Texas part 1

 

Did you miss us?

 

We were in Texas!  The boys and I spent the last two weeks in Texas.  Steve spent the first week with us but had to come back to work.  We spent most of our time in Amarillo but did get to spend a weekend in Dallas.  I have tons of pictures to share.

 

I was so glad to get the chance to spend some time with my best friend Tina.  It is so hard to have a long distance friendship but when we get together again it somehow seems like we have never been apart.  She makes me laugh, and cry, and she encourages me, and she gives me a kick in the butt when I need it.  John is so grown up, so stinkin cute.  The boys loved playing big brother to John, especially Cayden.  Tina and I took the boys to Wonderland Park amusement park.  God blessed us with an unusually cool night and we had a blast.  Cayden took John on all the kiddie rides and I am not sure who had more fun. 

 

It’s good to be back home but looking through all the pictures I took in Texas makes me miss my “real home”.  Funny, but you just can’t take the Texas out of the girl.

 

Texas part 2 coming soon.

Hunting and Fishing

There are two new past times in our house.  One involves something I swore on many occasions would never enter our house.

 

 

 

 

Air soft guns.

 

 

The guns shoot small plastic bullets.  The “official” purpose of the guns is target practice…the unofficial idea of course is that the kids are the targets.  Steve and I asked around and did lots of research before giving in.  So far, the boys are good about wearing goggles.  The neighborhood boys meet up for air soft wars but the boys swear the bullets don’t hurt when you get shot.  It’s still not my favorite idea but the boys are getting older and I am attempting to “live and let go”.

 

 

 

 

 

The other new activity is much safer.

 

 

 

 

The boys love to fish and don’t get to do it as often as they would like.  Braxton, in all his ingenuity, found a substitute.  Steve and the boys often sit in the driveway and “fish” with washers not hooks.  They try to see who can get the farthest or who can hit the mail box.  It’s nice peaceful fun for our gorgeous Fargo evenings…and good practice casting for the next real fishing trip.

 

 

 

Hope you are enjoying your summer too.

Recent pictures of the boys (and Max)

 

 

Braxton

Braxton is feeling

 

a little

 

                                

 

BLUE!

 

He passed his blue belt test for Taekwondo last night.  It was a hard test and he had to work very hard.  He is now on a definite time schedule for testing.  He has 12 weeks to complete his blue level skills.  Once he does he will become a purple belt…once you are a purple belt you train right beside the black belts and and I know he is looking forward to that.  He will compete in his first tournament in early fall.

 

 

              

 

 

 

                   

 

 

 

                

 

 

On a side note, we are headed for Texas soon.  I am working on another post and hope to have it up soon but things are starting to get kind of crazy here.

Finally

She got lost.

She took a few detours.

She was starting to make us worry.

But, Spring, well….she’s finally here!

 

The grass is green, the flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping (and unfortunately the mosquitoes are biting).  It was a perfect night for our first Spring fire.

 

Ingredients for a night of fun:

 

 

 

 

 

            

 

 

 

 

       

 

The end result:

 

  

 

As you can tell, the “magic”sticks weren’t so magic after all.  The effect was oh so subtle but the boys have been wanting to try them since last fire season.  If you squinted just right, stood on one foot and crossed your fingers you could see blue every now and then.  Of course the boys abandoned Steve with the fire before the marshmallows even had time to settle in their stomachs but at least he had some nice quiet moments to himself by the fire.

 

All in all, it was a nice May evening.  We may even get up to 80 degrees this week!

Still Kicking Butt

In my blogging absence Braxton has continued to excel at Taekwondo.  He has moved to the advanced class and has started working on intermediate level skills.  He still loves it and it keeps him focused and disciplined (well maybe not at home…lol).

I can’t take the “credit” or the criticism for these pictures.  I know they are blurry but a friend offered to take them for me and I was grateful for the offer.

Since last update, Braxton attained the rank of yellow belt…

 

               

 

                              and then, green belt.

 

              

 

As part of his green belt test Braxton had to complete a series of sparring drills by throwing an adult instructor over his shoulder.  He was nervous about doing it but he did it perfectly.

 

 

 

Braxton may be small but he is definitely powerful.

 

On a side note, I am starting to feel a bit better and promise to do better at keeping up the blog.

Frozen Tundra Science Fun

Boil one cup of water.  Go outside and toss the water up into the air away from your body.

 

        

 

If the temperature is cold enough (minus 20 in this case), this is what happens.

 

                

 

As the boiling water meets the cold air, it instantly vaporizes.  Most of it is turned into a cloud of steam that drifts gently away and some of the droplets that stay together are instantly turned into small pieces of ice that can be seen streaking down towards the bottom left in this photograph.

 

                  

 

And all you’re left with is a cloud of water vapor.

 

Pretty cool, huh?