Before and After

Charlie decided to make a big change this week!

2nd Annual Friend Camp

Earlier this month we got together with some other families to do our 2nd annual friend camp. (You can see last year's by clicking here.) We had so much fun doing bugs last year that we decided to do bugs again. Each mom took the 8 kids for a day. On our day we learned about grasshoppers.

Even Dave got in on the fun!

It was too hot to go outside, but the kids and Dave still enjoyed playing Hide and Seek Tag in the house. It was the hit of the day!

I'm so grateful that these kids are getting to grow up together! I don't know how many pictures I have of them all sitting on these stairs. :)

July

We spent the 4th of July in Kansas City with Doug, Sue, Macy, Calvin, and Adrienne and my Aunt Jane. 

Nate going off the high dive

Dave's turn!

Calvin has a mini foosball table that ended up being the hit of the trip. We even put together a 8-person tournament.

Nate and Sue in the first round.

The championship match between Charlie and Doug

Doug ended up being the champion and Charlie the runner-up

We had so much fun shooting off fireworks in their driveway. Quite a change from what we're used to where the only fireworks are the ones set off by cities.

We were also there to celebrate Calvin's 9th birthday!

In July the boys also did a week-long art camp. The theme was pets, which is right up Nate's alley. I loved seeing everything they made. Wesley was definitely Nate's muse for most of his artwork.

And Dave and I got all dressed up for a friend's prom-themed birthday party.

We also finally got an In-N-Out somewhat near us, so we had to introduce the boys to one of Dave's childhood faves.

Charlie's Birthday

Our Charlie turned 6 in June! We celebrated with donuts and strawberry milk for breakfast and lunch at Chuck E. Cheese with his buddy from church.

The boys love playing Super Mario Bros. at Dave's parents house every Friday, so Aunt Nancy got them their own Mario and Luigi hats and mustaches!

June

For Father's Day we went for a morning hike and then went to dinner in Denton.

The boys went to VBS at a small church down the street.

 

We enjoyed our Father's Day hike so much that we found a few other places to explore. On this hike we had a snake slither across our path, and on another hike we watched a pack of armadillos feasting right next to the trail.

Interesting side note, this is probably one of only two times that Nate has worn shorts all summer. He has insisted on wearing pants everyday this summer. He's lucked out and it has been a relatively mild summer.

 The boys are turning into HUGE baseball fans. We were able to attend a couple games. I took the boys to one, and all four of us were able to go watch Yu Darvish pitch. Fortunately we had great weather for that one despite it being the end of June in Texas.

Guys Week Video

Here's a quick video of our outings back in June. Since Momma is away this weekend for a much needed rest, we have a Guys Weekend planned for tomorrow and Sunday.

3rd Annual Guys Week

The boys and I recently finished our annual week where we give Gretchen some much needed time off as we go do some fun stuff. Here are a few pictures from the week. The music video is forthcoming.

We started the week with camping and fishing at Lake Grapevine. I hope that the boys will continue to enjoy outings like this so that we might make future Guys Weeks into hiking and camping trips.

Tuesday was a minor league baseball doubleheader in Grand Prairie. We stayed for both games, Charlie got a foul ball and Nate tormented the mascot, a flying pig.

Wednesday was a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo. The boys favorite exhibit was the meerkats. Nate wanted to take one home if he could.

Thursday was some pool time with the boys' best friend, Cody. We also had a hot dog eating contest. Charlie was the big winner - 11 hot dogs in 8 minutes (just the dog, no bun). Nate almost disqualified himself by eating his first one before the timer started. He ended up eating 7 by himself.

Friday was Indycar qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway with Gray Gray. The boys really had fun watching each car take four laps around the track, wanting to know the name of all the drivers.

Saturday was an excursion to Lone Star Park. We made an exception for Granny and invited her to come with us. Charlie picked the winner in the fourth race. He was so excited to win his $2.60! He also got a pair of autographed goggles from the winning jockey in the 2nd race.

We finished the week off on Sunday with a trip to Medieval Times, a dinner and entertainment theater with live action knights jousting and sword fighting. Right up the boys alley. By this time, Gretchen was really missing all of us so she joined us for dinner.