So long, Summer!

Well, with school starting in less than a week, here is our so long tribute to summer.

So long to trips to California for weddings...




So long to Family Reunions in Kentucky with a million little nieces and nephews and grannie and papa...



So long to many camping trips (maybe we'll work a few in this fall thanks to the warm trailer)...


So long to patriotic celebrations...



So long to community art competitions and second place prizes...



So long to the long summer days where there's plenty of time to learn to ride a bike...


SO LONG SUMMER!

A Day at Lagoon

My hubby's work treated everyone to a day at Lagoon Amusement Park. My Auntie Mo, Uncle John and their young cousin from Germany came to visit for the weekend so they joined us. It was a fun day. I felt bad b/c we let my oldest son ride one of the big roller coasters with us and it didn't bode well with him in the end. I'm afraid he's turned off of roller coasters for good. My six year old had a great time all day and rode as many of the kiddie rides as possible.

Auntie Mo and our little princess. Mo took care of her and the kids so much of the day that I got to ride a few coasters myself.

Uncle John and the boys all trying to use their might to stop the spinning sphere (hovering on water)

An ice-cream snack at the end of the day with Helena (the cousin from Germany)

The kids had a great time on the Bumper cars and I just adored how our 6 year old took care of his little sister on the rides. She loved riding them with him.

Drag Racing at Lagoon

Even though my uncle drag races for real, he had to try out the "fake" drag. Here's a video.

Hattie's Haircut

Well, our daughter's name isn't Hattie, but she did get a haircut (BTW that's the name of a picture book). I bobbed it for her this morning. She loves flipping it around. My neighbor made a comment indicating she didn't like it, but I do. I think it looks cute and fits her spunky personality. In reality, it was getting too tangled and stringy when long. It's quite fine and thin...that doesn't work for long hair. Click on the picture to see it larger.

Birthday Bash ALL WEEK!

It seems we were celebrating our 9 year old's birthday all week...beginning with an early birthday present of his clubhouse on Monday. Then on Thursday, he had a couple of friends over for the official party. It was a small gathering but that's the way he likes it...best buds and that's it. They roasted hot dogs.

Ate them in the Clubhouse.

Roasted marshmellows.

Topped the smores cupcakes with the marshmellows.

And sang...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! We topped off the night with a movie projected onto the wall and all the popcorn, soda, and licorice the bellies could handle.

AND THE BASH CONTINUED...

On Friday night, we took the family camping in the trailer and celebrated with Nana and Papa. More hotdogs, more corn, more cupcakes. A little dirt digging, and the boys were in heaven. Top it all off with some hiking and a present from Nana and Papa and BOOM...BIRTHDAY BASH. Don't let me hear him say we never do anything for him. Then Saturday was his actual birthday. That night he got to order the pizza he wanted, have more cupcakes, and watch Star Wars. Lucky kid!

Trip to Jackson

I'm finally getting up some pictures from our trip to Jackson to see my brother-in-law in the play "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the Jackson Playhouse. He's managing the playhouse for the summer and is one of the "brothers" in the play. We had a great time and we all LOVED the play. The video clip here is from the "shoot out" the playhouse puts on to drum up customers. My brother-in-law is the cowboy in the white hat, light jeans, and grey vest.

See the picture of him with my boys here and then watch the video.

The Teton County Fair was going on all weekend we were there as well. It provided some great entertainment for the kiddos and adults. We rode ponies, trains, participated in a pudding eating contest and mechanical bulls (check out my cowboy on the bull...it was pretty funny. I didn't stay on this long though.) We also went window shopping at the stores and the kids had a great time trying on hats, etc. My nieces and daughter were just happy enough playing together in the hotel as well.

A present for Our Big 9 year old

Our Oldest son turns nine on Saturday. All he wanted from us for his birthday was a clubhouse. So I drew up a little sketch/plan, went to Home Depot, and after 3 1/2 hours of sawing, drilling and sweating, the house was done. He painted a custom sign for the entry marking the name of his club (from the show "Jimmy Neutron"). If you can't read it, it says "Genetic Freaks" with "all who enter beware" in glow in the dark paint. He loves it and we even made some quick benches out of leftover scrap and cinder blocks. We just hope his small birthday gathering doesn't get rained out tonight. Will post pics later.