Things I Could Eat Right Up

-Zach and Drew sharing Zach's (though Drew believes it is his) chair.

-Zach in his Kermit costume, which is something he's been putting on a lot lately during "nap time," which hasn't involved much napping. At this point he came to me after wearing it for about 15 minutes and said, "Mom, I can't wear this any longer."

-Foudy snuggling Mike after he almost stepped on her. How sweet is she?

-Mike helping Zach with a craft project, and Drew posing in the background.

-Zach's pride in showing off his simple art project.

-Drew just had to be in the picture, and he posed so nicely.

-Drew is suddenly into giving hugs. I find it incredibly sweet. Just about every time he sees Zach, he puts his little hand up, waves, and says, "Hi Dack."

-Another hug. Seriously, can it get any cuter?

-The boys posing with the trophy Mike won for winning his golf tournament last weekend.

And look at that sweet little punkin.

Becky and Cam's Visit

Because of the busy week last week, with the car accident and Zach being sick, I got a little delayed on my blogging. It's hard to believe it's been almost two weeks now since my sister Becky and nephew Cam got here. They flew out from Denver on Wednesday the 12th, and Zach and I drove to Omaha to pick them up. We got them at the airport and headed over to Omaha's amazing Henry Doorly Zoo. Becky and I thought it would be good for the boys to run around and let off some steam before getting in the car for a couple of hours. It was very hot, but we had a great time. We saw a lot of beautiful animals. Omaha's zoo has lots of tigers, which are my favorite, including 2 white tigers. One of our favorite things was watching two big gorillas play with each other. We stayed for a couple of hours and then headed home, and amazingly, neither of the boys fell asleep on the way home. Just as amazing was the fact that Becky didn't fall asleep either, as she is notorious for falling asleep in the car. Cam and Zach were just so excited to see each other- they could not even contain their giddiness. Because of said giddiness, we decided they probably weren't going to fall asleep, so we let them watch a movie instead. The drive home was very uneventful, aside from Zach telling me as we passed the last rest area for miles that he had to go potty and could I please hurry to find a place. Of course, there was nothing around, and Zach's kicking legs didn't help calm my nerves about him pottying in his car seat. After a couple of minutes and him asking me to please find a place quickly, he said, "Mom, I'm going to try really hard to not potty in my seat for you." Great, Zach. Thanks. Anyway, we ended up having to get off I-80 and stop on the side of a small highway so the boys could pee on the side of the road. Not ideal, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Zach wasn't thrilled when he dripped on his flipflops and toes, but I think he was so relieved to have an empty bladder that he didn't let it bother him too much.

The next day we took the boys to the aquatic center, which was a lot of fun. I've been too chicken to take Zach and Drew there by myself this summer, because I'm just afraid I won't be able to keep an eye on both of them. After this, though, I think I can handle it. The trick is just making sure Zach stays near Drew and me, because Drew is as adventurous as Zach is, if not more. Just like every time we go to the pool, I had to talk Zach into going down the slide, and once he finally did it (about 20 minutes before we left), he loved it and wanted to keep doing it. Typical. He gets himself so psyched out and worried, and then he has a blast.

Thursday night we went down to Raccoon River Park to go to a Wartburg alumni picnic. Becky, Mike, and I all went to Wartburg, so we were all hoping to see some old friends. No such luck, though, which was a bummer. It seemed it was mostly people a lot older than us or very recent grads. Zach and Cam got free frisbees and we all got a nice orange canvas grocery bag, so that was cool. There was lots of good food, too. Zach and Cam did lots of running races, so they got themselves adequately worn out. We had to sneak out during the new president's speech, which we felt bad about, but it seemed like he was never going to stop talking.

Friday we went up to an indoor play place that has a lot of inflatables and other climbing equipment. All three boys ran around like crazy and had such a good time. Zach and Cam played a game of air hockey, too. Zach loves that game. Cam wasn't as into it. I'm wondering if that's not where Zach picked up Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (see previous post).

