Base Parks

base parks

Here are a few snaps of the boys at two of their favorite parks on base. The day we were there, there was a military shelter set up (guess they had some sort of exercise next to the park?) & the boys had a ball running through it. They called it their "tunnel". Click for more pics!

William's ingenious train invention

William's main fascination these days is his train set. He constantly begs Mommy to build a "really cool train track" & then proceeds to play with it for hours on end. He drives his cars & the school buses over it, just like a real vehicle would cross the tracks. The other day, we caught a train & William discovered how the arms work: the ones that come down when a train is running to block vehicles on the road from crossing the track. The bells dinging & the lights flashing were almost more than he could bear! I thought he was going to jump out of his carseat in excitement. The next morning, this is the addition he came up with for his train track:
 

Uncle Michael, William's godfather, gave him these for his birthday. They are supposed to be used with small metal Lightning McQueen race cars--you put the car on the little track, put the arm down, push the button, and the race car zooms out onto the floor. To William, they looked like the railroad crossing arms. This is his new favorite game!

We're back!!

So, our computer was down for a week, and then the boys & I left for the Florida coast to meet my family for 10 days. I know this doesn't equal 2 months, but they're the only excuses I have! And, in the meantime, I managed to delete all of the pictures I took while we were at the beach. Hopefully, I can post some that were taken by Nana & Grandpa Sam. Here is a video of William riding his big boy back in May just after he became coordinated with it to tide you over!

Graduation!!

William graduated from his 2 year-old preschool class tonight. Their title was the "Turtles" and there were 10 kids total. His class is the one in the front row & he's the one in the middle in the white shirt & blue pants next to the dramatic little girl in the pink dress & white sweater. He's also the one jumping off the bleachers just before the end of the second song! They are singing "I'm in the Lord's Army" and then, "Jesus is My Rock". In the pictures below, he's walking past us to head up to the stage & was SOOOOO excited to see us in the audience. The one of Daniel is Daniel blowing William kisses as he walked by. We got a resounding chorus of "Deh Wee-yum!" amidst all the blowing. The last pic is William with his two teachers, Mrs. Frank & Mrs. Karasek. They will be Daniel's teachers next year as he enters the 2 year old class & William moves up into the 3 year-old "Fishes".

Happy Mother's Day

 

Happy Mother's Day!! This is the oven mitt William made for me at school. Isn't it adorable? He was so proud of himself--he couldn't wait to explain that it was his handprint on it. We had an easy day. Lunch at McDonald's while the kiddos ran themselves ragged & then I got the BEST Mom's Day present ever. Both of the kids ate BROCCOLI for dinner. Yes, you read that right: My boys who think they're allergic to anything green or anything that even remotely smells like a non-potato-originating vegetable actually ate BROCCOLI. Daniel picked it up, said "bwoccoli twees" & popped it in his mouth. Took him about 15 min to chew it up enough to get some down, but he was determined. When William saw Daniel do it, he had to do it, too! He ate a whole bunch of "twees". Maybe there's hope for them after all;-)

Silly William-man

Just a few snaps of William being silly in Daddy's boots & playing with his train track. Our basement is almost finished except for the flooring--they painted & hung doors today--so, William can have his train track set up ALL the time!!

Derby Days

Kentucky Derby

On Thursday night, we loaded up the van and hit the road (again!), this time to Louisville, KY, to stay with our friends, the Bischoffs, & go to the Kentucky Derby. I didn't know anything about the Derby or how it worked, so it was all an eye-opening experience for me. When you think of going to the Derby, you of course, think of huge, extravagant hats and fancy dresses/suits, sitting on bleachers, and drinking mint juleps. Except for the hats & the juleps, it's NOTHING like that for us "common folk". For those of you in the Louisiana area, it's an experience akin to Jazz Fest, except with about 2 minutes of cheering every 40 minutes (or so) as you alternate between trying to catch glimpses of the ACTUAL horses racing around the track and watching them race on the huge TV screen in front of you (Derby), instead of trying to catch glimpses of the ACTUAL musicians playing so you don't have to watch them play on the huge TV screen in front of you (Jazz Fest). There are food booths and drink booths; it costs an arm & a leg to get in; you pay more for a single beer than you ever would for a six-pack; there aren't enough port-a-potties; and they run out of toilet paper mid-day. Sound familiar???? The people who choose to pay big bucks get to sit in the grandstands, which is what I thought of when I heard "Derby", but all of the excitement happens in "The Infield", which is where we were. You're basically in the middle, grassy area of the track with the horses racing around you. You set up a blanket, chairs, and a pop-up canopy & have an all-day party. You can see some pretty crazy sights as the drinking ensues (think Mardi Gras or Girls Gone Wild!) & the yelling for your favorite horses only gets louder as the day goes on. On Friday, the races are called "The Oaks" and the Saturday races are "The Kentucky Derby". This year was the 134th Derby. The actual Derby race is the 10th out of 12 for the day. The races last between 1 and 2 minutes and happen approximately 35-40 minutes apart. We had a blast betting on horses & even managed to break even, at least for the second day. Our picks didn't go so well the first day.

Our friends, Michelle & Scott, arranged for a baby-sitter for both days & William & Daniel LOVED "Miss Maggie". She took care of our two as well as the two Bischoff kiddos, Brady (4) and Hannah (17 months). It's a testament to her skill level that the four of them didn't drive her nutso!!! Our kiddos had SOO much fun playing with Brady & Hannah (not too sure they even noticed we were gone on the first day) and on the Sunday before we left, the Daddies went to play golf & Daniel looked around & said, "Maggie?" I think he was disappointed he only got the Mommies! We drove home Sunday night (about 3.5 hours) and now, it's back to the real world.