Ten on Thursday

1. The twins had a ton of fun at their overnight zoo trip a couple of weeks ago. They took about 60 pictures, only 3 of them were of people, the rest were of various birds, cats, snakes and monkeys. There were also a few blurry un-identifiable objects, and some photos of the ground. They told me that the batteries had died fairly early on, which surprised me because I had charged it up the day before. But then I realized Jarron had filmed 13 1/2 minutes of one of the talks the curators made. I watched it for about 4 minutes before the random camera angles and changes from portrait to landscape made me really dizzy.

The infamous tie-dyed shirts.

So happy to see this picture on the camera-I love peacocks!

2. All of the boys are done with school for the year-Bryce's teacher sent home a wonderful little DVD with photos from the year set to music. I got a little teary-eyed watching it. We were blessed with really amazing teachers this year. I think the boys were a little more sad than normal to see the school year end because of that. I can hardly believe they will be 4th graders this fall!

 Jackson celebrating his summer birthday with his teacher and classmates.

3. Jackson decided that it was time for he and Moosey to share a room, so we moved some things around and made it happen. They seem to really like it so far. Moosey loves his Jack-Jack, so I imagine he's pretty excited about the switch.

Know who else is excited? These two-they have a ton more room to act like crazy 9 year olds now!

4. We opened the pool this weekend and promptly spent most of our weekend in it. We also took the boys to Miami Whitewater park to try out their splash park. Moose wasn't super fond of the shooting jets of water.

Love this picture of Moose sharing his snack with Bear.

5. I walked my first 5K a couple of weeks ago. A real 5K! I got a chip for my shoe to record my time and my very first number that I had to wear on my shirt. (I felt like a real athlete when I picked up my "race packet". Hee!) I was very excited to finish in under an hour. I'm hoping to come in under 40 minutes next time. I'm up to 1.75 miles in 30 minutes. Which isn't much to brag about, but for me is pretty awesome. As Chuck says, you have to start somewhere.

6. The same day I walked the 5K (did I mention that it poured rain for the 1st mile?), we decided to head out to Kings Island with some friends. Unfortunately the rain moved back into the area and it really came down. The boys had a blast running through the rain and jumping in the puddles. Since the park closed early due to the weather, we decided to try it again last week. No rain this time, but Tim (who took one for the team of parents) and the bigger boys got drenched riding Whitewater Canyon.  It was a seriously fun night.

Look at that rain coming day-the kids were having a blast!

The very wet group of boys-yup, all 7 boys, all under the age of 12!

7.  We had a little get together with the Lakes side of the family over the Memorial Day weekend. I can't believe how grown up my little great-niece is getting. She's just about a week younger than Moosey but she looks so big with her pig-tails. Such a cutie. The boys had fun playing in the sand (including the big boys-Chuck and Don!) the funniest part-Moosey kept calling Uncle Don-"Papaw". Hee. hee. Moosey is hilarious sometimes.

 How cute is she?

8. So, this weekend, we went to the library and I saw Bryce and Jarron, on their own, without prompting, looking up title of books they wanted to read on the computer, I was thrilled. THRILLED! They love reading. They are actively searching out books to read. FOR FUN. Seriously, I was so happy to see that, you just have no idea.

9.  There is a house in our neighborhood, right on the corner, that drives me crazy. They have a ton of stuff in their backyard, a pool, a playset, a trampoline, a shed, etc. But no fence. Just those tacky orange signs you get from Wal-Mart that say "No Trespassing". And, I'll be honest, it annoys me a great deal, and each time we pass it, I mention how much I dislike those signs. Bryce and Jarron ride the school bus with kids who live in that house. (You get where I am going with this, right?) Bryce asked the little girl, "Hey, what's with those signs?" The little girl responded that her dad didn't like all of the teenagers cutting through their yard. So Bryce says, "Have you ever heard of a FENCE?"

Nice. And that my friends, is why you should never complain about your neighbors with the kids in the car.

10. We are taking a "staycation" next week-I've been searching out fun things to do in this area and I can't believe how many things we've never done that are within a couple of hours from Cincinnati!

So a little forewarning, the next couple of weekly posts will be very picture heavy! :)