Friday night we decided to take Becky, Cam, and Drew to their first Iowa State Fair. The Iowa State Fair is said to be "internationally acclaimed," and it is a very big deal here. Growing up in Colorado, we never went to the state fair, but here- you're crazy if you miss it! It was hot and somewhat humid Friday night, though not as hot and humid as it usually is the second week of August. We got decent parking and decided to go straight to "Little Hands on the Farm," a place where kids go through all the steps of being a farmer.

Here's Zach planting his pepper seeds. After planting the seeds they harvest their vegetables.

In this picture, Zach and Cam are harvesting eggs from the hen house.

Though they don't look particularly thrilled, they were having fun.

After collecting corn kernels and soybeans, we headed to the tractors, where they turned their soybeans into soy diesel. This is Cam driving his tractor.

Then we moved onto the dairy barn, where they boys fed their corn kernels to the cow and milked her.

After the milking of the cow, the boys sold their vegetables and eggs at the farmer's market, and then used the money they earned from that to go to the grocery store. It's great because the kids get to pick out something to buy- our 3 boys each picked out a popsicle. It was about 5:00 and we hadn't eaten dinner yet, but we didn't care.

We went next to see the baby animals. Becky and Cam got in line to see the baby pigs, who were just a few hours old. After that we headed down to get some dinner. Part of the draw of the fair is the food. Mike has certain things that he absolutely loves, like the Ribbon Taters, the corn dogs, the lemonade, and the Junior Donuts. I, on the other hand, am not a big fan of greasy food, so I struggle a little bit. I could eat dessert all day long at the fair (Cup of Cookies, Monkey Tails (frozen chocolate covered bananas), cotton candy, etc.), but I have a hard time finding anything meal-worthy. I do like the corn on the cob there, but it's pretty out of the way, so if we're strapped for time, I don't usually get over to that stand. Anyway, after Mike got his Ribbon Taters, he and everybody else (except me) had corn dogs. I tried a Gyro, but didn't love the meat, so I ate about a quarter of it and threw the rest away. Becky and I shared a sugar-free root beer that was pretty darn delicious.

Then we headed down to see the animals. I thought Drew would really like to see the horses, but they were pretty much all either out of their stalls or their stall areas were all roped off, because they were getting ready for a horse show. We got to see some of them walking around, which was neat, but it would have been cooler to have had a chance to touch them.

We did go in the hog barn, and Zach got a kick out of talking to one of the pigs who actually talked back to him. We also saw the boar below, Buddy, who won the "Big Boar" contest, weighing in at 1,117 pounds. Whoa. That's a lot of bacon.

Then we went to the Avenue of the Breeds building, where we got to see all kinds of animals, including an ostrich, lots of different kinds of cows and horses, bunnies, goats, etc. We also saw this elk in there. I think elk are kind of weird-looking.

I liked seeing all of the different chickens. The feathers on this rooster and chicken (right? I think one is a rooster and one is a chicken) cracked me up.

Same thing with this funny-looking duck.

Then we moved down to the cow barn, and we saw the big bull. This is Big Black, an Angus bull from Eastern Iowa. He set a new state fair record, weighing in at 3,404 pounds. You can see a better picture of him here http://gazetteonline.com/local-news/2009/08/14/at-the-iowa-state-fair-now-thats-a-lot-of-bull .

We decided we didn't really need to look at the other cows or bulls after that. So we went up to get some Monkey Tails, which are my new favorite treat at the fair. Zach and I got our bananas dipped in chocolate and sprinkles, and I got one for Drew just dipped in chocolate. They are so delicious, but the problem is that a frozen banana is kind of hard for a little kid to eat, especially a kid with only 6 teeth. So Drew mostly ended up eating just the chocolate, and Zach ate the banana and chocolate, but also got chocolate all over. I know Becky and Cam got theirs without sprinkles, but I don't remember if Cam had trouble eating his or not.

Next we went over to the giant slide that you go down on potato sacks. Mike and Zach rode together and Cam and I rode together, while Becky and Drew watched. What a thrill!! It was a blast!

