Warrior Dash

Warrior Dash is a mud-crawling, fire-leaping, extreme run from hell.  And Ron and Cory did it!

Slippin' and a slidin'...

And when we are tired of that, we break out the Slip N' Slide!



A Sprinkler Summer

This summer has been one for the record books, we've had many many hot hot days that required finding ways to stay outside and cool down.  We broke out the sprinkler for these shots.  Addie was hesitant at first but really got to liking standing in the sprinkler. Jackson has always been a fan of sprinkler action... and Ron, well let the picture speak for itself.

Sick Girl



Staying home with my sick girl today.



Bicycle built for two

This summer was the summer for bicycle adventures.  Jackson has not been fond of riding his bike with the training wheels, he says it's too "wobbly".  For the fourth of July, his class had a bicycle parade.  I thought that maybe if he saw his friends riding, he'd join in too.  I packed up his bike and helmet and brought it to school.  When I picked him up and asked about the parade, he told me he walked but that someone else rode his bike because they forgot theirs.  Huh!? Guess that didn't work.

I talked to his friend Isaac's dad about it and he said that Isaac had been having some of the same issues but he loves riding on the tag-a-long bike.  Well I just happened to have bought a tag-a-long bike from my co-worker Julia the summer before but we thought that Jackson would ride it when he was older and had been storing it up in the rafters of the garage.

So the next day, we took down the tag-a-long and plopped Jackson on it.  He howled! No lie!  He howled so loud, people two streets over could have heard him.  I ran alongside the bike and strapped on his helmet while he gripped my shirt before I pried his hands from it and let him ride.  He hated it!

The next morning, we tried again.  We bribed him by saying we would ride to Grandpa's so he could show off but the screams came just the same.  Bumpa and Cathy came out to the driveway and Jackson got of the bike and said "I don't like it, but Mom and Dad make me do it."  We got back on the bikes, this time Jackson didn't scream because Cathy encouraged that with a Star Wars fighter jet (anything can be bought with Star Wars toys in our house these days).

So we kept on riding, we road all the way around the Lake and Jackson was actually having fun.  He like going down the hills and was really enjoying himself, though he never helped his dad pedal!

Up, up and away!

On Sunday we went with friends Libby and Cory to an Air Show at Fly Cloud Airport. The heat index was somewhere around 100 degrees but we endured the heat to see some fantastic flying including tuskegee airmen flying a WW2 plane and Jackson and Ron were able to get inside a B-52 bomber.




Catching the breeze or flying planes, I don't know which.

 

Hanging with Uncle Cory

This is the plane I choose to fly!

Catching some shade.

Smart kid

At the controls.

Who do I marry?

Last night my mom was over playing with me and the kids.  Jackson said something about how when he gets older he's going to live with his Grandma because he's going to marry her.  Then he went on to say something like because boys can marry girls, and girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys because you just marry who you love.

Parental goal #1. Check!

White Bear Parade

Can you see Jackson in the pool splashing water?

Waving from the pool

Grandma and Addie watching the parade.

Wordless Wednesday

Willow River State Park

Our first camping adventure of the summer happened rather spontaneously.  On Friday my mom called me at work to tell me they were off to go camping.  I asked her if she would help me if I brought the kids and she agreed.  So I got home from work and packed up the car.  When Ron got off work we caravaned to Willow River State Park in Wisconsin.  Ron joined us for dinner and a walk to the beautiful waterfall but then he had to go home so he could get up early for work the next day.

The kids and I stayed and joined everyone for smores and a bonfire. When it was time for bed, they had gotten so much fresh air that the task was easy The next morning, my mom and I took the kids for a good long hike.  Jackson spotted some wild turkeys and we also met up with deer along the path.  This was the first easy camping trip since before kids!  And I was the only one with woodtick friends that came along for the ride home!

Check out the look on Jackson's face.  What a goofball.