Miscellaneous Summer Fun - July 2015

Miscellaneous, continued...

The boys did a week long soccer camp with Scott Gallagher.  A few of Jack's buddies from his soccer team (Jackson and Tyler) signed up too, and Charlie ended up in the same group as the 3 big kids.  They had a lot of fun...

 Just a fun day with Grandma and Grandpa Lang at Creve Coeur Park...

 Another lunch date!

 Jack stylin' with his new baseball bag (hand-me-down from my coworker's daughter)...

 Just sweet boys zonked out in their beds....

 A fun cousin day with Grandma Clayton at the Magic House...

 Ice cream treat after the last night of baseball!!

 AND, new bunk beds!!  In preparation for Baby, we moved Charlie into Jack's room.  They were so excited about their new bunk beds!!  We started out with Jack on the top bunk, but after a week or more with bedtime requiring LOTS of reminders to quiet down and go to sleep, we had to make a change.  We moved Charlie to the top and all of our troubles vanished.  It turns out when Charlie is on the top bunk, he just goes to sleep.  When Jack is on the top bunk, he feels the need to throw loveys and pillows down on Charlie and goof off.  We were so relieved we found a solution.  The boys each have their own drawers and own cubbies for all of their treasures, and I'd say generally they are happy sharing their room.  I hope it lasts!

Miscellaneous Summer Fun - June 2015

Just a few hodge podge posts so I don't miss any of our summer fun!

I tried to take the boys on lunch dates when I could, especially Jack since the days were numbered of having him a few buildings over while I worked.  Our favorite was to get take-out Moe's and take it to the park.  We'd eat and then walk around the path.

 One Saturday after Charlie & Brooks' soccer game, we hit up the Home Depot for the kids building workshop.  We built some pretty cool trucks!

 One night we picked up Caroline and Graham for a play date because their mommy (Rebecca) was at the very end of her pregnancy.  I thought she could use a break, so I kidnapped her kids for an evening.  We don't get these kiddos together enough - they got along so great!  Jack and Caroline are about 8 months apart (both 5 years old) and Graham and Charlie are just a week apart.  We started out at Monkey Joe's for some bouncing fun.  Tough to get a non-blurry picture of these busy bodies!

 Jack and Charlie on the way down; Caroline and Graham on the way up:

 After Monkey Joe's we went to dinner at Noodles:

 Then we hit up Millennium Park in Creve Coeur:

Caroline and Jack on the lookout for the other two

 Then we stopped and picked out popsicles at the gas station and took them to Stacy Park for a little more play time.

 What a fun night we had!!

We also did quite a bit of swimming - this was just a random Sunday with the neighbors.  The life guards call "adult swim" when they need a break, so the kiddos were patiently waiting for the OK to get back in the pool...

 The boys got to go to the farm one weekend with Grandma and Grandpa!  We're told they fished pretty much the entire weekend...

 One day at Grandma & Grandpa Lang's house, the boys played Marines..

 Pardon the yelling, but here are the boys marching and singing the Marine Corps Hymn...

And we build A LOT of Lego creations.  Here are a few of Jack's:

And a couple of Charlie's:

The are both getting pretty good at building and are always so proud!

Lake of the Ozarks - 2015

The weekend after Table Rock, we had our annual family/friends trip to the Lake of the Ozarks.  This is always one of the highlights of our summer!  My lifelong friends are even more spread out now that Jules and Adam moved to Singapore for a few years, but luckily everyone still made it in town for the treasured lake trip!!

The boys did a LOT of fishing with Grandpa and Daddy.  They pretty much asked to go fishing any time we were in the condo.

Jack even caught a turtle!

 Another highlight for the boys was the night we took them go carting (a first!) and on bumper cars.  They had a blast!!

 They had the whole bumper car place to themselves!

 We spent some time on my parents' friends' boats.  One day we went out and anchored in a cove like the good ol' days.  Our lake trips of yore involved all-day coving out with many beers and lots of sun.  Now we maybe go out one day, and the Clayton clan is usually on the first boat back to the condos for nap/quiet time.  The boys really enjoyed jumping off the boats and swimming to the shore.

 On the last night, we got all the kiddos together for their own version of the annual dice game.  Here are some of the kids pre-partying...

 And here are most of the kids (missing 2 kiddos plus a baby).  The 3rd generation has grown over the years!!

 Charlie was really into the song Happy at the time, so when it came on during the party, I hoped to catch him singing.  No dice, but I did capture a little dancing...

My lifelong friends!! Jules, Laura, me, Angie

 Another great lake trip in the books!  Although the trip is not quite the same as it was 10 years ago, we still have such a great time.  I love sharing this tradition with my boys and hope we continue through the 4th generation!!