Summer List Items 1 and 4......CHECK!

We have been able to knock out a few of our easier summer list items already!  Maybe we will actually get them all done this year?  lol

#1 on the list was "have a picnic"  The first night of summer vacation we had the perfect opportunity to knock this item off the list. Our neighbor Cal (or Mr. Cal according to the kids) is a musician and he was playing at the outdoor acoustic show in Leesburg that happens weekly all summer.  So we went to the Wegmans out in Leesburg to pick up some dinner and away we went!  The show was great--too bad Brody only sat in his chair/on the blanket for part of it.  The last picture will show where he went for the later parts of the show.  ;)

Both boys are digging in!

This is what Brody aka the pickiest eater ever wanted at Wegmans!  Grapes, chicken, cucumber (what?  lol), corn, carrots and strawberries!

He loved this meatball sub---Travis gave it two thumbs up

Brody found a leaking overhang at the Tally Ho and it occupied him for awhile--lol

Item #4 on our summer list was "make forts".  This is an easy fun thing to do maybe on a rainy day or on a day when it's WAY too hot to go outside.  We did it on a super hot 100 degree day.  lol  I usually used a flat sheet but this time I used a fitted sheet and it seemed to work a lot better.  Travis likes the forts fashioned this way so he can still watch TV.  ;)

Brody's "Olympics" at Gymnastics

Brody is a big fan of gymnastics.  Big.  He listens and does every single thing the coach asks him to do.  What he isn't a fan of is......being in front of a large group of people.  You will see in the pictures he is fine until he gets his medal---then he sticks his hand in his mouth because he is nervous.  Hopefully he grows out of that soon!  All of the kids "win" of course but they all had a great time doing it!

Brody doing handstands when it wasn't his turn on the trampoline  :)

Paxson and his medal

Brody and his medal---and his hand

After Coach Dre pulled his hand away from his mouth lol

The "panda bears" (Brody's level in gymnastics).  Typically ths

He's showing me his paper

Brody and Coach Dre----Brody refused to look at me of course---typical when trying to get his picture with teachers, coaches etc

FREE BOWLING!!!!

I stumbled on a FABULOUS deal!  We decided today to take the kids bowling so I started googling "bowling coupons" and I found that Bowl America has a program rewarding kids for As and Bs on their final report card.  http://www.bowl-america.com/rollingrewards/  I took Travis' report card there today and they gave him cards for free games that will last him all summer!  The only catch is you have to present the card they give you, shoes are extra ($4.50) and they can use a maximum of 5 free games a day.  This is though the summer (the up to 5 per day with the punch cards they give you)  The card is also good for one free game per visit for the following school year--so Sept-May!

I also learned that bowling shoes are FREE for kids under a size 1.  I didn't know that.  LOL

So we let the kids bowl 3 games and I paid less than $15 for all of it!  We also learned the kids are done after 2 1/4 games.  LOL

Somehow I forgot to post these pictures......

This is what happens sometimes.......I post one picture from an event on Facebook and then I forget to post the rest of the pictures later!  I realized yesterday that  had never posted the rest of the pictures of Brody's class going on their field trip to Frying Pan park!  Yes I know it's hard to get pictures of kids faces when they wear a hat but it was hot and very sunny that day so I wanted to try and keep Brody's face out of the sun as much as possible.   So without further delay........

Pigs!

Horse!

Goats!

More goats!

Love......

Brody and his GF Lauren.  They weren't told to hold hands.....they just did it on their own......awwwww

Bunnies!

Chickens!

They all loved climbing on the tractors!

The attempt at a group picture--lol---love Lauren's pose in the picture

1st day vs. Last day of school

I love looking back at the 1st day of school pics vs. the last day of school pics of the kids.  The 1st day of school pics of both kids together are all blurry for some reason so I will post one clear pic of both kids and then the blurry pic of them together.  LOL

Brody waiting for the bus

Travis ready for 4th grade!  (he ended up in the ER with a migraine and dehydration issues hours after this picture was taken)

Not the clearest picture ever  LOL

This was the best picture I got----Brody kept making his old/terrible cheese face in EVERY picture.  You can't really tell size wise how much they have grown in the school year but you can see it in their faces for sure.  :)

Brody's end of year class party/sing a long

Brody finished his 2nd year of preschool at Horizon Elementary.  He loves school, his friends and his teachers!  The last week of school they invited the parents in for a party and to have the kids sing some songs for us.  Now I KNOW Brody knows the words to all of these songs because I've heard him sing snippets of them at home but he wouldn't even sing one note---he did do a LOT of wiggling on the carpet though.  lol

This video shows some of the wiggling :)  (you may need to turn your volume up to hear it)



This video shows Brody doing what he wanted to do with other parents around--DANCE!



At some point Brody got a hold of my phone and took a few pictures of his friends in the classroom.  I thought it was very cute.

Clearly I took this one  :)

Ms. Jennings, Brody and Mrs. Smetana (he refused to look at the camera/smile--oh well)

Travis' awards and their mini play

All of the teachers do individual awards at the end of the year for the kids.  Some are academically centered like Travis' "Mathamtician" award and others have nothing to do with school like the kid who shared sports scores with the teacher constantly getting the "sports caster of the year" award.  I don't know why but those non-academic awards bother me---Travis has always gotten something academic aka the main reason he is in school.  I know in 1st and 2nd he got the word study/spelling award and in 3rd grade he got the Albert Einstein award for scienxe.  Here is Travis getting his award and with his award.  :)

I had no idea until I got there at the school that his class was doing mini plays----aka he never mentioned it, practiced lines etc.  Granted you can't hear him very well because he wasn't speaking very loudly but he remembered almost every line (and he had a lot since he was the wolf in the story of the 3 little pigs)!  I laughed every time his ears fell off and it happened every time he either sneezed as part of the story or tried to blow a house down.  ;)



After the play Travis got a hold of my phone and took a few pictures.  ;)

Random pictures from my phone......

The good thing about smart phones and their cameras is the ability to catch almost any random moment in life.  Yes I can see how this could be a bad thing especially as kids get older---lol--but for me it's great since I can just take a quick picture instead of missing the moment because I don't have the "good camera" with me.  Of course the quality isn't as good but you catch moments like these.......

Travis tossing this pizza shell in the air

Giggy riding on top of Brody's head

Brody's excitement over finding an ear of corn left in the fridge

Brody climbing on the rocks at football practice

Lucas and Brody sharing a lollipop and playing cards

Travis getting super excited about the McLaren he found at the Reston Town Center

I really love being able to catch these spontaneous moments in their lives.  I know when they get older I will be worried about some of the spontaneous pictures they will be taking but for now.........lol.