Venturing Outside

At the risk of jinxing the weather I am going to say it: it finally feels like summer. Ben was amazed yesterday that we've had so many nice days (4) in a row. Sorry if it snows tomorrow. I will take the blame. Here's what we've been up to the last week or so.

Ben's New Ride:

Ben got a new bike so that we could put the training wheels on his old bike for Zack. As excited as he was about getting a new one, he was also really bummed to give up the beloved old one. So much so that he came in crying because he was going to miss his old bike.

Picnics
Zack loves to plan a picnic. He's seen plenty on Max & Ruby and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so he knows just what to do. He follows me all around the house rambling about what color blanket we need, how many cups and plates, who we will invite, how we will be seated, what we will have on the menu. He is very thorough. He always wants carrots. He won't eat the carrots, but they need to be represented. You should have seen his excitement when we had cupcakes. It was the perfect picnic. But he didn't eat the cupcakes either. Some things are just for show.
Matt taught Zack how to do the rock and roll sign with his fingers. It's his new favorite pose, but it takes a lot of concentration for him to get his fingers in the right positions.
Water
The boys love to have water parties. We break out the slip and slide, swimming pool and squirt guns and wait. They always want to go door to door to invite friends but there is no need--they find us. It is always so much fun.
This is how I avoid wet towels everywhere.

Work:
Noah had the opportunity to earn some money by pulling weeds. He was excited about all the potential purchases he could make. The excitement wore out pretty quickly though when he learned what hard labor really is. I will have to toughen him up if he thinks he'll ever go move pipe for Grandpa.
Family:
Angie is the reason I was able to go to girl's camp last week. She was brave enough to take on my three boys and then invited us to a bbq on Saturday. I knew I should be calling her more often. We don't see Chad & Angie nearly enough and we got to see Clint & his kids, Randy & Barbara, and Amy & Justin's family. We had a really nice afternoon. The kids play together really well and all Ben and Noah could talk about on the ride home was Josh this & Michael that. It's too bad we don't get a chance to see each other more often. I missed seeing Melanie because she was running the Dam Race in Rexburg.
(My pictures from this day are lame. I didn't get one in focus pictures of the kids with the cousins.)

I love, love, love summer nights. Check out this sunset from a few days ago:
The last two nights there has been a full moon over the lake. It is like a spotlight shining on the lake. It is really pretty. If I could get a decent picture I would post it. It's amazing. There is nothing better than sitting outside on a warm summer night.