It was getting close to 8:00, so we decided we'd better start to head back to the car. Drew was tired and crabby by this point, and Zach was sort of being crabby, too. Zach and Cam had been asking to ride on the huge ferris wheel, so we decided that we would do that before leaving the fairgrounds. Becky, Cam, Drew, and I headed that way while Mike and Zach went to get their mini donuts and some lemonade. I think Mike got all the goodies he had wanted by that point. As we approached the ferris wheel, this is how Drew was feeling/acting.

The ride was fun, though EXPENSIVE! It was $5 per person to ride, even for Drew! I couldn't believe a one year-old would cost $5 for a ride. We had a great view of the entire fairgrounds, and it was a great way to finish off the night. As we left, Becky commented on how she couldn't believe how much money she spent, and how she had nothing to really show for it! It is amazing how expensive a night at the fair can be, that's for sure.

The car ride home was uneventful, and thankfully Becky was able to keep Drew happy in the way back of the van.

Though we got home late, the boys were filthy and all needed baths, so by the time we were all done, everybody was late for bed and exhausted. What a busy day.

Saturday Mike was at a golf tournament all day, so Becky and the boys came to see some of my kickboxing work-out, and then a little while later Becky and I dropped all three boys off at Mike's parents' house so she and I could do a little shopping kid-free. They all had fun with Grandma Linda and Grandpa Curt, and Becky and I enjoyed the time off. Saturday afternoon we just hung out at home and got the kids in bed a little early to make up for the few late nights they'd had. Saturday night at dinner Zach and Cam were already talking about how they didn't want Cam and Becky to have to leave the next day. And that night before bed, as we were praying, Zach said, "Please, God, help me to not miss Aunt Becky and Cam too much."

We spent Sunday morning packing and getting Becky and Cam ready to go. Overall, the visit was great. Cam and Zach got along very well, with only a few little tiffs, but even those were few and far between.

This is the only non-fair picture I have from when Cam and Becky were here. This was right before Zach, Becky, Cam, and I left for Omaha to get Cam and Becky on their airplane home to Denver.

The drive to Omaha was a little long, as there was a big traffic jam where we sat still for quite some time, and then went just a few miles per hour for some time after that. The original plan was to drive to Omaha, have a picnic at the park that's right by the airport, and then drop Cam and Becky off. However, because of the traffic, we didn't get them dropped at the door until 2:25, and their plane was scheduled to leave right around 3:00, so we were cutting things pretty close. So instead we ate lunch in the car on the way. I bribed the boys by telling them that once their carrots were all gone, we could put a DVD in. I had no idea it'd be the last DVD ever watched by my family in that van (see previous post). Because we got to the airport so late, I didn't get Zach out of his seat to say goodbye. Instead Cam and Becky gave Zach hugs while he was strapped in. I got the luggage out while Becky got her backpack together and we exchanged quick hugs and they were off. After they got out and I got into the car, Zach said to me, "Mom, I'm gonna miss them a lot." I turned around and said, "I know, Bud. I will, too. It's hard to say goodbye, isn't it?" And at that point Zach just couldn't hold it anymore, and he cried big crocodile tears. I got out of the car and gave him a big hug with tears of my own in my eyes. I've always wished at least one of my sisters lived nearby, and seeing Zach so sad to say goodbye to his cousin and aunt was heartbreaking. At the same time, it was heartwarming, because it showed me how much he loves them. After a few minutes of hugging I figured we'd better get out of the way, so we started the trek home. We got a phone call shortly thereafter from Becky, saying that they had successfully checked in and boarded the plane. Phew! Just in time! Of course, Zach asked me on the way home, "When can we go to Colorado?"

Not Our Normal Grocery Run

On Monday the boys and I were headed to HyVee for our usual Monday morning grocery run. It was about 10 a.m., and we had just passed the elementary school I used to teach at, about a mile south of our house. I realized that there was a car stopped ahead of me waiting to turn, and I hit the brakes a little suddenly, as I was coming up on the car a bit quickly. I stopped, and Zach asked, "What happened?" I said, "Well, the truck in front of us is turning, and I didn't notice it at first, so I had to hit the brakes sort of suddenly." Zach said, "Oh."

WHAM!!

