Summer pics

Here is a little snapshot of our daily summer fun.

Trips to the splash pad...

 Slushies on the sidewalk at the Farmers Market...

 Live music and Hot Air Balloons...

 Face painting at the County Fair...

 Plenty of hikes looking for Geocaches...

 Along with great summer sunsets...

 And a couple of crazy storms.

Summer Vacation

 4th of July week, 2012, we skipped town and headed to Wisconsin Dells, WI.

It had been a couple of summers since taking a real vacation.  Our original plan for the week, was to head to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  (We LOVE it there).  Ultimately we decided not to make the 20 hour drive, both ways, and stay close to home.   

Since we were staying for five days and did not want to eat every meal out; we rented a cabin on the river, complete with a kitchen.  

It made it easier to stick with our whole food eating and not have to worry about Miles' peanut allergy.

 We made a day out of Noah's Ark Water park and had a BLAST!!  Miles was such a trooper and went on all of the water slides that did not have a height restriction.  Braeden was super brave and went on a slide where he barely reached the height requirement.  It dropped straight down, then spiraled into a black hole and shot you out at the bottom.  He wanted to go again!  All of us had so much fun!!  Unfortunately, no waterproof camera here so the only pictures are of lunch.

 We took the boys to Pirates Cove for some miniature golf.  They thought it was awesome that there were pirates, skulls and pirate flags everywhere.

 On our last day, we took a boat trip through the Upper Dells.  Wisconsin, and the entire Midwest had a severe heat warning and drought.  4th of July fireworks had been cancelled.  It was easily 105 degrees every day we were there.  By our last day, I was tired of being in the heat and I was ready to go home!

 The views were pretty and the boys had fun.

The boat docked for a short land tour.  It was nice and cool in the gorge. 

 We got back on the boat, this time on the top deck hoping for a breeze, 

 And another shore landing.... to see a jumping dog.

Although we had a great time and did tons of fun things... 

I think my favorite thing from this vacation was this awesome little photo!

 Hoping to start a tradition :)

First day of Kindergarten

"Mom, you aren't going to see me much anymore"

... were the words out of his mouth the night before.

 August 16th was Braeden's first day of Kindergarten! ...and it was strangely cold.

I can count on one hand the number of times we have been apart for more than a day.

Every morning, all day and every night, this child has been by my side. 

I cannot believe that the time has actually come, but he was definitely ready.  

 The bus stop is just around the corner behind the house.  

As we stood at the stop, an uneasy look crossed Braeden's face.  

He said "Mom?  How am I going to know which bus to get on"?

After a little calming of nerves, he fell in line and made his way on the bus.

We followed the bus to school...

 And we were there when he got off...

We followed him down the hall to make sure he made it to his classroom.

 Once in the class, he found his cubby and placed his things.  

I could tell that again he was feeling uneasy, nothing hugs from Mom and Dad could not fix.

 He sat at his table and started playing with a box of toys

 and then I knew it was going to be a good day.

 Yes, I shed some tears as we left the school.  

Miles kept asking when Braeden was coming home...

He played in B's room all day.  

Not sure if it was because he missed him or he knew he could play with Braeden's things without getting in trouble :)

Braeden is now starting week 3 and we have adjusted pretty well.  

Our morning routine definitely changed, but for the better.  

Evenings are difficult because he is exhausted but he is excited for school every day!  

Can you guess what his favorite part of his day is?  RECESS!

Raised Veggie Garden

 First of all I apologize for the year delay in updates... hopefully this one can get me back on track :)

My project for this summer was to build a raised vegetable bed and grow some organic goodness.  I started out with an idea to build a 4ft x 8ft box.  I looked at some pictures on the Internet and it seemed simple enough.... so I got to work.

I actually had a box built in under an hour with a bit of Braeden's help :)

Dirt was delivered a few days later and, boy oh boy, did we overestimate.  After filling the box with the dirt and making a trip to the landfill for compost, I was left with a heaping pile of dirt left on the driveway.  

