VBS 2011

This summer the boys got to attend the Canadian County Cowboy Church VBS program.  This is the church's first year to host one, so they were counting on the kids to bring friends!  All I have to say is don't challenge my boys unless you want to see results.  After I picked them up the first night they told me everyone they wanted to invite so I sent out the text messages to all the moms.

God is great!  They ended up having 6 friends come to VBS.  I was awed at the fearlessness of inviting people to learn about Jesus.  Needless to say I admired them for that!  

The first night they made these cute mop stick horses.  The kids absolutely loved them!  

The very last night they had a concert, games, and a pinata.  The boys fell in love with the high school girls that were helping and they both had a favorite.  They sat with them during everything.  They really know how to put on the charm...the girls just fall for it every time.

Caiden was all about singing!  Ethan on the other hand wasn't so much into it, so he decided to come and sit with me during the singing.  They both got tons of awards for memorizing bible verses and bringing friends.  They also loaded up on free coupons!  Score!

            

They had stick horse races where the kids won candy.  It was a sight to see!!  The pinata was a highlight as well for all the kids.  Overall it was a great program and the boys will definitely go back next summer!

Whose great idea was this?

This summer was so stinking HOT!  I had some coupons for free ice cream cones and man did that sound great.  

Little did I know that kids+ice cream cones+extreme hot weather=this mess :)

What an Adventure!

This was Landon's very first time to the zoo!  Everyone was so excited to go and the heat was not as bad as it has been, so we all loaded up in the suburban and we were off.

As soon as we got there we had to ride the train first thing!  It has become an unspoken rule for the Brown Family.  Landon loved the ride.  He really liked the giraffes!  Caiden told Landon all the rules of riding the train and made sure that he was following them to entire time :)

Landon didn't really want to ride in the stroller, but he couldn't exactly keep up with us, so we improvised...daddy's shoulders.

We saw almost everything!  We have never stayed as long as we did that day.  The kids were starting to get tired and hot.  We went to see the baby elephant and on the way down Ethan was running and wiped out flat on his face.  It was so funny all I could do was laugh.  He was crying of course, but I still couldn't do anything more than laugh.  There was even a dad that walked by me and said I reminded him of his mother...not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.  I mean he was completely fine!

Cooling off inside the elephant exhibit...

We decided to go and let the boys play in the new children's area and the water there.  Like I said before we skip this part so I did not have any extra clothes for the boys or nor did I bring their swimming shorts.  They just played in what they had on and had a blast.  They both made some new friends while they were playing as well.

This is where the story starts to get really good...On our way out I asked the boys if they had to go to the restroom.  Of course they both said NO.  We let them all ride the carousel on the way out and then it was break down city!

When we get to the car I take the boys wet shorts and shirts off and put them in the very back row.  We decide to stop by McDonald's on the way home and eat in the car.  We figured the boys would all pass out pretty quickly.  Jeff and I run in to get the food while Katrina was in the middle back row with all the kids.

I come out with the drinks and find Katrina in a mess.  Landon had drank so much so fast that he threw up in the suburban.  The doors were child locked so she couldn't get out at this point.  While we are trying to clean up Landon and all the throw up guess who (Caiden) has to go to the restroom.  Remember he is in his underwear!

I am steaming at this point!  I find his wet clothes put them on him and literally drag him into the restroom.  When I return you know who (Ethan) decides he has to go the restroom now as well!!!  I think steam was coming out of my ears now.  He goes through the same ordeal as the eldest one.

Finally we are cleaned up, gone to the restroom, and on our way home.  Needless to say it was a typical Avers/Brown trip :)  Landon is exhausted at this point so I leave you with this video of him trying to eat...

Swimming Lessons 2011

The boys did great this year in swimming lessons.  I enrolled them in the same class and I really could have moved Caiden up a level...note to self for next year!