And my hat flew off my head (I think) and there was a blaring horn and I realized we had been rear-ended. "Oh my gosh!" I said, and Zach asked, "What was that?" and Drew started crying. "We just got in an accident," I told Zach. "Are you guys ok?" Boy, I felt shaky. The next few minutes are sort of a blur in my mind. I think I turned off the car and got out. I remember watching the truck that I hit pull and and then back up. I saw the driver that hit us get out of her car, and the man I hit asked me if I was ok and if I'd called 911 yet. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, so I hadn't called anybody. The lady that his us, Vanessa was her name, her horn just kept blaring and blaring, which was very unnerving. Thankfully, Bill, whose truck our van was pushed into, was somehow able to disable the horn to stop the awful noise. I think the impact and the noise startled Drew, because he didn't cry for long. After a while the police got there and took all of our information. The boys waited very patiently in the car for a while, and finally I got them out.

Here you can see some of the damage. I didn't do a very good job of taking pictures, I'm realizing.

This is the damage to the front of my car from hitting the truck in front of me. I also broke the front headlight on the left side.

This is the truck I hit. You can see that his lovely trailer hitch punched that nice hole in my front bumper. He had minimal damage.

This is a close-up of the Chevy Monte Carlo that hit me. I was sitting still, and I don't know how fast she was going, but fast enough that both of her airbags deployed and her sunroof, which was closed, popped open.

Front of her car; back of mine.

Back of my car.

The police officer that did the accident report wrote down that the truck had sustained approximately $1500 worth of damage, my Chrysler Town and Country had sustained approximately $2000 worth of damage, and that the Monte Carlo had sustained approximately $3000 worth of damage. I don't know what that guy was thinking, but he's obviously not very good at estimating damage. The dealership called Mike today to say that using used parts, my car would cost about $7700 to fix. Just a smidge over $2000, huh? I had figured this would be the case when I realized that I couldn't fold down the back seat anymore. Mike hasn't given me the full run-down as of yet, but it sounds like the A/C and radiator are both broken, the frame is bent, and all sorts of other stuff. This is definitely a time when I'm grateful we had a minivan and we had all that space between the back of the car and the boys in their seats. I can only imagine how they'd be feeling if we'd been in our old Passat or something. Of course, the rental car company gave us a tiny rental, so Mike's driving that for a few days while I drive the Buick, and hopefully we'll figure out what we're going to do about our car soon. We're not sure if we even want to get it fixed and then drive around a car that's had all that damage. It will be worth a lot less for resale now that it's so messed up.

A couple of good things did come out of the accident, though, if you ask Zach. First, the officer gave the boys each a coupon for a free Frosty from Wendy's. Second, we stuck around long enough to watch the tow truck get the Monte Carlo hooked up and taken off towards wherever it was going. And I was glad we got hit on the way to the grocery store, instead of on the way home. It would have been a real bummer to have our cold groceries getting warm and ruined as we sat there. Plus, Zach enjoyed telling the man at the meat counter at HyVee all about the excitement.

The day didn't get much less exciting, unfortunately. I left the boys home with Grandma Linda and met Mike at Farrell's, where we work out, at about 5:30. As I got back into my car at 6:30, Linda called to say Zach wasn't feeling well and that he'd complained about his head and neck hurting. When we got home he was asleep on the couch, and when I took his temp, it was a whopping 104.6 degrees! I quickly called the pediatrician on call, who happens to be a friend of ours from college. He called back and gave me some tips on how to check for possible meningitis and what to do. So after a cool bath, some children's Motrin (which Mike had to go buy, because we didn't have anything but infant Tylenol- Zach probably hasn't had any pain relievers since he was an infant!), and some crackers and cheese, Zach seemed a bit better. His temp. was all over the place over the next 12 hours. It would go down to 99 or 100 shortly after getting a new dose of Motrin, but a few hours later it'd be back up to 102 or 103. We ended up going to see the doctor on Tuesday morning, and Zach got his throat swabbed and his finger pricked. White blood cell count wasn't too bad, step test was negative, so Adam (or Dr. Secory, as I should say), was pretty certain it was just Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, especially given the sores in the back of Zach's mouth. Zach was scared but brave through the whole thing, and when I told him he'd be getting his finger pricked, I promised that later on we could go take advantage of those free Frosty coupons. Anyway, we went back today for a recheck, and it seems things are on the mend. Zach's throat still hurts some, but his fever seems to be gone, and we ended up not doing another WBC count, which made Zach happy. And the boys were very happy to go to Wendy's last night for a Frosty. We ended up getting just one and splitting it between 2 cups.

