Summer Excitement

I can't believe that the summer is nearly halfway over. The boys have been having a blast going to the water park, spending time at Grammie and Grandad's house, going to camp (Austin), and going to gymnastics (Jacob).

It has been super hot here. Maybe it's because I spent the past 6 summers in Colorado (where even though the days are really hot, the nights are cool) that the heat in NC seems unbearable. You don't realize how bad the humidity is until you are away from it for awhile and then return. I remember growing up in NC, I would have friends from other areas who would say "how can you possibly live there....it is SO hot." It never seemed that bad to me. Now I understand where they are coming from. John is slowly adjusting to never getting completely dry when you get out of the shower and not being able to open the windows at night to enjoy the "coolness" of the night.

The boys and I stay cool by spending about three days a week at the water park. We usually meet my sister in law and nephew there and sometimes I rope my mom into coming as well. There are tons of great kids' slides for the boys and they both are very comfortable in the water. Jacob is our daredevil (who incidentally doesn't know how to swim) and Austin is our more cautious one (who does know how to swim).











Ready for a day at the water park


Supposedly we are in a drought but it seems that whenever we do get rain, we get a bad storm. On several occasions it has hailed almost like some of the hail storms we would see when we lived in Colorado. When it rains hard, our backyard turns into a small creek.










Black ice?!? Nope..just a hail storm


This past week, Austin officially became "snaggle tooth." Yes...he lost his first tooth. He was at camp a little over a week ago and got hit in the mouth. Something about a rubber snake and two kids were pulling on it and he fell back or something. At any rate, at the end of the incident, his tooth was loose.
After a week of wiggling, the tooth came out. Of course, Austin was adamant that he get it under his pillow right away for the tooth fairy (we never told him about the tooth fairy....must be a preschool learning activity :) ). The next morning Austin was super excited about the dollar the tooth fairy left him. Jacob came running in saying "The tooth fairy took Austin's tooth. Oh no...he forgot his money." Apparently he didn't completely understand the whole tooth fairy thing. Luckily he has a couple of years to master the concept.

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On the Brink of Summer

It seems like just yesterday we were moving here from Colorado and I was signing the boys up for preschools here in NC. That's what makes it hard to believe that 4.5 months have passed and the boys had their last day of preschool last Friday. Both Austin and Jacob really liked their preschools and both boys adored their teachers. Austin's teacher was the more firm (but kind) teacher while Jacob's was the more laid back, not so many rules type teacher. Austin is anxiously awaiting starting kindergarten in the fall.
Both boys' preschools had a little end of the year presentation. Austin's class sang some songs, said some verses, etc. and then had a picnic. I was completely amazed to find out that Austin knows the entire Lord's Prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and all the disciples names. It is amazing what a good preschool can do. Jacob's class completed the year in cap and gown. They "graduated" to the next class complete with 2008 tassels. It was so adorable. I couldn't believe how well Jacob knew the songs and that he actually stood in one place for about 10 minutes to sing. He was so excited for us to be there...he was beaming (see picture).
For Memorial Day, we decided to go on our first true family vacation. What I mean by that is that we have been on many vacations with John's parents, my parents, our siblings, etc. but never just the four of us. We went to Williamsburg, Virginia and had a wonderful time. The kids were awesome. They were mostly whine-free the entire time and both Austin and Jacob loved all the rides at Busch Gardens (the amusement park we went to). Austin was able to ride his first adult roller coaster....The Big Bad Wolf. Unfortunately, Jacob was about 1/4 inch too short to ride some of the bigger rides, although he was so borderline in height, they let him get on a couple of the rides he probably shouldn't have ridden. They both were daredevils and wanted to try every ride they could. We did some shopping at the outlets in Williamsburg as well. Of course, that was heaven for me and the boys (John included) were real troopers. We can't wait to go back again sometime soon.

P.S......Be forewarned, there are a lot of pictures :)






Jacob's teacher














Austin's teacher









Jacob singing









And singing


























Austin's class

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