Summer haircut time

Today I took the boys to get their haircuts - we needed something cooler for the warm summer. I hadn't gotten good pics of Jack's first haircut, so we photo-documented his third instead. I've done enough with Andy that we've perfected the strategy. M&M's and milk, along with a music toy usually keep him entertained long enough to get the job done. We went right after his nap - he was just waking up in the beginning of his cut. Then, Andy went when Jack was done.

Here's Jack, pre-haircut, deciding how short to go. He wanted to sit on the elephant during his haircut.
Getting a little spritzed...

A happy boy - just about done!

"Hey, I thought we were done," says Jack... Well, since he was behaving so well, she was able to clean up even better around his ears.

Here is Andy, pre-haircut. He always gets his cut in the jeep. He no longer needs the m&m's and other bribes, which is excellent. All he needs is for me to hold a dry towel over his eyes when she's doing the front (he hates getting the itchy hairs on his face)

Buzz, buzz...

All done!
Enjoying their treats... Jack got a sucker and Andy wanted the popcorn

Kite Flying, Building For Kids, and Camping!

Towards the end of last week we were staying busy at home, waiting for Chris to get back from China. Andy had fun flying his spiderman kite on Thursday when it was really windy. He could have let it go up even higher, but he decided he wanted to try hanging on to the red streamers instead of the kite string. That wasn't quite as successful. But he did well at holding his kite up himself and keeping it going in the air!

Getting Spiderman kite going...

Success!!

Jack took a ride in his little blue car while Andy was kite flying...

On Friday we had planned to go swimming with some friends, but it was only 60 and rainy! So we changed plans and went to the Building for Kids instead. Andy has always had fun there, but this time, Jack really enjoyed himself too :)

Here's my climber on the Zebra bench

Captain Jack flying the airplane
And Captain Andy in his pilot seat...

Jack also enjoyed the digger room for awhile. They also did art (made pictures for daddy), played on the train, crane, fire truck, and in the ball room. But things got hectic and I forgot to take pictures. Oh, well! We'll be back this winter I'm sure.Chris got home safe and sound on Friday night - yay! The boys were so happy to see him. I think Jack gave him the biggest hugs though. It was really cute. Chris got back to U.S. time this weekend - it takes a bit to shake off the jet lag. But we went to a couple of parks and took the boys to the high school track to run around. The highlight for Andy though was getting to sleep outside in the tent with dad! He was such a big boy and slept the whole night there, all snuggled up in his sleeping bag.

Here's a picture of the tent set-up...

Andy focusing on putting in his tent pole.

Peeking out...

All cozy inside

And one that Chris took late at night when Andy was asleep... I think Andy is ready for the real thing! He'll have a blast when we go to a State Park and combine hiking, campfires with s'mores and tent sleeping in one weekend!

Lake swimming!

My mom and I took the boys to Ottowa Lake on Monday for some swimming. Great Grandma and Grandpa Dickson met us there too, which was nice! Andy was very bold in the water and easily went in all the way up to his neck. His favorite part of being at the lake was "swimming practice" where he pretended he was in a swimming lesson using his kickboard. He worked on kicking, floating on his board, and he even found some fish swimming around in the water. He also enjoyed pretending to rescue Jack - Jack would be out in the water on his floatie and Andy would come running in baywatch-style to save him. Jack really surprised me and loved his floatie - he spent over an hour and a half out in the water on that thing. He also waded into the water without it. We also built some sandcastles - well I built them, and Andy and Jack smooshed them with their feet. What a fun game - I couldn't keep up with them! We had some snacks, and then it was time to go home for Jack's nap.
These pictures are out of order - here's Andy eating his snack and warming up

Here's Jack in the sand (it was pretty mucky and wet - further up closer to the picnic tables is where we played in the sand)

Andy getting ready to go in the water. It was actually really warm!

Jack relaxing on his floatie with a sand bucket that he found.

Andy "rescuing" Jack with his kickboard after Jack was out in the "deep waters"

Andy's already been asking to go swimming again. It's funny how much more he is enjoying it this year versus last year.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

We spent this weekend in Delafield to celebrate Grandpa Graham's Birthday :) The boys had lots of fun spending time with both Grandma and Grandpa and so did I. Dad and I even got to get out for a couple of great, challenging bike rides. A big thanks to Mom for helping watch the boys while I was in Delafield! They can be a handful :) A couple of other highlights: Andy enjoyed a campfire, including his first taste of a Smore. Jack can successfully go down 1-2 stairs safely (which means one less thing for us to worry about him getting hurt doing).

We also went to a couple of new parks in the area which were fun. We went out to dinner on Saturday night to Maggiano's - and the great part about that was that both boys slept through almost the whole dinner in their stroller. It was such a nice and relaxing meal for us! Don't worry, we saved them some spaghetti and chocolate cake, which was a big hit. We also hiked, picked wild raspberries, played in the pool, ran through the sprinkler, and went to an art festival (where the highlight for the boys was kettle corn and some cool wooden toys).

Chris gets home from China in a few more days - boy will we be glad to see him!

Happy Birthday to Grandpa - glad we got to celebrate with you!

Jack enjoying the park

Andy's newfound skill of hanging from the rings

Andy was SO excited for grandpa to on his presents (ok, for Andy to open Grandpa's presents)Campfire time

S'mores are yummy, actually Andy says they are "cool" What's not to like?

This is one of the theme pictures from the weekend. Jack running away from us. He thinks it's so hilarious and fun. It's tiring - but it will get me into good shape chasing after him!

Yeah! Jack climbing down the stairs - not trying to go headfirst.

Brothers don't shake hands... brothers hug!

The NEW Zoo

Yesterday we went to the NEW Zoo up in Green Bay. The weather was perfect for walking around - low 70's and breezy. We met up with some friends - and Andy had lots of fun with his friend Lena there.

They really enjoyed feeding the giraffe his giraffe crackers. Last year, Andy would have nothing to do with it, so Chris and I got to feed the giraffe, but this time he was really wanting to do it. He fed the giraffe 2 crackers, but I didn't quite get the action shot.

Proud of feeding the giraffe!

Jack was thinking the giraffe wanted some of his goldfish crackers, but we decided against it.

Andy also fed the goats. He had to find the hungriest goats that really needed the food...

Here are the kids playing on the big dinosaur.

Jack got up there right behind Andy, but he wasn't too sturdy...

Blue Room

Andy picked out a new color for his room last week - and of course he chose blue! I think he picked the bluest-blue from all of the color chips we brought home. I painted the room last week on my first day home after being done with work (defnitely not a relaxing day off). We did 2 blue walls, and 2 off-white walls - just so the blue wasn't too overwhelming... It's bright - but I actually was really happy with it. It's a perfect big-boy room for Andy:) He LOVES it.

I took this picture towards the end of his 3 hour nap yesterday, so I didn't mind if he started waking up with me in the room! I still need a picture or something for over his bed.
His white letters of his name really stand out now!
Waking up slowly...
And, I ordered some superhero stickers for the white walls for him to put up. (He chose where to put them) They actually are peel-off so we can rearrange them and remove them whenever. They are pretty cool decals!