So it's been a busy week, and it's only Wednesday. I hope the rest of the week isn't nearly as interesting!

Lake of the Ozarks

Last weekend some girlfriends and I got a much needed vacation. My friends Tyra, Erin, Sara, and I went down to the Lake of the Ozarks for a few days. Tyra's parents live down there, and they were kind enough to invite us into their home for a few days of fun and relaxation. We left Thursday night after our husbands got home from work. I drove, and I am amazed at how awake I felt the whole 6 hour drive. I really thought I'd get sleepy since we didn't leave until almost 6 p.m. and didn't arrive until about midnight, but I didn't get sleepy at all. Last year I was not able to make the trip- I was up at my sister's place for her baby shower, and on the drive down, the other 3 girls hit a deer. So we were all a little nervous about the deer this time. I've never hit a deer, and while I know you're not supposed to swerve to avoid a deer, I have never been real confident in my ability to just keep driving and to resist that instinct to swerve. Anyway, I got a chance to test it out, as about an hour and a half into the trip, a little fawn jumped right up out of the ditch and ran across my lane. I hit the brakes without giving everyone whiplash, and as I got close, I swerved just a tiny bit, and missed that darn thing, which had stopped on the yellow line, by about 12 inches. At least that's how close it seemed to be in my mind. From that point on, I think I was too nervous to get sleepy, which turned out to be fine. A little while later a truck with no lights on about backed into our car as it was backing out of a driveway onto the highway. That didn't help with my nerves much. I don't even like driving at night anyway, so I was very happy to arrive at Tyra's parents' house! After socializing for a bit with Denny and J.C., Tyra's parents, we headed to bed for some much needed rest. I'd been up that day since before 5:00 a.m., so by 1:30 a.m. I was TIRED!

Friday I got up earlier than I would have liked, but I just can't sleep in very well anymore. So Sara and I headed out for a run/walk. I ran and Sara walked, and I met up with her at the end of my run. Running 5 miles down there is definitely harder than it has been here at home- it's very hilly and curvy and it was definitely humid. It was a good run, though, and I made decent time, so I was happy with that.

Once everybody was up and ready we headed out on the jet skis. I've been down to Tyra's parents' house 3 other times, and I've never been on a jet ski. One time I was too sunburned, another time I was pregnant, and the last time Mike and Zach were with me, so I stayed back with Zach while Mike went. I always felt a little nervous, so I didn't mind having an excuse not to go. This time I had no excuse, though, so I had to do it. Erin and Sara kept saying how there was no way they were riding with Tyra because she was too wild for them, yet that didn't really make me any more nervous. I knew Tyra wouldn't be too crazy with me on there. Anyway, we had a blast. After riding for a while behind Tyra, we switched spots and I drove. I was surprised I didn't make Tyra sick, as it took me a little while to get used to slowing down gradually rather than totally taking my finger off the gas. I got us up to about 40 mph, which felt pretty fast to me, but it's probably not. Tyra and I switched spots again and she got us going a little faster. At one point we flew over some waves and I thought for sure I was going to fly off, but amazingly I didn't. Tyra said when she looked at the speedometer when we were airborne, it said 56 mph. It was a lot of fun.

After resting for a bit after getting off the jet skis, we headed out on the boat with Tyra's parents. We rode around on the lake for a while and then went to Jolly Roger's, a pirate themed restaurant, for dinner and drinks.

Here's a picture from the restaurant. I had gone for my run, spent hours in the sun on the jetski, gotten drenched with lake water, ridden around on the boat, and still had not showered, so it's not my best picture. From left to right it goes Tyra, Sara, me, and Erin.

