part obsticle course.

Their very favorite was the Spongebob House. I liked it too, because it kept them all confined in there and I didn't have to worry about them being spread out all over the park.

As I was with my friends' kids, I saw Livie coming towards me with a big thing of cotton candy in her hand. Didn't even know they had that there, but she found it and ate it up!

When she got closer, I realized she had been visiting with the local tatoo artists. She got a full sleeve!

That was nothing compared to Madie's 2 full sleeves!

But, then Noah went and visited there. He was there a LONG time, which should've tipped me off to the craziness that was happening in there.

But, it wasn't until he came out that I saw he got 20 tatoos. He was going for the circus look, I guess. He later went back and got 4 more. Wanted an even 2 dozen.

So, here were my tatooed kiddos. They liked getting inked, that's for sure!

Livie was a little nervous to go down the tiger slide at first, but towards the end, she loved it!

I made them get a picture with me, so Pete could see us in all our sweaty glory. We were there for 3 hours and were so gross when we left! I took a shower as soon as I got home, but the kids wanted to rest, so that will be coming for them shortly. We had a great time! Just wish Pete could've come with us. :-)

This is a little video I took of them going down the big slide. They were SOO excited about this one!

Bye Pete

Pete left just a little while ago and I thought I would share all that we did in preparation of our goodbyes. He's going to be gone for 19 days this time and considering it was only last month that he was gone 16 days, it seems to have been harder to say goodbye this time. :-( We miss him already.




First thing we did was take him out to eat at the Cracker Barrell. Wanted him to have a nice, big, AMERICAN meal before being sent off to eat jellyfish and sparrows. He enjoyed it thoroughly!

Then we came home and relaxed and watched a movie together. Letting the kids stay up later, so they could spend more time with him. As they said their goodbyes last night, Noah got very teary and told him his job stinks. Like I said, harder to say goodbye this time for all of us. Can't imagine how much harder it will be when he goes even longer NEXT MONTH!!

After the kids went to bed, Pete began his packing. It's amazing how little he takes for 3 weeks! I take more for a 4 day trip to IN than he takes for 3 weeks to China!! ;-)

Last time Pete went, Livie sent a little turtle with him, so it could see China. This time she wanted him to wear a fireman's hat, but he told her that would be too big, so she opted to send this dinosaur instead. Her animals are seeing the world!

Of course, nothing compares to those last hugs we give! He got lots and lots of those before he left. And, as anyone who's been here knows, we also give the "out-the-window goodbyes" too. So, as he was getting loaded and driving away, we opened the front windows and the kids shouted out their goodbyes and "I love yous"!. He's only been gone 30 min and already we miss him more than we can say. It's going to be a long 3 weeks. :-( Love you, Daddy!

Art

Madie got a spin art thing as a bday present and I had been holding it back to use during the summer when they were having a lazy day at home. Well, that day(s) came this week and the kids have all been making beautiful pictures for me. :-)


Livie loved it the absolute most and wanted to make picture after picture! Poor Madie barely got a chance to get in there and do some herself. Can you tell Madie needs a new art smock?! That thing was hers when she was a baby!

But, that didn't matter, they all had a great time making pictures. The girls worked on some first, then Noah hopped in and made some of his own.

Each one was different than the others. I'm going try and find a place in the basement to hang them up. The kids were so proud of the cool art they made! Thanks Aunt Jill and Uncle Adam for the great gift - even if we waited 4 months to use it!

How We Spent the 4th

Our 4th of July started with church. I picked out festive outfits for them to wear today. It's not often that the 4th falls on a Sunday! They looked SOOO cute!



The picture in the header was taken before church and this one was taken after. The wind started picking up after church and it was very hot, but it was a beautiful day! After that we headed to the store. Our goal? To get salt for the water softner. What did we leave with? A 32" tv, a new Wii game, and shampoo. Not exactly what we had planned on, but WAY more fun!! Last night Pete's beloved 19" tv of 15 yrs started losing the ability to make sound. It's been his tv since his birthday in 1995 and has served us well for all these years. But, with its sporatic loss of sound and the desire to upgrade, Pete decided it was time to get a new one.

