Low Tide

 My dad knows about all kinds of sea creatures, and when we were little we used to go to the beach all of the time to look for things and explore.  When my aunt and uncle came in July we decided it was a good chance to go again.

 Evan spotted a moon snail and we got to watch it move along in the sand, and then pull itself completely back into its shell.

 It is a regular marine biology class when we go.  I love it.

  Putting the crab to sleep

 Little tiny sea star

She even insisted on bring a butter clam shell home to show Daddy later.

 Grace loved getting things from Grandpa and then bringing them up to explain to everyone.

Dad managed to catch a few giant crabs that were legal to keep, so we passed them up to some guys crabbing on the pier above us.  

All in all a very fun day.

Water Fun

My parents got a kneeboard this year and it has provided lots of fun on the water.  

Practicing a 360 on the dock

Then nailing it behind the boat.  He was so excited to finally get it after quite a few failed attempts.

 He has gotten very confident on the kneeboard and loves to show off going one handed, dragging one hand in the water.  He goes in and out of the wake and has even caught some air a few times.

 Kyle's favorite spot is in the boat as flagger.

 We finally convinced him to attempt the kneeboard himself.

If you blow the picture up you can see his big smile.  He is still a little nervous behind the boat but he is getting braver.

 Another huge victory this summer.  Evan tried and tried to wakeboard last year with no luck, but this year he popped right up.  It is so fun to see him getting the hang of this stuff.

  Love the nose plugging as he lets go to come in.

  Grace prefers to just play at the dock.  She jumps in over and over and over again.  She's a pretty cute flagger when she decides to go though.

We talked her in to kneeboarding too.

She was very excited before it started, looked terrified for the 20 feet she held on, and then refused to try again.  Strangely enough when we got her in her reaction to it all was "THAT WAS AWESOME!"  Not awesome enough to try it since then, but she says she loves it.

It's been a fun summer on the lake.  Hopefully we get in a few more lake days before school starts again.

July 4th

 Happy 4th of July/Happy Birthday Brandon!

Bowling

I signed the kids up for Kids Bowl Free this year, so we went with some friends and enjoyed some free bowling.

 Grace tried bowling alone, and the ball took its sweet time getting to the pins but it made it. 

 I love watching Kyle bowl.  

 Hopping on one foot as the ball gets close to the pins and he gets excited.

 Evan had some great form too, and did pretty well.

Don't know how I only have pictures of my 3, and not the other 8 kids there, but, here are hte results.  Not bad for 10 kids under 10.

End of the School Year

I'm very behind on the blog, but I am going to try to catch up. 

 I'm loving our new camera.  This was a gorgeous day near the end of the year. 

 I don't know if you can see Kyle, but this was his kindergarten program.  He was so cute in it.  Every time there was a lull in the action he cycled through many nervous twitches, but he smiled and did everything he was supposed to.  I love this program even though the "1st grade 1st grade" song makes me a little teary.

 My dad did the dunk tank at school too.  Anybody who had walked 10 miles got to throw a ball and try to dunk him.

 End of the year awards ceremony

 Evan got the citizenship award for his class and was pretty pumped about it.

 Evan and his best buddy Julia on the last day. They were in the same class the last two years and I really hope they are again this year.  

 My big first grader! 

The last day of school picture most kids don't get, everybody with the principal.  So fun having Grandpa at school with my kids every day.

Kyle Turns 6!

I'm a little late on this one, but Kyle turned 6 two weeks ago.

 I saw an idea on pinterest where you put streamers over their door in the night and they have to break out in the morning.  I figured it would probably scare him since he wakes up in the middle of the night a lot, so we did it while he was at school.  It confused the poor kid and he crawled into his room which was hilarious.  He busted out after that.

 Surprise birthday balloons.

 His request for his actual birthday was to have friends over for a lunch date.  They were supposed to bring their own lunch and we were supposed to provide cupcakes.  Here is his little lunch crew.  Somehow I forgot to take a picture while they were eating.

 We did more decorating then we normally do, and it was kind of fun.  Here is the table - the papers in the middle are little drawn legos.

 Silverware holders.  We also made a bunch of things to hang from the lights, and the banner you can see in his friend picture.

 All of the boys mini figures lined up on the mantle.

 Brandon rocked the birthday cake yet again.  The cupcakes for his friends were little Lego faces, but somehow we missed a picture of those.

 The family party

We made everybody play Lego Mini Figure Bingo and it was pretty fun.  The boys helped the grandparents and great grandparents find the right figures.  Evan was helping Grammie, Gramps, and Katie.

 Grandma Jean

 Grandma and Grandpa

 Aunt Katie and Uncle Ben

 Our big 6 year old!  I hate how they start to look like big kids at this age.  I'm noticing daily how much less of a little boy he looks like and it makes me sad.  Excited for the new phase, just sad at how fast they grow up.

We are so glad we get to have Kyle in our family.  He is very silly, loves a good snuggle in the morning (I'm excited for summer and more snuggles), still gets a bit anxious about things but has done so well with school this year.  He loves math perhaps more than Evan does, is getting better and better at reading, and had a great spring soccer season.  We're very excited to see what the next year brings for our sweet boy.