Couple of B's hobbies

Braden has been very into building Lincoln Log structures these days. Here's one of his recent architectural gems. The blue grid on the top is not a roof... it's a solar panel (all completely his idea)! The biggest challenge with his LL love isn't building cool buildings. It's keeping Hunter from knocking them down.

B started baseball again. When I asked him if he liked it he told me he wanted to go to class every day and night. So I think that's a yes.

More Summer

We're having a good summer. It hasn't been too hot and we've had some rain. We've spent lots of time swimming and even have had some cool enough days to do some outside stuff not including the pool! We're getting to the home stretch, too with August in site. And oh so much to look forward to in August!! Braden is starting PreK, we're planning to start our kitchen remodel and we might just try to squeeze in a trip to San Diego in if we can!

It was like old times when we picked Daddy up from a flight and got to hang out with him while he put the airplane "away." Braden got to spend tons of time at the airplane with Anthony's old job, but his new hanger is much more structured and family really isn't allowed. So the boys had fun checking out the plane. And yes, they do both have on long sleeve/pant jammies. Braden put those fleece one's on the other night and told me he didn't want to freeze. We've definitely got some Arizona boys on our hands!

 And they also had fun checking out the biggest bug we have ever seen in our life! Hunter was literally on top of the thing. That is until it took off flying. That freaked us all out! These bugs are no joke!

Having a popsicle in their jammies after a swim.

Hunter loves to wear anyone's shoes but his own.

Braden's flip-flops or Crocs are his shoe of choice. 

No, Hunter didn't get glasses, Daddy got the boys some new goggles and Hunter was trying them out. 

This is the storm cloud that teased us during our swim last night! It didn't turn into rain for us... but it did rain somewhere in the Valley.

The raisin.

Well, it finally happened. One of my kids stuck something up his nose that needed to be extracted. Thankfully tweezers did the trick. And it's not too hard to guess which one. Yes, Hunter. And it was a raisin. And it was at the pool. I didn't even know it happened until I heard Anthony telling him to blow and I knew he didn't have a tissue. It came out fine and he was unscathed. He'll probably do it again.

 Glad that the lifeguards had a pair of tweezers we could borrow.

It really is a raisin... even though it looks quite similar to the other items we often find in our noses.

Fourth, Flag... Fun!

We took a little trip up to Flagstaff for the 4th. Nice break from the heat and good to see the trains, of course. We went through Clarkdale on the way up and stopped at the Verde River to fish and swim and then drove up to Flag through Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. I haven't been that way in years, so it's always nice to enjoy that drive. We said prayers for no fires as we drove through... so dry.

I just have to share a very funny thing that Anthony recently told me about. For those of you on Twitter, you should check out @honesttoddler. It's hysterical... particularly if you are presently living with a 2-year old boy! They have a blog, too, www.honesttoddler.wordpress.com, but I really think the tweets are funnier. I honestly can imagine some of the thoughts occurring in Hunter's spinning little head!

Hunter trying out the Verde River. I didn't take him long to get in! 

 Braden did some fishing. 

 Surprisingly the boys got right in the water and we had to keep making them get closer to the shore because they would head out as far as they could go. Anthony didn't even put on his suit because his plan was to fish and I'm not much of a "swimming in the river" fan and didn't want to have to go in to pull them out (I prefer to see the bottom when I'm swimming and have a liking for chlorine, even with its faults.).   

We got this ring because there was a little rapid they could go over. Braden wanted to keep it on for some reason... I think this picture is hilarious.

 Checking things out. 

 I'm sure this will happen a lot more as the boys grow up!

 We went to another spot on the River and spotted a Great Blue Heron. 

 We were out to eat and some people were playing Tic, Tac Toe at the table next to us. I asked Anthony how it's possible for 2 adults to play the game and have one of them win. Let's just say, I was the yellow x's. :-)

 Patiently waiting for the trains! There was a beautiful full moon while we were there, too.

