A day with the boys

Tuesday was unusual in that Marc was off on choir tour and Julia was at horse camp at BB's so I only had the two little boys all day.  We had a wonderful time.  On Tuesdays in the summer the homeschoolers meet at parks so we went to park day in Trussville. 

After playing with our friends for a few hours we decided to drive to Gadsden to see Imagination Place, a children's place I'd never seen before.    It's geared towards younger children and I thought today- where the older ones were off- would be the perfect day!  We had the best time.

I don't often do "little child" centers anymore because of having a 13-year-old.  I forgot how the boys are still little and how they LOVE pretend play.  We played like farmers, train conductors, bankers, cashiers, postmen, sailors, construction workers, firemen.  It was such a sweet time. 

After playing all day we walked down to a precious store and deli and had chocolate pie.  :)

Such a precious time with these angel boys.   These boys are BEST FRIENDS.  They get along so well- they chit chat and laugh all day long.  A mom asked me the other day how I handle it when they bite each other and I had no idea what she was talking about.  These two don't hit or bite or fight.    The most we get usually is bickering like little old ladies. 

On the drive up Tucker quizzed us on geography using Professor Noggin's Countries of the World.  Tucker kept explaining how the answers weren't always completely accurate.  I heard,

Tucker:  Well, actually that is near Somoliland.
Mommy:  Is that a country?
Tucker:  Well, it's not usually internationally recognized. 

And Charlie knows almost as much as Tucker.  We did a water quiz and Charlie was yelling out, "Sea of Okhostk!", "Sea of Japan!".  I love their geography enthusiasm.  :)

Charlie was so excited last night that he got to sleep in Marky's bunk bed, which he'd never done before.  We texted the picture to Marky who loved it.  Good night big Bubba!

Speaking of Marky, I haven't heard a ton from him.  Daddy and I kept saying, "send us pictures" and he kept saying, "I will if I see something interesting."  So I said, "we think YOU are interesting- I want to see my boy!" 

Portland Tram-

And these were posted by the choir-

Landing in Portland!




Rehearsal after landing-

 
Oh, and a few good ones from the concert-

Now I'm off to pick up Julia!

This and that and choir tour

Right before we left for St. Augustine the Boys Choir had their Spring Concert.  It was great!

The choir has 160 or so boys total, but within that group is the "tour choir", which is a smaller group.  Marc is in the tour choir and has had additional rehearsals and concerts with them.

This morning at 4:30 a.m. the tour choir left for a tour of the Pacific Northwest.  They will be in Portland and Seattle and visit Mt. St. Helen's!  It is Marc's first time to go on a trip without Daddy as a chaperone.  We are all a little nervous, but knew this day would come.



His roommate goes to our church and plays on Marc's basketball team.

Have fun sweet boy!  We love you and are so proud of you!

 In other news, we completed our schoolwork before the St. Augustine trip so this past week at home has been wonderful!   With all this free time they are rediscovering games and toys that haven't played with in ages.

And we are finishing up our new shrubs that we replaced from last year's draught.  This time ONLY THE THREE BOYS put them in with almost no help from Daddy (who was mowing).  I just put them where I wanted them and the boys dug the holes, put in the soil and planted them. 

Of course they had to take breaks to make a shovel catapult-

And Daddy let them use knives to whittle wood-

And lastly, this week Sissy has been at a WESTERN-style horse camp, which is a whole new experience for her.  There is a really sweet barn out towards BB and Poppy's house and so she is staying with them for three nights while she goes to the 1/2 day camp.  She has really enjoyed the one-on-one time with BB and Poppy and has been fishing every day.

She's also getting a lot of time to drive the golf cart around!

And now that blueberry season is here she is helping BB and Poppy pick their tons of blueberries!