Fourth of July, Fishy, Race, go Splishy Splashy

~July ~

Hot summer days full of fun

these are all the things that we have done.

FISHING:
The weekend of the 4th of July we made it to Wisconsin on last minute plans, as usual. Our first stop was to visit Papa Royce, Joe's dad, at the farm. We spent some time with him going fishing down at an Amish Families pond where Royce Lee caught his first fish, all on his own ;). Then he was done. Two little Amish girls played with Gannon in the grass while Giovonnie tried to feed worms to the chickens that were running about the farm. He would chase them saying, "Here chicken, chicken. Eat the worm." Then throw the worm at the chicken. The chickens would just run away, so he gave up thinking that they "just must not be hungry." He thought that he should then feed the fish that were caught and put into the bucket, so he started dropping worms into the bucket making sure to get them right next to the fishes mouth. Soon a young boy with curly dark brown hair came out riding his miniature horse which Giovonnie admired. Giovonnie asked, "Can I pet your horse?" The boy said yes, and as Giovonnie was petting the horse he stated with a smile, "I've always wanted a horse just like this one." The boy tied the horse to the fence, and then they went to checkout the fish in the bucket. Giovonnie want to pick one up so the Amish boy showed him how to grab it.

After fishing we went back to the farm, cleaned ourselves up, and then ate those yummy fish for lunch.

GO-CART RACES:
Later that evening we meet up with my friend Robyn for dinner at Famous Dave's, in Wisconsin Dells. I'm so glad we were able to see her. It had been a while, like 3 yrs. After dinner we went took the boys to see the place where "mom & dad" met - Riverview Park & Waterworld. Well it was late so the water park side was closed. Of course Robyn had to spoil the boys and buy them tickets for the rides. (Thanks, Robyn.) They had a blast! Royce was able to drive his first go-cart which was a very big deal.

He didn't even crash once. And Giovonnie rode with Joe, they had the fastest car, so they kept passing people and Giovonnie would smile and wave. Gannon stayed with me and Robyn. He was pretty content just to look around and see all the people, the bright lights, and things. (I didn't bring my camera, so the pictures are what Robyn took with her cellphone camera.) The boys even rode with Joe on the Grand Prix, where Joe almost beat the time. It was closing time and on our way out there were a few left over tickets, so the guy who owns the amusement park said, "Hey, would you like to use those tickets up, I'll turn the ride back on. I can because I own these ones." We said, "sure." The boys got on the Swing which started off with laughter, and then turned to fear and yelling, "let me off this thing!" I think Giovonnie looked down, and he is terrified of heights. The next ride over was a firetruck that went up and around, and the boys both liked that one. With a few tickets left the boys hopped on one more kiddie go-cart ride. Giovonnie decide he didn't like it, and got off and walked right out leaving his car in the middle of the track. Thankful the only other car was the one Royce was in and it was as slow as a slug, or Giovonnie could have been run over. It was well after 11pm when we parted with Robyn, and headed back to the farm.

FIREWORKS ON THE 4TH:
In the morning we headed down to Milwaukee area to see Joe's "other bother" Jim and celebrate the 4th of July with Jim and his family and spend the night there. Royce and Giovonnie enjoyed swimming in the lake, the water balloon fight, and playing the PS2. The fireworks were great, but the mosquitoes were horrible. I swear that some of those things were the size of humming birds ;). (Thanks Jim and Paula for inviting us.) It was a very long 10hr drive home the next day.

PLAYING IN THE RAIN:

On the 9th of July we had a huge thunderstorm, that included hail. The 2 older boys thought this was "AWESOME!" and ran down the flooded street collecting balls of hail. (I still have some in my freezer, and it is now the beginning of August.)

POOL PARTY:

The following weekend we went to Minnesota to see Joe's family at Randy and Kelly's Pool Party weekend. The boys were so happy that they would see cousin Cameron on this trip. We all had so much fun swimming in the pool, playing games, and just hanging out. This year Royce was brave enough to go off the diving board with out any arm floaties on, and after joining in on a jump contest and seeing his dad and uncles doing crazy flips off the diving board Royce gave it a go too with success! (Although it totally freaked me out I cheered him on.)

Giovonnie also faced his fear of heights, and although it took him climbing to the top of the slide and climbing back down 3 times, he finally went down the big slide. He loved it and he was very proud of himself for doing it.

Gannon of course loved the pool too, and he found a favorite Aunt as well. He just loved Aunt Mindy, and would even choose to go to her over his own mommy. I have to say I loved every moment of freedom, but was glad when he was ready to come back. ;)

and CELEBRATING MILESTONES:

Giovonnie lost his 1st tooth literally; Joe found it under the kitchen table. It fell out when he was trying to open his Sunday Cone package. We were all very excited for him. He was very pleased the following morning to find under his pillow the dollar in quarters the tooth fairy left him.

Gannon also had reached a couple of milestones too he started to crawl, well an Army Crawl (flat on his belly only using his elbows and knees to slither across the floor.) He started to pull himself up on to things as well, and this is when he got his first "boo-boo."

We had an eventful July, and now have fallen into a relaxed August. At least for a few week before school starts - maybe.