Waterpark

Another of the prizes for the library's summer reading program was free passes to one of our county's three water parks. 

Joshua loved the whole place.  He spent more time in the splash pad than the other two boys did.

The splash pad made Jeremiah nervous.  We had to search out parts that wouldn't spray or dump water on his head.

Eventually he got a little braver.

The big boys enjoyed this slide.  They must have gone down it more than 50 times.  Its line was always short.  They tried going down on their tummies, twisting halfway down, staying above the water at the bottom, going underwater at the bottom, going down side-by-side--you get the idea.

Jeremiah and Daddy hung out at the bottom of the red slide just in case brothers needed any assistance.

There was a zero-entry pool area that Jeremiah really enjoyed, but I didn't get any pictures of that.  He enjoyed being able to walk in right up to his neck.  He spent a lot of time dancing around and hopping on one foot in the water.

There were three big slides as well.  Daddy and the big boys rode this blue one.  Joshua rode with Daddy in a double tube and Joseph rode in a single.  The line took about 20 minutes, so they rode it only a couple times.  (They are not in this picture, so you can stop searching for them if you have been.)

We'll definitely have to head back here next summer!

Jeremiah Turns 3!

Sunday was Jeremiah's 3rd birthday!

We Skyped with Grammy and Granddad so they could watch Jeremiah open the gifts they had sent him.  (Please overlook the messy desk.  Cleaning it did not rise to the top of the priority list for the weekend.)

Later that afternoon, it was time for the party.

First, pizza (which we have served at every one of Jeremiah's birthday parties).

Then came cake:

Jeremiah has been really into Lightning McQueen for the past several months, so that was an easy choice for a party theme.

Before church that morning, Joshua said Jeremiah needed a birthday crown.  We found one in the cabinet, and he wore it off and on the rest of the day.

I was going to crop this picture down to just Jeremiah, but I think it's funny to look at the mouths of many of the other kids.  I wonder if they intended to be "helping" blow out the candle.

The best part of cake--eating it!

More gift opening.  This monster truck was from Joseph.

Grandma and Grandpa are coming this weekend, so the birthday celebration will continue!

First Soccer Games

The first soccer games of the season were last Saturday.

This is Joshua's third year of soccer, and his first year to get in there and really go after the ball.  He scored a goal and had some good offensive and defensive moves.

During one of his break periods, he stuck blades of grass down his socks.  I don't know why.

Joseph waiting patiently for his game to start

Joseph is playing his fourth year of soccer.  His team (2nd & 3rd graders) is significantly more fast-paced than Joshua's (kindergarten and 1st graders).  Joseph scored a goal and also had some other good plays.

By the end of two games we were all hot and tired, but that didn't keep these two from snuggling up together.

Reading All-Stars

The big prize for our public library system's summer reading program was a free ticket to a Greenville Drive baseball game.  (The Greenville Drive are a class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.)  Both bigger boys earned a free ticket by reading at least 25 hours this summer.

There is a trolley that takes you from a nearby parking lot to the field:

Where we were:

Jeremiah and I waited at our seats for the festivities to start.  He used that time to run up and down our row:

The "Reading All-Stars" got their names on the jumbotron:

A bonus to having named our first two children so similarly--names right next to each other in alphabetical order.  There were over 4600 names that scrolled quickly across the screen, and I managed to capture the most important two on camera:

While the names were scrolling, the All-Stars got to parade around the perimeter of the field.  Can you spot Tony, Joseph, and Joshua in front of the Green Monster?

A closer view when they got right in front of our seats:

Again, proof I was there:

It was pretty much bedtime at this point, especially since Jeremiah had not napped.  He looks a little tired, does he not?

Reedy Rip-it, the team mascot (the stadium is near the Reedy River):

I took a few pictures of the actual game, but they were pretty boring!

Dr. Jeremiah

Jeremiah was watching Max & Ruby this morning, and the characters were playing with a doctor's kit.  He decided to abandon the TV show and come play with his own doctor's kit.

He had to put on his doctor's coat, which Grammy made for the boys a few years ago to go with their Doggy Doctor Play-Doh set.

