Random Happenings

We have been mighty busy around these parts, but I've been on a sabbatical from my camera it seems.  I'm in a creative rut so the best I can do is pics from my iphone.  So here is a glimpse of what we have been up to, Instagram style.  If you don't follow me on Instagram, you really should.  I post quite a few pictures on there, more than I'm posting here.  You surely wouldn't want to miss the picture of my bowl of Ramen Noodles would you?  Exciting stuff I tell you what!

I'll attempt to tell you what is going on in these pictures.  Here is what we have been up to:

1.  Showering a dear friend via Strawberry Insanity.

2.  Taking our girlfriend Violet for a spin around the pool.

3.  Going to the movies.

4.  Scouring the Flea Market for treasures.

5.  Having drinks with friends.

6.  Helping each other color.

7.  Harbouring fugitives in the firepit.

8.  Riding Bikes.

9.  Eating Ice Cream…as a reward for number 8 above.

10.  Using our firepit (for real, not just as a hiding place) for the first time.

11.  Cheating at games.

12.  Taking selfies.

The Finale

This is officially the last lake post, the finale if you will.  Well for this particular trip anyway.  Get excited, we are going back to the lake again soon so I'm sure there will be another 3 to 4 day post to follow ;)  Anyway, our last day at the lake was filled with more boating, jumping and swimming.  And some very happy boys.  The lake treated us well this year, as usual.

We started out on the boat and although I've already shared pictures of my little boater I wanted to also capture him in his brother's hat.  He just looked so darn cute.  We shall ignore the fact that my one year old is eating a Twizzler, perhaps we can pretend it's some sort of fruit straw instead.  

Then I attempted to get in a picture with the boys and decided to try and persuade them by making goofy faces.  Bennett missed the memo.

Then we headed back to the dock where Nolan proceeded to jump off the high dive approximately one million times.  I'm not sure if these pictures actually do the high dive justice.  It really is high and I really can't believe he jumped off by himself this year.  But he did and though my Mom might have lost 10 years off her life…we all survived, for now.

Proud Nolan...

And just because goggle pictures are ALWAYS funny...

After the first "episode" when Bennett jumped off the high dive I didn't let him go back.  So I took him up to man the water table with Baby Cy instead.  Good thing they had those life jackets on, that water table can get pretty deep! #safetyfirst

Baby Cy was getting attacked by a "fish" (Nolan) in the water and thought that was pretty entertaining.

 So there you have it, our trip to the lake.  Lots of fun in the sun and a perfect little family vacation.  Our next trip to the lake is with Chad's family, so probably a lot of the same pictures just with some different kids and perhaps a passed out Billy ninja.

You Guessed It

Yep, more lake pictures.  And guess what?  This isn't the last of them!  What can I say, it's been a while since we have had a few days of fun in the sun with the kiddos.  And let's face it, they are pretty cute when they are having fun in the sun.

First things first.  The boys needed their morning coffee…or milk.

Then it was time for a boat ride!  Here is Baby Cy, all decked out with this life saving device and waving to the passing boats.  Such a kind passenger that boy.

This boat ride was extra fun because it also included tubing.  Nolan thought this was amazing.  His Dad thought it was uncomfortable.  His Dad is getting old.

If you are wondering, yes…my brother's hair always looks this sweet.

And this is a picture from the dock.  At one point during the day I actually got a spare 5 minutes to myself to just sit and relax.  Let's be honest the only reason I got this 5 minutes was because there was a miscommunication and I ended up on the dock while everyone else ended up back at the house.  Let's just say I waited a minute before I did any searching.

Lake Continued

The second day at the lake brought the typical things...swimming and boating.  Nolan got over his fear of the catfish in the lake and became a fish himself.  He is our swimmer for sure, would stay in the water all day if we let him.  He's getting pretty good too…watch out Michael Phelps!

