The last day of summer.

I didn't even think to pack the camera yesterday.....

The school always rents a pavilion out at the lake on the Tuesday night before school for a picnic dinner with the staff and the school committee members. It is what it is.

Yesterday was perfect weather-wise and I promised the girls we would enjoy one last summer day. I had one small (big) thing that needed to be done at school, and I had it done by noon, so we ate a quick bite of lunch and then headed out to the lake.

They have a 'beach' there with sand and so we took our chairs and changed into our swimming stuff and played in the lake and at the park that is on the beach for hours before anyone else from school arrived. It was just a perfect day. The girls spent about half the time trying to catch minnows with their hands. It was cute to watch them. They are still of the age where they can play and chase butterflies without worrying about who might be watching.

And I got to sit in the sun with the sand in my toes reading a book. It was delightful.

More jumping

More pictures of Damien

He kinda moves fast, so it was hard to get a good one of him, but you get the idea!

Brennan meets the creek

Brennan likes our creek. He didnt want to get out - even though the water was cold and he was very wet!

Colesys Birthday

We were recently at a friends house who happened to have a trampoline. Shortly after that visit, Colesy told me the only thing she really wanted for her birthday was a trampoline of her own. Well, I thought it was impossible, so forgot about it.
Then it crossed my mind to look on craigslist, but of course, there is non for OUR neck of the woods! So I looked on the on for Indianapolis, since Nathan and Jill were planning a trip out. At the last minute I found one! Jill picked it up the afternoon before they left to come out.
Nathan and I set it up while jill kept the girls entertained in the house. After dinner, we went to play out in the yard with Brennan and Colesy saw it. She has such a sweet smile!
We've had lots of fun, and lots of bouncing ever since. Who knew you could work up such a sweat!? Colesy and I were home alone for a while on Saturday, and we went down to jump and got too hot, so we had a water fight on it. Colesy was shocked at first, and then she decided it was fun. And it was cooler that way too!

Tickle Wars

Turns out Uncle Nathan is quite ticklish. Makes for good times. They played this for several hours. Brennan even got involved for a while. It amused me greatly to watch.

Shelby's first . . .

(She thought she needed to smile while I took a picture of her neck!)

Anyhow, we were in the kitchen together working on something, and I see this big scratch type thing on her neck. I thought Damien scratched her, so I asked what happened. Her response "Colesy sucked me". Good to know that her first hickey is from her SISTER! Good grief! Colesy was told NOT to do that anymore!

Was I supposed to laugh or cry? I still dont know!

One more reason to love Colesy!

So we were driving to town yesterday, and I needed to make a list of what I needed to get while there, so I passed the paper and pencil to Colesy and had her write while I drove. When we got to the first store - she handed it back to me.

Now, she had complained that she didnt know how to spell the words I had told her to put on the list.

I told her to do her best...... I like to think she did.

Here is the list:

clock - clock (good job!)

bread - bread (again, good job!)

fan- fan (another good one! :) )

Diner - dinner (I needed to remember to get stuff for dinner)

Lunck stuf - lunch stuff (I needed to remember to get stuff for Matts lunch!)

batier - battery (Sharilyn, she might get that from her daddy and califer!)

and last...

cock - supposed to be caulk. I guess that one could be tricky! but really! I dont think THAT is supposed to show up on a shopping list!

I tried hard not to laugh, but I couldnt help myself!

Delgrosso Amusement Park

For the past few years - maybe 4?! - my friend Paula and I have taken our kids to an amusement/water park. It has been really fun. The park opens at 11, so we are there then. We do the rides and stand under the trees during the hottest part of the day and then finish up at the water part.

{I didnt take my camera - I didnt want to carry it all day, and worry about losing it or getting it wet. So, there are once again no pictures to accompany this posting.}

There is a part of the park with baby rides, and we have officially graduated from there - Shelby is over the height line!

There is a little "worm" roller coaster and last year I was able to talk (make) Colesy into riding on it. This year, I told Shelby that she did not have a choice, she was riding on it. I literally had to drag her on! And she LOVED it! As it was slowing down to let us off, she asked if she coule ride it again. YES!!!!

I promised her that that would be the only ride I would MAKE her go on. And I kept that promise, but I did encourage her to think about them and then decide.

To my great joy, they had Scrambler there this year. Neither of the girls wanted to go on it, so we made them stand under a tree and me and Abby went on it! (Abby is the BEST babysitter ever - besides Macy! :) and I took her with us just for fun!) We had a blast on the scrambler. Anyhow, then it was bumper cars several times in a row and then Shelby revealed to me that she was thinking about riding on the Scrambler. So, we went back across to it, and we rode it OVER and OVER and OVER. We had a blast.

Then we unpacked our picnic and ate and then went to the water park. It is really an awesome place for kids. The whole pool is like a foot deep with slides and a pirate ship and sprinklers all through it. We love it. I like it better than the rides!

Well, they also have BIG slides, and we decided that since we had already tried so many new rides, we might as well try the water slides too. Let me just say "IT WAS A RIOT!" It was SO much fun. We did the slides over and over.

And then, the girls BEGGED to change and go back to the rides. So, I said it was fine. We dried off and went back and rode the Scrambler over and over and over again.

Finally it was time to go home. They didnt want to go, and I had to be mean ol' mom and MAKE them go.

I was really proud of them. They tried lots of new things and liked them all. They were proud of themselves too. It was just a super fun day, and a memory that will last for a REALLY long time.

(And we are looking forward to buying our tickets at the DuBois Christian Schools auction again next spring!)

Damien

He's been a good boy so far. He has a few quirks - like he is afraid of stairs and hardwood floors - but he listens good, and he reminds me of Rusty in good ways.