 The easiest solution was to build another box.  

We ran to the store and picked up more cedar.  This time I enlisted the help of Sean and Miles and we had a box in record time.

So now I had two 4ft x 8ft boxes!  More space to plant!

 We ran many wheel barrow loads of dirt and we STILL had leftovers!

A neighbor was doing a garden as well so we told him if he hauled it, he could take it.  

Problem solved.

  

I already had in mind what I was going to plant, but now that I had double the space... I could add a few more things.  I planted 15 different veggies/herbs.  

With this being my first garden, I think I got carried a way just a little..

Sweet Corn, Green Beans, Carrots, Bell Peppers, Strawberries, 3 different tomatoes, Lettuce, Spinach, Cucumbers, Squash, Green Onions, Mint, Cilantro, Basil, Jalapeños.

I knew that this summer would be a learning experience but I was pleasantly surprised at how well everything did.  

The good and the bad...

Bad: 

My corn did not pollinate correctly and the ears had hit and miss kernels.  

There were so many Japanese Beetles on the corn that I could not pick the beans (they were planted in between) 

My mom picked my baby onions thinking they were weeds.

My squash was ruined by a storm and I think it had blight so I pulled it out.  I did get one nice squash.

The lettuce and spinach wilted because of the excessive summer heat.

Good:

We have decent tomatoes although not enough to can like I had hoped.  

Plenty of bell peppers and jalapeños.

Basil and mint have done well and I am finally getting some good cucumbers.

The carrots are just about ready too.

I am looking forward to planting again next year and I think I might expand even a little more.  Maybe add space for a raspberry bush or two.

p.s. (I don't know what happened to the quality of a few pictures.  Just started using a MAC and have no idea what I am doing)  LOL

It runs in the blood

"Off we go into the wild blue yonder,
Climbing high into the sun;
Here they come zooming to meet our thunder,
At 'em boys, Give 'er the gun! ..."

I could not pass up the opportunity to drag the boys to the

Quad City Air Show in Davenport, Iowa this past June.

And to top it off, the Blue Angels would be flying.

Members of my family have been involved in aviation since before WWII..

One Grandfather built aircraft and retired from Lockheed Martin.

He also met Amelia Earhart. 

My other Grandfather built his own planes and crashed them, not on purpose.

My Dad, who also retired from Lockheed Martin, is a pilot and has his own plane.

My brother is in the Air Force.

There were a countless number of uncles in there too.

Many of my childhood weekends were spent at small airport lounges with a bag of vending machine chips or taking in the California sunshine at an airshow.

One favorite flying memory was when we flew over the Pacific out to Catalina Island. We spotted a whale, had lunch at the little airport on top of the hill and watched the buffalo on the hillside. 

Every time my dad took us flying we would go weightless.  Yes, weightless.

You know, that thing you can pay a few thousand dollars to do?

My dad would pull up the nose on the plane, we would go up and up and up.

He would stall out the plane and the plane would fall.

We would unbuckle our seat belts and float!

We would float. along with our cabbage patch dolls. weightless. for seconds...

When Sean and I were engaged, my dad wanted to take him flying. 

My poor, motion sickness, soon to be, husband.

I knew what my dad had planned as soon as he grabbed the yoke and pulled.

A little while later, Sean was puking in one of those cute little bags.

I loved going to airshows... 

Walking around in my dad's shadow as we walked from plane to plane.

Sitting in cockpits and cargo holds.

Watching the amazing acrobatics of barn stormers.

Seeing and hearing Chuck Yeager break the sound barrier.

The best for me though is watching either the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds.

It sends excitement through my body and it gives me goosebumps every time.

It is so loud and powerful and perfect.

Braeden has seen both the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds.

I plan to drag take both boys to airshows every summer of their childhood.

I hope that it is something that they will love to do and I hope they have great memories from it.

Thanks Dad!