Both the boys minded their teachers, that is after the first day.  Lets just say mommy had to get onto them about being good examples, etc. for all the other kids.  Every day as we were driving up the boys wanted me to go over all the rules with them so they wouldn't forget.  The biggest rules were, listen to your teacher, no running, and don't pee in the pool!!!

The very first day the boys were asking about going down the slide and off the diving board.  I think the teachers were a little surprised, but hey they are experienced Great Wolf Lodgers what do you expect!

  Scuba Steve in the flesh!

Jenks Aquarium 2011

This summer was so stinkin' HOT that I tried to get creative of where we could go with the kids that did not involve the outside.  We decided we would hit up the aquarium in Jenks Oklahoma.  

Let me say that I was not so impressed, but after living on the coast is it really fair to compare aquariums?!  I think not!!  The boys were impressed and that is all that mattered!

There were tons of people there (I guess I wasn't the only one with a genius plan!).  Let me just say this to get it out of the way...people control your kids!!!!  There is a line and they must learn to wait patiently just like the rest of us!  I think it is pretty tacky when older kids push my young ones out of the way as to bully them so they can get where they want to go when they want to.  Okay done.

The first thing up was the giant shrimp.  The boys thought it was pretty cool that they got to catch them.  Those shrimp were pretty fast so daddy had to help out some.

Then it was off to pet the horseshoe crabs.  They thought they looked really cool!

Then they were able to feed the stingrays.  Okay my kids just watched other people feed them since it was outrageously priced!  They were happy just the same.  John of course was afraid that they would fall in or get their fingers bitten so he was close by supervising.

After the feeding area we headed over to where you could pet the stingrays.  The boys really enjoyed that part.  When we were done we washed our hands and then guess who we lost...yep Caiden.  He was so engrossed in the stingrays that he didn't even hear nor notice that we walked off.  I saw him panic looking for us and then the tears started flowing.  I figured he had learned his lesson and we walked over and got him.  Perfect parent teaching moment.

Family photo in the shark cage.  We got to walk into an area that was all see through.  Boys thought it was awesome!  All I could think about was the Jaws movie :)

We had to sit and take a picture fast..this alligator was very hot to touch, but hey we needed one last pose before we left!

At The Movies 2011

We have been attending Lifechurch.tv since John got back from deployment and we absolutely love it!  Every year they do an At the Movies series.  This year the Yukon Campus was Narnia.  The kids really loved seeing all the props everyone built!

I'm a big boy now!

After returning from Grandma and Grandpa Markham's house this summer we decided that it was time to get the boys some new beds.  The boys did so well sleeping in the big boy beds while we were there.

The fact that my soon-to-be 3 year old was still sleeping in a crib seemed to bother me now...weird!

So Ethan got the toddler bed...doesn't he look so happy!

Caiden got bunk beds...with future plans of Ethan moving in!

This is how he rolls

Just a random day riding in the car.  

Heading Home

Heading home was better than the way to grandma and grandpa's house.  The boys were so good!  We had a big lay over in Dallas so we got to take some time out to go to the USO.  There we dropped off our bags, got a snack, and then it was off to play.

Of course the boys made friends with all the kids and next thing you know they are all playing a giant game of tag!

On the way home from Dallas to OKC they got to jump in the pilot seats and ask a thousand questions.

Daddy picked us up and we were all really glad to see him!  We missed him so much!!!!

Smoke and Fire

Fireworks are illegal in the county dad lives in.  Elizabeth and I convinced dad to buy some sparklers for the boys to do in the 4th.  Needless to say it was very entertaining for all involved!  Overall we got more smoke than sparkle.  Singed fingers were luckily the only thing that went wrong!

The big ones were up first.  Needless to say, not what we expected!

After those flopped we decided to try out the smaller ones.  Dad was in charge of all the lighting!

Standing there was not that much fun, so grandpa got the great idea to run around all the big smokey ones.  We had a few close calls since the boy were not really paying attention to what was happening around them...surprising I know :)