Summer's Last Gasp

If I hadn't turned the pages of the calendar myself I would never have guessed that summer had passed. We've had such a mild season here!

We kept waiting for the really hot weather to arrive so we could go to the outdoor pool, but it never came. We finally went last week (when it was only 80 degrees. Brr!) just so we could say that we'd gone this summer.

At last we had one hot day (before a cold front moved in). Out came the slip-N-slide for some backyard fun!








We don't start school here until September 8th. We'll hang on to summer fun as long as we can!

Yes They Can!!

Overheard At My House

Braden (while watching a tender moment on "Burn Notice") :

"Yeah. That was sweet. Now please go shoot somebody."

It Was Like A Nightmare!

While driving home tonight the boys and I spotted a small plane slowly circling over fields near the highway. We wondered if it was a lost pilot, circling while waiting for the local airport to help him get where he was going.

But as we drove closer, we reconsidered and thought the plane might doing something else. The pilot was flying pretty low, and then would swoop up and turn some more, then dive lower again. Some of his dives were so steep they had us holding our breath, waiting to see if he would come out of them.

Finally, we were as close to the plane as we would get. But as we looked to our left we saw it dip down, and begin flying straight. toward. us.

As he flew closer and closer, I began to laugh nervously. It was not unlike this scene from a famous movie:



OK, it was slightly unlike that scene.

I was driving in a minivan with three children, and not standing on a dirt road. Cary Grant was not there.

However, it was sunny and there were plenty of nearby cornfields in which we could hide, but I wasn't willing to drive into them at 65 mph.

The plane flew over the top of us, and once on the other side he began to climb for another pass. Thankfully we were speeding away and the plane's next downward swoop was behind us.

The plane crash scene from "The English Patient" came to mind.

I cannot stand "The English Patient." I saw it. I hated it. I wanted my money back. I still rant about that 2 hour and 42 minute waste of celluloid.



I was annoyed when it came to mind. I would much rather have been thinking of Cary Grant!

To Sum Up...

You know, I think this lack of a camera cord is good for me. I've had fun combing through older pictures in search of something to post.

I was talking with my mom this afternoon, who had assumed that I'd not posted much this summer because we were so busy. That wasn't really the case, though.

It is true, that we were occasionally busy this summer, but mostly I didn't post because I didn't think we'd done anything "blog-worthy." It's hard for me to post unless something interesting happens.

So going through older photos has been fun! Here's some of what I'd missed:

M. turned 40 in June. The boys wanted to have 40 candles on his cake. Colson's counting to make sure they're all there.


Here's the cloud after M. blew out the candles. Look at all that smoke!


In May we went to the zoo with some cousins who were visiting. We arrived just in time to follow a zoo keeper around as he fed the animals. The polar bear was swimming, and the keeper threw his food (one item at a time) into the water so the bear could swim and dive for it.


If there is a statue, odds are one of the boys will want to sit on it.


The sun bear climbed up into a tree in order to be closer to the keeper. To the right you can see the keeper throwing the produce to him, and the bear is just catching it in his mouth.


Here is one of the cousins. Or maybe he's a cousin once removed? I'm not sure. He's one of the children of M.'s cousin. We toured the desert dome at the zoo, and I got him to pose with one of the lizard statues there. He was a sweetie, and I loved that he was happy to pose for pictures.


Brogan. Looking so grown up and .... cool.


Earlier this spring Brogan informed us that he likes coffee. He convinced Grandma to make him a cup of coffee while he read the Sunday morning comics.

Hmph.

Well, I'd love to post some pictures about what we did last week. But, sadly, I cannot.

You see someone, most likely one of the someones who are shorter than me, has been chewing on the ends of my camera cord.

CHEWING!

As if I don't feed them enough!

As if I don't lecture remind them to take care of their teeth!

Am I raising puppies?

Do I need to specifically state "Do not chew on (insert multiple non-chewable household items here)" for them to understand that this is not to be done?



So, until I have the time to drive into the big city and hit Best Buy, I'll have to make do with old photos.

We recently took M.'s parent's into town to explore. We found this wonderful little alley between buildings that has been converted into a covered patio. It was cool and artsy and delightful.


This part of town has brick streets and lots of outdoor eateries. We saw restaurants featuring all sorts of international food, and my mother-in-law and I decided that next time we come back we'll be prepared to eat. Maybe we can manage to eat one course per restaurant. That way we can cover 3-4 restaurants in a day!

The boys liked the brick planters. On the corner behind us were both a street musician and a painter. The boys had never seen artists on the street like that, so we spent a little time talking to them and listened to some music.


We toured a very old train station that has been turned into a museum. The architecture was stunning. We felt very small in the main station.



Underground were retired train cars from various eras. Some of the cars had been used to carry very important people, and were set up to show how people traveled from those times.

We spent a long time looking over displays.


Upstairs, in the station, several statues played vignettes reflecting typical conversations that might have been overheard during the heyday of the station. Here a soldier says goodbye to his sweetheart before heading off to war. Some were funny, but many were sobering.


We also ran into these folks, but they didn't have much to say.



"Mom! Want some fake money?!?!"

Colson and Brogan played at the bank in the money exhibit.


The boys learned about the cycle of money, from the mint to their piggy banks.

He's Home!

For the past two weeks he's been off having adventures. But now he's back under our roof.

We've all missed him.

For Braden

An old favorite!


Land Shark

End Of The Swim Season

Wow. It's done. The whirlwind that was the summer swim season is over.

The final meet was a doozy. Nine area swim teams converged on one small-town pool, and took over for a whole day. We stayed at the pool for nearly 10 hours before our events were finished. Other families stayed longer. Thankfully the weather was cooperative - we had sunny skies and temps in the 70s. It was a long, exhausting, but beautiful day.

Braden, Brogan and I arrived at the pool at 7:30 a.m. Our team had the first warm-ups, so we had to be there 90 minutes before the meet started. Grandma and Grandpa came for the weekend, and they drove up with M. at 9:00 am.

It was a little chilly at 7:30 am. But that didn't stop the kids from getting in the pool. Here, Brogan is practicing his starts. Look at that dive! Look at his hand position as he goes into his streamline!


Look at those ribs! I need to get him a sandwich. Or a steak. or something.

It's hard for me to get pictures of the boys swimming. 90% of the time they are underwater when I click the shutter, or they are completely obscured by splash. But here is one of Brogan swimming the butterfly leg of his 100 Meter Individual Medley.



In between races there was snacking, gazing into space, and lots of snuggling and reading.



Brogan took 4th place in his age group in the 100 Meter Individual Medley!


I drew circles over the faces of the other boys in the photo because I didn't have permission to post their pictures. I know there's a way to pixelate their faces, but it will take me too long tonight to find it. The black circles make them look kind of sinister, don't they? That's a shame. They really are very nice boys.

Braden qualified for the finals in the 50 Meter Backstroke. Here's his race. (Sorry about my running commentary.) Braden's in Lane 4.

50 Meter Back Final







He took second! This is his first time on the podium.

Brogan qualified for the 25 Meter Breaststroke finals. I don't have a good video of his finals race, as there were timers between Brogan and my camera. But here is his prelim race. He's in Lane 1, the one closest to the wall.

25 Meter Breaststroke





Brogan took 5th!

(Those white circles look friendlier, don't they? I'll stick with white, I think. )

So now we have a month off before practices start up again. It's nice not to have to schedule our mornings around practices, but I'm looking forward to having a way for them to burn off a bunch of energy again!