We got home from dinner a little before 8:00, and Sara and I were especially tired from our late night and early morning, so we both took naps before we headed out for the night. I'm not much of a napper, and I've certainly never taken a nap at 8:0o at night before, but I tell ya, that 15 minutes was just what I needed to catch a second wind. We headed out to the Horny Toad and Jeremiah's for some drinks and dancing.

Here we are just before leaving Tyra's parents' house.

So we headed out to the Horny Toad, and we were surprised to see there not many people there. It filled up fairly quickly, though, and we were a little depressed to realize we were the oldest women there. As women we were totally outnumbered by men in general. The music varied, but mostly it was younger stuff that we weren't so into. They did play some good "older" stuff, though, which we enjoyed dancing to. We saw a couple of bar fights, lots of younger women wearing inappropriate clothes, and one guy's hairy butt as he mooned us, so it was an eventful night. We pretended we were young again and stayed out until 1:00 a.m. and then talked until 3:00.

Saturday we needed to sleep in, but I don't do that very well, so I was up around 8:30 and had a nice breakfast with Tyra's parents, did a work out, read a magazine, and lazed around. At about 2:00 we headed out to the huge outlet mall for some retail therapy. We stayed in Saturday night and had a delicious dinner prepared by Denny and J.C. and some more good conversation.

Sunday we amazingly left the lake at about the time we said we were going to leave. We had a nice drive home and I got to spend the evening with Mike and the boys. They had a good boys only weekend, too. While I was gone it seemed healthy eating went out the window. I found out that Zach ate cheeseburgers for 3 of the 8 meals he had while I was gone (two of them being fast food, which we never eat), and pizza for another meal, but whatever.

It was a great weekend with great friends. It was so nice to get a break from taking care of the boys, but I was happy to come home, too.

Sorry about the blue font. I don't know how to change it.

Adventureland

First, a picture that I totally did not set up. This was on Thursday, and Zach was laying on the couch with his new beach towel, and Drew climbed up on top of him and just made himself comfortable. It was sweet.

We had a great weekend. Friday night we went over to our friends' house to grill and hang out. BJ and Susan have 2 daughters, Anna and Lucy, and they used to live next to us. Just about a year ago they moved, and now they live 5 or 6 blocks away. Not far, but far enough that we don't get to see them nearly as often as we did when they lived next door. Our friends/neighbors Brad, Molly, and Cooper went, too. The 6 of us adults have always had fun together and we used to hang out a lot more. It was a really great time hanging out. Everybody had a blast. Zach was happy to see his friend Anna again, and Drew loved playing with Anna's toys. I didn't have my camera along, but thankfully Susan got some good pictures!

Here's Cooper cracking up his mom.

Here are the little buddies- Zach and Anna. Anna is about 2 and a half. When we got to Anna's house, Zach and Anna disappeared down in the playroom. We didn't hear from them until we told them it was time to eat.

Saturday morning the boys were very cooperative when I asked them to sit on the stairs for a picture. Lately Zach's into this thing where he wants to be like Drew. If Drew's wearing his dog pajamas, Zach wants to wear his dog pajamas. If Drew is done eating, then so is Zach, even if he has lots of food left on his plate. It's very interesting to me. I imagine this will change over the next year or so, and Drew will be the one wanting to be exactly like Zach, though I've definitely started to notice some of that already, too. I really love this picture.

After I took the first picture, I asked Drew if he could snuggle Zach, and this is what he did. This is the same thing he does in the shopping cart when we're getting groceries on Mondays. He is really starting to want to snuggle Zach a lot, and thankfully, Zach lets him, and even seems to enjoy it.

Late Saturday morning, after Mike finished a conference call he had to do, we packed up the boys, dropped Drew off at Grandma Cynthia and Grandpa Kevin's house, and Mike, Zach, and I headed over to Adventureland. I have never been to Adventureland before, and it's been a long time since I've been to any amusement park, so I was excited. It was a gorgeous day- upper 70's and not humid- not the typical end of July day in the midwest. Apparently the a/c in the back of the car was too cool, though, because Zach said en route, "It feels like winter back here!"

