Pray

Dax and his family need our prayers! (Link to his website to the right.)

Animal Noises

Gramma & Grampa S came to visit today. After playing at home for a bit we went to Ming's for dinner. Tommy was practicing his animal sounds. I've put my closest interpretation below.

What's a monkey say? "Ehhh ehhh"

What's a doggy say? "Woo woo woo"

What's a ducky say? "Dock dok"

What's a birdy say? "Caw caw"

What's an elephant say? "Hmmrrahh" (followed with an arm interpretation of a trunk)

Maggie Time!

Tommy slept through nearly all of the boat ride on Sunday. Maggie and Jason joined us for a day on the river. We got to see the air show again and did some tubing. Maggie was super-brave and we kept going faster and faster...

And then we hit some residual waves from a couple of boats...which ended with the tube holding no passengers.

She was upset at not being on "dry" ground anymore, but after multiple reassurances that she didn't go under the water (white lie), that there were no sharks in fresh water rivers, and that she wouldn't fall out again she got back on the tube for another go at it. And this time she got to control the speed of the tube by turning her thumb up (faster) or down (slower). Maggie was super brave to try again and she did a great job!

Higher! Higher!

"A BOAT! A BOAT!"

Front Row Seats

We went out on the river yesterday with Wes to get in some wakeboarding time. We headed south across the dam because the water was too busy near town. This turned out to be an awesome choice because we ended up with the best seats in the house for the air show. The Thunderbirds were doing their turns right above us! Best pictures I've ever been able to get at an air show. Tommy was a little scared when the noise reached us but he mostly ignored them this year.

We went to Old Chicago afterwards for some pizza and to get out of the sun for a while. Tommy really likes to eat the fruit off of our drinks. This time he was really into the lemons.

And then back home for some much needed R&R. It is tough work having fun all day long.

Happy 4th of July!!!

Well the 4th dawned here a balmy 65 degrees. The plan had been to take the boat out in the afternoon to do some boarding and then head home to grill out, then back to the water to watch the fireworks. But Mother Nature had other ideas. So we hung out at home and Tommy took about a 4hour nap! Life is miraculous sometimes. We had a few people over to grill out and play some RockBand and fortunately the rain cooperated and stopped around 7pm. So we loaded up with sweatshirts and blankets and took the boat down to the riverfront. They had a wonderful display and it was almost like being back at Roaming Shores for the 4th being out on the water to watch them. Tommy did well with the lights and noise...just had to cover his ears a little. He couldn't decide all night if he wanted to watch them, go to sleep, or pick on Mark...

Happy Birthday America!

Zoo Fun

On Friday Tommy didn't have school so I took the day off and we went to the zoo here in town. They recently added an Africa exibit and I say they did a great job. I even bought a membership because it was so good and a great place to burn off some energy. We saw a bunch of different monkies...

Zebras...

Rhinos...

Lions...

And giraffes, and a sea lion, and tigers, and a kangaroo, and an ostrich, a bunch of birds, some snakes, some bats, and a whole bunch more...and before we even got out of the parking lot Tommy was sound asleep from all of the running...

Grammy & Grampa Visit

As you can figure out from the last entry , Grammy & Grampa came out for a weekend visit. Nothing big planned for the weekend, just time to hangout and play. Of course we started out Saturday morning with some good playing in the back yard. Trampolining... Pool fun and ball with Gracie (I don't know if Gracie thinks the pool is as much fun as Tommy)...

Even Grammy got into some monkey bar action...

Then we went downtown to the farmer's market that they have there each Saturday. It was crazy hot but we got through everything. And we ran into our friends Sean & Allie with their new some, Jimmy. Allie snapped this shot for us...

Just for those of you who have commented that Tommy is such a good boy and just seems to get along with everything and everybody here's your picture. He has his fits too and here's the proof...

Grampa took us all to get ice-cream. Tommy loves to eat his food all by himself. That's why he's always so sticky...

We went to the Wheels of Time museum to find something to do inside to beat the heat. This was Cat's first tractor model I think the sign said...

A car...

Playin' an old-school xylophone...

After trying unsuccessfully for a nap...we got in some more pool fun when we got back home...

So much fun...

So we got the nap when we got to the restaurant...

Then a walk through the mall to top it all off at the Cat playground before the huge thunderstorm rolled in...

On Sunday morning we headed into town for some breakfast before Grammy and Grampa left...

Mmmmmm!!! Eggs...

Dax' 2nd Birthday Party

Last weekend started out with Dax' 2nd birthday party. They had an awesome party complete with a moon walk, water fountains, playground, snowcone machine, face painter and the regular party fun. And about 100 people. It was a great time and here are some pictures to show it all. We started out with some water park fun. Tommy was strangely hesitant at first, but after a while he got into it... Tom took him over to the moonwalk. Once he got used to it feeling different than the trampoline he got into it. Tommy absolutely loves to jump... Then some quality time on the playground. Got in some slide action for a little bit and then Grampa got to push the swing for about an hour... Tommy and Dax having a swinging good time... Last but not least a trip to the face painter that wisely chose his leg instead. The red snake lasted for, oh about 2 seconds before a trip through the sprinkler erased him...

Tommy & Dax Swinging