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! :)

When it's too hot to be outside...

Today is one of those summer days that feels more like a winter day. Why? It's so hot outside--the heat index is 109 right now--that all of us are inside, all day, even the dog. We are cleaning out closets and dresser drawers, talking on the phone, playing the wii, and writing thank you notes. Exciting stuff, I know! But really, after a week filled with activities and summer fun, I really don't mind a day spent in the air conditioning. And this evening we have a fun indoor activity to go to. More on that later.

Derek took me out for breakfast this morning. Just me. It was such a treat! We shared some of our wishes and dreams for our future and now we have some things to think through and plan for. What fun! Of course it takes a lot of work to turn dreams into reality, so we'll see where this leads.

We just finished a week of VBS at church, and I am proud of Braylen and Kaleb for helping out. Braylen helped lead games for the preschoolers, and he learned how to run the sound and lights in the lower level of our church. He really enjoyed doing that. Kaleb helped with 5 year olds. His cousin is in the class, and she stayed right by his side every evening. In fact, her friends joined her, and all week long Kaleb had a group of 5 year old girls follow him around. Every night I asked Kaleb who was in his posse that night. :) Aaron memorized the Bible verse of the week on the first night: 2 Timothy 1:7. He also had fun playing water games and making crafts. What a fun week, and I had 5 nights off from fixing supper! :)

Here are a few pictures from some of our summer fun when we were outside. Don't worry--no pictures of cleaning out closets! :)

At the water park with a second cousin

Playing the classic water balloon toss game with lots of second cousins. It came down to Aaron and C and cousin A and M. The girls ended up winning, but the boys sure made them work for it! :)

Kaleb loved holding cousin D at the reunion. :)

This week Kaleb started golf lessons. He loves it!

Some indoor fun...cup stacking. Aaron finds things to do all on his own. Must be a 3rd child thing.

Aaron playing tennis

He played a match with his buddy in one of his last games. Aaron is on the left.

Team tennis ended up being a great activity for Aaron all month long. Out of 6 teams of kids, Aaron's team won 2nd place! He had a few girls on his team that were quite good. :) He earned a medal and wore it all day, even to piano lessons.

The heat index is 114 now. Sheesh, I sure am thankful for a cool house. And some days off for Derek. :)

Ahhh, Summer

My blog posts are few and far between this summer, but we are still here. :) I served as a camp counselor for 3 days in late June at a camp for abused and neglected teenage girls...which might explain why I haven't been blogging much. It took quite a bit of time and energy to prepare for camp, serve at camp, and then recover from camp! I learned so much through this experience. I was blessed to lead a 14 year old girl to place her faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and saw walls come down in lots of girls' hearts--allowing them to be real with each other and have a few days of fun as well. I rode a zip line with one girl and did all of the water slides with another girl--and ended up with some burns on the backs of my thighs from a slide that wasn't wet enough. Ouch! When I came home I felt poured out and filled up at the same time. A paradox, I know, but that is how I felt. Braylen took one look at me and said, "You look like a camp counselor, Mom." I guess my staff t-shirt and orange headband gave it away. At least he didn't say I smelled like one. :)

For the first time since our vacation in early June, I felt like summer truly arrived the first week of July. The boys bought lots of fireworks thanks to my parents' "care package" filled with treats and firework money. It was glorious--they were entertained all week and I soaked up summer in a chair as I supervised their fun. (And read a novel of course!) They also swam in our pool and Aaron invited a friend over. Braylen and his buddy Matthew were pretty inseparable as well. It was a great week, topped off with two days spent in a nearby town at a family reunion.

My house is a mess--it looks like a "stuff bomb" went off on both levels of my house. Once in a while it gets to me and we sort of clean it up--but it just gets messy again. Most of the time I don't even care. :) In just a little over 5 weeks the kids will be back in school and I can vacuum the sand out of the carpet one last time. This week is VBS, and Aaron is my only one young enough to enroll. Braylen and Kaleb are both helpers. Derek is busy at work this week conducting his driving course for the PD. He's involved the boys as much as he can, and last night after another visit to the course Kaleb told him, "I could do this all day, every day, and never get tired of it!"

This week Aaron's tennis lessons wrap up, Kaleb's golf lessons and Aaron's swim lessons begin, and Braylen gets to spend some time with a friend who was gone the entire month of June. The boys bicker and love each other, sometimes in the same minute. We always have a lawn to mow. We stay up way too late and sleep in. The calendar is full of fun with friends and family. We are cruising right along through summer and I finally feel like I can say, "Ahh, it's summer." :)

Having fun in our backyard pool

Strawberries from our own strawberry patch!

Kaleb loves Daddy's new cruiser--a Dodge Charger!

I think Ginger needs a new cool-a-roo sling, don't you?

The boys and their cousins splashing in the river

Braylen was capturing a carp with his uncle while the others posed for a picture.

Here's the carp they caught with their bare hands! Our river sure needs more water.

