Memorial Weekend (Friday)

We spent our last weekend with the boys in Altoona, IA. We started this tradition 4 years ago and it gets our summer off to a good start! Last year we tried something new. We went to the horse races at Prairie Meadows. The kids begged us to go back again this year.



We ate upstairs and met the "horse" (don't know it's name!). Then we went down to the track and watched a race. The kids each picked a horse and rooted it on. The winner was determined after a photo finish.

(P.S. - the horse named Kate's Main Man won!)


After the race we went over to the stables. Notice our attire... didn't feel much like summer that night!

Haircuts....What is your opinion?

Okay - I decided to repost two pictures that are most recent of the boys.... both taken within the last week. The first two photos are before haircut and the 3rd photo is the picture taken at 8:45 when they got back to our house tonight. Seriously... post a comment/email me.... what is your opinion?



I don't quite know what I think...

Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school. The kids were supposed to have a picnic outside but it decided to rain so they had a picnic inside. I think the boys are ready for a break from school.

Take a good look at the boys in these two photos (the one above and below). This was the look before the haircuts. The next blog will have the photos of the post haircuts. We will have to see what we end up with.
The boys now move on to 3rd grade and 5th grade. Sadly, they have to leave for 10 weeks to go live in Wyoming with their mom!

The Pool

We ended the soccer season today. Shawn did a great job, took a couple hard hits to the head, but survived. We took team pictures and Ham had to take a few on his own in the goal... don't let the smile deceive you!

On Wednesday of this week, it was finally nice enough weather to drain our pool and get it ready for the summer. We started filling it with water on Thursday night and it was done this morning around 7:00. Needless to say, the water is cold. It came straight from the faucet! But you know kids and their excitement...

So they got their suits on....

I told them that they could get in but they couldn't touch the water unless they were holding hands. In their brain that translated to ... we can't get in without jumping and holding hands. So they took a running start and jumped in, totally oblivious of the cold shock awaiting them below!

Doesn't that face say it all???

I love my kids! They provide such quality entertainment.

Just remember... we told them it would be cold.... and we didn't lie!!!

Congratulations!!!

Chad won an award at work today. It was between him and two other guys. One guy, however, was allowed to enter his "package" (application to win) after the deadline. This essentially jeopardized Chad's chance to win.

He found out this morning that he was the winner, in a round about way. The other guys decided to mess with Chad so he would think that he was in a tie with the other guy who applied late.

Around 2:00 in the afternoon, the Chief announced that Chad was the winner and would be moving on to the next level of competition.

YEAH CHAD!!!!

Mythbusters!

MYTHBUSTERS AT HOME

Well - The boys have been begging... I mean begging to try the mentos and diet coke experiment at home. They saw it on a Mythbusters Episode a while back and just couldn't wait to try it out at home.

So Chad... being the super dad that he is... bought the mentos... drilled the holes... set it all up ... and tonight.....


Created a fountain that both boys were giddy with excitement over! They were giggling and laughing so hard. We are going to try it again with a different lid. This lid had 3 holes drilled in and it gave a fountain effect. The next one will hopefully look more like a geyser.

Well - It has been a long time since I have added any pictures. We have been so busy! Christopher has been playing roller hockey. This was his first season playing and he loved every minute of it. He spent a lot of time on the ground but improved by leaps and bounds. He even got to play goalie once.

Shawn is still playing soccer. He certainly has the energy to run the field.... just not always the focus to stay in the game. We'll keep working on that!

The boys only have 3 more weeks of school, and I only have about 2! I can't wait for a week off, but then the big school change happens... a little scary.

In the meantime, the 4th graders went to Nebraska City to the Arbor Day Farm and the Lewis and Clark Museum.

These pictures were for Chris, but thought they were kind of cool so I included them. The top picture is a replica of a boat from the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Below... is an EarthLodge. The interior was absolutely amazing. The guide told us that typically the women built the entire lodge from the ground up. Essentially the lodges were the property of the women and they took about a month to build.
We are all just trying to survive the end of the school year and move into summer without too much hassle. Hard to believe summer vacation is almost here... with the weather and all!