Summer fun

A few summer time firsts for the boys:

Watching Auntie Kiki and Auntie Nancy play softball. My favorite was that both of them played the outfield and the whole way home the boys talked about getting to watch their aunties pitch and catch - so cute! (Don't know why we didn't get a picture with our aunties. We'll just have to go to another game).




BC (Before children) Tate and I used to love to go to summer festivals. So when our town put on its weekend fest we scrapped our usual bedtime and had dinner on the street followed by two carnival rides. The boys had a blast and we loved sharing this summertime tradition with them. The boys would have ridden the rides all night.

Parting with pacifiers

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that Jackson and Peyton still had pacis at age 3. Even though they only used them to sleep we intended to get rid of them at least by 2.
The reason we kept them was kind of selfish. They slept well so we had a better chance of sleeping well and so we talked about it, but always put it off.
But maybe the time was just right.
We talked about it for awhile leading up to getting rid of them. We let them decide if they wanted to give them to a baby who might need it or turn them in at the store for a toy. Then we counted down on the calendar.
They were actually pretty excited about it, which made me think it was going too well. But it has been a week and they have been great.
The funniest was during nap time the first day without them. When I put them down for their nap Jackson said "I'm going to dream about my paci, ok?"
Then this was the conversation I overheard:
J: Where are our pacis Peyton?
P: They're in the cash register
Twice one of them has said 'I wish I had my paci' at bedtime, but that has been the extent of it!

Peyton's last moment with his paci

Jackson's last moment with his paci
They picked out a toy at Target. I'm so glad I didn't go with my original plan to go to Toys R Us, we'd still be there deciding on a toy!


The boys turned their pacis over to the cashier (who was great about playing along)




Jackson's Little People hauler

Peyton's Little People dump truck

While we were shopping Brett got to hang with Auntie Nancy (his day will come - Brett has trouble falling asleep and self soothing due to his spasticity so we aren't upsetting that apple cart just yet). Jackson & Peyton picked out a McQueen book for him that makes sound effects. I think it took longer for them to pick something for Brett than for themselves.

You know it's summer when...

You hear the buzzzz

Peyton

Jackson

Brett (we gave him a bit of a Mohawk and paused for a photo)

Memorial weekend in Wisconsin

I hate that it's so long between my blog posts, but we seem to have something going on all the time.
We kicked off our summer with a visit to Grammy & Poppy's in Wisconsin over Memorial Day weekend.
The weather was all over the place, but we had a great time.
Whenever we have been in the car for more than 10 minutes the boys want to know if we are going to Grammy & Poppy's because it takes several hours to get there.
Here are some photos from our trip:


Every year we try to get a picture of all five of Grammy and Poppy's grandchildren - this is the best of about one hundred attempts. (from left) Caroline, Brett, Sophie, Jackson & Peyton.

Brett looks adorable in this one, but apparently there are a lot of distractions!

Auntie Kiki and the kids helped plant some bushes and flowers around the house. Peyton talks to Auntie Kiki about landscaping.

Jackson helps dig a hole for a new bush under Auntie Kiki's supervision. All the kids helped, but Jackson really seemed to get into his job.


Peyton on the John Deere - they're growing so fast I'm pretty sure they'll be too big for this one at our next visit and will just move on to driving Poppy's


My parents' friends have a private beach on their property and are so gracious to open it up to us when we visit. They have a large cow statue near the beach and the boys call it "cow beach." It is always a highlight of our visits. This was the first warm day and the water was absolutely freezing. Here Auntie Nancy helps Brett take a dip and the water temperature doesn't seem to phase Peyton and Jackson.

Auntie Amy, Sophie, Peyton and Auntie Kiki in the paddle boat.

Auntie Nancy, Caroline, Jackson and Auntie Kiki take a turn.

Jackson and Peyton take their first ride in a kayak. They had a paddle, but they argued over who would hold it so...

Auntie Nancy helps Brett bury his legs in the sand.

Sophie jumps in to help.

Brett was getting over a bad cough and cold and didn't last long. He fell asleep for much of the warm beach afternoon.

Jackson and Peyton "using" their sleeping bags. I love this picture. They both start tucked in all snug in their bags (and wearing pants I might add) and every night there was some version of this.