A few days later, Braylen caught this large mouth bass with Grandma. (Not with his bare hands!)

Sent with love from Grammy & Grampy. Aaron's black eye is from a fall at a park, not from fighting over the snacks!

Watching Suessical the Musical at the park, with popcorn of course!

The show was fantastic!

It's always fun when Daddy gets in the pool.

I thought this was a great shot of Aaron having fun in the pool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smoke balls!

Watching the show our boys put on. Look at all the hair from brushing Ginger! Kaleb and Aaron decorated our yard with flags.

For my mom :)

The "big boys" make bigger noise. :)

Happy 4th of July!

One More Vacation Post

June is almost over, and here I am still writing about our time in Wisconsin. What else have we done this month?

• We put up a bigger pool in our backyard.
• Aaron has tennis lessons twice a week for a month and is really liking it.
• Braylen and Kaleb are mowing 6 lawns this summer, and I am their manager. :)
• We've been to the lake of course, where we go water skiing, knee boarding, tubing, and fishing.
• We visit the library at least twice a week. My boys were good sports and folded origami cranes at one of the programs. I learned Kaleb does not like origami.
• Piano lessons in the summer? Yes. When it works out.
• Meetings, doctor appointments, and more meetings...my boys frequently ask me, "Now where are you going?"
• Another mysterious rash for Aaron has me stumped. Is it the sunscreen? The public pool? The sun exposure? Agh!
• One visit to the public pool and we realized we prefer our backyard pool this summer.
• Their love for Star Wars is reignited, so we are watching it and they are playing with their figures and legos again.
• Listening to audio books in the car and at home helps to pass the time.
• We played in the river one afternoon and at our friends' farm another afternoon.

And then Aaron tells me today that he never gets to do anything fun with me. All I do with him, he says, is drive around in the minivan all day. Or I am working, he wants to play with me, and I am too busy. Ouch! I can see where he's coming from. I feel much busier this summer than other summers. Maybe it's the extra lawns or the new pool. Maybe it's because the kids are older. Maybe it's because Derek's job changed and we are all still adjusting to that. I don't know. But I do know that I don't want to look back on this summer and wonder, "Did I ever relax and have fun with my kids?" I want to play and laugh and draw with chalk and swim in the pool and do crafty projects and just be with my kids. Tonight as I snuggled Aaron at bedtime I asked him if he had a good day. Despite my busy schedule, I tried really hard to be intentional with my time. He told me, "It was the best day I've had in a while, Mom. I'm really glad I went to the store with you. I wouldn't have any cheese puffs, Squirmles, or pudding if I didn't go." Hmm. Not sure how to take that, but at least he went to bed happy. :)

So, here's a recap of our last 2 days in the Dells. The girls shopped downtown for fudge...yum! (I just finished my last piece today.) Then Derek and I shopped for souvenirs with the kids in the rain. After lunch at our resort, we went to an indoor theme park and drove go-karts, climbed a rock wall, did a ropes course, rode a Ferris wheel, and played laser tag. I have pictures somewhere, but not downloaded, so the few from Derek's phone will have to do.

All suited up for the ropes course! It was scarier than I thought. Of course our kids handled it just fine. I was so nervous! I followed my Dad through the whole thing and felt SO relieved to be back on the ground when we were done.

Kaleb climbing up! After the ropes course I said no to the rock wall.

Stretch Aaron!

Braylen reached the top!

Derek beat Braylen's time, but not by much. :)

Since it was Amber's birthday, we had a special supper at Paul Bunyan's restaurant. I didn't know what to expect, but it was the best chicken and ribs I have ever had. Served family style made it even better. We all sang to Amber and she and Will blew out her candle. Again, pictures are somewhere, just not here!

That night all of the boys (except Will) went back to the theme park and played laser tag until it closed at 11pm! The 6 of them bonded in ways only they understand, and it made my heart oh so very happy to see that happen. Aaron drew a map of the laser tag course and showed me their strategies. :) I believe that experience will be something they remember for a long time.

The next morning we packed up our things and checked out of our resort. I took a few pictures right before we left. Nobody wanted to leave.

Aaron's bunk

Braylen in the doorway of his room

Kaleb :)

Bye Bye Sunset Bay

We stopped at Sandy Beach Resort to walk around in our memories for a while before driving home. After all, the whole reason we gathered together in Wisconsin Dells for vacation was because of all the summers we spent there as a family--a perfect setting to celebrate Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary. I am blessed in more ways than I can count. Thank you, my dear family, for such an amazing time together this month. And for all of the years we spent here, I will remember them always. :) My kids even fed bread to the ducks, just like I did every year when we left! (And it was usually rainy/cloudy, just like this.)

Sarah and Eric near the fishing piers

Behind us is our raft we played on for hours and months and years, I'm sure. :)

We stayed here in cabin #1 the most.

We played lots of ping pong here with Dad throughout the years.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Mom and Dad! You are the reason we took this trip!

Daddy & Aaron holding hands on the drive home

I sure do love these boys!