The boys of summer

What a difference a year makes!
We paid our annual summer visit to Busch Gardens, and we had the best time! No whining about the walking, no complaining about the heat--from anyone in our party.

With two boys walking on their own power (Jason and Michael) and one stroller holding just one boy (Joshua), we really felt quite free.

Once #3 is potty-trained, we won't know what to do with all that free space in back of our stroller.

Here's Joshua's attempt at doing bumper cars.



Maybe by next year, he'll enjoy it a little more. He really did enjoy everything else. The Whirly-worm, the rides that put him in a moving swing, the attractions that kept him focused on Elmo. He did plenty of smiling as we picked him up to move him from place to place.



For the first time this year, Jason and Michael, and of course, Doug, rode the big-boy rollercoasters. All of them. And I think our older two might have an appetite for the excitement of these twisty and turn-filled rides. Poor Doug.




Our summer hasn't all been about thrill-rides.
The boys really enjoyed the cooking camp at the Y this past week.

One of the things they learned how to make: dessert.




Mercifully, it tastes better than it sounds.




I've tried to keep the troops busy this summer, but there has been opportunity for some down time.

We've spent some minutes on the computer.

Jason has really shown an interest in money lately and recently, he asked for an allowance. We were hoping, of course, he would never show any interest. I guess he heard kids at camp talking about this whole allowance thing. We are giving him $5 a week, and we have told him he must place the money each week in each of four categories: spend, save, invest and donate.

He's a little impatient, because, of course, he wants to buy what he wants to buy NOW (Bakugan, anyone?) But, he's learning to research prices on the internet and he knows the exact place he'll go to buy his toy once he gets enough money.

Jason's brothers don't have a care in the world. Money does not interest them in the least.



In fact, I think we robbed these folks fishing of their peace and quiet when we took the boys to a new park the other day. Oops. We left a few minutes later.



The summer hasn't been just fun for the kids. We've managed to enjoy ourselves as well. I just went to my 20th high school reunion. Yikes! It was good to catch up and take that walk down memory lane. The best part was coming home and seeing how far we have come.

Cheers, everyone!
We love you lots!!!