Children's Museum ~ Aug. 1, 2009

We went to the Children's Museum in Bryan this summer. Brock and Ryan always have a good time here and it's something different to do...and somewhere cool to go in the hot summer!

Everytime we go to the Children's Museum, Brock and Ryan want their picture taken on this train.
One of their favorite things to do is to paint. They really like getting as messy as possible. Notice the intese concentration on their faces.

They have a great little grocery store donated by HEB. They actually got a new scanner that really works. The boys were excited about that!

Taking time out to read a little bit.Daddy pretends that he's far far away on an island somewhere.

Aug. 2009

All of my boys together.

Brock rarely wants his picture taken, but he asked me to take his picture by his good buddy, Max.
Ryan having fun in the bathtub.

Blue Bell Creamery

We went to the Blue Bell Creamery this summer and the kids had a really good time. They were very excited to go...especially since they knew the got a free ice cream scoop at the end of the tour. It was a great way to end the summer! Here are the boys standing out by the Blue Bell girl and her cow.

I tried to take a "nice" picture of them 3 times...this is the best one.
Checking out the old-fashioned car.Free ice cream!!!!

Sucking down the last tiny bit of ice cream.

Batman

Ryan loves Batman...playing with Batman toys and most especially dressing up as Batman. I think he dresses up as Batman at least once a day.

Learning to Ride Bikes

Since we only live a mile from Brock's school, he decided he wanted to learn how to ride his bike so he wouldn't have to walk every day. He rode a couple days with training wheels, but then one day on the way home, his training wheels kept popping up and I had to push his and my bike all the way home. After that, I told him he was going to learn how to ride without training wheels before we'd ride bikes to school again. So, that weekend he learned how to ride his bike...in about 4 trys!! He did awesome and is now riding like a pro!!!

Ryan also learned how to ride a bike with training wheels. He is doing great and getting better every day!

Sea World & Schlitterbahn

Sea World ~ July 17, 2009 ~ We had a good time at Sea World. The boys enjoyed seeing Shamu the most. We were a little disappointed in the amount of sea life that we saw (or didn't see!), but we still had fun and the boys will certainly remember it for a while!

Ryan & I by the flamingos.

Schlitterbahn ~ July 20, 2009 ~ The boys and I playing pirates ("Yaharrrrr")

Slippin' & slidin'!

I asked the boys if I could take a picture of them at lunch and this is what I got. They sure do love the camera, don't they!?

Brock & Ryan with their great-uncle Dick & great-aunt Harriett.

20-Year Reunion & Amarillo ~ July 1-7, 2009

My 20-year high school reunion was over the July 4th weekend. So, we drove up to Amarillo and Hereford for it and to visit family. We also went to see the play "Texas" in Palo Duro Canyon. It's still as good as I remember it to be and the boys enjoyed it, too. Here's a picture of my guys in the canyon.

Driving into Hereford the first day of the reunion was quite the eye-opener for my kids! Brock commented on how "this town stinks!!" and that he was "never getting out of the car!" Ryan didn't say much, but as we were leaving that night, Steve looked in the back seat and this is what he saw...

My high school friend, Monica, invited us out to her family's farm. The boys really had a good time. Here is a picture of Ryan, Brady (Monica's son) and Brock watching the cow dog herd the cattle. I'd never seen a cow dog herd cattle and I have to admit, it was pretty cool!

Look closely at the wheels!

Attendees of my reunion. We had a great time and it was so good to see everyone again!

Monica and I. As I said, we got to spend some time with some of our family, too. Here's Brock and Ryan enjoying a popsicle with their cousin, Jake...

...With their great-Aunt Vi...

...and on the trampoline after a hard day jumping!

Interviews

For a while now, Steve has wanted to set up interviews with Brock and Ryan on video. I have to admit I was a little skeptical, but thought we'd give it a try. We all interviewed each other and asked things like what their favorite toy was, who their best friend was, what games they liked to play and ask them to sing us a song. They also got to interview us and each other. They turned out awesome!! We've got them talking for a while and will be able to look back and hear the different nuances they had and the funny things they said. They really will be cherished forever. I highly recommend doing this with your kids!!

(P.S. I really wanted to upload some of the videos on here, but it would've taken forever...sorry!)

June 2009

We went to a birthday party for a friend of the boys' and went on a hayride and Brock and Ryan got to ride a horse. They were so excited and had a great time!

We bought a Slip -N- Slide for the boys. It was the best $10 we've spent in a long time! They've had a blast with it...and it's just what we need when it's 100+ degrees outside (like it has been the last 3 weeks straight!).

And the "Piece de Resistance" of Brock and Ryan.... They LOVE to scrub the toilet!!!! Every time we clean the bathrooms, they beg to clean the toilet! This will be great proof to have when they're teenagers and say that they don't like to clean toilets!! And some great embarrassing pictures for their wives! Notice how hard Brock is scrubbing...
...and how happy Ryan is!

Swimming Lessons

Brock and Ryan started swimming lessons last week. They had a really good time and learned a lot. They both spent most of their time underwater...on purpose!! If they weren't doing the activity with the instructor they were bobbing underwater...have I told you my kids love the water?!?!

Ryan practicing his front float.

Brock practicing his back float. He really doesn't like doing back floats (ever since he was a baby), but was doing pretty good by the last class.

Brock

Ryan
I tried to get a picture of the boys together and these are what I got. This is how it is every time I try to get a picture of them together...goofiness!!

A video of Brock.

A video of Ryan doing a back float.