silent night ... almost

tonight our house is VERY quiet

this afternoon we dropped the boys off for a week of camp

drew met up with our neighbors brandon and jack
and
ben met up with his friend spencer

they will both be at camp for a FULL WEEK!

i am already missing them

BUT

they were SO excited to go

and

within an hour of being there they already had great plans

SO

we followed our tradition of getting ice cream all together

and then left each in the hands of 2 brave and fearless counselors

tonight i am torn

i am enjoying the quiet
BUT at the same time i am almost missing the craziness.
i am comforted by the fact that i know they are having fun
and i know from past years that the time will go SO fast
but it's also hard to see alex lonely.
he's already asking if we can email them and ask them to come home
he has made a bed on our bedroom floor that will probably last the entire week
and
it's looking like tomorrow will be spent showing alex the benefits of being
a temporary only child

only 6 more days, alex.
now's your chance

busy fun

last week we may have had a lot of baseball
AND
it may have been VERY hot
BUT
that didn't stop us

they boys were on their 2nd week of golf lessons



and for alex this was his first time ever!

they worked on their driving, chipping, putting ...
they got reminders on etiquette ...
and
alex even got a crazy golf cart ride!
these guys DEFINITELY know how to motivate kids ;)

the boys spent a LOT of time playing with the neighbors



the week may or may not have included just a few of these ... ;)

and it most definitely included a lot of this ...

alex has now mastered the front float and the back float
and
all 3 boys are convinced that we need our own pool.
guess it's time to move somewhere that we could use a pool year round.
sounds like a compromise to me ;)

i am guessing that last week was probably our busiest of the entire summer
AND
it may have taken almost a full week to get caught up here in blog world
BUT
we survived and had fun with it
AND
if i had to choose between summer busy-ness and being stuck inside mid winter
i'd choose this ANY day

* the zoo *

with baseball over
a PERFECT weather forecast
and
a week of camp just around the corner -
the boys and i decided to spend today at the zoo



as always ...
they loved the splash pad

and ...
staying cool and getting wet captured most of the day

HOWEVER ...
the farm is the one place that REALLY held their attention

as always ... the goats are always hungry

and the cows always need milking

so it was perfect.

---------------

the milking ended up being ben's highlight of the day

alex walked away wondering when we could go back to the place
that he gets to pull the cow's penis to get milk
can you say 'city boy'

drew decided that the zoo needs some alpaca
because they are the coolest animal
because they spit

and as always ... i just loved watching the baby dolphin

it's always something different
and
it never stops being fun

can it just stay summer forever?

IF ...

IF ...
you get new goggles ...
and then find they aren't JUST good for swimming ...
but feel as though you should wear them each and every single place that you go ...

you and alex could be fast friends ...

bottom of the 9th

this week brought the end of baseball 2011.

both teams started out the week strong
and then on thursday night our stingers ABSOLUTELY fell apart :(
so badly that - although they went all season without a loss -
they had to play in the consolation bracket for the season tournament :(

BUT ...
that didn't stop our weekend fun

grandma, grandpa, and aiden joined us



and we won each and every game for the rest of this weekend

we spent a lot of time with friends

: : spencer and ben : :

we found a little something that helped ease the tournament jitters



and then watched as they played their hearts out

not even a SERIOUS downpour slowed them down

it just got me nice and drenched

and ben excessively dirty

WHILE ...
on the bucks side of town
things were dry
and the bucks were busy playing their last game of the season

thankfully stacey has learned well
and took a lot of pictures for me :)

it's SO hard for me to miss one of their games
BUT ...
knowing we had our extra fans for the weekend made it a little easier!



they cheered alex to a win
and then joined back up with me
to watch ben's team finish up their season



an official final record of 16-1-1



we celebrated tonight with a kickball and pizza party



we have all had so much fun this season!
it was definitely busy
and it made our life a little crazy
BUT
i am really going to miss it
did i really just say that?!

GREAT job ben and alex!!
GREAT job stingers!!
GREAT job bucks!!

baseball season 2011 is officially OVER
AND ...
we have 3 weeks until football ;)

HOT hot HOT

it may be HOT out

BUT
that hasn't stopped ben's baseball team

they've still been playing ...
AND rockin' it!

they've just needed a few 'extras'

one being the cooler of water - which was a HUGE hit

and although physically it kept ben cool ...
he was HOT at the plate
and
HOT out in field

they all played a GREAT game!
AND ...

when it's 100 degrees +
there is no better way to celebrate than
WATER BALLOONS!!!

way to go stingers!!

game one of the tourney is done ...

let's keep up the fun!