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!