My day off with the boys! School was out today for conferences. Boy is it a well deserved day off, those two nights are so long when you've been up since 5 in the morning and have to stay until 8 at night; not to mention the zero time you get with your family. So, we took some much needed quality time together at the park. We feed the ducks and played at three different play areas and on the train of course. Later we went to the park again and the boys rode their bikes on the trail as I tried to keep up, I'm thinking I need a bike, too! We had a really good time together! They will always be my sunshine!

Preston had the most fun catching the minnows out of the bucket!

Austin puts his first minnow on his hook all by himself! He was so proud! Good job Austin! He has such a good time fishing; yet, they weren't biting today!

Possibly our last trip to the lake this year

The weather was extremely warm for late September; so, we decided to take the boat out for one last ride. It was so much fun. We bar-b-qued on the island, the boys fished and then we mostly drove around. And as always it was just good family fun.

Feeding the ducks before the Semo parade!

A Day out with Thomas! Preston was so excited! We went all the way to Nashville, TN for a day filled with Thomas fun! We left Friday after work, stayed in the hotel, got up, went swimming as soon as we woke up, got ready, went downtown, toured the town, ate lunch, and finally after that we got to go ride Thomas! Preston was in Thomas the Train heaven! This is the train made out of legos, there was a magician, trains set up to play with, thomas tattoos, little train rides, a thomas gift shop, a small petting zoo, and the huge blow up slides and jumping things! It was worth the wait and the 100 "Are we there yet mommy? or Is it time yet mommy?" questions from Preston.

This is why you don't walk out of the bathroom even if it's just to throw the dirty clothes in the hamper when your kids are in the jacuzzi tub! This is what I walked in on...a tub full of bubbles, not to mention the laughter I heard from down the hallway! They thought it was pretty funny!

Austin's soccer game

Preston playing at brothers game! We always take Preston to see the train tracks next to the soccer fields after the game... his treat for being good at the game because he get bored.

Austin is becoming more aggressive on the field. He was so proud of himself tonight when he scored a goal! We were very proud of him, too- of course! I'm having a hard time getting good action pictures; yet, he noticed me here trying to take a picture, he's always posing for the camera!
Unfortunately, we got rained out! So far were two for two on the rain games.

so much fun....

Austin and Sydney had a really good time together, and so did Preston and Sierra.

Clearwater Lake

Playing with leftover party favors from their birthday party.






















Fishing, the boys love it! Austin was so excited to catch his first fish without any help from daddy! Preston loves his new fishing pole from daddy

Labor Day weekend at the lake....

Well, we spent the whole weekend at the lake. We were just going to go for one night and I really just wanted to get away with the family for the whole weekend. So, we took the chance that we would find a campsite and left early Saturday. Luckily for us we got the last site at the first place we stopped at Clearwater. We set up camp, went to Wal-Mart again for a few things we forgot, went fishing (by the way- Austin caught his first fish all by himself), we had b-b-q of course, and played some games with the kids. We had a great family night! The boys actually were so exhausted they went to bed before 9:30 which is strange for camping; yet, good for Jeff and I, we stayed up by the campfire and talked (that's something it seems we don't get to do very often- have a conversation without any interruptions). Sunday our friends Steve and Tonya came out with their two little girls, we stayed on the lake all day, and pretty much did the same thing as sat. night. We enjoyed a wonderful meal for camping that is: steak, corn on the cob, rolls, and for dessert-smores, of course! Monday we were quite tired and the boys were a little cranky to start; however, after we packed up camp we headed to lake for one last time just us! The kids wanted to swim and Preston went for another tube ride with me, I skied, and the boys played at the beach area before we finally came home. It was a fabulous weekend for us, this is what we love to do! This weekend were headed for Nashville to ride the real Thomas the Train! Hopefully, I'll post some pics of this weekend at the lake soon!