Our summer so far...

Our summer so far has been a lot of fun.

We have spent some time at my parents lake house. The kids had a great time playing on the beach with their cousin and Papa.

Many of our days are spent at the pool. We LOVE going to the pool. This year has been great because the kids are doing a lot of swimming on their own (no floatation of any kind). It is fun to work with them on their swimming and see how excited they are about it.

Addison is even jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side just fine.

She is always the smallest kid in line....

And what is a visit to the pool without getting a snack.

In between all our fun, Bob is working hard on training for triathlons (and a half ironman) and just like last year, he participated in the Ronald McDonald House Charities Century ride. There was a big rain delay, but Bob was one of few to complete all 100 miles and he also raised almost $1,200.

We were excited to be there to see him finish.

So proud of their Daddy!

Last week I took the kids to the beautiful Missouri Botanical Gardens on a beautiful summer day.

My mom was so mad at me for making her walk up this....

Summer = extra time with Nana

And when we aren't swimming or off doing some other fun activity, the kids are usually at home dressing up in some costume. Here is their "So You Think You Can Dance" outfits that they put on while we watched the show.

My brother, Nicole, Avery and Emery are all living in St. Louis now and the kids are just loving spending so much time with their cousins. Here they are with Avery getting ready to ride on the train at the Museum of Transportation.

We can't wait to enjoy the rest of the summer with a lot more lake time, friends coming to visit, another road trip, swim lessons, a long weekend at The Lake of the Ozarks and lots and lots of days at the pool. We love summer!!!

cicadas, the garden, and more cicadas.

It is so great having the woods in our back yard. We have a great view from our deck and no neighbors behind us. The woods and trees are great....except when they are COVERED in cicadas. The 13-year cicadas have been in full effect in our area for more than 3 weeks now. They love our big tree in our front yard which has made it difficult to take Louie out or get the mail without being attacked by cicadas. I am happy to report that they seem to be mostly dead and hopefully all gone soon (fingers crossed). My fear of most all bugs (including cicadas) has been passed down to Addison and Lucas. We haven't been playing outside pretty much at all in the past 3 weeks except for some trips to the pool (where they have taken over as well but it was still manageable).

Yesterday we finally ventured back outside so the kids could ride bikes. The cicadas have been dropping from the trees in the past few days and seem to die in a matter of minutes. The kids were braving the cicadas and even putting some of them out of their misery by running them over on their bikes (ha ha). They would see one on the ground, head towards it and say "this is for making my summer a bummer" and then ride on over it. Believe me, I told them that it is not normally ok to go around killing bugs but with the quantity and how annoying they have been....I gave the kids my blessing!!!

Here they are all ready on their bikes to take out the cicadas. Yes, Lucas is wearing a jacket and gloves (what he calls his motorcycle outfit) but at least it wasn't too hot. And Addison is wearing a swimsuit top and gloves as well (the best she could come up with for her motorcycle outfit) oh, and don't forget the leg warmers.

On another note....this is the year of our first garden (Bob's big project). We ran into some tough times getting it started but we are so happy with how far it has come in the last few months! No luck on the peppers or green beans yet but we have had other success....

Strawberry plants. We have gotten a few strawberries so far. One really good sized one (we split it 4 ways...ha ha).

Lots of lettuce/mixed greens. No more store bought salad for us!

Some yummy herbs...basil, cilantro and dill. Some broccoli will hopefully appear soon.

Lots of tomato plants!

Now that the cicada season is almost over...the kids made big steps with them tonight. Our neighbor Randy was talking to the kids outside about the cicadas and was able to convince the kids to touch one and then Addison even picked a few up. Lucas wouldn't pick one up but Addison was very proud that she did it and here is proof.

They tried to get me to hold one. Are they nuts!!!!

Cincinnati trip 2011

We just got back from another great trip visiting our friends Kristin and Mike in Cincinnati. It was even more special this year because we got to meet this beautiful little girl!!!

Brynleigh is such a cute little baby and I am so happy for my friend to have her little daughter!

We pretty much had the perfect trip. My friends are so nice to give up their weekend and host us like this (of course we do the same for them). But with busy lives, with 2 kids (one being a newborn), it sure is not easy. The kids get along so well and had fun during their sleepovers and it is so nice to have adult time with great friends as if we were just together the day before. Kris and I have been friends for almost 20 years now and I am so thankful to have her in my life and be apart of each other families (same goes for all my bff's)!

Saturday was great. We laid low in the am, Kris and I went for a run and then we spent a few hours at their neighborhood pool. It was perfect.

Sunday was even better! We spent about 4.5 hours in the afternoon at Kings Island water park (only about 10 minutes from their house). The hit of the day was the water slides for sure.

This water slide was HUGE. I was shocked when we walked up to it and saw that you only needed to be 40 inches tall to go on it. So, we went for it. Addison was really excited and Lucas was not so sure. There were 4 lanes and me, Bob and the kids all went down at the same time. It was fun but boy was I shocked at how scary it could be for a little kid. I didn't even get to enjoy it much because the whole way down I was thinking..."how are my babies riding down this water slide all by themselves." But they made it down fine and Addison loved it and went again and Lucas' one ride down was enough for him.

After the water park, we went back to Kris' for a quick rest and came back a little later for the 2nd part of our amusement park fun (another 4.5 hours).

Getting ready to take Addison and Lucas on their first roller coaster ride.

They loved the bumper cars and did so well!

Good buddies getting ready to ride another coaster together.

I think Ty likes Addison!!!

Me and Kris.

Another fun ride.

Kris, Mike and Tyler had to leave a little before us to go get Bryn from grandmas but me, Bob and the kids enjoyed every last minute and stayed till the park closed. It was a great day!!!

Carlyle Lake Triathlon & beach fun

A few weeks ago Bob competed in his first triathlon of the year at Caryle Lake. He is also training for a half iron man (yes, he is crazy) so instead of doing the shorter distance that he signed up for, he decided the night before to challenge himself more and do the olympic (longer) distance. I think he is very glad that he did. He did really well and was very happy with his swim time especially. We were so happy to be there to cheer him on and as always, were so proud of him!

Finishing up on the bike.

Just about done with the run and the whole race.

So proud of her Daddy.

After Bob was done, we came prepared and enjoyed the beach on the beautiful day. It was so much fun watching them!

Getting nice and dirty!