Just the oldest and the youngest

Kaleb's entering middle school next month--middle school! It means all kinds of changes are headed his way. (And my way, too.) So, to mark this milestone in his life, he took a trip to his aunt and uncle's house in Colorado Springs. He took all kinds of pictures and has some stories to tell. And next time I will write all about it. :)

While Kaleb was away, I realized how strange it is around here without him. Braylen and Aaron are separated by almost 5 years, and right now that feels like a big gap. They are also a lot alike. Put those things together, and I was not sure how our weekend would work out. To make things more interesting, Derek worked three 12 hour shifts in a row, so he was not around. It was just me and my oldest and my youngest.

As expected, Aaron missed his playmate and roommate. Braylen kept himself busy, while I came up with things for the 3 of us to do together. Our town helped me out by having a classic car celebration this weekend--if there's one thing all of our boys love, it is cars. I decided we were going to as much of these events as possible. :)

We walked around downtown and looked at almost 600 cars at Show and Shine. Aaron wanted a picture with every small car he found. Yes, I took lots of pictures. :) Braylen took pictures too, and shared the album with my dad. We even talked to Grampy while walking around looking at cars. Dad--next year you must come for this! :) It was crowded, but it was not unbearably hot like every other year we've done this. I was so thankful for that! We even found sno cones for .50, which made our walk downtown complete.

I snuck in one of Aaron's small car pictures.

Definitely the smallest car we saw that day!

This is my favorite small car we saw. Believe me, we saw and took pictures of lots!

When we walked back to our car, I noticed Braylen and Aaron were holding hands. Really?! I absolutely had to have a picture of it! Proof that our time together was sweet. :) Even their steps are in sync.

After some snacks and a little down time, we drove back downtown for the parade of cars. We sat at what we thought was Derek's assigned corner along the parade route, but missed him by a block. Still, we had a great view of the parade and the boys loved it.

When Aaron saw a car he liked, he stood up for me to take his picture with it.

After the parade we met some friends of ours along the "cruise route." It gets pretty crazy--cars are loud, people are partying hard, and the police are on foot, bikes, and cruisers trying to keep the peace. Aaron later told Derek that the police are like the town's parents. We thought that was pretty insightful. Even with all of the craziness going on around us, we enjoyed our time with B & K and their kids. Braylen and Aaron even got to go for a ride in their 1989 Mercedes convertible! That was an unexpected, pretty sweet treat for them. :)

When Derek was off duty, he took Aaron to a burnout contest. I figured as much as Aaron likes demolition derbys, he should like a burnout contest too. He did! They both came home with black-tinged t-shirts and skin. Definitely not my thing, but I am glad they had fun together! Braylen and I stayed on the cruise strip a bit longer, and met up with Aaron and Daddy at home. We were all worn out from our car-filled day, but it was a good kind of worn out. :)

So, what did I learn while Kaleb was away? That while he is the glue that holds his brothers together, they can still have fun without him. Yes, they bickered like brothers, but they also bonded like brothers. I learned that Aaron felt free to play with new things and listen to new music at bedtime. Well, new to him, anyway. He missed out on Veggie Tales when he was little, since his brothers had moved on to other things by the time Aaron came along. This weekend he "discovered" he likes Veggie Tales. It's been so cute to hear him play the songs and sing them all day. He even checked out a Larry Boy DVD from the library...and Braylen watched it with him. :)

Our weekend passed quickly, and it was SO great to welcome Kaleb back home Monday evening. Next time I hope to write all about his trip! :)