Mommy was the patient, here getting my blood pressure checked.

He kept a serious face the whole time.  I'm not sure if it was because doctoring is such serious work, or because he did not really want to have his picture taken.

First Day of School

Our big boys started first and third grade today!

(It pains me that this picture is blurry, but it was the best of the three I took.  I blame the dawn's early light.)

Make no mistake, Jeremiah is NOT going to school, but when his brothers were putting on backpacks he needed to put one on, too.  Joseph is wearing the school shirt of his new school.  Joshua decided to wear a shark shirt instead of his school shirt, because his class's mascot is sharks.

Joshua wanted a picture of the back of his backpack.

Jeremiah was a step behind for the backpack shot.

Joseph's new school is across town, so Tony is taking him in the mornings on his way to work.  Sadly, that means no "first day AT school" pictures for Mommy.

Here's Joshua with the younger kids' entrance of his school in the background.

Joshua's new teacher is from Poland and has a difficult Polish name.  She's been teaching in the US for 20 years, though.

After I gave Joshua his goodbye kiss, Jeremiah needed to follow suit.  Joshua was more willing to get the one from Jeremiah.  He may or may not have turned his head away when I tried to kiss him.  : )

How to Fill a Summer Afternoon--Final Edition

School starts on Monday, and tomorrow afternoon we go to meet Joshua's teacher (we met Joseph's teacher last night), so today is the final free (weekday) afternoon of summer.  The boys spent part of it doing a dino dig.

This morning we put several small plastic dinosaurs in deli containers filled with water (and a few drops of food coloring, because we are fancy) and froze them.

Then this afternoon we put the dino ice blocks in bigger bowls and used medicine droppers and hot water to free the dinosaurs.

Joseph has been doing this since he was four.  This may have been Joshua's first time to stick with it until all his dinosaurs were free.  Jeremiah froze some, too, but he was napping during the "dig."

Slip 'n' Slide

As it turns out, the water at our neighborhood swimming pool is now so warm that it's not exactly refreshing, so today we got out the Slip 'n' Slide.

At first Joseph didn't want to join in.  He's not a fan of the sliding part, and our yard isn't sloped enough to make the sliding easy.  It's more of a run-and-flop process.  Once he realized no one was really sliding, he was in.

Our two-headed water monster.

Do you think Jeremiah is enjoying himself?

Some action shots:

Camping

This weekend we went camping with some friends at Table Rock State Park here in South Carolina.  Between the three families there were 3 first graders, 3 third graders, 2 seventh-graders, and a 2 year old.

Campsite activities included playing Corn Hole:

a throw-the-frisbee-through-a-ring game:

wiffle ball, exploring the woods behind the campsites, and anything else they could dream up.

Saturday morning most of us went on a 2 mile hike up part of the mountainside.  Much of the way it ran alongside a creek.  This waterfall was at the beginning of the hike:

The first half of the hiking loop was mostly uphill, so we had to stop for a breather:

We kept things interesting for the younger kids by searching for different colors of mushrooms, which we called "Toad" after the Mario character.  Here is Joshua with his favorite, "Spiky Toad."

Close up:

While the ascent was fairly gradual, the descent was quite steep at times:

Group shot (minus a couple who had gone on ahead and a couple more who stayed at camp):

At the end of the hike, Joshua and Jeremiah wanted to wade in the falls we had seen at the beginning:

After lunch back at camp, we split into different activities, most of which did not get photographed.

The third graders went fishing (catching nothing):

Joshua, Jeremiah, and I went swimming in the lake.  It had a beach, lifeguards, and diving boards.  Jeremiah would walk right in up to his neck.  It was a great way to spend a hot afternoon.  Tony and Joseph and one of the other families went kayaking after fishing.

After dinner at camp, it was time for S'mores, of course.  Anytime there is a campfire, you'll find Joseph hovering around it.

The only photographic evidence that I was there (running the S'mores table):

Joshua and Jeremiah decided to play wiffle ball in the dark:

Do you see Harley?  He was quite a good camper, even sleeping in the tent with us.