the coloring shirt

On Luke's birthday, both boys got a present from Gma Trish - the coloring shirt!
Jack could not wait to get at it!

It is very cool that they boys can color it themselves, I iron it, wash it and they can wear their own color creation!  Jack worked very hard on it with just a little help from me writing his name and holding shirt so that he could color it!

 
Luke hasnt done his yet, but he is not the artist in the family. 

WW: Ice explorers

In honor of the recent HOT weather...a ice toy!
Boys get to hammer = heaven!

field trip

Last week the boys went on their first field trip together to Mindy's Ranch.
(Mindy owns the 2 preschools that the boys have attended)
She has horses...

And goats (we didn't see the pigs as they went to their new "home" at the fair auction)

and kittens!
Not pictured are the chickens, pigeons and St Bernard dog.
Mindy and her family are in the 4-H.
It was a lot of fun, but Luke was in a mood.
We had to "use" the potty 14 times in the 3 hours we were there...
I sort of feel like I know her bathroom better then the animals!

The kittens were sooooo cute!

Attack of the tomatoes

I am surrounded by tomatoes!
Help! Anyone? Easy, freezable recipes that to not involve an over (really hot here right now - summer has arrived)
I have lots of tomato sauce stored up for the winter.
Im having problems with blogger and google so I hope this posts...

Loren's beach trip

Loren left yesterday for his beach trip with his 3rd graders (boo hoo).
We went to have dinner with him on the first night.

We had tacos with the "big" kids and saw where daddy would be sleeping.
Daddy is not in a tent like the rest of the kids and parents.
He and the other 2 teachers get a 2 room cabin (which sounds much more spacious then it really is!)

Daddy's cabin does, however, have a porch swing!

The boys are standing around the campfire steping on burning embers that jump out of the fire.
Not my favorite game mor them to do, but the other boys are good at spotting them.

WW: Climbing around

Loren saw these pictures and wondered where they were taken that I would let him climb this...
I had no worries. Jack is a good climber!

last fair post

What do you think Luke is looking at, with a concerned look...

The sea lion exhibit at the fair...because every county fair must include ocean creatures!

I was very surprised to see  sea lions!

Jack was a bit concerned too, but loved it.  He is still talking about the sea lion that balanced a ball on his nose!

Luke and I almost got splashed!

More fair...

Feeding the goats and horses.

There was this really neat exhibit area with things all put together by kids 7-13ys old called Mr Magorium Exploratorium.

fan + cone + beach ball = fun!

The fair

Yesterday, we took the boys to the Santa Cruz County fair in Watsonville.

It is a pretty small fair, but has lots of rural things...like giant pumpkins, pigs, goats and horses.

And fire trucks

And turkeys!
This turkey was so big and ornery that it kept moving the cage around...Jack and Luke were not to happy with that.
All I could think of is that it is gonna be one heck of a turkey dinner.
All and all it was a great time at the fair!

Slippy slide

Okay, so these are from labor day at my Aunt and Uncles house.

It took the boys a little bit to warm up to it, but they loved the slip in slide!

(I love how Lukes suit is wrapped around to keep it up, he eventually just took the suit off and went naked)

Ryan was a natural!

Adjusting the landing pad pool for optimum splashing.

 Jack doing a new slippy slide dance!

My little dare devil

What do you suppose he is going to be when he grows up?...
other then a character (with no fear except spiders or "piders" as he calls them).