Happily waiting. They played lots of hide and seek.

It rained while we were there!

 We saw "double trains" twice where they were going on both tracks in opposite directions. Unfortunately the ones heading towards China have less stuff in them than the ones heading from China. :( 

 Trains are such a wonder to kids. Mine, anyway.

 The Combs' were in Flag for the week, too, so we got to spend some time with them. The boys played a little basketball.

 Hunter tried his best to escape from the court to get to Josh and Braden who were playing baseball.

 We feed some ducks.

 And did some swinging. 

 The boys checked out the waterfall to make sure it was working.

 It's fun to see the kids with Josh. They think he's pretty cool.

 Hunter's saying goodbye to the train.

 Braden's doing some yoga while he waits. 

 Our annual family picture by the tracks. 

 We checked out the parade. Have to admit the kids were more interested in trains, though.

So we headed back to the tracks.

We also spent time at the local playground. Climbing...

sliding...

 and sliding some more. 

 We decided to head home because there was amazingly cool weather in Phx on the 4th. It was 80 degrees when we got back into town around 4:30. We watched a movie and then headed out to see some fireworks. Braden was one tired little boy at the end of that full day!

 Everyone got in on helping Daddy blow out the candles of his birthday cake! 

Anthony wanted to go to a baseball game for his bday (without the kids so he could actually watch!). We had awesome seats (thanks, Freeport). Unfortunately the Diamondbacks lost to the Dodgers, but it was still fun. And we got up on the Jumbotron doing the silly Dbacks dance! 

We had to run an errand in Tempe, so went to our favorite sushi place. Braden likes California Rolls like his Mommy and Daddy went for the raw stuff. Hunter stuck with Goldfish.

 I'm glad to know that Tempe Marketplace is running their gas fireplace in the summer. I'm sure people are chilly since it was only 104 outside. What a waste of natural resources!

Hunter checked out the concert. 

And did a little dancing.

Catching up

I wanted to clear up space on the camera before we head up to Flagstaff and realized I had a few more photos than I thought on there! My camera is almost at the end of its life... which is a normal occurrence in our home. This morning it was turning over rocks to look at bugs that almost did it in. Thankfully the lens still opens... barely!

Braden did something tonight after I told him not to and he chocked a little on some water. I said, "Mommy knows best! Have you ever heard that before?" His response, "Yes, on Tangled. And Rapunzel actually knew best." Ahhhhhh.... darn movies! I told him that didn't count because it wasn't Rapunzel's real mom! And that's a great movie, by the way.

 Brotherly love... it happens occasionally.

 Hunter took this picture when we were at the Science Center. For Member's Weekend they did a special rocket launch, so the kids brought water bottles and made their own!

 Here is Braden's!

 Playing in the water ball thing.

 Lots of fun things to look at!

 Hunter's first 3D IMAX! He made it through most of it.

 The rest of them made it through it all. It was about dinosaurs that lived in the sea, so right up B's alley!

 Hunter liked playing tug of war.

 And also laying on the bed of nails!

 Braden did a good job pulling himself up.

 Prepping his rocket for launch!

And here's the launch!

 So there are some brotherly similarities. :-)

 Playing tent with Daddy... sometimes with real roasted marshmallows. 

 Bears are another brotherly similarity. We enjoyed watching the College World Series. I'm not a Univ of Arizona fan, but Konner Wade pitched for them and his father, Bob, married Anthony and I. It was so awesome to see him grown up and he pitched a complete game for them and won! What a great experience from him and his family!

 Why I'm not a fan of sidewalk chalk. This is from sitting on it, not drawing with it.

 Playing with the cat's tails that I brought back from the Verde River. Braden said it looked like a snow storm when we pulled it apart... not sure where he came up with that frame of reference.

I was putting away some laundry this afternoon and Hunter was in the kitchen. As I was heading back that way I asked him what he was doing. His response, "This!" Yummmmm.