Zach is big enough now that he can go on many rides with a parent, which makes it fun. We started the day on the Galleon, which is a big boat that sweeps from side to side. I like to call it the Sea Dragon, because that's what it is at the amusement park in Denver where I grew up. Anyway, Zach liked it right away because of the pirate theme, but then it got going, and we weren't so sure. He had kind of an unsure look on his face and said afterwards, "I'm never going on this ride again. It makes my tummy go too fast!" But then he said he would go on it again.

We did not take our camera, so I had to take pictures on my phone. Please excuse the quality. Here's Zach enjoying one of the kiddie rides- boats going around in a circle. Funny how fun those rides are for kids, even though they're all the same- they go around and around and around, and that's about it.

And another ride where he went around and around and around. Big surprise he chose the fire engine!


Here are Zach and Mike enjoying the bumper cars. I've hated bumper cars since I was little, so I was more than happy to let the boys do this one on their own. Even though the picture is blurry, you can see they still had a great time.

We ended the day on the log ride, which was a lot of fun. We put Mike in the front, and he got a nice load of cold water right in his lap. I was glad it wasn't me. We didn't make it to the water park portion of Adventureland because it was just getting to be a long day for Zach (and me!), and being just in the upper 70's with a slight breeze, I didn't really want to go on a bunch of water slides anyway. As we walked out of the park, I said something about how much fun it was being there. Zach said, "Yeah, it's always fun when I'm around." Humility is something we need to work on, apparently.

We then went and met Drew, Grandpa Kevin, and Grandma Cynthia at their house, and then went out for pizza with them, Aunt Katherine, and Katherine's friend Sam. It was a great Saturday!

Sunday was nice, too. We had a lazy morning and then I went for a run, which felt pretty good. Mike and the boys rode their bikes to Walgreen's and then to the park for some play time. After nap time, Zach and Mike went out to the golf course and Drew and I played around in the water table out back. Drew kept trying to put his face in the water, and he was successful much of the time.

Then the thought he'd try to stand in the bucket and lay on/in the water table. One time he sort of succeeded in laying in/on the table. The kid was drenched.

Zach had a blast at the golf course. He got to hit a ball into the water (someday he'll realize that's not a good thing), and some other golfer gave him a Mickey Mouse ball. He also enjoyed helping drive the golf cart.

This is something new the boys started doing during baths. Drew is pretty fearless in the water, which probably isn't a good thing. He loves laying on his tummy and putting his face in the water.

Monday morning Zach came into my room while I was still getting ready, and since he was still waking up, I told him to climb into my bed. He called Foudy up there, and they started snuggling. This totally reminds me of myself as a kid- I always wanted to snuggle our dogs on the bed, whether they wanted to or not. I don't think Foudy minded this, though.

And finally, two funny quotes from Zach today:

-I was telling Mike about a restaurant gift certificate I won from our library for turning in a sheet that said I read to Drew for 15 minutes every day from mid-June through August 1. Zach overheard me saying I won and asked me, "You won?! Where is your new pot that you won?" I said, "What? A pot?" Zach said, "Yeah, did you win your challenge and win a pot?" I've also been involved in a challenge this summer through the place where I work out, and Zach must have heard me say at one point that the winner "gets the pot."

-Today my friend Tyra stopped by to drop off a book she had borrowed. I was in the middle of getting the boys dressed and ready when she got here, so the boys were upstairs for a bit while she and I talked on the front porch. Zach had come down to see Tyra at one point, but he didn't have any pants on, so I sent him back upstairs. When I got back upstairs, they were just playing on my bed nicely, which was great. During dinner I was telling Mike this story, and I said how the boys were so good upstairs while I talked to Tyra. Zach happily chimed in, "Yeah, I was letting Drew play with my penis." Shocked, I said, "You what?!" as this was the first I'd heard of this. Zach giggled and said it was funny. I was glad I wasn't sitting at the table with him, because I was trying to stifle my own laughter. I guess I learned my lesson about leaving the boys alone for a few minutes. Next time I'll make sure they're both fully dressed!