Landin's visit- Thursday and Friday

Zaza and Landin flew in to town Thursday morning and we drove straight to the plane museum and had a great time.  They have a new air traffic control tower for children to climb in.  They all had such fun with pretending to be calling in the planes and mechanics.  

After supper that night we went up to the pool for an evening swim-

Friday morning we decided to spend the whole day at the zoo.  We did everything you can do and saw every animal!  It was a long, fun day!

 
We really did see lions and tigers and bears!  And they loved the "zeebwas" and "girwaffes" and Sharshee calls them.

And for the first time ever- I let them go to the foam zone!

 

"I bwushing a sheep!"

We were all worn out by the end of the day.  We came home, has supper and watched Second Hand Lions.  It's wonderful having our family in town!

Has it been a week?

Wow- this week seemed to fly right by.  We have had Landin and Zaza here since Thursday morning and during the first part of the week Marc was out of town for work.

We decided to join one of those "mega-gyms" and I have to say we love it.  We have a pool in our neighborhood and were already members of the Y so I never felt the need to go to a fancy gym.  The problem with the Y is that once you are eight you are too old for the nursery and too young to work out. They put the 8-14 year olds in an unsupervised room with the cartoon network and kids with cell phones.  It wasn't going to work for our family.

We toured this fancy monstrosity of a gym and were blown away.  Beach entry pools with water slides, hot tubs, saunas, a spa and salon, a cafe, etc. and the main thing: FREE classes for kids at all hours of the day.  We have gone several times and Julia has gone to acting class and sports skills and wants to try gymnastics, Tucker goes to karate and gymnastics (and loves it), and Marc goes to sports skills and a boot camp class that goes up and down this tower, climbs ropes, flips tractor tires, etc- he loves it!

The great thing is that it's all at one time- each kid in a different class and Mommy on the treadmill where I am getting to listen to lectures on my phone.  :)  It's working for now and I'm so happy to have a good outing that works for everyone.

When Tucker put on this outfit he said, "Mommy will you please tie my great and loyal football shoes?"

We love Steak and Shake around here-

I was at the park with the children the other night and these two parents were chasing all over after their 2 or 3 year old and saying "Careful, baby....no don't step there.....keep your shoes on.....you are too little to climb ladders.....don't walk up the slide...."  Meanwhile I sat on a bench and watched Charlie climb whatever he felt like while barefoot.  :)  Fourth baby folks.  

Tucker STILL walks every step with Marc when he mows the grass- this time with his favorite swim goggles- :)

We love our little helpers in the yard-

Every Sunday when we are walking out of the church we lose Tucker.  He immediately runs off and gets into some type of situation- last Sunday he was in the scaffolding.  Two weeks ago we found him in the tree in front of the rectory-

Then he runs up, "I'm a moose!  Look everybody I'm Bullwinkle"-

And this is proof that not EVERY Sunday picture turns out great.  :)  That's life folks!

Sunday pictures

  

She said, "I'm going to curtsy!"

Choir Camp

This week Marc was at choir camp for the boys choir.  It was so much fun!  They stayed on a local college campus and learned so much!  Both Marc and I noticed that Marc seemed older and more mature when he got home.  This is the first year that he's been a "senior" chorister and they have kids all the way up to high school.

 I took him to get a dessert afterwards and he looked the waiter in the eye and spoke extra respectfully.  I said, "wow- those are impressive manners!"  He said, "well, Mr. B says its important for a man to look people in the eye and speak clearly and respectfully."  :)  Yes, that's what mommy and daddy have said every day of your life, but sometimes it helps to have somebody outside the family circle to give that extra nudge I guess.  :)

They had devotions every morning and night on great men in the Bible.  The night devotions were mandatory, but the morning ones were optional.  We were so happy to learn that he got ready quickly so he could make it to morning devotion every day.  We also learned they had a choice during downtime to watch a movie or play sports and he picked sports.  I love these little chances to step out and test his character a bit.  

And last night they had a little concert that was awesome!

They did fun loving songs like "When a Man loves a Woman" and serious classical songs.  This was my favorite fun song- I can't get it out of my head now-

And this number was amazing- they were singing completely in German (they are touring there next summer- that's why Marky is taking German this year).  The words mean "I will priase the Lord in His Sanctuary."

Little angel voices-