Chad decided it was time for Bennett to go off the high dive.  When Nolan was younger this was one of his favorite things to do.  He would jump off and say…again again.  Bennett was just as enthusiastic about this little adventure, but it ended with his head in the water which I was not as enthusiastic about as he was!  So he only jumped once, but we sure did get the picture to prove it!

Well would you look at that…I was on vacation too!  Thanks Mom for snapping some pictures so my kids know that I actually did exist in their younger years!

We waited until early evening to take our boat ride as that is when we have decided there are less crazy people on the water and the boat ride is a little more peaceful.  Seems we have a little boater on our hands.  Bennett was in love with the whole boating experience, and Grandpa even let him drive! Let's just say Bennett was in heaven.

The Lake Part 1

You guessed it, I took way too many pictures while we were at the Lake for the 4th of July.  So many that I'm going to break up even a simple trip to the lake into multiple posts!

For our first day at the lake we kept it pretty low key.  Nolan did some fishing on the dock with Grandpa and Bennett found a new love of rock throwing.  Not a bad day for our first day of "vacation".

Don't worry, no ducks were harmed while taking this next set of pictures.  We actually swapped out Bennett's rocks for a little bit and gave him some animal crackers instead.  Turns out ducks love themselves some animal crackers and Bennett loves throwing the animal crackers at to them, so everyone was happy.

On the right is the catfish that Nolan actually caught, small problem…he is deathly afraid of catfish.  It all stems from an innocent trip to the river with his Grandpas and Uncle Eric where they caught HUGE catfish that apparently flip around all over the place.  Well, Nolan caught this little booger and then decided he was too scared to swim in the lake with the rest of his fish family.  Thankfully you will see in later posts that we got past the catfish nonsense and decided the lake was an okay place to hang out afterall.

We ended the evening with a trip to the Ice Cream shop.  The boys were more excited about these dumb little rides that steal your quarter and bounce up and down for like .2 seconds than they were their ice cream.  Bennett thought these things were the BOMB, as you can see.  I'm putting one on the list for Santa.

Sell Your Stock

No, that was not insider trading tips…that was a joke.  And now I'm glad I've never really said where I work anyway, because if I did you would probably never get on a plane again ;)  You see, someone decided it was a good idea to make me responsible for other people and today marked my first day as "Manager Darci".  While I am, dare I say, excited about this new adventure, I'm very sad at the same time.  This new position means I have to give up something that was very important to me, my Fridays off.  I have spent every Friday for the past 4+years off with my boys.  I tried really hard to make sure that MOST Fridays consisted of a fun activity and not just errand running.  The fact that I got to spend this extra time with the boys was something I never took for granted, and now that I have to give it up I'm so glad I capitalized on that time when I had the chance.  The decision to go back full time was not an easy one for me and quite frankly Nolan didn't make it any easier.  He came downstairs Thursday morning (the day before I went back to work) and said "am I going to school today" and I said "yeah buddy you are" and he responded with "I go to school all the time, I just want to stay home with you Mom".  You better bet that got some tears out of me!  Apparently they frown upon management working part time though (rude) so I'm going to have to suck it up.  I'm sure I will adjust but that doesn't mean I won't be a little sad/bitter every Friday when I spend my day at a desk instead of at the zoo.  

So now that I have to work on Fridays I've vowed to spend at least one night a week doing something fun with the boys.  It doesn't have to be anything too crazy, but I just want to make sure that I make a conscious effort to do a little something extra each week to make up for the loss of our Friday fun.  I'm guessing I'm going to have to share my time with Chad now too, which is another adjustment we'll have to get used to!  Tonight marked our first evening fun date, and we started at Myseum (which is apparently our new favorite spot as we've already been there 3 times this summer).  It was the perfect relaxing spot after a long day's work :)  The boys had a blast, and my Mom guilt level went down a little bit so it was a win/win for everyone!

Happy 4th of July…belated

We were at the Lake, but now we are…

(back…get it?)

Tons (translation: too many) pictures to come later, but for now I must sleep and do laundry.   

Or maybe just sleep.