4th of July at Pearl Lake

When we can, we try to spend the July 4th weekend at Pearl Lake. Panoramic fireworks that we watch from the boat, playing in the lake, time with family, and now, Isaac's birthday!

The big boys love to fish and are always asking Corey, Uncle Pat, Buppa or Daddy to do it with them. We actually let them both use hooks now, with supervision.

Lots of cute Ben close-ups from this weekend.

Naptime on the docked pontoon!

Hanging with Buppa

Grammy feeds Ben yogi; Isaac wants in on the spoon action

Momma and Ben

They're not truly wrestling--more just holding each other up!

The big guys always end up out on Big Mable during the booze cruise. This time, the ladies took our turn!

Everyone wants to help drive!

Ben gets a chance by himself.

TJ skied!

The boys rode Big Mable with Niki and Corey

A recreation of a picture from the year (or two?) before...this time with the bookends!

These two were like turtles with their life jackets on--if they tipped over, they couldn't get back up! They did like playing in the sand though.

Another Mable ride with Buppa! I had stitches in my thumb, so I was out of commission lake-wise this weekend. :( 

Jet skiing with Daddy

Jojo's fish

TJ's fish

Saying (a temporary) goodbye to good friends

Good friends of ours are spending the 2015-2016 school year in Florida. We were sad to see them go but happy they'll be coming back! Before they left, we hung out several times, including our favorite buffet lunch at Erbelli's. 

These two are 6 weeks apart. They'll have changed so much in a year!

Preschool buddies!

This dark little back room is the hidden secret at Erbelli's. It's small and private with convenient access to the buffet--perfect for families with wild children! We sit here every time if we can.

We also had our first (and last) date night with Dennis and Amy. We went to SkyZone, the trampoline park, and had so.much.fun!

Playing dodge ball with some high school/college (?) kids

Check out my air!

Love this perfectly timed photo of the four of us!

Group selfie!

After jumping, we went to Zingo's for dinner and then topped off the night with custard. Hoping to do more dates nights when they return!

Benjamin is 10 months

So this kid turned 10 months! 

He spends lots of time standing up on furniture...

 And other places...

In fact, he's quite the stunt man! (Below he is standing on top our garbage can insert--I had taken the full bag out and he tipped this over and used it in his never-ending quest to get into the pantry.)

And the gates on the stairs don't even hold him back--the gate fell over and he just climbed right over it.

He also likes to put things in his mouth:

Sometimes it's fake food...

And sometimes it's real food--this pickle--his first--amused him for about 15 minutes when we ventured out to eat as a family one night!

Here he is sitting on a quilt I was binding outside.

And eating breakfast "like a big boy" at the little table with Jojo.

Random June pics

Messy ice cream cones!

I mean really messy...

Jojo fell asleep like this one afternoon. My neck hurts just looking at him!

Crazy hair! I believe this was when he requested "product" after seeing TJ's spiky hair. It works better on shorter hair.

TJ's last day of school

Boy that school year went fast! Here's TJ's last day of school pic. He's even got some product in his hair to spike it up (a constant request from him!). See his first day of school pic here. 

Super excited!

with his bus driver, the wonderful Mr. Stevens. On the last day, Mr. Stevens has a sign with a countdown of the days until school starts again. :)

with his teacher, the fantastic Mr. DeLille

Little League: The Green Goblins

TJ played in the 6 and 7 year old machine pitch league this year. His team was the Green Goblins and Ed was the coach. We had games on Friday nights and Saturday mornings. Both Ed and TJ had a great time, and TJ played very well. At this age, they still play all positions, and they all had to try catcher--which wasn't popular because of occasionally getting hit with the (fairly fast) pitches. 

Batting:

Waiting for the throw to come to first base:

One of his biggest fans. :)

Jojo wishes he could play!

On first base:

One super wet game, we had to hide out under the umbrella!

Jojo got soaked!

In the dugout:

Cookies I made for our last game:

The team:

TJ and Coach Daddy

Grammy and Buppa visit

Grammy and Buppa came to visit and watch TJ play Little League. 

Watching TJ's games is way more interesting from up high!

Ben was happy for the new view as well.

There was also a project--when isn't there?!--replacing the main beam on our swing set. Here TJ is helping Ed drill holes. 

Jojo helping remove the swing set pieces from the old beam.

 Removing the old beam itself was a group effort!

Buppa and (three of) his grandsons

Grammy and Buppa and the boys