Not exactly an attractive piece in our bedroom, but it served us well for many, many years.

In its place is this new 32" high-def, wide screen. And, yes, that's Star Wars playing on it. Why would you be surprised by that? ;-) Next on my to-do list? Paint all the furniture in here and get a nice accent carpet. Looks like that might be happening while Pete's in China in the coming weeks. Maybe then finally our bedroom will be on its way to looking finished. You'll notice that there are no pictures of fireworks on here. Sadly, the family that does a FANTASTIC fireworks display every year didn't have it this weekend. Not sure why. But, as Livie told me, she is .."heartbroken.". We're all very disappointed that we didn't get to see fireworks this year. We may get some tomorrow just for the kids, since Pete has the day off. I mean, what's the 4th without fireworks? Hope everyone else had a wonderful 4th!! God Bless America!

Fast Times at Heritage High

The local marina - Heritage Harbor - had some fun activites for the kids today and since I've been dying to take the family there, I figured it was a perfect excuse to go! Not even Pete had been there before, so we loaded up the fam and headed over there. It's just down the road from where Pete works, so it's really close by.




They started with egg tosses, which the kids didn't quite excel at. ;-) If it wasn't for the fact that they had fairly strong eggs, the game wouldn't have lasted very long.

Their favorite was the water balloon toss. I swear Noah dropped it on purpose every time, because he just wanted to be soaked!

After playing a few games and getting their prizes, we headed down to the big pier and took the kids down to see all the boats. Most of them were gone, which wasn't surprising considering what a beautiful day it is for boating. I swear, if we ever win the lottery, one of the first things I'm going to get is a boat and park it right here! Love this place!!

Afterwards we headed to the little restaurant they have there. It's all screened in, so the breeze is fantastic and just a great way to spend an afternoon. I could've sat in there all day if they'd have let me. Had some cold drinks, enjoyed just chatting with each other before heading home. Just a fun little outing to enjoy this beautiful day God has given us! Seriously can't complain one bit about the gorgeous week we've had. The best summer weather ever! Now bring on the 4th - with no rain please!! ;-)

Nighttime Activities

One of the kids favorite things to do during the summer is read. Not to say that they don't read when school is in session, but since they don't have to wake up for school we let them stay up later. They still go to bed at the same time, but during the summer they get to read for 30-60 min, which they absolutely LOVE to do! We have been making lots of visits to the library this summer and we've bought several new books for them as well. Books are my weakness. I buy them quite often for myself and usually when I buy myself one, I buy one for the kids. They have the beginnings of a great library! Granted, that library is full of Capt Underpants books and silly things like that, but they love them and reread them over and over again.



Today we were grocery shopping and stopped in the book section and picked up some books. We've been eyeing this one for a while. It's called "The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda". Just the small sections I've read have left me laughing, so Madie's really enjoying it. I may just have to read it myself. :-)

Noah is my reader. He reads non-stop until the book is read and will whip through books faster than I can get them for him. He's read all the Capt Underpants books as well as the Stink books and Diary of the Wimpy Kid books, just to name a few. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" are his very favorite and he can't wait until Nov when the new one comes out. Like I said, he's JUST LIKE ME! Well, I've been trying to find a new book for him and they had this one at the store and it looked like it was right up his alley. He likes funny ones, so we got this one for him. So far, it's a hit!

And, of course, Livie picked out a dinosaur book. Guess it's only fitting since she's determined to be either a paleontologist or a dinosaur when she grows up. She needs to do her research now.
It was a short book, but she really liked it. Trying to read to her a lot, so she will learn to recognize words and learn to read over the next year. She recognizes the word "dinosaur", so I guess she's picking up on some of it!